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Broadway Bookshelf

Biographies, show books, musical scores, history, and must-read theatre books.
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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... 		Theatre World 1994-1995, Vol. 51 Cover
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... 		Theatre World 1993-1994, Vol. 50 Cover
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 ... 		The Social Significance of Modern Drama Cover
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... 		Polaroid Stories Cover
The Complete Lyrics Of Lorenz Hart (1/1/1995)

This expanded edition includes an appendix of previously uncollected and newly discovered lyrics. 		The Complete Lyrics Of Lorenz Hart Cover
Musicals!: A Complete Selection Guide for Local Productions (12/2/1994)

From A . . . My Name Is Alice to The Zulu and the Zayde, this second edition of a title first published in 1984 contains information about 500 musicals (100 of which are new to this edition) available for production by community theaters and schools. Listed alphabetically by title, each entry includes date of original production, playwright, composer, lyricist, plot summary, licensing agent and music publisher, recordings and librettos available (for in-depth research by the user), and cast (num... 		Musicals!: A Complete Selection Guide for Local Productions Cover
The Story of Starlight Theatre (3/1/1992)

Starlight Theatre is a magic place where an evening of musical theatre under the stars in Kansas City's Swope Park speaks so strongly of emotion that the audience is transformed by the presence of the creative experience. This book is filled with historical photos and provides a "behind the scenes" look at the real workings of the second largest outdoor theatre in the United States. A must for theatre goers everywhere. Unlike many other art forms, live outdoor theatre is a participatory expe... 		The Story of Starlight Theatre Cover
Breathing, Movement, Exploration (2001)

Breathing, Movement, Exploration is a groundbreaking approach to how to use your body. Barbara Sellers-Young combines body mechanics and eastern and western philosophy to create a new visceral awareness of the performance process. Its simple, step-by-step structure enables the reader to learn the concepts of Laban and Stanislavski while exploring eastern ideas of breath and energy. Breathing, Movement, Exploration is a useful blueprint for how to use your body on stage. It speaks to professional... 		Breathing, Movement, Exploration Cover
A Man for All Seasons (1990)

The classic play about Sir Thomas More, the Lord chancellor who refused to compromise and was executed by Henry VIII. 		A Man for All Seasons Cover
The Norman Conquests A Trilogy of Plays (1994)

This brilliant comic trilogy details the amorous exploits of Norman, assistant librarian, whose one aim is to make the women of his life happy—these women being, as it happens, three sisters, one of them his wife, who can’t wear contact lenses because “life with Norman is full of unexpected eye movements.” Each play stands uproariously on its own yet interlocks with the others to form an ingenious Chinese puzzle of successive relations. 		The Norman Conquests A Trilogy of Plays Cover
Edward Albee: A Singular Journey (2000)

The American playwright Edward Albee's greatest glories came early in his career. When his first play, The Zoo Story, debuted in Provincetown, Mass., in 1960, he was called, as Gussow (cultural writer for the New York Times) puts it here, "our homegrown equivalent of Beckett." After his masterpiece, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was staged in 1962, Albee was heralded as the voice of his generation. Then came two decades of debilitating alcoholism and commercial and critical flops. However, his... 		Edward Albee: A Singular Journey Cover
Acting With Shakespeare: The Comedies (2000)

In this book adapted from a television master class, actress Janet Suzman has crafted a superbly concise and clearly written account of how to develop fully realized characters in Shakespeare. Here she shares her poignant observations. Includes a foreword, and great photos throughout. Also available: DVD, HL00314739 		Acting With Shakespeare: The Comedies Cover
Performer Prepares: A Guide to Song Preparation for Actors, Singers and Dancers (2000)

A Performer Prepares is a 13-part master class on how to perform on any stage from bleak rehearsal room to the Palace Theatre. The class covers the basic Broadway song numbers, from show ballad to showstopper. With precise, logical steps and dynamic and entertaining dialogues between himself and his students, David Craig takes anyone with the desire to shine from an audition to final curtain call. These lessons on the pages recreate as closely as possible the unique interpersonal dyamic of Craig... 		Performer Prepares: A Guide to Song Preparation for Actors, Singers and Dancers Cover
Lenya the Legend (1998)

