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Broadway Bookshelf — Biography — Page 3

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

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Biography Books

Arthur Miller: American Witness (Jewish Lives)

(11/2/2022)

An original interpretation of Miller's work and his personality ... Organized around the fault lines of Miller's life–Miller's family, the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, Elia Kazan and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Marilyn Monroe, Vietnam, and the rise and fall of Miller's role as a public intellectual. Demonstrates the synergy between Arthur Miller's psychology and his plays. Concentrating largely on Miller's most prolific decades of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, Lahr ...

Arthur Miller: American Witness (Jewish Lives)

Carl Moellenberg's Story: Broadway and Spirituality as a Path to Survival

(10/1/2022)

The author's "journey of many transformations: from Midwestern boy most interested in music to a fast-paced Wall Street career; from investment banking to a 12 time Tony Award winner on Broadway; from overcoming several death-defying crises by finding healing, inspiration from a higher being, and deeper spirituality."

Carl Moellenberg's Story: Broadway and Spirituality as a Path to Survival

Stories Dad Told Me: Manny Azenberg's Adventures in Life and the Theatre

(9/1/2022)

Broadway producer sits down with his daughter to share his life's story. His childhood, service in the Army, teaching career at Duke University, and his long and illustrious career on Broadway ... a chronicle of one of the most legendary Broadway careers of our time, as well as a life well lived. 137 pages. Released September 2022.

Stories Dad Told Me: Manny Azenberg's Adventures in Life and the Theatre

Girl from the North Country (2022 edition)

(8/25/2022)

Musical that started at The Old Vic, London, in July 2017, in a production directed by Conor McPherson, and later transferred to the West End, Broadway, Australia, Ireland and toured the UK.

Girl from the North Country (2022 edition)

Go Greased Lightning!: The Amazing Authenticity of Grease

(8/17/2022)

Explores the world-famous musical's creation, evolution, musical roots, cultural context, its parallels to Hair, its film and TV versions, why it's been so wildly successful, how it's been changed over time, and lots more.

Go Greased Lightning!: The Amazing Authenticity of Grease

Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers

(8/9/2022)

The memoirs of Mary Rodgers—writer, composer, Broadway royalty, and "a woman who tried everything." Her story, with copious annotations, contradictions, and interruptions from coauthor Jesse Green.

Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers

Transforming Space Over Time: Set Design and Visual Storytelling with Broadway’s Legendary Directors

(8/1/2022)

Tells the stories of six diverse productions: five on Broadway and one Off-Broadway ... beginning with the moment he was offered each job, and taking readers through the conceptual development of the set, in collaboration with the director, the challenges of its physical creation, and the intense process of readying it for the stage. Extensive conversations with the directors of the productions ... such as James Lapine, Kenny Leon, Hal Prince, Susan Stroman, Jerry Zaks, and Stephen Sondheim.

Transforming Space Over Time: Set Design and Visual Storytelling with Broadway’s Le

Grease, Tell Me More, Tell Me More: Stories from the Broadway Phenomenon That Started It All

(6/7/2022)

How the show that started in a converted trolly barn in Chicago in the Eden Theatre February 14, 1972, short of money, short of audience, short of critical raves ... became a musical classic. Collection of memories and stories from over one hundred actors and musicians, including the creative team and crew who were part of the original Broadway production and in the many touring companies it spawned, including Barry Bostwick, John Travolta, Adrienne Barbeau, Treat Williams, Marilu Henner, Peter...

Grease, Tell Me More, Tell Me More: Stories from the Broadway Phenomenon That Started

Paul Gemignani: Life and Lessons from Broadway and Beyond

(5/15/2022)

Paul Gemignani is one of the titans of the modern musical theater industry. Serving as musical director for more than forty Broadway productions since 1971, his collaborations with Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, John Kander, Fred Ebb, Hal Prince, Michael Bennett, and Alan Menken have led to countless accolades for his collaborators, but due to the near invisible position of the musical director in the Broadway industry, Gemignani's story is often overlooked. GEMIGNANI seeks to not only ...

Paul Gemignani: Life and Lessons from Broadway and Beyond

The Letters of Oscar Hammerstein II

(5/1/2022)

Hundreds of previously unpublished letters that show off all facets of Hammerstein's many engagements and his personality: correspondence to and from major Broadway figures like Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Kern, and Josh Logan, as well as those with politicians and activists. Reveals a man who was sharp, opinionated, and funny but also cared deeply about addressing the social ills that his musicals explored beyond the stage. 1000 pages.

The Letters of Oscar Hammerstein II

On Stage with Bette Davis: Inside the Famous Flop of Miss Moffat

(4/21/2022)

Follows the story of the 1974 musical Miss Moffat (a musical adaptation of The Corn in Green), which closed during its pre-Broadway run. Dearing had a minor role in Miss Moffat and kept a journal of his observations and experiences throughout production. 75 pages.

On Stage with Bette Davis: Inside the Famous Flop of Miss Moffat

Cora Witherspoon: A Life on Stage and Screen

(4/21/2022)

Broadway and film actress Cora Witherspoon was in 35 Broadway productions from 1910 - 1946, including Daddy Long Legs, The Awful Truth, The Constant Wife, Camille, and The Front Page and many films. This biography details her upbringing and family background and discusses her struggle with substance abuse, which resulted in two highly publicized arrests and one conviction. 220 pages.

