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Broadway Bookshelf

Biographies, show books, musical scores, history, and must-read theatre books.
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The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television (2/1/2008)

From the silver screen to the Great White Way, small community theatres to television sets, the musical has long held a special place in America's heart and history. Now, in The Oxford Companion to the American Musical, readers who flocked to the movies to see An American in Paris or Chicago, lined up for tickets to West Side Story or Rent, or crowded around their TVs to watch Cinderella or High School Musical can finally turn to a single book for details about them all. For the first time, this...
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The Cambridge Companion to August Wilson (3/1/2007)

One of America's most powerful and original dramatists, August Wilson offered an alternative history of the twentieth century, as seen from the perspective of black Americans. He celebrated the lives of those seemingly pushed to the margins of national life, but who were simultaneously protagonists of their own drama and evidence of a vital and compelling community. Decade by decade, he told the story of a people with a distinctive history who forged their own future, aware of their roots in an...
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The World of Theatre: Tradition and Innovation (11/29/2005)

The World of Theatre is the first introduction to theatre book to truly focus on diversity and globalism, integrating coverage of multicultural, international and experimental theatre throughout. Theatre is presented as a global and multicultural form that reflects both traditional and evolving world views. While the American commercial theatre and European forms are central to the text, alternative theatres are placed side by side for comparison and contrast in each chapter, thus avoiding the s...
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Theatre and Travel: Tours of the South (3/2/2005)

Presents rare information on traveling circus, minstrel, opera, and Toby shows. This collection of essays explores an understudied but pervasive aspect of American theatre: theatre on the road, from minstrel shows and Toby shows to contemporary African American theatre, 19th-century circus rail travel, and small-town opera houses. The challenges in gathering and compiling data on these ephemeral productions, from such far-flung sources as railroad schedules and weather reports, minutes f...
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New York Then/New York Now (2/21/2005)

New York Then/New York Now—a collection of essays, memoirs, interviews, commentary, and plays—contemplates New York City’s history and future as a center for groundbreaking theatrical forms and ideas. Featuring the work of theater artists, producers, and critics, this special issue of Theater is concerned with the ideas and practicalities of making theater in and for New York within specific historical, political, and economic contexts. The first section, “New York Then,” reflects on ...
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The Complete Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan (1/1/2005)

Lovers of Gilbert and Sullivan will be in heaven with the publication of these two books, which nicely complement each other. Stedman (English, Roosevelt Univ., Chicago) offers an outstanding study of this playwright and his often overlooked works, with much of its value deriving from its study of Gilbert without Sullivan. The author is a recognized expert on Gilbert as well as the Victorian time period, and she shows him to be a complex and interesting man who often found himself at odds with ...
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The Cambridge Companion to David Mamet (1/1/2004)

This collection of specially written essays offers both student and theatregoer a guide to one of the most celebrated American dramatists working today. Readers will find the general and accessible descriptions and analyses provide the perfect introduction to Mamet's work. The volume covers the full range of Mamet's writing, including now classic plays such as American Buffalo and Glengarry Glen Ross, and his more recent work, Boston Marriage, among others, as well as his films, such as The Ver...
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Golda's Balcony: A Play (11/21/2003)

The sold out off-Broadway smash has moved to Broadway! The rise of Golda Meir from impoverished Russian schoolgirl to Prime Minister of Israel is one of the most amazing stories of the 20th century. Now her life has been transformed into a one-woman play of overwhelming power and triumph by William Gibson, author of The Miracle Worker. Golda's Balcony earned actress Tovah Feldshuh a 2003 Drama Desk award."Enlightening ... Now, hearing from someone who was there at the birth of the country, who ...
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The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama (6/25/2003)

Known through three editions as the boldest and most distinguished introduction to drama, William Worthen's pace-setting text continues to provide exciting plays usefully situated within their historical and cultural contexts.
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The Lyrics of Noel Coward (1/1/2002)

Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Don't Put your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs Worthington and over 250 more lyrics from Coward's musical masterpieces. Noel Coward is one of the greatest lyricists of the twentieth century. Songs such as A Room with a View, The Stately Homes of England, Mad Dogs and Englishmen and Mrs Worthington are known, sung and loved the world over. This edition gathers together over 250 of Coward's lyrics, arranged in chronological order and grouped by show. In addition, these masterp...
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Theatre World 1994-1995, Vol. 51 (1/1/2000)

