Broadway Bookshelf - Must Read Theater Books

. "... argues that Sondheim firmly belongs to the Broadway aspirational tradition, in that many of his characters are defined by their dreams: to abandon one's dream (as Ben does in Follies, Frank does in Merrily We Roll Along, and Addison does in Road Show) is to lose one's soul. 192 pages.

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1900) by Frank L. Baum has served as the basis for some of the most popular musicals on stage and screen. Show by show, Bunch highlights the forms and conventions of musical work as practiced in its time and context–such as the turn-of-the-century extravaganza, the classical Hollywood film musical, the Black Broadway musical of the 1970s, and the twenty-first-century mega-musical. He then shows how the journey of each show teaches participants and audiences somethi...

For those new to musical theatre. History of musical theater and shows born on Broadway or the West End that became cultural phenomena; development of productions, from the idea stage all the way through opening night and beyond; insights into how theater is made; insider advice on the skills you need to perform in professional or amateur musical theater productions; anecdotes and show recommendations. 384 pages.

Personal collection of interviews with the late Stephen Sondheim, conducted in the last years of the artist's life (unedited from the February 22 New Yorker article). Audio versions narrated by Christopher Grove and Keith Sellon-Wright. 240 pages.

Presents the broader organization, its creative methodology, and its enormous growth over the past 20 years. Tells the contemporary story, recorded over many interviews with iconic practitioners and performers ranging from Diane Paulus, Tony Kushner and Lynn Nottage to Kevin Kline, Chelsea Clinton and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Case-study driven, One Public uses oral history accounts and authorial experience to illuminate The Public Theater, Eustis and their cultural influence on the city of New York ...

Play by James Ijames. Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Premiere at Public Theater in May 2022. 112 pages.

In a follow-up to his memoir, Jack Be Nimble, the director collects stories from the many productions he has worked on; the great talents he encountered and collaborated with; and the choices that he made, on the stage and off, that have come to define his career. He tells his readers how to become a director–or, at the very least, relates an unfailingly honest story of how he did.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Pippin. Dives deep into the legendary clashes, backstage drama, and incredible artistic synergy. An examination of the creative struggles between Pippin's director/choreographer, the iconic Bob Fosse, and Stephen Schwartz.

By Janet Langhart Cohen, who wrote the play Anne & Emmett, which has been performed across the U.S. since 2007 (the play is also being published in paperback and Kindle format). An effort to reveal how some of the people the author has known and the seminal events she experienced enabled her to link together, in an imaginary conversation, the seemingly disparate lives of Anne Frank and Emmett Till, two iconic figures who were murdered by societies that couldn’t protect them.

Set of three plays by by Mona Mansour. Michael Malek Najjar and Hala Baki, editors. 176 pages.

Richly illustrated and information-packed celebration of Broadway set design. Many contributors, including John Lee Beatty, Danny Burstein, Cameron Crowe, Ethan Hawke, Moisés Kaufman, Carole King, Kenny Leon, Santo Loquasto, Kathleen Marshall, Lynn Nottage, David Rabe, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Wallace Shawn, John Leguizamo, and Robin Wagner. With personal sketches and photographs from the artists' archives. 272 pages.

Twenty-five years of diaries, from thoughts and insights on theater performances, the craft of acting, politics, friendships, work projects, and his general musings on life. 480 pages.

Looks at American history as depicted in forty Broadway musicals. Categories include: biographies of famous Americans, (Andrew Jackson and Fiorello LaGuardia), stories with national conflicts (Hamilton, South Pacific), events that captured the attention of the American public (Floyd Collins, Newsies), and sociological studies or satires of specific eras (The Music Man, Hair). Approaches American history from two vantage points: the point of view of the playwright and composer accompanied with t...

European premiere at Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End in April 2022, starring Jodie Comer. Expected on Broadway in Spring 2023. 104 pages.

Alex Timbers and John Logan, contributors. "A glittering backstage pass to Moulin Rouge! The Musical and its journey to Broadway, with contributions from cast and crew, interviews with Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, and a chronicle of its triumphant 2021 return." Photo essay and oral history through early sketches, historical research, technical diagrams, and rehearsal photos. 184 pages.

