Broadway Bookshelf

Biographies, show books, musical scores, history, and must-read theatre books.

Browse by Category

Biographies Show Books Autobiography For Actors Musical Scores Reference Books History

Latest Broadway Books

The Way of Acting: The Theatre Writings of Tadashi Suzuki

(1993)

Widely considered the most influential contemporary theatre director in Japan, Tadashi Suzuki provides a thorough and accessible formulation of his ideas and beliefs, and insights into his training methods — the Suzuki Method of Actor Training (not to be confused with the violin training technique). His method of training actors has been taught in the United States since the early eighties. Some programs which employ this method in their training of actors include the Juilliard School, Col...

The Way of Acting: The Theatre Writings of Tadashi Suzuki Cover

AS I AM

(1988)

By age 21 the self-confident, determined, Southern-bred actress had starred in a Broadway hit, won a Tony, was "the toast of New York" and was featured on a Life coveronly the first of many triumphs in a celebrity life. In this account written "to reclaim the past that was stolen," Neal writes candidly about her numerous love affairs, both transient and profound, such as a liaison with Gary Cooper and her 25-year marriage to writer Roald Dahl. More arresting are the tragedies that beset her, in...

Don Giovanni

(1985)

Standard Italian libretto, with complete English translation. Convenient and thoroughly portable—an ideal companion for reading along with a recording or the performance itself. Introduction. List of Characters. Plot Summary.

The Technique of Acting

(1990)

Adler, among the most acclaimed actresses and teachers of acting, has written a dynamic book that is sure to become a classic. After the forward by former pupil Marlon Brando, Adler explains her technique, which is based on the methods of Stanislavskishe was a student of the famous Russian. The 12 chapters cover goals, body and speech control, imagination, action, and character; the book also includes a very useful listing of scenes from well-known plays. Adler made her stage debut in 1906 at th...

A Source Book in Theatrical History: Twenty-five centuries of stage history in more than 300 basic documents and other primary material

(1959)

A rich resource for students of theater and theater historians, this volume features an annotated collection of more than 300 unusually interesting and detailed articles. Passages by contemporary observers from ancient Greece to modern times include notes on acting, directing, make-up, costuming, stage props, machinery, scene design, and much more.

A Source Book in Theatrical History: Twenty-five centuries of stage history in more t Cover

Scenes for Young Actors

(1990)

A One-Of-A-Kind Acting Aid With Young Talent In Mind In drama classes and at auditions, young actors have continually had to resort to performing roles written for much older men and women -- roles that are often difficult for them to identify with or to fully understand. But this innovative scenebook gives younger performers the opportunity to portray characters their own age. From the classics to the finest in contemporary drama -- from Shakespeare, Shaw, and Chekov to Miller, Will...

Later Plays Of Eugene O'Neill

(1967)

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (16 October 1888 – 27 November 1953) was an American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg. His plays were among the first to include speeches in American vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society, where they...

Godspell: Vocal Selections

(1983)

13 vocal selections from the perennial favorite, including the songs: All Good Gifts * By My Side * Day by Day * Learn Your Lessons Well * O Bless the Lord, My Soul * Prepare Ye (The Way of the Lord) * and more.

The Modern Monologue: Women

(1993)

The Modern Monologue in two volumes, one for men and one for women, is an exciting selection of speeches drawn from the landmark plays of the 20th century. The great playwrights of the British, American and European theatre-- and the plays most constantly performed on stage throughout the world--are represented in this unique collection. Monologues of all types--both serious and comic, realistic and absurdist--provide a dynamic challenge for all actors: the student, the amateur and the profess...

The Harold Arlen Songbook (P/V/G Composer Collection)

(1985)

A "must-own" collection of 76 songs of Harold Arlen. Includes his major works and some previously unpublished titles. Highlights include: Come Rain or Come Shine * Get Happy * Let's Fall in Love * The Man That Got Away * Over the Rainbow * Stormy Weather * and more!