Theatre World, the statistical and pictorial record of the Broadway and off-Broadway season, touring companies, and professional regional companies throughout the United States, has become a classic in its field. The book is complete with cast listings, replacement producers, directors, authors, composers, opening and closing dates, song titles, and much, much more. There are special sections with biographical data, obituary information, listings of annual Shakespeare festivals and major drama a...
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Theatre World 1993-1994, Vol. 50 (1/1/2000)

Theatre World, the statistical and pictorial record of the Broadway and off-Broadway season, touring companies, and professional regional companies throughout the United States, has become a classic in its field. The book is complete with cast listings, replacement producers, directors, authors, composers, opening and closing dates, song titles, and much, much more. There are special sections with biographical data, obituary information, listings of annual Shakespeare festivals and major drama a...
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The Social Significance of Modern Drama (1/1/2000)

Out of print virtually since its completion in 1914, Emma Goldman's pioneer work Social Significance in Modern Drama bridges modern drama and political philosophy, pointing out the road that remains to be travelled toward a theatre of social empowerment. Activist, feminist, philosopher and anarchist, Emma Goldman was a passionate thinker about all things modern when the 20th century was still raw and new. The emergence of her treatise on the theatre after years of obscurity is certain to arouse ...
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Polaroid Stories (1/1/1999)

Naomi Iizuka’s 1997 play, Polaroid Stories, consciously uses stories, characters and themes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses to tell the stories of street kids living on the edge in a desolate, urban landscape. Because these characters are named after Orpheus and Eurydice, and Echo and Narcissus, or based on stories of Dionysus, and Ariadne and Theseus, and because scenes are entitled “The Story of Semele” or “Theseus in the Labyrinth,” Iizuka creates a world that has two dimensions: the g...
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The Full Monty - The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Hit Broadway Musical (12/31/1969)

"Full of brilliance! It's a blockbuster and a mold-breaker. A one-of-a-kind Broadway musical. I loved it!" - Clive Barnes, The New York Post "A delightful salute to the human spirit!" - David Hinckley, The Daily News "Monty works on every level and is the kind of audience-pleaser that Broadway desperately needs." - Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
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The Show Makers: Great Directors of the American Musical Theatre (12/31/1969)

In twelve portraits, Lawrence Thelen lets us see how these creative minds work, and what it takes to make musical theatre happen.. "Backstage with Lawrence Thelen we listen as these directors talk about careers and ideas. James Lapine's early involvement with photography becomes an influence on Sunday in the Park with George; Harold Prince's early desire to be a playwright is rechanneled into directing; George C. Wolfe speaks of the ongoing involvement of black artists with musicals since the l...
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Musical Performance: A Guide to Understanding (12/31/1969)

This book unravels the complexities of playing music and reveals aspects of learning, playing and responding to music relevant to performances of all levels. A survey of performance through the ages leads to a presentation of basic historical, analytical and psychological concepts. Four chapters follow on teaching, development, practice and memorization. The next section considers the "translation" from score to sound, physical projection, ensemble playing and performance anxiety. The final sect...
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The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance, and Musical Theater (12/31/1969)

Aficionados of music, dance, opera, and musical theater will relish this volume featuring over 200 articles showcasing composers, singers, musicians, dancers, and choreographers across eras and styles. Read about Hildegard of Bingen, whose Symphonia expressed both spiritual and physical desire for the Virgin Mary, and George Frideric Handel, who not only created roles for castrati but was behind the Venetian opera's preoccupations with gender ambiguity. Discover Alban Berg's Lulu, opera's first ...
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Sondheim's Broadway Musicals (12/31/1969)

With thirteen Broadway musicals to his credit, Stephen Sondheim's career in the musical theater has outdistanced those of most of his contemporaries. Each of his shows has presented new challenges to audiences, and each has cast fresh perspectives on the nature and potential of the American musical, as well as probing deeply, often painfully, into the nature of our culture. Sondheim's Broadway Musicals is the first book to take an in-depth look at Sondheim's work. Stephen Banfield examines eac...
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How to Direct a Musical (12/31/1969)

How to Direct a Musical is a lively and practical guide to the seemingly overwhelming task of directing a musical. David Young brings to this handbook his extensive experience as a director of over 100 productions and more than 250 workshops in the US, China, Senegal and Brazil. Young takes a pragmatic, do-it-yourself approach, guiding the reader from planning to casting, rehearsal to opening night. Topics covered include script analysis, collaboration with designers, musical directors, choreogr...
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The World Of Musical Comedy (12/31/1969)

