Reference Books

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.

Presents a basic understanding of this most American of art forms, the musical theatre, including a very brief history of musicals, a survey of important and well-known shows, examples of the wide and wild variety of musicals, a look at the amazing people who create musicals, and a sense of how Broadway musicals reflect and comment on our culture.

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...

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.

Written by New York Vocal Coaching founder Justin Stoney, the Award-winning book Sing Like Never Before was created to help Singers and Voice Teachers understand complex ideas and concepts while still keeping the fun and the Joy throughout the process. With its colorful artwork and entertaining style, Sing Like Never Before is making vocal technique practical and accessible for vocalists and pedagogues everywhere.

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

Book of lyrics and stories from Hadestown from its author, songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, with a foreword by Steve Earle. 272 pages.

Poetry, thoughts, and musings on communing with the unseen, expressions of love, and the nuances of desire.

With illustrations by Rachael Dean. "A is for arabesque, B is for Baryshnikov, and C is for Coppélia" in this illustrated, rhyming, alphabetic picture book, filled with ballet stars, dances, positions, and terminology

Novel by Ayad Akhtar (Disgraced). Audio versions narrated by the author.

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 ...

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.

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...

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...

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.

25 well-loved Christmas carols refashioned for the hard-core fan of Broadway musicals, in new vocal arrangements with all-new lyrics related to musical theatre – funny, serious, smartass, cynical, reverent, poignant songs that will make you laugh, that will make you think, that will remind you why you love musicals so much.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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...

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...

Examines in detail the unique vocal and nonvocal requirements for professional performance within the genre of cabaret. Includes interviews from Michael Feinstein, Ann Hampton Callaway, Roy Sander, Sidney Myer, Jeff Harner and others. Produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing and features online supplemental material, including style-specific exercises, audio and video files, on the NATS website.

This is the first book to dedicate scholarly attention to the work of Tarell Alvin McCraney (Choir Boy, Head of Passes, The Brother/Sister Plays). Featuring essays, interviews, and commentaries by scholars and artists, who consider McCraney’s innovations as a playwright, adapter, director, performer, teacher, and collaborator, bringing fresh and diverse perspectives to their observations and analyses.

An overview of British musicals that made their way to Broadway, covering their entire history up to the present day. Covers 110 British musicals, ranging from 1750 to the present day. Each London musical is discussed first as a success in England and then how it fared in America. The plots, songs, songwriters, performers, and producers for both the West End and the Broadway (or Off-Broadway) production are identified and described

The sun always comes out tomorrow for the shelter animals Bill Berloni rescues—sometimes from death’s door—and then trains to meet the demands of the stage. Berloni was a nineteen-year-old theater apprentice more then three decades ago when he was offered his first big break: find and train a dog to appear in the original production of the Broadway hit Annie. Defying the odds, he rescued a down-on-his-luck dog from a local shelter and, together, they redefined what animal performers could do. S...

Paperback version of 2018 book by Robert Shaughnessy about the National Theatre's most Shakespearean period in its history, 1963-1975, one which included Laurence Olivier's Othello and Shylock, a radical all-male As You Like It, the Berliner Ensemble's Coriolanus and Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Tells the interlinked stories of the National's relationship with Shakespeare through a series of production case studies.

Full of practical advice and guidelines for approaching not only acting but life. Highlighted by anecdotes from Mr. Wyman's long, illustrious career (sixteen Broadway shows) as well as dozens of clever, amusing cartoons by the noted Broadway actor (seventeen Broadway shows) Michael X. Martin.

David Friedman's 2017 book, now in audiobook format, with Nancy LaMott singing Friedman's "We Can Be Kind." Foreword by Lucie Arnaz. Through story, meditation and suggestions on how we can be kind not only to others, but to ourselves as well, Friedman encourages us to create new ways of building community

Chronicle of the history of Broadway through firsthand accounts from actors, directors, producers, stagehands, designers, ushers and others. Each chapter represents one Broadway theater. Volume 1 covers The Al Hirschfeld, August Wilson, Lyceum, Mark Hellinger, Marquis, Neil Simon, Richard Rodgers and Winter Garden Theatres. Free through March 27

Lyrics by Bruce Kimmel from his shows, films, TV shows, and standalone songs. Expected to ship by third week in April

Full of practical advice and guidelines for approaching not only acting but life. Highlighted by anecdotes from Mr. Wyman’s long, illustrious career (sixteen Broadway shows) as well as dozens of clever, amusing cartoons by the noted Broadway actor (seventeen Broadway shows) Michael X. Martin. 224 pages.

Illustrated by Helene Weston. A board book for moms. This irreverent board book provides laughter, reassurance, confidence, honesty, and perhaps even a moment of relaxation for expectant, new, and not-so-new moms.

