Rachel Bloom: I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are (11/27/2020)
Collection of personal essays, poems and even amusement park maps on the subjects of insecurity, fame, anxiety, and much more. Told in her unique voice (sometimes singing voice). |
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Pulling Harvey Out of Her Hat: The Amazing Story of Mary Coyle Chase (11/15/2020)
Pulling Harvey Out of Her Hat chronicles the story of how Mary Chase—a housewife with three children from a working-class Irish community in Denver, Colorado—became a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright for Harvey, a Broadway comedy about a gentle soul and his invisible six-foot-and-one-half-inch-tall rabbit friend. This entertaining and inspiring account traces how Chase achieved her dream of becoming a famous playwright while remaining in Denver—where she worked for the Rocky Mountain News, mar... |
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Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway (11/10/2020)
Account of recent Broadway history—spanning from the debut of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Sunset Boulevard to Disney’s The Lion King. Drawing upon more than 150 insider interviews, Riedel walks us through the Broadway we know and love today: an industry awash in big hits and bigger money, while also being an industry split between its adherence to old art forms and the allure of popular culture. |
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Circle in the Square Theatre: A Comprehensive History (11/1/2020)
Records the seven-decade history of this distinguished theatre from its nightclub origins to its current status as a Tony Award-winning Broadway institution. Based on years of research as well as interviews conducted with Circle in the Square's major contributing artists. |
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Time to Act: An Intimate Photographic Portrait of Actors Backstage (10/31/2020)
In meditative portraits, often shot in the intimate space of the dressing room, Annand captures the focus and tension of world-class actors right before they go on the stage. Including Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal and Judi Dench. |
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West Side Story the novel (10/27/2020)
The classic novelization of one of Broadway’s most enduring and beloved musicals (based on a conception by Jerome Robbins, book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins), updated with a new cover. |
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The Song Is You: Musical Theatre and the Politics of Bursting into Song and Dance (10/15/2020)
Are the musical's progressive politics rooted in its embrace of regressive entertainments like burlesque and minstrelsy? Shows how musicals return again and again to this question, and grapple with a guilt that its joyous pleasures are based on exploiting the laboring bodies of its performers. Rogers argues that the discourse of "integration"—which claims that songs should advance the plot—has functioned to deny the radical work that the musical undertakes every time it transitions into song an... |
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Sistuhs in the Struggle: An Oral History of Black Arts Movement Theater and Performance (10/15/2020)
Documents how black women theater artists and activists—many of whom worked behind the scenes as directors, designers, producers, stage managers, and artistic directors—disseminated the black aesthetic and emboldened their communities. Draws on nearly thirty original interviews with well-known artists such as Ntozake Shange and Sonia Sanchez, as well as less-studied figures including distinguished lighting designer Shirley Prendergast, dancer and choreographer Halifu Osumare, and three-time To... |
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The Dramatic Moment of Fate: The Life of Sherlock Holmes in the Theatre (10/15/2020)
Alexandra Kitty curates Sherlock Holmes' theatrical world throughout the decades: from unlikely Off-Broadway musicals to lauded slapstick comedies, to more traditional and gripping portrayals of his iconic stories and new incarnations. 172 pages. |
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Vaudeville and the Making of Modern Entertainment, 1890–1925 (10/12/2020)
Looks through the apparent carnival of vaudeville performance and asks: what made the theater so popular and transformative? Monod makes the case that vaudeville became so popular because it offered audiences a guide to a modern urban lifestyle. |
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Gene Kelly: The Making of a Creative Legend (10/9/2020)
Biography by Earl Hess and Pratibha A. Dabholkar. Offers a full picture of Gene Kelly as the Renaissance man he actually was—dancer, choreographer, actor, clown, singer, director, teacher, and mentor. Photographs. 552 pages. |
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London Theatres (new edition) (10/6/2020)
Fully revised and updated version of 2017 book by drama critic Michael Coveney, with photographs by Peter Dazeley. Stories of the architecture, the people, and the productions which have defined each theatre, with photographs of the public areas, auditorium and backstage, Updated to include ten additional theatres, including the Victoria Palace Theatre, the Sondheim Theatre, the Bridge Theatre and the Noël Coward Theatre. Foreword by Mark Rylance. 288 |
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Working on a Song: The Lyrics of Hadestown (10/6/2020)
Book of lyrics and stories from Hadestown from its author, songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, with a foreword by Steve Earle. 272 pages.
