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Broadway Bookshelf - Must Read Theater Books


Anne Frank & Emmett Till: Why I Wrote the Play Anne & Emmett (10/22/2022)

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.
Anne Frank & Emmett Till: Why I Wrote the Play Anne & Emmett Cover
West Side Story the novel (11/16/2021)

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. 160 pages. Most release will coincide with new film release (currently 2021). Previously released in paperback and audioBook format.
West Side Story the novel Cover
White Noise (10/12/2021)

Leo, Misha, Ralph, and Dawn are old friends. The two couples have a lot in common—good educations, progressive politics, a taste for culture. But when a racially motivated incident with the cops leaves Leo shaken, he decides he must take extreme measures in order to survive. Suzan-Lori Parks’ newest work reveals how easily fissures can form in the social contracts we build with one another when confronted with difficult questions about race and identity.
White Noise Cover
B Is for Broadway: Onstage and Backstage from A to Z (10/12/2021)

From "Auditions" to "Ziegfeld" ... rhythmic alphabet book featuring favorite performers, creators, songs, and shows from the Broadway stage ... Lin-Manuel Miranda, Patti LuPone, Irving Berlin, Jennifer Holliday, and Billy Porter ... famous New York theaters, beloved shows, and the crew, stylists, and technicians who are vital to each performance. 48 pages.
B Is for Broadway: Onstage and Backstage from A to Z Cover
Merrily We Roll Along (TCG Edition) (10/5/2021)

Written almost forty years ago, Sondheim and Furth's much-beloved musical Merrily We Roll Along is published again after being out of print for two decades. The tale of a bigwig Hollywood producer and songwriter rolls back over 20 years of his life to illustrate how he came to achieve his elite status -- and what he gave up along the way.
Merrily We Roll Along (TCG Edition) Cover
Hillary and Clinton (TCG Edition) (10/5/2021)

In 2008, in an alternate universe where anything can happen, a woman named Hillary Clinton is running for president in the United States of America. Struggling in Iowa against her more charismatic opponent (“The Other Guy”), she calls on her husband Bill for support. Bill offers her a deal, but when Hillary agrees to his help, she gets far more than she bargained for. Bucking the traditional trappings of the political play, Hnath takes a layered look at a political climate much like our own and...
Hillary and Clinton (TCG Edition) Cover
Gilbert and Sullivan: The Great Savoy Operas ultimate collection (9/1/2021)

Here is the story of each of G&S's greatest works—from inspiration to opening night and beyond—woven into a fascinating account of their lives, times, and rise to global celebrity. Book by Mike Lepine features many rare photos and illustrations from contemporary posters, programs, memorabilia, and merchandise. DVD has 11 complete operas, featuring Peter Allen, Joel Grey, Frankie Howard, Gillian Knight, Keith Michell, Vincent Price, and Clive Revill in The Gondoliers, HMS Pinafore, Iolanthe, The...
Gilbert and Sullivan: The Great Savoy Operas ultimate collection Cover
A History of Cleveland's Playhouse Square (8/16/2021)

Part of "Landmarks" series.
A History of Cleveland's Playhouse Square Cover
The Ground on Which I Stand: 25th Anniversary Edition (8/10/2021)

August Wilson's personal call for African American artists to seize the power over their own cultural identity and to establish permanent institutions that celebrate and preserve the singular achievements of African American dramatic art and reaffirm its equal importance in contemporary American culture. Delivered as the keynote address at TCG's conference ... refocused the agenda of the entire convening and spurred months of debate about cultural diversity in the American theatre, culminating ...
The Ground on Which I Stand: 25th Anniversary Edition Cover
Ever After: Forty Years of Musical Theater and Beyond, 1977-2019 (8/1/2021)

Ever After remains far more than a detailed show-by-show history. With nearly one hundred first-person interviews, it is also a definitive behind-the-scenes account of how those shows were made. Singer invites the people who created the last forty years of musical theater on and off Broadway to tell their own stories. From an unparalleled look at A Chorus Line's final bow through the revolutionary evolution of Sunday in the Park with George, as recounted by Stephen Sondheim, the tragic triumph ...
Ever After: Forty Years of Musical Theater and Beyond, 1977-2019 Cover
Simon Stephens Plays 5: Wastwater; Birdland; Blindsided; Song From Far Away; Heisenberg (7/29/2021)