Features interviews with some of the most successful theatre artists currently working on and off Broadway and beyond. The interviews explore a wide range of themes, including if and how the artists' female perspective influenced their art, the social and cultural significance of their work, and how theatre and women working in theatre can participate in awakening greater social awareness. Interview subjects include Young Jean Lee, Pam MacKinnon, Dominique Morisseau, Rachel Chavkin, and Martyna...

Kathryn Harkup turns her discerning scientific eye to the Bard and the varied and creative ways his characters die. Investigates what actual events may have inspired Shakespeare, what the accepted scientific knowledge of the time was, and how Elizabethan audiences would have responded to these death scenes. A rollercoaster of Elizabethan carnage, poison, swordplay and bloodshed, with an occasional death by bear-mauling for good measure.

Playwrights on Television features interviews with writers of award-winning stage plays and celebrated television shows reflecting on the successes and challenges of being a playwright in the post-network television era. In these conversations, eighteen dramatists consider their professional paths and creative choices, from training and education to thoughts on craft and technique, and discuss a range of issues relevant to the development of dramatic writing today. Theatergoers and TV aficio...

Second volume in series, covering the years 1996-2018. Overview of ensemble-based creation within the general historical and cultural contexts of the period, followed by a detailed study of the evolution of ensemble-based work. Contributors examine matters such as influence, funding, production and legacies, as well as the forms of collective devising and creation, while presenting close readings of the companies' most prominent works.

Covers the first decade and a half of the new millennium, guided by deep dives into eleven of the musicals that represent the astonishing variety and fearlessness of this new Golden Age, including bare, Urinetown, Sweet Smell of Success, Jerry Springer the Opera, Passing Strange, Cry-Baby, Next to Normal, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, American Idiot, Heathers, and Be More Chill.

Staging Sex lays out a comprehensive, practical solution for staging intimacy, nudity, and sexual violence. This book takes theatre practitioners step-by-step through the best practices, tools, and techniques for crafting effective theatrical intimacy. After an overview of the challenges directors face when staging theatrical intimacy, Staging Sex offers practical solutions and exercises, provides a system for establishing and discussing boundaries, and suggests efficient and effective langu...

The idea of American musical theatre conjures up images of bright lights and big city, but its lifeblood is found in local and amateur productions at schools, community theatres, summer camps, and more. In Beyond Broadway, author Stacy Wolf considers the widespread presence and persistence of musical theatre in U.S. culture, and examines it as a live, pleasurable, participatory experience of creating, watching, and listening. Why does local musical theatre flourish in America? Why do so many Am...

This updated edition of one of the bestselling and comprehensive Broadway reference books, first published in 1985, has been expanded to include many of the most important and memorable productions of American musical theater, including revivals. Arranged chronologically, beginning with musicals from just after the Civil War, each successive edition of the book has added valuable updates about trends in musical theater as well as capsule features on the most significant musicals of the day. The...

Theatre has long been considered a feminine interest for which women consistently purchase the majority of tickets, while the shows they are seeing typically are written and brought to the stage by men. Furthermore, the stories these productions tell are often about men, and the complex leading roles in these shows are written for and performed by male actors. Despite this imbalance, the feminist voice presses to be heard and has done so with more success than ever before.

Filled with detailed explanations, captivating illustrations, and entertaining trivia, this clearly written, lively, and uniquely designed book offers a comprehensive introduction to the world of the theater from the box office to backstage, and beyond. Readers enter via the front door, where the people and activities of the "front of house" can be examined. And then it's on to the behind-the-scenes magic of the "back of house" is revealed. Using the successful array of Disney's shows as exam...

Filled with detailed explanations, captivating illustrations, and entertaining trivia, this clearly written, lively, and uniquely designed book offers a comprehensive introduction to the world of the theater from the box office to backstage, and beyond. Readers enter via the front door, where the people and activities of the "front of house" can be examined. And then it's on to the behind-the-scenes magic of the "back of house" is revealed. Using the successful array of Disney's shows as exam...

A MOMENT ON THE CLOCK OF THE WORLD is an invitation to consider how we make the world, together. It collects the voices of people who respond to this invitation with their living lives and prolific work: artists, social justice practitioners, cultural critics and public intellectuals — Cornel West, Taylor Mac, Alisa Solomon, Robin D.G. Kelley and Laura Flanders among them — whose own inquiries intersected with that of the award-winning Foundry Theatre across its 25-year history.

The Routledge Companion to the Contemporary Musical is dedicated to the musical?s evolving relationship to American culture in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In the past decade-and-a-half, international scholars from an ever-widening number of disciplines and specializations have been actively contributing to the interdisciplinary field of musical theater studies. Musicals have served not only to mirror the sociopolitical, economic, and cultural tenor of the times, but have helped shap...

This updated edition of one of the bestselling and comprehensive Broadway reference books, first published in 1985, has been expanded to include many of the most important and memorable productions of American musical theater, including revivals. Arranged chronologically, beginning with musicals from just after the Civil War, each successive edition of the book has added valuable updates about trends in musical theater as well as capsule features on the most significant musicals of the day. The...