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All the Sonnets of Shakespeare (9/30/2020)
Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells, editors. Assembles all of Shakespeare's sonnets in their probable order of composition. The introduction debunks long-established biographical myths about Shakespeare's sonnets and proposes new insights about how and why he wrote them. Explanatory notes and modern English paraphrases of every poem and dramatic extract illuminate the meaning of these witnesses to Shakespeare's inner life and professional expertise. 208 pages. |
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God, Sex, and Musical Theatre: Meditations for Unlocking the Powerful Self (9/29/2020)
Poetry, thoughts, and musings on communing with the unseen, expressions of love, and the nuances of desire. |
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A Strange Loop: A Musical (9/29/2020)
Usher is a black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical: a piece about a black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical. Michael R. Jackson’s blistering, momentous new musical follows a young artist at war with a host of demons — not least of which, the punishing thoughts in his own head — in an attempt to capture and understand his own strange loop. |
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Jagged Little Pill: The Stories Behind the Iconic Album and Groundbreaking Musical (9/29/2020)
Chronicle of the Grammy-winning 1995 Alanis Morissette album and the new Broadway musical it inspired. Photos (Matthew Murphy) and interviews from Morissette, bookwriter Diablo Cody, creative team members, and cast members, as well as a full annotated libretto and an exploration of the album’s cultural significance |
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Finding Tulsa (9/22/2020)
"Stan Grozniak, the once-rising star of 1990s gay cinema, shares how he almost self-sabotaged a prestigious directing gig after casting his rediscovered teenage summer stock crush. While still haunted by the death of Rick Dacker, the sexy star of his cult favorite action trilogy, Stan attempts a romance with actor Lance Holtzer, his 'Tulsa' from a small town Ohio production of the musical Gypsy." |
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But He Doesn't Know the Territory: The Story behind Meredith Willson's The Music Man - "Broadway edition" (9/22/2020)
New reprint of Meredith Willson's 1959 memoir. Reflections on the ups and downs, surprises and disappointments, and finally successes of making one of America’s most popular musicals. New foreword by foreword by Michael Feinstein. 208 pages. |
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Paula Scher: Twenty-Five Years at the Public, A Love Story (9/15/2020)
Illustrated book by graphic designer Paula Scher, who turned her first major project as a partner at Pentagram into a formative twenty-five-year relationship with the Public Theater in New York. Chronicles over two decades of brand and identity development and an evolving creative process in a unique "autobiography of graphic design." |
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The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda (9/14/2020)
Play by Ishmael Reed that " critiques the acclaimed historical musical Hamilton through a depiction of a fictionalized version of ... Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is visited by several historical figures missing from the musical in a style similar to Dickens' A Christmas Carol ... echoes many critiques made by historians, such as the whitewashing of Alexander Hamilton." Debuted in 2019 at Nuyorican Poets Cafe. 80 pages. |
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The Complete Book of 2010s Broadway Musicals (9/10/2020)
New volume in Dan Dietz' series of books (which previously covered the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s). Includes detailed information about every musical that opened on Broadway from 2010 through the end of 2019. Discusses the decade's major successes, notorious failures, and musicals that closed during their pre-Broadway tryouts, and also highlights revivals and personal-appearance revues. Plot summaries; cast members; names of all important personnel, including ... |
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American Utopia (9/8/2020)
Features the words and lyrics from David Byrne's recording and subsequent theatrical concert, with artwork by Maira Kalman (who designed the art for the Broadway show’s curtain). Edited and designed by Alex Kalman/What Studio?. |
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Understanding Tracy Letts (9/4/2020)
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in drama as well as Tony Awards for best play and best actor, Tracy Letts has emerged as one of the greatest playwrights of the twenty-first century. Understanding Tracy Letts, the first book dedicated to his writing, is an introduction to his plays and an invitation to engage more deeply with his work―both for its emotional power and cultural commentary. |
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Ink (9/3/2020)
Play by James Graham, which appeared on Broadway in 2019. 144 pages. |
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Oklahoma!: The Making of an American Musical, Revised and Expanded Edition (9/1/2020)
Revised edition of 2007 book which tells the full story of the beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Now, Carter draws further on recently released sources, including the Rouben Mamoulian Papers at the Library of Congress, with additional correspondence, contracts, and even new versions of the working script used—and annotated—throughout the show's rehearsal process. Carter also focuses on the key players and concepts behind the musical, including Lynn Riggs's "Green Grow the Lilacs," and th... |