Born Karoline Blamauer in Vienna in 1898, Lenya spent an impoverished childhood there before launching her career in Zurich and then Berlin, where she met and married Weill. The toast of the Berlin arts scene, Weill and Lenya left Germany in 1933 following the election of Hitler as chancellor. Weill was Jewish and an advocate of freedom of expression--his play Der Silbersee ("The Silver Lake"), which contained a caricature of Hitler, had already been banned by the authorities. The couple went to... 		Lenya the Legend Cover
Ingmar Bergman: A Life in the Theater (1992)

A revised and expanded edition highlights the developments that have occurred in the interim since the first edition with reference to Bergman's triumphant return to the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm after years of self-imposed exile. 		Ingmar Bergman: A Life in the Theater Cover
Reading Stephen Sondheim: A Collection of Critical Essays (1999)

Stephen Sondheim is arguably the most important writer for the American musical stage today, the equivalent in his field of Miller, Albee, O'Neill, and Williams. Yet he has rarely been treated seriously within the academy. Reading Stephen Sondheim: A Collection of Critical Essays is an attempt to remedy that situation. Bringing together scholars and critics from a wide variety of literary and theoretical perspectives, this book undertakes to examine all of Sondheim's major productions and themes... 		Reading Stephen Sondheim: A Collection of Critical Essays Cover
Oh What a Circus (1999)

With wit and candour, Tim Rice describes the gilded path that took him from cricket and comic-obsessed schoolboy to one of the world's best-known lyricists. Along the way he worked as a petrol pump attendant and articled clerk before becoming a management trainee at EMI. But it was his fateful meeting with Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1965 which was to be the turning-point in Tim's career. Immediate fortune didn't follow and it took the album of Jesus Christ Superstar to reach no.1 in the States befor... 		Oh What a Circus Cover
Under the Rainbow: The Real Liza Minnelli (1996)

The daughter of Judy Garland and movie director Vincente Minnelli, Liza Minnelli has endured excruciating trauma and failure and exhilarating passion and success - with the help of drugs, lovers, and a few close friends. Under the Rainbow is the touching story of a bewildered little girl searching for the childhood she never had and a love that has eluded her. There are two Lizas: the dynamic entertainer whose dramatic voice and stage presence embraced the romantic imagination of her audience; a... 		Under the Rainbow: The Real Liza Minnelli Cover
Frank Loesser: A Most Remarkable Fella (2000)

The daughter of one of America's most prolific and enduring composers turns her pen to an engaging, revealing portrait of her father, her family and the life they shared in the giant shadow that his fame cast. With the 1992 Broadway revivals of Guys and Dolls and The Most Happy Fella, Frank Loesser's music once again reverberates around the nation. Loesser was the composer, lyricist and driving force behind these classics, as well as How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Where's C... 		Frank Loesser: A Most Remarkable Fella Cover
Act One: An Autobiography (1989)

With this new edition, the classic best-selling autobiography by the late playwright Moss Hart returns to print in the thirtieth anniversary of its original publication. Issued in tandem with Kitty, the revealing autobiography of his wife, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Act One, is a landmark memoir that incluenced a generation of theatergoers, dramatists, and general book readers everywhere. The book eloquently chronicles Moss Hart's impoverished childhood in the Bronx and Brooklyn and his long, determin... 		Act One: An Autobiography Cover
The Street Where I Live (1980)

This is a highly personal biography of three great shows: My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Gigi. Warm, witty, loving, often hilarious, and poignant in its affection for a glorious era in the American theater, it is the story of what Mr. Lerner calls "the sundown of wit, eccentricity, and glamour." The author himself, try as he will to keep himself out of his pages, emerges not merely as a great talent, but as a man of laughter and love. His principals, however, are Moss Hart and Fritz Loewe, with a st... 		The Street Where I Live Cover
Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway (1995)