In this memoir, Nancy Olson Livingston treats readers to an intimate, charming chronicle of her life as an actress, wife, and mother, and her memories of many of the most notable figures and moments of her time, including reminiscences of her marriages to lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner and to Alan Wendell Livingston. Interweaves Livingston's life with her observations of the artists, celebrities, and luminaries with whom she came in contact. 408 pages.

llustrated by Justin "Squigs" Robertson. Collection of musical-inspired recipes includes dishes like Yolklahoma!, Clafoutis and the Beast, Yam Yankees, Dear Melon Hansen, and more. Each dish comes with a brief history of the show that inspired it, a summary of the plot, and "Listening Notes" of behind-the-scenes trivia. 200 pages.

The author's "journey of many transformations: from Midwestern boy most interested in music to a fast-paced Wall Street career; from investment banking to a 12 time Tony Award winner on Broadway; from overcoming several death-defying crises by finding healing, inspiration from a higher being, and deeper spirituality."

Good Morning, Olive (named for one of the most beautiful and temperamental of Broadway's ghosts) is about the ghosts that haunt theatres in New York and around the world. 288 pages.

Lyrical picture book about a little mouse finding her big voice, with the help of her sister. Ages 3-5. 48 pages. Released 9/27/22.

This Year of Grace, Bitter Sweet, Words and Music, Pacific 1860, Ace of Clubs, Sail Away, The Girl Who Came to Supper. A portrait of Coward's oeuvre and its lasting influence on the wider world of the British musical, (Kindle Edition will be released early.) 552 pages.

Premiered at the Bridge Theatre, London, in March 2022. Playing at The Shed in New York City beginning 10/18/22. 144 pages. Kindle Edition released 3/31/22.

Play by director Rob Roth (Beauty and the Beast, Lestat), who unearthed eighty hours of tapes of conversations between Andy Warhol and Truman Capote in 1978 (made to be the source of a play, then abandoned). Every word in the play comes directly from these two 20th century geniuses. The structure of the conversations springs from Roth's imagination. The play made its world premiere at American Repertory Theater in 2017. 224 pages.

The author brings to life the origins of this classic show, the music behind it, and the unlikely story of its creator. Interweaving behind-the-scenes accounts of people who worked with Willson, Cabaniss looks at his long and unusual career as a composer, conductor, radio personality, and flutist. 208 pages.

Chronicles the unlikely phenomenon of Little Shop of Horrors, the musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Looks at the creation of the musical and its place in the contemporary musical theatre canon and examines its afterlives and wider cultural context. Told through archival research and eyewitness accounts, with extensive use of Ashman's personal papers, offering a unique and inspiring study of one of musical theatre's greatest talents. 256 pages.

Broadway producer sits down with his daughter to share his life's story. His childhood, service in the Army, teaching career at Duke University, and his long and illustrious career on Broadway ... a chronicle of one of the most legendary Broadway careers of our time, as well as a life well lived. 137 pages. Released September 2022.

A book that is "purposely meant to start arguments and to settle them," as the author addresses the most dividing musical theater questions and opinions.

Musical that started at The Old Vic, London, in July 2017, in a production directed by Conor McPherson, and later transferred to the West End, Broadway, Australia, Ireland and toured the UK.

. the unique story of how the author came into leadership at Pasadena Playhouse after a successful career directing on Broadway, in London and at theatres all over the world. In intimate detail, it relates how the theatre was radically changed and reignited by his leadership, including his insistence on making diversity a priority both onstage and off. It is the very personal story of a person who wanted his race to be recognized, but never used as a limitation or a reason to be less than fully...

Explores the world-famous musical's creation, evolution, musical roots, cultural context, its parallels to Hair, its film and TV versions, why it's been so wildly successful, how it's been changed over time, and lots more.

Follows the history of opera from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 1607, to Cosi fan Tutte, La Bohème, and modern operas such as Brokeback Mountain. Explains musical terminology, traces historical developments, and sets everything in a cultural context. Features include: all of the most important operas from the Renaissance to the 21st century; profiles of the key composers, librettists, performers, and companies, with details of their lives, works, and influence–arranged in chronological order to show ...

Insider's view of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's musical, Follies. New afterword brings the history of the show forward, diving into recent productions around the world, new recordings, and the continued promise of a film version.

Showcases contemporary U.S. set design by engaging designers with one another, pairing dialogue and imagery from varied experiences and practices. The conversations include designers (30 in all) who are commercially successful, artistically successful, and those who have existed on the fringes of the theatre world whose work is not necessarily definable, and therefore not as visible. 268 pages.

The memoirs of Mary Rodgers—writer, composer, Broadway royalty, and "a woman who tried everything." Her story, with copious annotations, contradictions, and interruptions from coauthor Jesse Green.

