Emma Brockes

A sharply written and wickedly funny guide ... serious, silly and utterly, compellingly humane.

An entertaining, heartfelt, light-as-air romp: much like a good musical in fact.

If you've ever felt like bursting into an impromptu showtune at an intensely emotional time, this is a must-read.

Witty, caustic and rambling, but above all, entertaining.

Musical fans will adore this book - and even those who change channel at  the hint of a song may find themselves smiling.

This funny, fervent, fans-eye book is packed with facts and apocrypha about all the best-loved musicals as well as some you've never heard of.  Magic.

(Brockes') enthusiasm for the genre is infectious; all is delightfully self-deprecating as well as extremely funny.  One of her heroines is Barbra Streisland whose music is likened to 'a multi-vitamin supplement, an all-round boost to the immunity.'  You could say the same of this book.

Excellent writing and convinving theorising: her essay on Mary Poppins alone makes the book worth seeking out

A warm and witty tribute to musicals of the golden age

A warm, affectionate and heartfelt exploration of the power of song and dance

Film musicals: you either love them or they make you want to kill yourself slowly with plastic cutlery. Nothing has the power to lift your heart or turn your stomach like Howard Keel in fake sideburns singing Bless Your Beautiful Hide or Julie Andrews singing...well, just about anything.There are few situations where the question What would Barbra do? doesn't have relevance in a world which is much better lived to a soundtrack of show-tunes. 
 
This is a book for people who know that 
* People don't tend to die in musicals, but those who do deserve it 
* True love waits long enough for an element of mistaken identity to be introduced (especially if one of the couple is a Nazi) 
* Women carry the show. 
* Talented women wind up alone... 
* ...But they have the consolation of the torch song, which in Hollywood musicals is more fulfilling than a husband.

Emma Brockes

Praise for What Would Barbra Do?

A sharply written and wickedly funny guide ... serious, silly and utterly, compellingly humane.

Entertaining and witty.

A warm, funny memoir

A sharply written and wickedly funny guide ... serious, silly and utterly, compellingly humane.

Entertaining and witty.

A warm, funny memoir

A sharply written and wickedly funny guide ... serious, silly and utterly, compellingly humane.

Entertaining and witty.

A warm, funny memoir

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