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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
Booze Over Broadway: 50 Cocktails for Theatre Lovers (11/2/2021)

Recipes include Hello, Daquiri!, The Best Little Whiskey Sour in Texas, Don't Cry for Me, Appletini, I Don't Know How to Love Gin, Bloody, Bloody, Mary Jackson, Once on this (Long) Island Iced Tea, Brandy Alexander Hamilton, If I Were a Rich Man(hattan), and more.
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Making Broadway Dance (11/1/2021)

Examines choreography for musical theatre through the lens of dance studies, script analysis, movement research and dramaturgical inquiry ... the choreographic systems of some of Broadway's most influential dance-makers including George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Katherine Dunham, Bob Fosse, Savion Glover, Sergio Trujillo, Steven Hoggett and Camille Brown. 232 pages.
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When the Lights Are Bright Again: Letters and images of loss, hope, and resilience from the theater community (11/1/2021)

Immortalizes the stories, struggles, and successes of an industry that was the first to be shut down and one of the last to return. Weaves more than 200 letters from Broadway theater veterans, devout theatergoers, teenage dreamers aching for their day in the spotlight, long-time ushers, designers, creatives, and countless other arts workers with a brand-new, breathtaking photo series by Broadway photographer Matthew Murphy. For every copy purchased, a portion of the profits will directly benef...
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Noël Coward on (and in) Theatre (10/26/2021)

"The book Noël Coward wanted, promised, threatened to write--and never did." Shows how Coward's opinions were as sharp and entertaining as his plays and his lyrics. Including essays, interviews, diary entries, verse showing his views on his fellow playwrights, critics, producers, acting methods, and actors. Compiled, edited, and annotated by Barry Day, Coward authority and editor of The Noel Coward Reader and The Letters of Noel Coward.
Noël Coward on (and in) Theatre Cover
Affair of the Heart: British Theatre from 1992 to 2020 (10/21/2021)

Selected theatre reviews from 1992 to 2020 ... starting each chapter is a brief commentary on the developments of that era and the social, political and cultural context within which this theatre was being produced. Also included are key obituaries and letters in response to reviews written.
Affair of the Heart: British Theatre from 1992 to 2020 Cover
Emily Mann: Rebel Artist of the American Theater (10/15/2021)

he story of American playwright, director, and artistic director Emily Mann ... her family life; her coming-of-age in Chicago during the exuberant, rebellious, and often violent 1960s; how sexual violence touched her personally; and how she fell in love with theater and began learning her craft at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while a student at Radcliffe ... her evolution as a professional director and playwright at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, on and off Broadway, ...
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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.
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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
Smile: The Story of a Face (10/5/2021)

With a play opening on Broadway, and every reason to smile, Sarah Ruhl has just survived a high-risk pregnancy when she discovers the left side of her face is completely paralyzed. She is assured that 90 percent of Bell’s palsy patients see spontaneous improvement and experience a full recovery. Like Ruhl’s own mother. But Sarah is in the unlucky ten percent. And for a woman, wife, mother, and artist working in theater, the paralysis and the disconnect between the interior and exterior brings s...
Smile: The Story of a Face 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
A History of the Theatre Costume Business: Creators of Character (9/30/2021)

Comprehensive book on the subject, as related by award-winning actors and designers, and firsthand by the drapers, tailors, and craftspeople who make the clothes that dazzle on stage. ".. shows that there is as much drama behind the scenes as there is in the performance: famous actors relate their intimate experiences in the fitting room, the glories of gorgeous costumes, and the mortification when things go wrong, while the costume makers explain how famous shows were created with toil, tears,...
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Home Truths: A Memoir (9/29/2021)

Memoir by Australian playwright David Williamson (The Removalists, The Club, Don's Party, Emerald City and Travelling North and fifty others). The story of the man behind the work: how a childhood defined by marital discord sparked a lifelong fascination with the power of drama to explore emotional conflict; how a mechanical engineering student became our most successful playwright; the anxiety that plagued him as he crafted his plays; the joy of connecting with an audience and the enduring sti...
Home Truths: A Memoir Cover
Warrior: Audrey Hepburn (9/28/2021)

Warrior: Audrey Hepburn completes the story arc of Robert Matzen's Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II. Hepburn's experiences in wartime, including the murder of family members, her survival through combat and starvation conditions, and work on behalf of the Dutch Resistance, gave her the determination to become a humanitarian for UNICEF and the fearlessness to charge into war-torn countries in the Third World on behalf of children and their mothers in desperate need. She set the standa...
Warrior: Audrey Hepburn Cover
Your Legacy: A Bold Reclaiming of Our Enslaved History (9/28/2021)