Tells the stories of six diverse productions: five on Broadway and one Off-Broadway ... beginning with the moment he was offered each job, and taking readers through the conceptual development of the set, in collaboration with the director, the challenges of its physical creation, and the intense process of readying it for the stage. Extensive conversations with the directors of the productions ... such as James Lapine, Kenny Leon, Hal Prince, Susan Stroman, Jerry Zaks, and Stephen Sondheim.

A sample of the dozens of plays that have been created and/or premiered at the Festival during the Artistic Directorship of Mandy Greenfield. Paradise Blue; Cost of Living; Actually; Where Storms Are Born; Selling Kabul; Grand Horizons. Includes introductions by each of the authors (Martyna Majok, Anna Ziegler, Sylvia Khoury, Bess Wohl, Dominique Morisseau, Harrison David Rivers) reflecting on their work. 448 pages. Kindle Edition released 6/30/22.

Play by Anthony McCarten about the collaboration between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1984. Published to coincide with the world premiere at London's Young Vic Theatre in February 2022. The play will be presented at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre beginning 11/29/22. 80 pages. Kindle Edition released 3/2/22.

Traces the development of yellowface in the U.S. context during the Exclusion Era (1862–1940), when Asians faced legal and cultural exclusion from immigration and citizenship. Examines a wide-ranging set of primary sources, including makeup guidebooks, play catalogs, advertisements, biographies, and backstage anecdotes, providing new ways of understanding and categorizing yellowface as theatrical practice and historical subject. 296 pages.

Surveys every single book musical that opened during the decade. Each musical has its own entry which features: Plot summary; cast members; creative team; song lists; opening and closing dates; number of performances; critical commentary; film adaptations, recordings, and published scripts, when applicable. Numerous appendixes include a chronology of book musicals by season; chronology of revues; chronology of revivals of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas; a selected discography; filmography; publ...

Comprehensive guide to the unique genre of the jukebox musical, delving into its history to explain why these musicals have quickly become beloved for multiple generations of theatergoers and practitioners.

Gathers sixty years of essays, speeches, and manifestos by the founding mother of the resident professional theatre movement. Topics such as: The Institution as Art-Work, the Profit in NonProfit, Race and a Deepening Aesthetic, and Creativity and the Public Mind. Also includes intimate portraits of artists with whom Fichandler frequently collaborated and director's notes from the major productions that defined her vision. 320 pages

Play by Alice Childress. Scheduled to open on Broadway in 1957, Childress objected to the requested changes in the script that would “sanitize” the play for mainstream audiences, and the production was canceled as a result. Childress's final script is published here. 120 pages.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of the most successful actresses and singers in the history of show business,Hermes Press is proud to announce the publication of DORIS DAY - IMAGES OF A HOLLYWOOD ICON, featuring rare and previously unpublished photographs from the late star's personal collection.

How the show that started in a converted trolly barn in Chicago in the Eden Theatre February 14, 1972, short of money, short of audience, short of critical raves ... became a musical classic. Collection of memories and stories from over one hundred actors and musicians, including the creative team and crew who were part of the original Broadway production and in the many touring companies it spawned, including Barry Bostwick, John Travolta, Adrienne Barbeau, Treat Williams, Marilu Henner, Peter...

Picture book about a little bird who dreams of making it big on Broadway. Ages 4-6 years.

Paul Gemignani is one of the titans of the modern musical theater industry. Serving as musical director for more than forty Broadway productions since 1971, his collaborations with Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, John Kander, Fred Ebb, Hal Prince, Michael Bennett, and Alan Menken have led to countless accolades for his collaborators, but due to the near invisible position of the musical director in the Broadway industry, Gemignani's story is often overlooked. GEMIGNANI seeks to not only ...

Pictorial paean to the stars of today's circus, sideshow, burlesque, and new vaudeville scenes. More then 200 photographs taken between 2010 and 2020 plus accompanying essays that chronicle the last decade of eccentric performing arts.

About the creation of the musical that opened at the Manchester Opera House in February 2020, music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard and a book by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale (adapted from their original screenplay). Pairs exclusive, in-depth interviews with previously unpublished photography; excerpts from Bob Gale’s personal journal; and a foreword by Gale to reveal and detail the years long process, and the creative ingenuity and technical innovation.

Hundreds of previously unpublished letters that show off all facets of Hammerstein's many engagements and his personality: correspondence to and from major Broadway figures like Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Kern, and Josh Logan, as well as those with politicians and activists. Reveals a man who was sharp, opinionated, and funny but also cared deeply about addressing the social ills that his musicals explored beyond the stage. 1000 pages.