Jennifer Ashley Tepper's 'Women Writing Musicals' Book Will Get November Release

Big news for Broadway history buffs! Jennifer Ashley Tepper, writer of BroadwayWorld's Broadway Deep Dive series, has revealed that her next book is in the works. Titled 'Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy That the History Books Left Out', the book will be published by Applause on November 19, 2024.

She writes: "As a theatre historian, I’ve previously authored The Untold Stories of Broadway book series. For these books, I’ve conducted over three hundred interviews with Broadway professionals from various fields. Four volumes of The Untold Stories of Broadway have been published and there are two to come. One question that came up repeatedly while I was writing these books was: Who is left out of the history books and why?

"In my exploration of this question, I became fascinated specifically by women who wrote musicals. So many of them achieved amazing and fascinating accomplishments, and yet were not adequately remembered or celebrated. And in the summer of 2020, these women came to mind again, as I thought about New Yorkers who lived through extraordinary times and the challenges they overcame in order to create."

Pre-order the book today!

From the composers who pounded the pavement selling their music in Tin Pan Alley at the turn of the twentieth century; to the lyricists who broke new ground writing shows during the Great Depression; to the book writers who penned protest musicals fighting for social justice during the 1970s; to those who are revitalizing the landscape of American theatre today, Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy That The History Books Left Out is the first-ever book to tell the story of over 300 inspiring women who wrote Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals.

Author Jennifer Ashley Tepper offers here the definitive book on the topic, covering prolific and celebrated Broadway writers like Betty Comden and Jeanine Tesori, women who have written musicals but gained fame elsewhere like Dolly Parton and Sara Bareilles, and dramatists you’ve never heard of—but definitely should have. Among the gems shared here are the stories of Clara Driscoll, who saved the Alamo and also wrote a Broadway musical; Micki Grant, whose mega-hit musical about the Black experience made her the first woman to write book, music, and lyrics for a Broadway show; María Grever, who made her Broadway debut at age 56 and who was the first Mexican female composer to achieve international success; and the first all-female writing team for a Broadway musical, in 1922: Annelu Burns, Anna Wynne O’Ryan, Madelyn Sheppard, and Helen S. Woodruff. This treasure trove of tales about women who wrote musicals will make you look at theatre in a whole new way.

Tepper is the author of four volumes of “The Untold Stories of Broadway” book series. She is the Creative and Programming Director at 54 Below, a position she has held for over a decade, curating or producing over 7,000 shows. In addition, she was the producer of the musicals Be More Chill, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and Love In Hate Nation, projects that are part of a decade-long collaboration with Joe Iconis & Family. Her other Broadway credits include [title of show] and Godspell. Tepper is co-creator of the Bistro Award-winning concert series “If It Only Even Runs A Minute,” celebrating underappreciated musicals, and conceiver of The Jonathan Larson Project. She was the historian consultant on the film, tick, tick... BOOM!