Lorenz Hart singlehandedly changed the craft of lyric writing. When Larry Hart first met Dick Rodgers in 1919, the commercial song lyric consisted of tired cliches and cloying Victorian sentimentality. Hart changed all that, always avoiding the obvious, aiming for the unexpected phrase that would twang the nerve or touch the heart. Endowed with both a buoyant wit and a tender, almost raw sincerity, Hart brought a poetic complexity to his art, capturing the everyday way people talk and weaving it... 		Lorenz Hart: A Poet on Broadway Cover
Cole Porter: A Biography (1979)

In 1933 Irving Berlin wrote to composer-lyricist Cole Porter, ”I am mad about Night and Day.” Millions of others throughout the world have been ”mad about” that Porter gem, as well as dozens of others, including, to name just a few, Begin the Beguine, From This Moment On, It’s De-Lovely, Just One of Those Things, Love for Sale, and My Heart Belongs to Daddy. Cole Porter (1891-1964) set new standards for popular song-writing, and his lyrics and melodies are as bright and sophisticated t... 		Cole Porter: A Biography Cover
Cole Porter (2000)

This richly told biography reveals the private and public life of one of the most important and beguiling composer/lyricists of the century -- the incomparable Cole Porter, whose songs were the essence of wit and sophistication and whose life was marked by tragedy, courage, sorrow, and secrecy. 		Cole Porter Cover
Judy Garland: Beyond the Rainbow (2000)

Morley and Leon's profusely illustrated overview of the singer-actress beloved as much for her pathetic life as for her performances has the signal virtue of acknowledging her core fandom--gay men. Garland's appeal to gay men quite possibly arose out of her love, however misplaced, for her improvident and alcoholic as well as homosexual father. One very close friend was a gay man, two of her five husbands were homosexual, and she urged her daughter Liza to marry the homosexual Peter Allen. Compl... 		Judy Garland: Beyond the Rainbow Cover
As Thousands Cheer: The Life Of Irving Berlin (1996)

A look at the life and prolific career of one of America's most successful songwriters. 		As Thousands Cheer: The Life Of Irving Berlin Cover
The Complete Phantom of the Opera (1991)

Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Phantom of the Opera has been a smash hit worldwide. Now, here is the definitive account of this theatrical masterpiece, tracing the Phantom legend from its origins in historical fact through numerous artistic incarnations to the present day. The book includes the complete libretto and many specially commissioned color photographs of the production. 		The Complete Phantom of the Opera Cover
Theatre Tales (Pre-Andrew Lloyd Webber) (2001)

It is widely believed that if you mention anything to an actor that happened more than twenty years ago, he or she will either laugh or cry. The point being that events in the show business tend to attain a larger than life quality, at least to the participants, either sadder or funnier than they would be if normal people were involved. I have earned a precarious living in various facets of the profession for nearly forty years, while observing, with wonder, these often bizarre moments. It seeme... 		Theatre Tales (Pre-Andrew Lloyd Webber) Cover
Cats: Vocal Selections (1983)

This outstanding collection features ten top songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber's beloved musical: The Ad-dressing of Cats * Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town * Gus: The Theatre Cat * Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats * The Journey to the Heavyside Layer * Memory * Mr. Mistoffelees * Old Deuteronomy * The Old Gumbie Cat * Skimbleshanks: The Railway. 		Cats: Vocal Selections Cover
Fanfare: Unauthorized Biography of Andrew Lloyd Webber (1990)

A biography of Andrew Lloyd Webber, this book looks at his bohemian upbringing, his relationships with his brother and Tim Rice and his application of classical training to the world of pop music. The author has also written "In For a Penny: the Unauthorized biography of Jeffrey Archer". 		Fanfare: Unauthorized Biography of Andrew Lloyd Webber Cover
Cats on a Chandelier: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Story (1999)

From Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to Cats and the Phantom of the Opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber aims to please. On top of being a composing genius, Lloyd Webber produces, and owns and runs his own company. Cats on a Chandelier is the complete story of this controversial man. Through personal conversation, Michael Coveney is able to bring us an intimate look into the life of a man who has perhaps changed musical theatre forever. 		Cats on a Chandelier: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Story Cover
Requiem: Vocal Score (1985)