The Harold Arlen Songbook (P/V/G Composer Collection) Cover

1776: A Musical Play

(1976)

1776 The musical was produced on Broadway in 1969, running for 1,217 performances, and was made into a film of the same name in 1972. The show was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including Best Musical.

24 Favorite One Act Plays

(1963)

Two dozen classic dramas by some of the finest and most famous playwrights of the last hundred years--Anton Chekhov, Noel Coward, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller, and A.A. Milne.

Structuring Drama Work: A Handbook of Available Forms in Theatre and Drama

(1990)

A practical handbook for drama teachers and youth theatre workers. It offers a whole range of theatrical "conventions" to help initiate, focus and develop dramatic activity - whether in a workshop situation, or as part of an active exploration of texts, or within a full-scale performance.

Structuring Drama Work: A Handbook of Available Forms in Theatre and Drama Cover

Guys and Dolls: Vocal Selections

(1982)

12 vocal selections from the Broadway staple, including: Adelaide's Lament * A Bushel and a Peck * Fugue for Tinhorns * Guys and Dolls * I've Never Been in Love Before * If I Were a Bell * Luck Be a Lady * Sit down You're Rockin' the Boat * and more.

Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops

(1992)

While ample material on hit Broadway musicals is readily available, detailed critical information on musical flops has been difficult to come by. Mandelbaum's ( "A Chorus Line" and the Musicals of Michael Bennett , LJ 6/15/89) informative and entertaining survey of almost 200 musical flops from 1950 to 1990 fills the void admirably. Framed by the 1988 megaflop Carrie , which theater buffs still speak of in hushed tones, the shows are presented thematically rather than chronologically, thus bett...

Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops Cover

Jesus Christ Superstar: A Rock Opera (Vocal Selections)

(1985)

Highly acclaimed show by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Songs include: HEAVEN ON THEIR MINDS . EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT . HOSANNA . PILATE'S DREAM . I DON'T KNOW HOW TO LOVE HIM . THE LAST SUPPER ;. I ONLY WANT TO SAY (GETHSEMANE) . KING HEROD'S SONG . SUPERSTAR

Jesus Christ Superstar: A Rock Opera (Vocal Selections) Cover

Improvisation Starters

(1992)

Includes 900 situations for improvisation which use character conflict, contrasts, obstacles in solo improvisation, physical positions for one or two actors, props, the environment, and lines of dialogue.

The Ultimate Broadway Fake Book

(1993)

Over 720 songs from over 240 Broadway shows! Recently revised to include hits from Martin Guerre, Rent, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Sunset Boulevard, Victor/Victoria, and more! This is the definitive collection of Broadway music, featuring: * Song title index * Show title index * Composer and lyricist index * Synopses of each show. Song highlights include: Ain't Misbehavin' * All I Ask of You * Another Op'nin' Another Show * As Long As He Needs Me * At The Ballet * Bali Ha'i * Beauty and the Beast * Bew...

Irreverent Acting

(1992)

IRREVERENT ACTING is a CRAFT HANDBOOK offering a practical, applicable approach to acting, with very specific techniques used to create the emotional life of the character. The craftual process of "Obligation/Choice/Choice approach" is fully explained in terms of the actor's responsibilities to a piece of material whether it be a monologue, scene, play or film. This book contains 22 of Eric's 27 "choice approaches" and score of other techniques which make it possible for the actor to fulfill al...

Freeing Shakespeare's Voice: The Actor's Guide to Talking the Text

(1993)

A practical approach to breaking through the barriers of restraint and incomprehension when faced with Shakespeare. Pre-eminent voice teacher, actor and director Kristin Linklater goes beyond the techniques in her classic text, Freeing the Natural Voice, to a passionate exploration of the words of Shakespeare. Beginning with exercises designed to break long-held habits and allow the development of a visceral, Elizabethan relationship to language, she analyses Shakespeare's strategies for ...