A fifth collection of plays by one of Britain's most prolific contemporary playwrights, Simon Stephens, charting his work from 2011-2016, ranging from London's Royal Court Theatre, Manchester's Royal Exchange and Broadway.
Simon Stephens Plays 5: Wastwater; Birdland; Blindsided; Song From Far Away; Heisenbe Cover
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (7/6/2021)

In Gary, Taylor Mac’s singular worldview intersects with William Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Set during the fall of the Roman Empire just after the blood-soaked conclusion of Shakespeare’s play, the years of bloody battles are over, the country has been stolen by madmen, and there are casualties everywhere. And two very lowly servants—Gary and Janice—are charged with cleaning up the bodies. It’s the year 400—but it feels like the end of the world.
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Cover
Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway (6/29/2021)

Updated edition of 2000 book by Eve Golden about the most popular musical comedy star during the two decades preceding World War I. The first wife of legendary producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., Held was the brains and inspiration behind his Follies. Together, they brought the Paris scene to New York, complete with lavish costumes and sets and a chorus of stunningly beautiful women, dubbed "The Anna Held Girls." She concealed her Jewish background and her daughter from a previous marriage, and suff...
Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway Cover
That's Entertainment: A Biography of Broadway Composer Arthur Schwartz (6/25/2021)

First full-length biography of composer Arthur Schwartz. Covers his work on Broadway and in Hollywood with lyricists Howard Dietz, Dorothy Fields, Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Loesser, Johnny Mercer Leo Robin. Describes his creative process and includes behind-the-scenes stories of each of his major musicals
That's Entertainment: A Biography of Broadway Composer Arthur Schwartz Cover
Blue Song: St. Louis in the Life and Work of Tennessee Williams (6/24/2021)

While it has been written that Tennessee Williams had a dislike of St. Louis, the city where he lived the longest, Schvey reveals how the city was indispensable to Williams' formation and development both as a person and artist, and that he remained emotionally tethered to St. Louis for a host of reasons for the rest of his life.
Blue Song: St. Louis in the Life and Work of Tennessee Williams Cover
The Thanksgiving Play / What Would Crazy Horse Do? (6/22/2021)

A group of well-intentioned white teaching artists scramble to create an ambitious “woke” Thanksgiving pageant. Despite their eager efforts to put on the most culturally sensitive show possible, it quickly becomes clear that even those with good intentions can be undone by their own blind spots.
The Thanksgiving Play / What Would Crazy Horse Do? Cover
Theatre Royal Drury Lane (6/15/2021)

Souvenir guidebook about The Theatre Royal Drury Lane of London’s Covent Garden, the oldest theater in the world in continuous use. From actor-manager David Garrick to Andrew Lloyd Webber, who has now restored the theater to its Georgian glory. From iconic shows to the first pantomimes, from rituals and superstitions to royal fisticuffs, from performers, composers and playwrights to backstage crew, the rich and colorful history of London’s oldest theater is brought to life. New photography foll...
Theatre Royal Drury Lane Cover
Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero (6/15/2021)

The story of Nick Cordero and Amanda Kloots' love and fairy-tale marriage, of the disease that quickly upended it, of the fight for Nick’s survival, of her grief and how she came to terms with his death, of keeping Nick's memory alive for Elvis and the world. Includes 16 pages of color photos exclusive to the book.Audio versions narrated by Amanda Kloots.
Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero Cover
In the Heights: Finding Home (6/15/2021)

Gives readers an inside look at In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway debut, written with Quiara Alegría Hudes, and now a feature film. Untold stories, perceptive essays, and the lyrics to Miranda’s songs, complete with his annotations. Also, newly commissioned portraits and never-before-seen photos from backstage, the movie set, and productions around the world.
In the Heights: Finding Home Cover
Blue Song: St. Louis in the Life and Work of Tennessee Williams (6/4/2021)

While it has been written that Tennessee Williams had a dislike of St. Louis, the city where he lived the longest, Schvey reveals how the city was indispensable to Williams' formation and development both as a person and artist, and that he remained emotionally tethered to St. Louis for a host of reasons for the rest of his life.
Blue Song: St. Louis in the Life and Work of Tennessee Williams Cover
The Best American Short Plays 2018-2019 (6/1/2021)