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem is a requiem mass written in memory of the composer's father, William Lloyd Webber, who died in 1982. Many thought it a surprising turn for such a populist composer as Lloyd Webber to produce a piece of "serious" music, being his first and to date only full-blown classical work. The music mixes Lloyd Webber's melodic and pop-oriented style with more complex, sophisticated and (at times) even austere forms. Lloyd Webber himself called the Requiem "the most personal o... 		Requiem: Vocal Score Cover
Andrew Lloyd Webber: A Biography (1985)

A Biography of the great contemporary composer. Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre, and has been referred to as "the most commercially successful composer in history." Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. He has also gained a number of honours, including a knighthood in 1992 followed by a peerage from ... 		Andrew Lloyd Webber: A Biography Cover
Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber: The New Musical (2001)

"The New York Times called Stephen Sondheim "the greatest and perhaps best known artist in the American musical theater." The same paper referred to his contemporary, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, as "the most commercially successful composer in history." Whatever their individual achievements might be, it is agreed by most critics that these two colossi have dominated world musical theater for the last quarter century and hold the key to the direction the musical stage will take in the future." "Beginn... 		Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber: The New Musical Cover
Andrew Lloyd Webber Anthology (1988)

An exquisite collection of Andrew Lloyd Webber's work from eight different stage productions. Features 27 of his greatest songs, including: I Don't Know How to Love Him * Don't Cry for Me Argentina * Memory * Unexpected Song * Pie Jesu * Only You * The Phantom of the Opera * more. 		Andrew Lloyd Webber Anthology Cover
The Musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber (1995)

Andrew Lloyd Webber has become the most successful composer in the world's history, earning respect with musicals like Phantom of the Opera and Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. The author surveys the panorama of this giant of the musical theater, telling the story of his life and works by focusing on each of his musicals. 150 color and b&w photos. 		The Musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber Cover
The Essential Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection (1998)

This outstanding collection features 41 songs from his best loved productions: All I Ask of You * Any Dream Will Do * As If We Never Said Goodbye * Don't Cry for Me Argentina * I Don't Know How to Love Him * Memory * The Music of the Night * The Phantom of the Opera * Pie Jesu * Starlight Sequence * Superstar * Think of Me * Too Much in Love to Care * Unexpected Song * more. 		The Essential Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection Cover
Andrew Lloyd Webber: His Life and Works (1989)

In Andrew Lloyd Webber Michael Walsh offers a detailed biography of the composer of Evita and Cats. He chronicles the triumphs and tragedies of Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, Whistle Down the Wind, the film version of Evita, his third marriage, and the financial upheaval at The Really Useful Company, Lloyd Webber's production group. Walsh attempts to hack through the mass of Fleet Street sensationalism and get at what is really happening in the life of this talented, troubled man. The book off... 		Andrew Lloyd Webber: His Life and Works Cover
Overture and Finale: Rodgers and Hammerstein and the Creation of Their Two Greatest Hits (1999)

In this tale of the most phenomenal collaboration in Broadway history - that of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II - Overture and Finale revisits the creation of their two most beloved hits: Oklaboma!, their first show together, and The Sound of Music, their last. Full of eyewitness accounts based on interviews with people involved in the original productions, Overture and Finale makes the reader present at the creation of these Rodgers & Hammerstein hits. Among the illustrations there ar... 		Overture and Finale: Rodgers and Hammerstein and the Creation of Their Two Greatest H Cover
RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN: The Illustrated Songbook (1998)

Compiling the best Broadway hits of America's most beloved songwriting team, this beautifully illustrated gift edition brings alive the timeless music of "Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, Flower Drum Song, The Sound of Music", and more. 60 illustrations, 30 in color. 		RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN: The Illustrated Songbook Cover
The Wordsmiths: Oscar Hammerstein II and Alan Jay Lerner (1995)