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My White Best Friend: (And Other Letters Left Unsaid) (9/1/2020)
Originally commissioned by The Bunker Theatre as a festival that ran in 2019. 23 letters that engage with a range of topics, from racial tensions, microaggressions and emotional labour, to queer desire, prejudice and otherness. Includes work from Zia Ahmed, Travis Alabanza, Fatimah Asghar, Nathan Bryon, Matilda Ibini, Jammz, Iman Qureshi, Anya Reiss, Somalia Seaton, Nina Segal, Tolani Shoneye, Lena Dunham, Inua Ellams, Rabiah Hussain, Mika Johnson, Jasmine Lee-Jones, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, Shi... |
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Break an Egg!: The Broadway Cookbook (9/1/2020)
55 recipes inspired by favorite musicals from The Sound of Music to Hamilton, including Eggrolls for Mr. Goldstone served with a side of Too Darn Hot Sauce; Another Vodka Stinger, The Wizard and Ice, Schnitzel With Noodles, Mama’s Well-Peppered Ragu, Angel (Food Cake) of Music. With illustrations and photographs. |
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Ann Miller: Her Life and Career (8/30/2020)
Ann Miller (1923-2004) was an American actress, dancer, singer and author. Best known as a tap dancer, Miller practiced other forms of dance, and some of her solo routines are considered as good as any recorded in film musical history. Despite a reputation as a kook who believed she was psychic, and the potentially flat image of a "glamour girl," Miller's wit, charm and genuine ability to act gave her and her characters depth. This biography presents Ann Miller's career in the context of her fa... |
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A Tale of Transformation: Twenty-Five Years of Beauty and the Beast on Stage (8/27/2020)
Fully illustrated with concept art, costume designs, behind-the-scenes photography, and other rarities and never-before published visuals, along with text by renowned Disney author historian Jeff Kurtti. Also features a dozen guest essays by creative talents and performers who have been a part of, or been deeply influenced by this landmark cultural work. Disney Editions Deluxe series. |
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Magic Time: A Memoir - Notes on Theater & Other Entertainments (8/25/2020)
The memoir begins with Wilson's earliest foray into playwriting, then on to Yale where he was a student and a professor. He was assistant to producer Lewis Allen and had a hand in the production of Big Fish, Little Fish and the film version of Lord of the Flies, directed by Peter Brook. Wilson taught at Hunter College and later at the CUNY Graduate Center for more than forty years. He was theatre critic for the Wall Street Journal from April 21, 1972, through the next twenty-three years, and th... |
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The Theatre and Films of Conor McPherson: Conspicuous Communities (8/20/2020)
Offers a detailed and engaging critical analysis of the plays and films of Conor McPherson, considering issues of gender and class disparity, violence and wealth in the cultural and political contexts in which the work is written and performed, as well as the inclusion of song, sound, the supernatural, religious and pagan festive sensibilities through which initial genre perceptions are nudged elsewhere, towards the unconscious and ineffable. Supplemented by a number of contributed critical and... |
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The Queen of Tuesday: A Lucille Ball Story (8/18/2020)
Mixes fact and fiction, memoir and novel, to imagine the provocative story of a woman we thought we knew. Darin Strauss and Tavia Gilbert narrators for the audio version. |
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Ever After: Forty Years of Musical Theater and Beyond, 1977–2019 (8/15/2020)
Originally published in 2003 as a comprehensive history of the previous twenty-five years in musical theater, on and off Broadway, this new edition of Ever After extends the narrative, taking readers from 2004 to the present. |
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The New Business of Acting: The Next Edition - COVID Update (8/11/2020)
Pandemic-specific supplement to his popular book for actors, The New Business of Acting: How to Build a Career in a Changing Landscape - The Next Edition. |
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The Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett: The Shorter Plays (8/6/2020)
With notes by Professor Gontarski. Completes this series of notebooks, with Play, Come and Go, Eh Joe, Footfalls, That Time and What Where. |
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The Theatrical Notebooks of Samuel Beckett: Krapp's Last Tape (8/6/2020)
With notes by Professor Knowlson. Samuel Beckett directed Krapp's Last Tape on four separate occasions: this volume offers a facsimile of his 1969 Schiller-Theater notebook. |
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Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti: A Working Diary (8/6/2020)
In this insightful joint working diary, the creative powerhouse of a couple, Lolita Chakrabarti and Adrian Lester, chronicle 16 months of their fascinating working lives, including their experiences working on the stage adaptation of Life of Pi, an original series of monologues about the NHS, the film adaptation of Red Velvet and the TV series The Rook, among many other projects. As readers, we experience, first-hand, their experiences as two of the most proactive and versatile theatre makers t... |