Beginning in Africa before 1619, Your Legacy presents an unprecedentedly accessible, empowering, and proud introduction to African American history for children. While your ancestors’ freedom was taken from them, their spirit was not; this book celebrates their accomplishments, acknowledges their sacrifices, and defines how they are remembered—and how their stories should be taught.
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Remember to Dream, Ebere (9/28/2021)

When Ebere's mother puts her to bed at night, she always says, "Remember to dream, Ebere." And dream, Ebere does! Encouraged by her mother to make her dreams as big as possible, Ebere imagines herself as the captain of a rocket ship with the ability to go anywhere in the universe.
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Photograph 51 (9/23/2021)

Rosalind Franklin was a gifted research scientist who was part of the race to uncover the secrets of DNA in the 1950’s. Her more famous contemporaries Watson and Krick took all the kudos for the discovery of the molecule’s double helix structure – yet it was Franklin’s skill with X-ray diffraction that first uncovered what’s called “the secret of life”.
Photograph 51 Cover
Dance or Die (9/21/2021)

DANCE OR DIE is an autobiographical coming-of-age account of young refugee, Ahmad Joudeh, who grows up in Damascus with dreams of becoming a dancer. Neither bombs nor family opposition keep him from taking classes, practicing hard, and ultimately becoming a Middle Eastern celebrity after success on a Lebanese reality show. But ISIS threatens him with death if he continues dancing, his father kicks him out of the house, and the war around him intensifies. Recruited by one of Syria’s top dance co...
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Dancing Past the Light (9/14/2021)

Dancing Past the Light cinematically illuminates the glamorous and moving life story of Tanaquil “Tanny” Le Clercq (1929‒2000), one of the most celebrated ballerinas of the twentieth century, describing her brilliant stage career, her struggle with polio, and her important work as a dance teacher, coach, photographer, and writer.
Dancing Past the Light Cover
Balanchine’s Apprentice (9/14/2021)

In this long-awaited memoir, dancer and choreographer John Clifford offers a highly personal look inside the day-to-day operations of the New York City Ballet and its creative mastermind, George Balanchine. Balanchine’s Apprentice is the story of Clifford―an exceptionally talented artist―and the guiding inspiration for his life’s work in dance.
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Undiminished Glamour: The Musical Theatre Life of Stephanie Lawrence (9/13/2021)

Biography of the late West End actress Stephanie Lawrence (Evita, Marilyn! The Musical, Starlight Express).
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A Streetcar Named Desire (9/7/2021)

Play by Tennessee Williams in 2020 Williamstown Theatre Festival production. Joel Reuben Ganz, Joe Goldammer, Carla Gugino, Carmen M. Herlihy, Sullivan Jones, Brian Lucas, Audra McDonald, Stacey Raymond, Cesar J. Rosado, Ariel Shafir. Directed by Robert O’Hara.
A Streetcar Named Desire Cover
Animals (9/7/2021)

Williamstown Theatre Festival world premiere production of Stacy Osei-Kuffour play. Directed by Whitney White. Madeline Brewer, Jason Butler Harner, William Jackson Harper, Aja Naomi King. Previously released as Audible Audiobook.
Animals Cover
Shakespearean (9/7/2021)

When Robert McCrum began his recovery from a life-changing stroke, described in My Year Off, he discovered that the only words that made sense to him were snatches of Shakespeare. Unable to travel or move as he used to, McCrum found the First Folio became his ‘book of life’, an endless source of inspiration through which he could embark on ‘journeys of the mind’, and see a reflection of our own disrupted times.
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Confessions of an Actress: From Chorus Girl to Broadway Star (9/1/2021)

Meredith Patterson (42nd Street, White Christmas) takes you through intimate, personal, joyous and often painful stories of her rise to Broadway ... whatever it took to support herself while battling self doubt, cut-throat competition while trying to stay as human as possible in an often-vicious industry. It is the story of her rise to Broadway, but also how tragedy made her come back down to earth and place her life's work.
Confessions of an Actress: From Chorus Girl to Broadway Star Cover
Pick a Pocket Or Two: A History of British Musical Theatre (9/1/2021)

The full history of the British musical, from The Beggar's Opera (1728) to the present, with an interest in isolating the unique qualities of the form and its influence on the American model. Covers not only the shows and their authors but the personalities as well.
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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
Barber Shop Chronicles (8/30/2021)

Barber Shop Chronicles is a generously funny, heart-warming and insightful new play set in five African cities, Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos, Accra, and in London. Inspired in part by the story of a Leeds barber, the play invites the audience into a unique environment where the banter may be barbed, but the truth always telling. The barbers of these tales are sages, role models and father figures who keep the men together and the stories alive.
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Center Center (8/17/2021)