Freeing Shakespeare's Voice: The Actor's Guide to Talking the Text Cover

Prometheus Bound and Other Plays: Prometheus Bound, The Suppliants, Seven Against Thebes, The Persian

(1961)

Aeschylus (525-456 BC) brought a new grandeur and epic sweep to the drama of classical Athens, raising it to the status of high art. In "Prometheus Bound", the defiant Titan Prometheus is brutally punished by Zeus for daring to improve the state of wretchedness and servitude in which mankind is kept. "The Suppliants" tells the story of the fifty daughters of Danaus who must flee to escape enforced marriages, while "Seven Against Thebes" shows the inexorable downfall of the last members of the c...

Prometheus Bound and Other Plays: Prometheus Bound, The Suppliants, Seven Against The Cover

The Definitive Broadway Collection

(1988)

This is simply the best and most comprehensive collection of Broadway music ever collected! 142 of the greatest show tunes compiled into one volume - this is one book that every Broadway lover must have! Songs include: Don't Cry for Me Argentina * Edelweiss * Hello, Dolly! * I Could Have Danced All Night * I Dreamed a Dream * I Know Him So Well * Lullabye of Broadway * Mack the Knife * People * Send in the Clowns * Somewhere * Summertime * Sunrise, Sunset * Tomorrow * What Kind of Fool Am I? * ...

The Definitive Broadway Collection Cover

Assasins

(1993)

Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted (successfully or otherwise) to assassinate Presidents of the United States. The music varies to reflect the popular music of the eras depicted. The musical first opened Off-Broadway in 1990, and the 2004 Broadway production won five Tony Awards.

What's It All About

(1993)

He was born Maurice Joseph Micklewehite in London's impoverished East End. And yet Michael Caine emerged as one of the world's most versatile, enduring, and beloved actors of our time. With the easy charm of a natural raconteur, Caine takes us onto the sets and into the homes of Hollywood's most talented celebrities. Candid, vibrant, and warm, here is a captivating self-portrait of a man who is at once sublimely ordinary and freshingly unique, one of the greatest actors in film today.

The Actor's scenebook: Scenes and monologues from contemporary plays

(1984)

Schulman and Mekler provide 78 new, fully playable scenes with story notes, including more monologues for men and women from today's best new plays. A diverse selection of scenes and characters to challenge the full range of readers' talents as actors.

The Actor's scenebook: Scenes and monologues from contemporary plays Cover

On Method Acting

(1989)

Practiced by such actors of stature as Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Julie Harris, Dustin Hoffman, and Ellen Burstyn (not to mention the late James Dean) the Method offers a practical application of the renowned Stanislavsky technique. On Method Acting demystifies the "mysteries" of Method acting -- breaking down the various steps into clear and simple terms, including chapters on: Sense Memory -- the most vital component of Method acting Improvisation -- without it, the most integral p...

Drafting for the Theatre

(1992)

This process-oriented text—supplemented by 280 illustrations—is structured to provide students with a proper and practical approach to the development of drafting and related skills for the theatre. Dennis Dorn and Mark Shanda emphasize the standard drafting and designing practices of the theatre industry through a series of projects and exercises that help the student in the development of research skills. The early sessions focus on the basics of lettering, tool introduction, geometric...

The Playboy of the Western World and Riders to the Sea

(1993)

Two beautifully crafted dramas set among the folk of the Aran Islands and western Irish coastlands. The Playboy of the Western World deals with its young hero’s progress, in the eyes of others, from timid weakling to paragon of bravery. Riders to the Sea is a dark elegy to the fragile existence of those who live at the mercy of the sea. Reprinted from authoritative editions, complete with Synge’s preface to The Playboy of the Western World. New introductory Note.

The Playboy of the Western World and Riders to the Sea Cover

The Right to Speak: Working with the Voice

(1993)

In The Right to Speak, renowned voice teacher Patsy Rodenburg teaches you how to meet any speaking challenge with total self-assurance. Rodenburg has trained thousands of actors, singers, media personalities, lawyers, politicians, business people, teachers and students in the art of using their voice fully and expressively without fear. She has taught them how to breathe, how to support their breath, how to stretch their voice to meet any vocal effort and how to have total confidence in whatever...

