There's a Place For Us: The Musical Theatre Works of Leonard Bernstein

Helen Smith studied conducting at Birmingham Conservatoire after receiving her PhD from the University of Birmingham. She is musical director for several choirs in the West Midlands and works with children and young people as a vocal animateur. As a musicologist, Helen specializes in the works of Leonard Bernstein and in American music.

A Yankee Book Peddler US Core Title for 2011 'Helen Smith’s There’s A Place for Us is a splendid addition to the literature on Leonard Bernstein. This book is a significant new study of all Leonard Bernstein’s major works for the theatre, examining each one in detail. There’s a welcome focus on dramatic and musical structures, and on considering the ways in which Bernstein used particular musical styles and techniques to suit the work at hand - emphasizing the sheer variety of his theatre music. Helen Smith demonstrates a shrewd eye for telling details, and a gift for bringing these to life: she presents the results of her research in a scholarly discussion that is also marked by engaging clarity and enthusiasm.' Nigel Simeone, author of Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story (Ashgate, 2009) 'With the current explosion in scholarship from musicologists on the Broadway musical, it is about time that someone has taken on all eight of Bernstein’s major dramatic works in a single study. Smith approaches each work on its own terms, molding her history of its creation, discussion of its influences, and musical analysis to each show’s individual profile. With clear writing and insightful consideration of musical and dramatic points, this is a book that needs to be consulted by anyone interested in Bernstein or the musical theater.' Paul R. Laird, University of Kansas, USA '... this well researched , insightful and scholarly volume is Smith’s bold assertion that there really is a place for Bernstein’s compositions in the canon of great musical theatre works of the twentieth century. So too, this is a most welcomed addition to the library of anyone who cares about the history of the twentieth-century musical in general and in Bernstein in particular.' Fontes Artis Musicae 'By including all eight lyric theatre works Helen Smith is able to highlight Bernstein’s development as a composer as well as provide a handy resource for those wishing to dip into chapter

• 1: In Some Way or Another One Can Protect Oneself From the Spirits By Portraying Them; 2: Physiognomic Aspects of Visual Worlds; 3: Spacing Out; 4: The Golden Bough: The Magic of Mimesis; 5: The Golden Army: The Organization of Mimesis; 6: With the Wind of World History in Our Sails; 7: Spirit of the Mime, Spirit of the Gift; 8: Mimetic Worlds, Invisible Counterparts; 9: The Origin Of the World; 10: Alterity; 11: The Color of Alterity; 12: The Search for the White Indian; 13: America As Woman: The Magic of Western Gear; 14: The Talking Machine; 15: His Master’s Voice; 16: Reflection; 17: Sympathetic Magic in a Post-Colonial Age