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Paula Vogel once said that theater helps us learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable with each other. Revolving around the theme of "this is who we are," the one-act plays in this latest edition of the Best American Short Plays series (now in its ninth decade) explore the thoughtful ways in which playwrights are wrestling to make sense of our world today.
The Best American Short Plays 2018-2019 Cover
Drama (5/26/2021)

David Rockwell's fascination with theater has long informed his built work, which includes hotels, restaurants, and cultural institutions. Explores the core principles that Rockwell uses to enhance the impact of his architecture, with contributions from experts across the creative world. A new insight into the work of an important contemporary architect and a compelling case for the virtues of interdisciplinary collaboration
Drama Cover
The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals (5/26/2021)

Newest in Dan Dietz' series of musicals by the decade. covers all 312 musicals that opened on Broadway during this decade, including The Balkan Princess, The Kiss Waltz, Naughty Marietta, The Firefly, Very Good Eddie, Leave It to Jane, Watch Your Step, See America First, and La-La-Lucille. Dietz places each musical in its historical context, including the women’s suffrage movement and the decade’s defining historical event, World War I. Each entry features: Plot summary; Cast members; Creative ...
The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals Cover
50 Women in Theatre (5/25/2021)

Since 1660 when actresses first began performing on the English stage, women have forged bright careers in theatre, while men called the shots. Four hundred years of women playwrights, from Aphra Behn to Caryl Churchill, yet plays by women make up less than a quarter of staged productions in the UK, leading to a scarcity of roles for women. With women buying most of the tickets, theatre productions risk losing their relevance to modern culture if they fail to represent the many and varied lives...
50 Women in Theatre Cover
Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way (5/25/2021)

For readers of Hidden Figures and Something Wonderful, Footnotes is the story of New York in the roaring twenties and the very first Broadway show with an all-black cast and creative team to succeed―and the indelible mark on our popular culture.
Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way Cover
Gershwin in Pittsburgh (Images of America) (5/10/2021)

The great American composer George Gershwin was a product of the energetic Jazz Age city of New York. Yet Pittsburgh may have been his adopted town, through road tours of his Broadway shows, his appearances as a concert pianist, and his myriad associates with ties to the Steel City. Meticulously researched, Gershwin in Pittsburgh chronicles these surprisingly consequential connections. Theatrical venues such as the Nixon and Alvin Theatres and colleagues like Ned Wayburn, Oscar Levant, George S...
Gershwin in Pittsburgh (Images of America) Cover
The Big Parade: Meredith Willson's Musicals from The Music Man to 1491 (5/9/2021)

The author uses newly uncovered letters, manuscripts, and production files to reveal Meredith Willson's unusual combination of experiences in his pre-Broadway career that lead him to compose The Music Man at the age of 55. McHugh also gives an in-depth look at the reception of The Music Man and examines the strengths and weaknesses of Willson's other three musicals, with his sustained commitment to innovation and novelty. Packed with new revelations about the processes involved in writing these...
The Big Parade: Meredith Willson's Musicals from The Music Man to 1491 Cover
A History of Theater on Cape Cod (4/26/2021)

From the beginning of theater on the Cape in 1916 when a group of artists and writers in Provincetown mounted a production of a one-act play, Bound East for Cardiff, by a little-known playwright, Eugene O'Neill. It grew into the constantly expanding theater universe it is today. The theatrical descendants of O'Neill and the Provincetown Players continue to present classical drama, contemporary hits and new, experimental works to audiences that have come to expect the best. A tour of the theater...
A History of Theater on Cape Cod Cover
Boston's Theater District (Images of America) (4/26/2021)

Downtown Boston once thrived as a dazzling bohemia of burlesque halls, movie palaces, dime museums, and regal stages. By 1915, more than 20 theaters crowded along a quarter-mile stretch of lower Washington Street. The theater district gave birth to vaudeville and incubated some of America's most darling musicals and daring new dramas en route to Broadway. Theatergoers flocked to Tremont and Boylston Streets to watch the latest tryouts. Some productions flopped; others, like Oklahoma! and Paul R...
Boston's Theater District (Images of America) Cover
The Shakespeare Codex (4/22/2021)

Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs. New Discworld stage adaptation written to commemorate Terry Pratchett's life and works based loosely on The Science of Discworld II: the Globe, Lords & Ladies, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The Shakespeare Codex Cover
100 Playwriting Challenges (4/20/2021)

What resources are out there for playwrights to “stay in shape” with their writing? Is there anything out there to help these theatermakers focus, practice, and tell stories? 100 Playwriting Challenges features a collection of exercises and prompts designed to jumpstart imagination and kick that daunting blank page to the curb. From challenges on character to scene-starters to revisions, this book will provide the tools and resources playwrights need to kick-start their next creative adventure.
100 Playwriting Challenges Cover
Hirschfeld: The Biography (4/20/2021)

The first portrait of the renowned artist's life ... through interviews with Hirschfeld himself, his friends and family, and his famous subjects, as well as through letters, scrapbooks, and home movies. [Appears to be the same book that was announced under Sarah Crichton Books in 2017, but never appeared.]336 pages.
Hirschfeld: The Biography Cover
Broadway Goes to War: American Theater during World War II (4/20/2021)

Analysis of how American theater actively addressed and debated timely and controversial topics during World War II, including how productions such as Watch on the Rhine (1941), The Moon is Down (1942), Tomorrow the World (1943), and A Bell for Adano (1944) encouraged public discussion of the war's impact on daily life and raised critical topics about the conflict well before other forms of popular media.
Broadway Goes to War: American Theater during World War II Cover
Modern Theatres 1950 – 2020 (4/19/2021)

An investigation of theatres, concert halls, and opera houses in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North and South America. Explores in detail thirty of the most significant theatres, concert halls, opera houses, and dance spaces that opened between 1950 and 2010. Each theatre is reviewed and assessed by experts in theatre buildings, such as architects, acousticians, consultants, and theatre practitioners, and illustrated with full-color photographs and comparative plans and sections. A further...
Modern Theatres 1950 – 2020 Cover
The Best Women's Monologues from New Plays, 2020 (4/15/2021)

Approximately 100 women’s monologues for actors to use for auditions and in class, all from recently produced plays ... by both well-known playwrights such as Don Nigro, Saviana Stanescu, and Len Jenkin and future stars such as Lia Romeo, Steven Hayet, Lori Fischer, Will Arbery, and Carey Crim. 184 pages.
The Best Women's Monologues from New Plays, 2020 Cover
The Best Men's Monologues from New Plays, 2020 (4/15/2021)

Approximately 100 men's monologues for actors to use for auditions and in class, all from recently produced plays ... by both well-known playwrights such as Don Nigro, Theresa Rebeck, Rob Ackerman, Len Jenkin, Stephen Belber, and Tim Blake Nelson, and future stars such as David MacGregor, Reina Hardy, Chris Daftsios, Frank Basloe, and Will Arbery. 184 pages.
The Best Men's Monologues from New Plays, 2020 Cover
Notes on the Writing of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (4/15/2021)

Bookwriter Freedman goes through the process of writing a new musical, including story structure, song placement, dialogue, character development, and more that led to the creation of 2014 A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. Describes the challenging and rewarding growing pains.
Notes on the Writing of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder Cover
The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia (4/15/2021)

Detailed and comprehensive reference devoted to musical theater’s most prolific and admired composer and lyricist. Entries cover Sondheim's numerous collaborators—from composers and directors to designers and orchestras; key songs; major works; Sondheim’s mentoring by Oscar Hammerstein II and his early collaboration with Leonard Bernstein; profiles of the actors who originated roles and sang Sondheim's songs for the first time. Features a detailed biographical entry for Sondheim, a chronology o...
The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia Cover
The Chance to Fly (4/13/2021)

A heartfelt middle-grade novel about a theater-loving girl who uses a wheelchair for mobility and her quest to defy expectations—and gravity—from Tony award–winning actress Ali Stroker and Stacy Davidowitz Thirteen-year-old Nat Beacon loves a lot of things: her dog Warbucks, her best friend Chloe, and competing on her wheelchair racing team, the Zoomers, to name a few. But there’s one thing she’s absolutely OBSESSED with: MUSICALS! From Hamilton to Les Mis, there’s not a cast album she hasn’...
The Chance to Fly Cover
Lilyville: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I've Played (4/13/2021)