There's a mark on every stage around the world that signifies the center of its depth and width, called "center center." James Whiteside has dreamed of standing on that very mark as a principal dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre ever since he was a twelve-year-old blown away by watching the company's spring gala. The GLAMOUR. The VIRTUOSITY. The RIPPED MEN IN TIGHTS!
Center Center Cover
The Art of VIVO (8/17/2021)

Official behind–the–scenes companion book to VIVO, the first-ever musical from Sony Pictures Animation. (Vivo will be directed by Kirk DeMicco and co-directed by Brandon Jeffords, from a screenplay by Quiara Alegría Hudes and DeMicco, and a story based on the original idea by Peter Barsocchini, with songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who voices the title character. With the voices of Ynairaly Simo, Zoe Saldana, Juan de Marcos González, Michael Rooker, Brian Tyree Henry, Nicole Byer, and Glori...
The Art of VIVO Cover
A History of Cleveland's Playhouse Square (8/16/2021)

Part of "Landmarks" series.
A History of Cleveland's Playhouse Square Cover
Perspectives on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (8/12/2021)

With an off-putting title and a decidedly retrograde premise, the CW dramedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a surprising choice for critical analysis. But, loyal viewers quickly came to appreciate the show’s sharp cultural critique through masterful parody, and this strategy has made it a critical darling and earned it several awards throughout its run. In ways not often seen on traditional network television, the show transcends conventional genre boundaries—the Hollywood musical, the romantic comedy,...
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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
The Marvellous Adventures of Mary Seacole (8/3/2021)

Mary Seacole was a medical practitioner from Jamaica whose fame rivalled Florence Nightingale's during the Crimean War. Her offer to volunteer as a military nurse was refused, but Seacole travelled to the Crimea nevertheless, where she tended the wounded both on the battlefront and at the 'British Hotel'. In this acclaimed one-woman play, the true story of Mary Seacole is brought vibrantly to life, revealing how this fearless medical practitioner used traditional remedies to treat the sick and ...
The Marvellous Adventures of Mary Seacole 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
Swan Dive (7/27/2021)

In this love letter to the art of dance and the sport that has been her livelihood, NYCB’s first Asian American female soloist Georgina Pazcoguin lays bare her unfiltered story of leaving small-town Pennsylvania for New York City and training amid the unique demands of being a hybrid professional athlete/artist, all before finishing high school. She pitches us into the fascinating, whirling shoes of dancers in one of the most revered ballet companies in the world with an unapologetic sense of h...
Swan Dive Cover
Breaking It Down: Audition Techniques for Actors of the Global Majority (7/15/2021)

A practical guide that shows BIPOC actors how to break down the audition process rather than being broken down by the entertainment industry and its practices of exclusion and bias.
Breaking It Down: Audition Techniques for Actors of the Global Majority Cover
My Melancholy Baby: The First Ballads of the Great American Songbook, 1902-1913 (7/15/2021)

Focuses on ten ballads to show how the style of the Great American Songbook evolved. Unveils the complicated, often-hidden origins of these enduring, pioneering works. Includes colorful stories that amplify the rising of an American folk art composed by innovators both famous and obscure. From previously underexamined sources, Garber demonstrates how these songs shaped the music industry and the lives of ordinary Americans. Famous composers like Irving Berlin and little-known figures as Maybell...
My Melancholy Baby: The First Ballads of the Great American Songbook, 1902-1913 Cover
Hirschfeld: The Biography (7/6/2021)

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.
Hirschfeld: The Biography 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
American Vaudeville (7/1/2021)

At the heart of American Vaudeville is one strange, unsettling fact: for nearly fifty years, from the late nineteenth century to the 1930s, vaudeville was everywhere—then, suddenly, it was nowhere. This book tells the story of what was once the most popular form of entertainment in the country using lists, creation myths, thumbnail biographies, dreams, and obituaries. A lyric history—part social history, part song—American Vaudeville sits at the nexus between poetry, experimental nonfiction, an...
American Vaudeville Cover
An Illustrated History of British Theatre and Performance (6/30/2021)

Paperback version of Robert Leach's 2019 hardcover book. Chronicles the history and development of theatre from the Roman era to the present day, restoring to the foreground of this evolution the contributions of women, gay people, and ethnic minorities, as well as the regional theatres of Wales and Scotland. Highly-illustrated chapters trace the development of theatre through major plays from each period; evaluations of playwrights; contemporary dramatic theory; acting and acting companies; da...
An Illustrated History of British Theatre and Performance 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
In My Own Footsteps - A Memoir (6/21/2021)

In My Own Footsteps - A Memoir Cover



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