Acclaimed through three editions for its uniquely informative and entertaining style, this fourth edition of Stanley Green’s World of Musical Comedy updates and enlarges the theatrical scope to include such recent shows as A Chorus Line, Barnum, They’re Playing Our Song, and Annie. In a format that provides biographies of all the leading figures in the musical’s development, Stanley Green manages to convey the spirit of the Broadway stage, its musical make-believe, and yet remain objective...
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The Musical as Drama (12/31/1969)

Derived from the colorful traditions of vaudeville, burlesque, revue, and operetta, the musical has blossomed into America's most popular form of theater. Scott McMillin has developed a fresh aesthetic theory of this underrated art form, exploring the musical as a type of drama deserving the kind of critical and theoretical regard given to Chekhov or opera. Until recently, the musical has been considered either an "integrated" form of theater or an inferior sibling of opera. McMillin demonstrate...
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The Theatermania Guide to Musical Theater Recordings (12/31/1969)

The first ever comprehensive guide to musical theater recordings, this book covers the entire history of musical theater. From Jerome Kern and the Gershwins to Bernstein and Sondheim, here are capsule reviews and ratings of more than 1,000 theater recordings of the past 60 years. Organized alphabetically, each listing contains background information on the show, cast information, record label, catalog number, whether the recording is currently in print, and an overall rating of one to five stars...
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First Nights: Five Musical Premiers (12/31/1969)

This is a unique and extremely attractive account of the premieres of five musical masterpieces spanning from 1607 to 1913: Monteverdi's opera Orfeo, Handel's oratorio Messiah, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, and Stravinsky's ballet Le Sacre du printemps. The focus of each essay is the actual premiere, but Kelly, who teaches a course called "First Nights" at Harvard, first places each event in its broader historical and cultural setting and then proceeds to fill in ...
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The American Musical Theatre Song Encyclopedia (12/31/1969)

The first encyclopedia of theatre songs from Broadway shows ranging from The Black Crook (1866) to the 1994 Tony-Award-winning PAssion, this handy guide features over 1800 songs from over 500 musicals. It gives such information as the songs' authors, original performers, and dates and history of recordings. Each song is described and briefly analyzed, explaining how the song fit in the original production and what is notable about its music, lyrics, and presentation. Thoroughly indexed by song ...
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Sing Out, Louise!: 150 Stars of the Musical Theatre Remember 50 Years on Broadway (12/31/1969)

This ultimate Broadway insider's book is based on extensive interviews with hundreds of performers, including Lauren Bacall, Carol Channing, Barbara Cook, Nanette Fabray, Rex Harrison, Dorothy Loudon, Jerry Orbach, Tony Randall, Elaine Stritch, and Gwen Verdon, sharing personal recollections of dozens of shows. It's a backstage glimpse at the jealousy and heartbreak, the passion and commitment that have made Broadway the center of the American musical theatre for more than half a century.
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America's Musical Stage: Two Hundred Years of Musical Theatre (12/31/1969)

Mates shows the musical stage in all its guises--from burlesque to musical comedy to grand opera--from its beginnings in pre-Revolutionary America to the present day. He deals sensitively with the recurrent aesthetic question of popular versus highbrow art and also looks at critical reactions to popular theatrical forms of musical entertainment. He introduces the reader to various types of theatrical companies, the changing repertory, and the many kinds of musical performers who have animated th...
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The History of the Musical (12/31/1969)

This audiobook traces the musical from its origins in classical music through to its flowering in America; "Showboat", "Anything Goes", "Guys and Dolls", "West Side Story", "The Sound of Music" - the list is endless. It also includes over 120 musical examples to illustrate the story.
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Musical Theatre Classics (12/31/1969)

A fantastic series featuring the best songs from Broadway classics. Collections are organized by voice type and each book includes recorded piano accompaniments on CD. 13 songs, including: Falling in Love With Love * Hello, Young Lovers * Mister Snow * So in Love * In My Life * and more.
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Little Musicals for Little Theatres (12/31/1969)

With this book, the many wonderful musicals that played the small theaters and cabarets of Off Broadway are finally given the spotlight they deserve. Little Musicals for Little Theatres is a comprehensive reference guide to over 150 small musicals that any theater or school can produce with limited resources. Each entry includes writing credits, synopsis, cast size, musical numbers, production notes, and licensing information. The book also includes the few Broadway musicals that have small cas...
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Seussical the Musical: Vocal Selections (12/31/1969)