Memoir that shares the highs and lows of a remarkable career that has spanned five decades, and shares the lessons that she has learned, often the hard way, about how to live a life in the spotlight, strive for excellence, and still get along with your mother.
Lilyville: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I've Played Cover
Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park With George (4/13/2021)

Putting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. In 1984, James Lapine, then a fledgling playwright and director, met Stephen Sondheim, already a legendary Broadway composer, and the two decided to turn Georges Seurat’s masterwork Sunday on the Island of La Grand Jatte into a musical.
Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park With Georg Cover
The Phantom of the Opera Collection (4/13/2021)

Fully authorized graphic novel adaptation by Cavan Scott, illustrated by José María Beroy, of the Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe original libretto.
The Phantom of the Opera Collection Cover
The Reason to Sing: A Guide to Acting While Singing (4/9/2021)

By composer-lyricist and teacher Craig Carnelia (Working, Is There Life After High School?, Sweet Smell of Success). Step-by-step guide to making singing performances more truthful, vivid, and full of life. Utilizes detailed descriptions of sessions the author has had with his notable students and lays out a new and proven approach to help you build your skills, your confidence, and your career.
The Reason to Sing: A Guide to Acting While Singing Cover
A Wonderful Guy: Conversations with the Great Men of Musical Theater (4/1/2021)

In A Wonderful Guy, a follow up to Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater, theatre journalist Eddie Shapiro sits down for intimate, career-encompassing conversations with nineteen of Broadway's most prolific and fascinating leading men. Full of detailed stories and reflections, his conversations with such luminaries as Joel Grey, Ben Vareen, Norm Lewis, Gavin Creel, Cheyenne Jackson, Jonathan Groff and a host of others dig deep into each actor's career; toget...
A Wonderful Guy: Conversations with the Great Men of Musical Theater Cover
Hymn (3/31/2021)

Two men meet at a funeral. Gil knew the deceased. Benny did not. Before long their families are close. Soon they'll be singing the same tune. Benny is a loner anchored by his wife and children. Gil longs to fulfill his potential. They develop a deep bond but as cracks appear in their fragile lives they start to realise that true courage comes in different forms. Featuring music from Gil and Benny's lives, Lolita Chakrabarti's searching, soulful new play asks what it takes to be a good fat...
Hymn Cover
American Musicals in Context: From the American Revolution to the 21st Century (3/31/2021)

A fresh look at history-based musicals, helping readers to understand the American story through one of the country's most celebrated art forms: the musical. Provides the synopsis, critical and audience reception, and historical context and analysis for each of 20 musicals selected for the unique and illuminating way they present America's story on the stage.
American Musicals in Context: From the American Revolution to the 21st Century Cover
North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work (3/30/2021)

Presents the twinning narratives of renegade scholar Dennis McCarthy, called “the Steve Jobs of the Shakespeare community,” and Sir Thomas North, an Elizabethan courtier whom McCarthy believes to be the undiscovered source for Shakespeare’s plays.
North by Shakespeare: A Rogue Scholar's Quest for the Truth Behind the Bard's Work Cover
And This is My Friend Sandy: Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend, London Theatre and Gay Culture (3/25/2021)

This book situates the production of The Boy Friend and the Players' Theatre in the context of a post-war London and reads The Boy Friend, and Wilson's later work, as exercises in contemporary camp. It argues for Wilson as a significant and transitional figure both for musical theatre and for modes of homosexuality in the context of the pre-Wolfenden 1950s.
And This is My Friend Sandy: Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend, London Theatre and Gay Cu Cover
Beulah Bondi: A Life on Stage and Screen (3/19/2021)

The life and career of film, stage (Street Scene) and television actress Beulah Bondi.
Beulah Bondi: A Life on Stage and Screen Cover
Paris and the Musical: The City of Light on Stage and Screen (3/18/2021)

Paris and the Musical explores how the famous city has been portrayed on stage and screen, investigates why the city has been of such importance to the genre and tracks how it has developed as a trope over the 20th and 21st centuries. From global hits An American in Paris, Gigi, Les Misérables, Moulin Rouge! and The Phantom of the Opera to the less widely-known Bless the Bride, Can-Can, Irma la Douce and Marguerite, the French capital is a central character in an astounding number of Broadwa...
Paris and the Musical: The City of Light on Stage and Screen Cover



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