The Right to Speak: Working with the Voice Cover

The Heidi Chronicles

(1991)

The graduating seniors of a Seven Sisters college, trying to decide whether to pattern themselves after Katharine Hepburn or Emily Dickinson. Two young women besieged by the demands of mothers, lovers, and careers--not to mention a highly persistent telephone answering machine--as they struggle to have it all. A brilliant feminist art historian trying to keep her bearings and her sense of humor on the elevator ride from the radical sixties to the heartless eighties.

Voice and the Actor

(1991)

"Speaking is part of a whole: an expression of inner life." Cicely Berry has based her work on the conviction that while all is present in nature our natural instincts have been crippled from birth by many processes—by the conditioning, in fact, of a warped society. So an actor needs precise exercise and clear understanding to liberate his hidden possibilities and to learn the hard task of being true to the ‘instinct of the moment’. As her book points out with remarkable persuasiveness ‘...

Costume Designer's Handbook: A Complete Guide for Amateur and Professional Costume Designers

(1992)

Newly revised and updated, The Costume Designer's Handbook is now more comprehensive than ever and is the backbone of any costume designer's library since its original publication in 1983.

Costume Designer's Handbook: A Complete Guide for Amateur and Professional Costume De Cover

Towards a Poor Theatre

(1991)

"One of the century's most impressive theatrical manifestos" - Irving Wardle Jerzy Grotowski created the Theatre Laboratory in Opole, South-West Poland, in 1959. His work since then, with a small permanent company, became one of the most potent sources of information for modern actors and directors. This is a record of the ideas that motivated the work of the Theatre Laboratory, and of the company's methods and discoveries.In his Preface Peter Brook writes: "Grotowski is unique. Why? Because no ...

Ginger: My Story

(1992)

Winning a dance contest in Texas launched the 14-year-old Virginia Katherine McMath on her acting career and eventful personal life, episodes, emotions and dialogue from which she recreates here in exhaustive detail. Now 79, this devout Christian Scientist recalls her early vaudeville days in a determinedly upbeat tone, as well as her stage and film hits, including the 10 musicals-- Top Hat , Swing Time , etc.--in which she and Fred Astaire co-starred. Also discussed is Rogers's Oscar-winning Ki...

Creating Unforgettable Characters

(1990)

In this book, Linda Seger shows how to create strong, multidimensional characters in fiction, covering everything from research to character block. Interviews with today's top writers complete this essential volume.

No Acting Please

(1979)

No Acting Please-Beyond the Method a Revolutionary Approach to Acting and Living. Foreword by Jack Nicholson

Free to Act: An Integrated Approach to Acting

(1990)

Free to Act presents a holistic approach to actor training that integrates physical and psychological technique. Its integrated approach emphasizes the idea that the body informs the mind and that emotion is rooted in physical action. Providing a carefully developed system of training, Free to Act guides the student-actor through the complex process by which an actor is formed.

Free to Act: An Integrated Approach to Acting Cover

The Best Broadway Songs Ever

(1985)

We've made this book even better with the addition of songs from some of Broadway's latest blockbusters such as Miss Saigon, The Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love, Les Miserables, and more - over 70 songs in all! Highlights include: All I Ask of You * As Long As He Needs Me * Bess, You Is My Woman * Bewitched * Camelot * Climb Ev'ry Mountain * Comedy Tonight * Don't Cry for Me Argentina * Everything's Coming Up Roses * Getting to Know You * I Could Have Danced All Night * I Dreamed a Dream *...

Building A Character

(1989)

This is the second volume of Stanislaviski's enduring trilogy on the art of acting. The "System" which he describes is a means both of mastering the craft of acting and of stimulating the actor's individual creativeness and imagination. It has become the central force determining almost every performance we see on stage or screen, and still remains today the only comprehensive theory of acting we possess. In Building a Character Stanislavski discusses with mastery and insight the actor's physic...

The Actor's Book of Contemporary Stage Monologues

(1987)

This is the only book that offers a comprehensive collection of contemporary stage monologues for a complete range of roles. An invaluable tool for actors looking for new audition material or for anyone interested in theater.