From the composer and lyricist of Ragtime, this new musical is based on the beloved Dr. Seuss characters. Titles are: All for You * Alone in the Universe * Amayzing Mayzie * Biggest Blame Fool * Havin' a Hunch * Horton Hears a Who * How Lucky You Are * It's Possible * The Military * Notice Me, Horton * Oh, the Thinks You Can Think * Solla Sollew.
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Next!: Auditioning for the Musical Theatre (12/31/1969)

A complete and concise guide for the actor auditioning for musicals.
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Theatre in the Victorian Age (12/31/1969)

This book examines all major aspects of theater practice and dramatic literature of the Victorian period. Michael Booth's comprehensive survey explores the social and cultural context of the theater including theater management, the audience, architecture and production methods, acting and the job of the actor, as well as the drama itself. Within this framework, Booth discusses such topics as the effect on theater of population growth and the spread of the railway system, the typical organizatio...
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Great Musicals of the American Theatre (12/31/1969)

Originally published in 1973 under the title Ten great musicals of the American theatre. Includes the librettos of Of thee I sing, Porgy and Bess, One touch of Venus, Brigadoon, Kiss me Kate, West Side story, Gypsy, Fiddler on the roof, 1776, and Company.
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Staging A Musical (12/31/1969)

Musicals are undoubtedly one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the theatre today. They are also one of the most complex, since they often rely for their effect upon a combination of music, drama, dance, and spectacle. This book is an easy-to-read, step-by-step guide to the whole process of putting on a musical, placing a firm emphasis on good organization and careful planning. In Staging a Musical, Matthew White describes all the elements involved in putting on a musical production, ...
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Beautiful Mornin': The Broadway Musical in the 1940s (12/31/1969)

Once again establishing that he is as impressive a nonfiction writer as he is a novelist (How Long Has This Been Going On?; Buddies), Mordden analyzes the many notable hits (and egregious flops) of the 1940s, and describes how they figured intoAand indeed establishedAthat period's importance to the Broadway musical theater. It was a decade of many milestones, chief among which was the emergence of Rodgers and Hammerstein with 1943's unlikely groundbreaker, Oklahoma ("all Broadway gaped as these...
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Red Hot & Blue: A Smithsonian Salute to the American Musical (12/31/1969)

This luxuriant coffee table book is packed with photos, posters, design sketches and drawings that accompanied American musicals from 1866 to the present. The book was published to coincide with the Washington, DC, exhibition of the same name running through July 1997 at the National Portrait Gallery, which co-created both exhibition and book with the National Museum of American History. The book has two main strengths: One, it treats the musicals of Broadway and Hollywood as part of the same p...
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Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical from Show Boat to Sondheim (12/31/1969)

Subtitled The Broadway Musical from "Show Boat" to Sondheim, Geoffrey Block's book concerns itself with the creative process that made hits out of 14 musical comedies, such as Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady, rather that just interpreting the impact of the finished projects. Block is adept at demonstrating how musical themes are used by the witty composers to tell or buttress the stories in subtle ways; there seem to be as many passages of sheet music recreated in the pages as there are photos. ...
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Music Theory for Musical Theatre (12/31/1969)

Music Theory for Musical Theatre guides the musical theatre practitioner through elements of music theory and score analysis using a workbook format and examples from musical theatre that emphasize music's value as a key contributor to the dramatic gestalt.
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Broadway for Two: 10 Musical Theatre Duets (12/31/1969)

Available for the first time in a collection, these 10 contemporary theatre duets include complete background notes about each composer, musical, song, and character featured. A valuable resource for directors planning a Broadway cabaret or review-style performance! Includes: Any Combination: Alone in the Universe (Seussical: The Musical) Male/Female: Forever Yours (Once on This Island) Love Song (Pippin) Small Talk (The Pajama Game) They Were You (The Fantasticks) Wheels of a Dream (Ragtime...
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From Assassins to West Side Story: The Director's Guide to Musical Theatre (12/31/1969)

The subtitle "director's guide" is somewhat misleading and could do this fine book a significant disservice. Although it will certainly assist directors in planning productions with greater depth and impact, it should also attract a much broader audience?actors, production staff, teachers, theater enthusiasts, and the like. Director, composer, and lyricist Miller offers a creative look at 16 musical icons, including Cabaret, Into the Woods, Les Miserables, Sweeny Todd, Gypsy, Carousel, and more...
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How to Audition for the Musical Theatre: A Step-By-Step Guide to Effective Preparation (12/31/1969)