Incomparable and unique in their ability to write both libretti and lyrics, Oscar Hammerstein and Alan Jay Lerner brought the musical theater to an artistic peak that remains unsurpassed. From Show Boat, Oklahoma! and The Sound of Music to Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, and Camelot, they wrote book and lyrics for one glittering gem after another, capturing the verve of the Golden Age of the musical at its peak. Their works continue to hold a preeminent place on stages around the world. Drawing on a w... 		The Wordsmiths: Oscar Hammerstein II and Alan Jay Lerner Cover
Rodgers & Hammerstein (1999)

Now in paperback, this profusely illustrated volume celebrates the legendary collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Filled with original performance photographs, set and costume designs, backstage candids, and lively anecdotes, the book covers the team's complete works including Oklahoma!, State Fair, Carousel, South Pacific, Flower Drum Song, and The Sound of Music. Ethan Mordden analyzes every one of the shows-detailing the plots, exploring the musical and lyrical ideas, an... 		Rodgers & Hammerstein Cover
South Pacific Vocal Selections (1981)

The New York Times described South Pacific, the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and nine Tonys, as "magnificent ... lively, warm, fresh and beautiful." Our deluxe revised Vocal Selections features 15 beloved songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein, a biography, plot synopsis, history of the show, and photos! Includes: Bali Ha'i * Happy Talk * Honey Bun * I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair * Some Enchanted Evening * There Is Nothin' like a Dame * A Wonderful Guy * and more 		South Pacific Vocal Selections Cover
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1981)

13 piano/vocal selections from the 1957, 1965, and 1997 television productions of Cinderella, including: Cinderella Waltz * Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful * Falling in Love with Love * Impossible * In My Own Little Corner * Stepsister's Lament * Ten Minutes Ago * and more. Extra features include a Rodgers & Hammerstein biography, plot synopsis, a history of the show, and photos from all three productions. 		Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella Cover
The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line (2000)

From its opening in 1975 until the final curtain call in 1990, the musical A Chorus Line stirred audiences with its stories of aspiring Broadway dancers. This oral history combines 300 photographs (eight pages in color), memorabilia and reminiscences by 125 cast and crew members, including costume and lighting designers, musicians, press agents, understudies and stage managers. They discuss seemingly every angle?how the show affected their lives and careers, the changes in interpretation that o... 		The Longest Line: Broadway's Most Singular Sensation: A Chorus Line Cover
What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of "A Chorus Line" (1989)

The Untold Story Behind the Making of "A Chorus Line". Photography by Martha Swope. 		What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of "A Chorus Line" Cover
The Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts' Theatrical Empire (2000)

The sons of a religious fanatic, the Shubert brothers from Syracuse—Sam, Lee, and J. J.—"seemed unlikely casting for the most ruthless titans in the history of American theatre," notes biographer Foster Hirsch. But since the turn of the century, the Shuberts and their heirs have exercised an unequaled power over Broadway and the road. Not until now has there been a complete account of their lives and the evolution of their business. During their heyday from 1905 to the crash of 1929, the Sh... 		The Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts' Theatrical Empire Cover
Sondheim & Company (1994)

Here is a lavish tribute and a candid look at the career of the much-acclaimed, much-loved Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim. Includes candid interviews with his colleagues and stars, telling of his trials, false starts and heartbreaks as well as his successes. 150 photos. 		Sondheim & Company Cover
The time of the cuckoo: A comedy in two acts (1983)

A two act play with 3 scenes in each act for 5 males and 5 females. The plot concerns an older unmarried secretary who meets an attentive man while vacationing in Venice. When she finds out he is married and has children she is torn with the moral problem of whether to partake in a short affair. 		The time of the cuckoo: A comedy in two acts Cover
Original Story By: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood (2001)

No one is going to accuse Laurents, author of such noted plays and films as Home of the Brave, Rope, West Side Story and The Way We Were, of writing a sentimental, evasive or mindlessly feel-good autobiography. In a jaunty, engrossing style, the 82-year-old discusses the highlights of his 60-year career as a writer, director and producer, the ins and outs of his love life, long-term psychoanalysis and friendships with almost everyone in Hollywood and on Broadway. Laurents is brutally honest abou... 		Original Story By: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood Cover

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