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Broadway Bookshelf

Biographies, show books, musical scores, history, and must-read theatre books.
Biographies Show Books Autobiography For Actors Musical Scores Reference Books History

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2000)

"Mr. Sondheim fearlessly explores psychic caverns where civilized people are not dying to go ... A naked Sweeney Todd stands revealed as a musical of naked rage, chewing up everyone in its path as it spits out blood and tears." - Frank Rich, The New York Times ¥ "A work of such scope and such daring that it dwarfs every other Broadway musical that even attempts to invite comparison." - Rex Reed, New York Daily News
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street  Cover
Sunday in the Park with George (2000)

Winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize! "Sunday is itself a modernist creation, perhaps the first truly modernist work of musical theatre that Broadway has produced ... a watershed event that demands nothing less than a retrospective, even revisionist, look at the development of the serious Broadway musical."- Frank Rich, The New York Times Magazine
Sunday in the Park with George Cover
A Little Night Music: Libretto (2000)

"Throwing caution to the winds, I assert that A Little Night Music comes as close as possible to being the perfect romantic comedy musical." -Brendan Gill, The New Yorker "Heady, civilized, sophisticated and enchanting. Good God! An adult musical." -Clive Barnes, The New York Times
A Little Night Music: Libretto Cover
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (2000)

Book by Burt Shevelove and Larry GelbartIntroduction by Larry Gelbart"This brazenly retro Broadway musical, inspired by Plautus, is as timeless as comedy itself." - Vincent Canby, The New York Times * "The most urbane and literate musical comedy text ever conceived." - John Simon, New York Magazine
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Cover
The Great Movie Musical Trivia Book (2000)

"If you're a fan of the celluloid musical, get ready - you are about to have one terrific time." - Shirley Jones * "It's here. The perfect gift for anyone who likes a good movie musical ... This is complete coverage: from stats through awards, to fun dirt on ten of everyone's favorite movies. It grabs you and you can't quit nibbling." - 4-Front * "Kurtti challenges even the most astute music fan." - Edge. Includes more than 100 photos!
The Great Movie Musical Trivia Book Cover
The Fantasticks: The Complete Illustrated Text Plus the Official Fantasticks Scrapbook and History of the Musical (2000)

"Richly illustrated, it is ideal for fans of the show, as well as admirers of musical theatre." - Variety * "Anybody who has seen the show (who hasn't?) should read the book" - Entertainment Today * "The perfect present for any Fantasticks fans." - Cleveland Plain Dealer * "A valuable resource. Recommended for all collections." - Choice
The Fantasticks: The Complete Illustrated Text Plus the Official Fantasticks Scrapboo Cover
The Musical: A Look at the American Musical Theater (2000)

This revised and expanded edition of Kislan's acclaimed study of America's musical theater includes a new section on "Recent Musical Theater: Issues and Problems." "The ancient union of drama and song, known as musical theater, comes in many forms - vaudeville, burlesque, comic opera, minstrels, etc. The author reviews these and other highlights of American musicals ... with a fascinating background on the elements that contribute to the success of a Showboat." - King Features * "Worth study by ...
The Musical: A Look at the American Musical Theater  Cover
A Chorus Line: The Complete Book of the Musical (2000)

It is hard to believe that over 25 years have passed since A Chorus Line first electrified a New York audience. The memories of the showÕs birth in 1975, not to mention those of its 15-year-life and poignant death, remain incandescent - and not just because nothing so exciting has happened to the American musical since. For a generation of theater people and theatergoers, A Chorus Line was and is the touchstone that defines the glittering promise, more often realized in lengend than in reality,...
A Chorus Line: The Complete Book of the Musical Cover
Four by Sondheim (2000)

The complete book and lyrics with set and costume designs, production photos, essays, cast lists and credits, awards for major productions, selected discographies, and much more! Includes the shows A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. A richly illustrated Sondheim treasury!
Four by Sondheim  Cover
Backstage Handbook: An Illustrated Almanac of Technical Information (1994)

First published in 1988, Backstage Handbook is one of the most widely used stagecraft textbooks in the United States, with about 10,000 copies sold every year. This handy reference book brings together under one cover an incredible variety of information useful to designers, technicians and students who work behind the scenes in theatre, film and television. Its sturdy leatherette binding will stand up to years of constant use. The third edition updates this popular reference book with new...
Backstage Handbook: An Illustrated Almanac of Technical Information Cover
An Actor Prepares (1989)

Stanislavski's simple exercises fire the imagination, and help readers not only discover their own conception of reality but how to reproduce it as well.
An Actor Prepares Cover
A Practical Handbook for the Actor (1986)

6 working actors describe their methods and philosophies of the theater. All have worked with playwright David Mamet at the Goodman Theater in Chicago.
A Practical Handbook for the Actor Cover
Living Theater: A History (1994)

An updated and expanded edition of Wilson and Goldfarb's Living Theater: A History. The authors combine an engaging narrative style with impeccable scholarship to present the history of theater from ancient Greece to Rome to the present day. Rather than resorting to dry, encyclopedic coverage, Wilson and Goldfarb demonstrate the liveliness, vitality, and distinctiveness of theater as it has unfolded through the ages. Along the way the authors emphasize the constantly changing nature of theater a...
Living Theater: A History  Cover
Audition (1979)

Michael Shurtleff has been casting director for Broadway shows like Chicago and Becket and for films like The Graduate and Jesus Christ Superstar. His legendary course on auditioning has launched hundreds of successful careers. Now in this book he tells the all-important HOW for all aspiring actors, from the beginning student of acting to the proven talent trying out for that chance-in-a-million role!
Audition Cover
Backwards & Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays (1983)

This guide to playreading for students and practitioners of both theater and literature complements, rather then contradicts or repeats, traditional methods of literary analysis of scripts. Ball developed his method during his work as Literary Director at the Guthrie Theater, building his guide on the crafts playwrights of every period and style use to make their plays stageworthy. The text is full of tools for students and practitioners to use as they investigate plot, character, theme, expo...
Backwards & Forwards: A Technical Manual for Reading Plays Cover
No Exit and Three Other Plays (1989)

4 plays about an existential portrayal of Hell, the reworking of the Electra-Orestes story, the conflict of a young intellectual torn between theory and conflict and an arresting attack on American racism.
No Exit and Three Other Plays Cover
Here We Go Again: My Life in Television (1997)

Her late husband, Allen Ludden, once remarked that White had been one of the pioneers in silent television. That is just barely an exaggeration, because she got her start in Hollywood on Television in 1949 and has not been off the tube for any length of time for the past 46 years. Best known for her roles as Sue Ann on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and as the terminally naive Rose on The Golden Girls, she has had four Betty White Shows, starting in 1950, as well as a show close to her animal-lover's...
Here We Go Again: My Life in Television Cover
Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied with String (1999)

This is the long-awaited autobiography of one of Britain's best-loved and most internationally successful actors. By turns funny, charming, and poignant, here is Michael Crawford's vivid account of his war-torn childhood of a loving mother, violent stepfather, and the painfully revealed truth about his absent father. His early memories include being taught to sing by the great composer Benjamin Britten, and later, when he entered show business, his friendships with David Hemmings, John Lennon, ...
Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied with String Cover

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