Preparation is the key to a successful audition. Donald Oliver shares his many years of Broadway experience and will show you how to build your song portfolio, what not to sing, where to find songs, how to work with a vocal coach and what to do if you forget the lyrics. All the details of good and effective preparation are discussed in a plain and straightforward way. Also included is a list of the most overdone songs. This is a book to help the novice and aid the professional do a better and mo...
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Musicals!: Directing School and Community Theatre (12/31/1969)

Musicals! is an illustrated sourcebook for total theatre training, emphasizing the director's role in the three main building blocks for mounting a performance: preparation, production, and performance. Boland and Argentini provide a comprehensive, step-by-step theatre primer which will prove invaluable to musical directors, teachers, administrators, students, and actors. After the initial decisions are made, specific guidelines in preparing the stage picture, holding auditions and casting, and ...
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Singing in Musical Theater: The Training of Singers and Actors (12/31/1969)

What does it take to be a musical theatre performer? What kind of training is required to do eight shows a week--acting, dancing, and singing in a wide variety of vocal styles? This insider's look into the unique demands of musical theatre performance establishes connecting links between voice training for the singer and drama school training for the actor.
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Deconstructing Harold Hill: An Insider's Guide to Musical Theatre (12/31/1969)

Miller contends that Americans don't take American musicals seriously; more precisely, American directors don't. That is why, he argues, most of the most imaginative and daring recent Broadway revivals have been directed by Brits and Australians. American directors are less willing to plumb the depths of musicals and to uncover, for instance, Camelot's dark subtext or the deep structure of The Music Man. Miller strives to set things aright by analyzing Camelot, Chicago, The King and I, March of ...
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Alfred's Singer's Library Of Musical Theatre (12/31/1969)

For aspiring and professional singers who love Broadway, Alfred s Singer s Library of Musical Theatre presents an elegant collection of the best-loved musical theatre songs in their original keys, authentically transcribed from their original vocal scores. Perfect for study, and equally suitable for the most important auditions and performances, each volume is dedicated to a specific vocal range, and contains dozens of songs from a variety of shows that span decades of theatre history. Multiple ...
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Broadway Nights: A Romp of Life, Love, and Musical Theatre (12/31/1969)

"No one out there knows Broadway or can tell a story like the a-mahzing Seth Rudetsky."—Jonathan Groff, Tony-nominated actor/singer, "Spring Awakening" “BROADWAY NIGHTS literally made me laugh out LOUD. Seth Rudetsky is the funniest man I know. Period.” —Kristin Chenoweth, Tony award-winning actress “Seth Rudetsky knows every skeleton in (or out) of the closet on Broadway and his passion, joy and encyclopedic knowledge of that Magic Kingdom inform every sentence of this book. He ...
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Musical Theatre Anthology for Teens: Young Women's Edition (12/31/1969)

A three-book series of large collections of theatre and movie musical songs for teens, with no songs duplicated from the best-selling The Teen's Musical Theatre Collection. There are over 35 songs in each volume, with enough variety to keep any stage-struck teen singing for months. Songs range from the classic musicals, to Disney movies, to contemporary Broadway shows.The Young Women's Edition includes: Can You Feel the Love Tonight * Colors of the Wind * Goodnight, My Someone * I Have Confidenc...
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Encyclopedia Of The Musical Theatre (12/31/1969)

Drawing equally from Viennese operetta, Parisian cabaret, vaudeville, and Tin Pan Alley, the American musical theatre has thrived in an unprecedented variety of forms and styles as our truest hybrid art. From Show Boat and Oklahoma! to West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, and A Chorus Line, the musical has attracted our finest actors, composers, writers, directors, and choreographers. The greats and near-greats are finally brought together in this essential reference guide to over 2,000 persona...
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Writing Musical Theater (12/31/1969)

This complete guide to the modern musical covers the entire process of creating a show, from finding and working out the initial idea, through the writing of both songs and libretto, to the ways in which writers can market a finished show and get it produced. This comprehensive book, for the interested theatergoer and writers, new or experienced, is written in a lively and user-friendly style and illustrated with numerous examples, containing a how-to tutorial approach to its subject matter tha...
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