Composers, writers, directors who have written their own memoirs

[Theatrefanboy1]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 5:32pm

I’ve recently fallen into Reading a number of books written by the creators of shows and was wondering if there were any others people would recommend:

 

Andrew Lloyd Webber - Unmasked

Sondhiem- the Hat Box set

Hal Prince - a sense of occasion 

song of spiderman

James Lapine - Putting it together. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 5:47pm

Alan Jay Lerner – The Street Where I Live

Mel Brooks – All About Me!

Anais Mitchell – Working On A Song

Jerry Herman and Charles Strouse both have delightful memoirs (cowritten with Marilyn Stasio and Stephen Cole). Similarly, Mary Rodgers has one coming out posthumously that is cowritten with Jesse Green.

Harvey Fierstein's upcoming memoir

LMM's books with Jeremy McCarter about HAMILTON and IN THE HEIGHTS

 

certainly lots of others too.

Updated On: 1/21/22 at 05:47 PM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 6:14pm

As long as you've read ALW's memoir, you should get ahold of Tim Rice's side of a good chunk of that story, Oh, What a Circus: The Autobiography (1944-1978).

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 6:17pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Similarly, Mary Rodgers has one coming out posthumously that is cowritten with Jesse Green."

Is that one still coming out?! I thought it was scrapped shortly after her death.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 6:44pm

I thought Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers was dead, too, but it was announced this week that it will be released in August! There's cover art & more info here.

I'm curious to know if the Rodgers/Guettel family did any "sanitizing" of the book after Mary's death :)

https://www.amazon.com/Shy-Alarmingly-Outspoken-Memoirs-Rodgers/dp/0374298629

Updated On: 1/21/22 at 06:44 PM

[Theatrefanboy1]

Posted: 1/22/22 at 1:46pm

I had been hoping there would be some news on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s follow up from Unmasked. From phantom to present day. Though I wonder if he’s working on it and planning to release later into his career to include Cinderella and other stuff 

 

[The Other One]

Posted: 1/23/22 at 11:12am

Going back several decades, legendary directors Elia Kazan ("A Life" and Josh Logan ("My Up, Down, In and Out Life" and "Movie Stars, Real People and Me" wrote revealing and informative autobiographies.

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 1/23/22 at 12:58pm

Nicholas Hytner's memoir, Balancing Acts is a really, really fantastic read. And while not a memoir, I really loved Mark Harris's biography of Mike Nichols, which gave so much insight into the creation of his shows and films.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 1/23/22 at 9:12pm

Theatrefanboy1 said: "I had been hoping there would be some news on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s follow up from Unmasked. From phantom to present day. Though I wonder if he’s working on it and planning to release later into his career to include Cinderella and other stuff"

I believe it was implied at the time, if not outright said (I hedge this only because I recall him saying something along these lines, but can't find the quote), that he wasn't doing a follow-up because the rest of the story up to the present day is kind of filled with flops and bad blood.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 1/24/22 at 12:03pm

Also, Mary's dad, Richard Rodgers, wrote an autobiography called Musical Stages.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 1/24/22 at 12:34pm

Charles Strouse: Put on a Happy Face

Coloured Lights: it's not written by Kander and Ebb, but written where major chunks are dialogue/interviews from them, so it is basically a memoir (if memory serves correct)

Arthur Laurents: Mainly on Directing, Original Story By, and The Rest of the Story

Meredith Willson: But He Doesn't Know the Territory, I Stood There with my Piccolo

Tommy Tune (Footsteps) and Betty Comden (Off Stage) wrote memoirs although they are primarily about their personal life, and not career.

I would love a Peter Stone bio