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Stage Money: The Business of the Professional Theater 2nd edition (8/4/2020)
For decades roughly 80 percent of commercial Broadway productions have failed to recoup their original investments. In light of this shocking and harsh reality, how does the show go on? Tim Donahue and Jim Patterson answer this question and many others in this updated edition of their popular, straightforward guide to understanding professional theater finances and the economic realities of theater production. |
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Vietgone (7/29/2020)
Play by Qui Nguyen. L.A. Theatre Works production recorded before a live audience at the UCLA James Bridges Theater in February 2020. Will Dao, Desiree Mee Jung, Greg Watanabe, Paul Yen, Jeena Yi. Directed by Tim Dang. Original music by Shane Rettig. |
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Playing by Ear: Reflections on Sound and Music (7/28/2020)
In Peter Brook's collection of essays, the director reflects on the role of music in theatre and performance and revisits some of the best-known productions from his career, including Titus Andronicus, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, and The Prisoner. Topics range from how to evoke "true listening" to the relationship between words and music to the "living presence" of silence. 80 pages. |
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The Sanest Guy in the Room: A Life in Lyrics (7/22/2020)
"A rich and delightful paean to a life lived through song ... reveals the essence of Black's craft, looks at those who have inspired him and allows us to understand what made those icons tick ... with wit, warmth and great humour." |
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Michael Chekhov and Sanford Meisner: Collisions and Convergence in Actor Training (7/22/2020)
Compilation of essays that offers a comprehensive analysis of the Sanford Meisner Acting Technique in comparison to the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique, revealing the connections as well as the contradictions between these two very different approaches. 274 pages. |
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Victorians on Broadway: Literature, Adaptation, and the Modern American Musical (7/13/2020)
A wide-ranging interdisciplinary study of live stage musicals from the mid- to late twentieth century adapted from British literature written between 1837 and 1886. Investigates musical dramatizations of works by Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson, and others ... reveals what these musicals teach us about the Victorian books from which they derive and considers their enduring popularity and impact on our modern culture. Explores themes of race, religio... |
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Kenneth Tynan Profiles (Kindle edition) (7/2/2020)
The only collection of Tynan's star-studded profiles, selected and edited by his widow and biographer, Kathleen Tynan, with a foreword by Simon Callow.
Kenneth Tynan was the 20th century's most influential writer on theatre and performance. Over the course of his life he wrote a series of brilliant and incisive pen-portraits of many of the most significant performers and writers of his day.
Amongst the fifty assembled here are profiles of actors such as Garbo, Bogart, Cagney, Olivier and ... |
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Theresa Rebeck, Complete Plays, Volume 5 2011-2019, Volume 5 (7/1/2020)
The Nest, Poor Behavior, The Way of the World, Seared, Bernhardt/Hamlet, Downstairs, and Fool. 643 pages.
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The Understudy (7/1/2020)
THE UNDERSTUDY is the story of Nina Landau, an actress, living in New York City in the early '70s and trying hard to make it on Broadway. We follow her from her Broadway audition nerves to her eventual success on stage. Along the way we discover what goes on backstage during a Broadway show, how actors deal with the mistakes that occasionally occur and how exciting it is to be at an opening night party at Sardi's! Nina experiences thrilling triumphs as well as crushing setbacks and has a passio... |
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The Understudy (7/1/2020)
New novel by stage actress Ellen Tovatt Leary about the life of a Broadway actress in the 1970s. 255 pages. |
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Les Miserables and Its Afterlives (6/30/2020)
Offers analysis of both the Victor Hugo novel itself and its adaptations: more than 60 international film and television variations, numerous radio dramatizations, animated versions, comics, stage plays, and the world's longest running musical, which itself has generated a wealth of fan-made and online content. Draws together essays from across a variety of fields, combining readings of Les Misérables with reflections on some of its multimedia afterlives, including musical theater and film from... |
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West Side Story: The Jets, the Sharks, and the Making of a Classic (Turner Classic Movies) (6/30/2020)
A major hit on Broadway, on film West Side Story became immortal-a movie different from anything that had come before, but this cinematic victory came at a price. In this engrossing volume, film historian Richard Barrios recounts how the drama and rivalries seen onscreen played out to equal intensity behind-the-scenes, while still achieving extraordinary artistic feats.
The making and impact of West Side Story has so far been recounted only in vestiges. In the pages of this book, the backsta... |
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