The Actor's Book of Contemporary Stage Monologues Cover

J.B: A Play in Verse

(1989)

Based on the story of Job, this drama in verse tells the story of a twentieth-century American banker and millionaire whom God commands be stripped of his family and wealth, but who refuses to turn his back on God. J.B. won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1959 and the Tony Award for best play. More important, the play sparked a national conversation about the nature of God.

On the Technique of Acting

(1993)

In the four decades since its first publication, Michael Chekhov's To the Actor has become a standard text for students of the theater. But To the Actor is a shortened, heavily modified version of the great director/actor/teacher's original manuscript, and On the Technique of Acting is the first and only book ever to incorporate the complete text of that brilliant manuscript. Scholars and teachers of Chekhov's technique have hailed On the Technique of Acting as the clearest, most accurate presen...

The Beggar's Opera

(1987)

Written in 1728, John Gay’s opera caricatures society, marriage and Italian operatic style in this comic satire which is considered revolutionary because it took on poverty and corruption as its subject as told by the thieves, prostitutes and villains of the slums and prisons of 18th century London. The lyrics were set to famous songs the day making it hugely popular with audiences and a radical departure from traditional opera. Bertolt Brech and Kurt Weill’s The Threepenny Opera is based on...

Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present

(1988)

Performance is in some sense a combination of theater, dance, mime, concept art, music, and-today-even video; it can be simply defined as live art by artists. Goldberg discusses its origins in tribal rituals and passion plays and its twentieth-century revival by the Futurists. Surrealists, Dadaists, and Bauhaus artists.

Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present Cover

The Stage Management Handbook

(1992)

Offers advice, for both professional and amateur stage managers, on putting on a show, discussing its three phases, and includes information on the organizational structure of theaters and how to manage human behavior.

Les Miserables: Vocal / Piano Selections

(1987)

This terrific songbook features 14 vocal selections from the beloved Broadway musical: At the End of the Day * Bring Him Home * Castle on a Cloud * Do You Hear the People Sing? * Drink with Me (To Days Gone By) * Empty Chairs at Empty Tables * A Heart Full of Love * I Dreamed a Dream * In My Life * A Little Fall of Rain * Master of the House * On My Own * Stars * Who Am I?. Also includes beautiful full-color photos from the production.

Les Miserables: Vocal / Piano Selections Cover

Me: Stories of My Life

(1992)

Admired and beloved by movie audiences for over sixty years, four-time Academy Award-winner Katharine Hepburn is an American classic. Now Miss Hepburn breaks her long-kept silence about her private life in this absorbing and provocative memoir.

Theater Games for the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook

(1986)

Based on the best-selling book by Viola Spolin, this new CD-ROM of Theater Games for the Classroom offers the most comprehensive theater instruction for all types of students, from small children to young adults. It includes over 130 theater games and exercises, instructional strategies, video examples, a lesson planning section, alignment to other curricular areas, and alignment to California Theatre Arts standards. First developed by Spolin, the originator of modern improvisational theater tec...

Theater Games for the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook Cover

The Sound of Music: Vocal Selections

(1981)

11 songs: Climb Ev'ry Mountain * Do-Re-Mi * Edelweiss * I Have Confidence * The Lonely Goatherd * Maria * My Favorite Things * Sixteen Going on Seventeen * So Long, Farewell * Something Good * The Sound of Music.

The Sound of Music: Vocal Selections Cover

Sense of Direction: Some Observations on the Art of Directing

(1984)

By the founder of the famous American Conservatory Theatre (A.C.T.) in San Francisco - a candid account of his working method as a director. A Sense of Direction represents a life's work in directing. William Ball engages his audience in a wide-ranging discussion of the director's process, from first read-through to opening night. An informative, insightful, and often astonishingly clear look at the the process of making theatre.

Sense of Direction: Some Observations on the Art of Directing Cover

View all Videos

Tickets From $59

Tickets From $95

Tickets From $80

Tickets From $73