Cora Witherspoon: A Life on Stage and Screen

Facing the Music: a Broadway memoir

(3/22/2022)

From his "wildly entertaining and deeply poignant trek through the wilderness of his childhood and the edge-of-your-seat drama of a career on, in, under, and around Broadway for decades ... He reveals his struggle against the ravages of Parkinson's and triumphs repeatedly ... The extraordinary cast of characters in his life also includes John Kander, Fred Ebb, Angela Lansbury, Chita Rivera, Roger Rees, Marin Mazzie, Scott Ellis, Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, Garth Drabinsky, and Barbara Cook, am...

Facing the Music: a Broadway memoir

Sondheim in Our Time and His

(2/8/2022)

Offers a wide-ranging historical investigation of the works and career of Stephen Sondheim. Each author uncovers those aspects of biography, collaborative process, and contemporary context that impacted the creation and reception of Sondheim's musicals. Several explore in detail how Sondheim's shows have been dramatically revised and adapted over time. Multiple chapters invite the reader to rethink Sondheim's works from a distinctly contemporary critical perspective and to consider how these mu...

Sondheim in Our Time and His

Sportin' Life: John W. Bubbles, An American Classic

(1/26/2022)

Biography of groundbreaking tap dancer John W. Bubbles, who played Sportin' Life in the original production of Porgy and Bess. His life, from 1902-1986, from vaudeville to Broadway to TV, then to acclaimed performances from his wheelchair. 328 pages. Kindle Edition released earlier.

Sportin' Life: John W. Bubbles, An American Classic

The Phantom of the Opera Collection

(1/11/2022)

Fully authorized graphic novel adaptation by Cavan Scott, illustrated by José María Beroy, of the Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe original libretto.

The Phantom of the Opera Collection

Morning Sun

(12/24/2021)

Play by Simon Stephens. Currently in production at Manhattan Theatre Club. 104 pages. Kindle Edition released 11/16/21.

Morning Sun

Bette Davis Black and White

(12/22/2021)

Analyzes four of Davis’s best-known pictures— Jezebel (1938), The Little Foxes (1941), In This Our Life (1942), and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)—against the history of American race relations. Stern also weaves in memories of her own experiences as a young viewer, coming into racial consciousness watching Davis's films on television in an all-white suburb of Chicago.

Bette Davis Black and White

Charles Boyer: The French Lover

(11/23/2021)

Charles Boyer: The French Lover is the first biography of Boyer to exist in English in almost forty years. Author John Baxter artfully presents the often-tragic life of this often overlooked, yet profoundly impactful French actor. Baxter relates how Boyer (1899–1978) established himself in the theater and cinema of France, confidently transitioning from silent film to sound and making a name for himself as a romantic leading man in Hollywood through the early 1940s. During World War II, Boyer...

Charles Boyer: The French Lover

Noël Coward on (and in) Theatre

(10/26/2021)

"The book Noël Coward wanted, promised, threatened to write--and never did." Shows how Coward's opinions were as sharp and entertaining as his plays and his lyrics. Including essays, interviews, diary entries, verse showing his views on his fellow playwrights, critics, producers, acting methods, and actors. Compiled, edited, and annotated by Barry Day, Coward authority and editor of The Noel Coward Reader and The Letters of Noel Coward.

Noël Coward on (and in) Theatre

Emily Mann: Rebel Artist of the American Theater

(10/15/2021)

he story of American playwright, director, and artistic director Emily Mann ... her family life; her coming-of-age in Chicago during the exuberant, rebellious, and often violent 1960s; how sexual violence touched her personally; and how she fell in love with theater and began learning her craft at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while a student at Radcliffe ... her evolution as a professional director and playwright at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, on and off Broadway, ...

Emily Mann: Rebel Artist of the American Theater

Home Truths: A Memoir

(9/29/2021)

Memoir by Australian playwright David Williamson (The Removalists, The Club, Don's Party, Emerald City and Travelling North and fifty others). The story of the man behind the work: how a childhood defined by marital discord sparked a lifelong fascination with the power of drama to explore emotional conflict; how a mechanical engineering student became our most successful playwright; the anxiety that plagued him as he crafted his plays; the joy of connecting with an audience and the enduring sti...

Home Truths: A Memoir

Warrior: Audrey Hepburn

(9/28/2021)

Warrior: Audrey Hepburn completes the story arc of Robert Matzen's Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II. Hepburn's experiences in wartime, including the murder of family members, her survival through combat and starvation conditions, and work on behalf of the Dutch Resistance, gave her the determination to become a humanitarian for UNICEF and the fearlessness to charge into war-torn countries in the Third World on behalf of children and their mothers in desperate need. She set the standa...

Warrior: Audrey Hepburn

Dancing Past the Light

(9/14/2021)

Dancing Past the Light cinematically illuminates the glamorous and moving life story of Tanaquil “Tanny” Le Clercq (1929‒2000), one of the most celebrated ballerinas of the twentieth century, describing her brilliant stage career, her struggle with polio, and her important work as a dance teacher, coach, photographer, and writer.

Dancing Past the Light

Gilbert and Sullivan: The Great Savoy Operas ultimate collection

(9/1/2021)

Here is the story of each of G&S's greatest works—from inspiration to opening night and beyond—woven into a fascinating account of their lives, times, and rise to global celebrity. Book by Mike Lepine features many rare photos and illustrations from contemporary posters, programs, memorabilia, and merchandise. DVD has 11 complete operas, featuring Peter Allen, Joel Grey, Frankie Howard, Gillian Knight, Keith Michell, Vincent Price, and Clive Revill in The Gondoliers, HMS Pinafore, Iolanthe,...

Gilbert and Sullivan: The Great Savoy Operas ultimate collection

Center Center

(8/17/2021)

There's a mark on every stage around the world that signifies the center of its depth and width, called "center center." James Whiteside has dreamed of standing on that very mark as a principal dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre ever since he was a twelve-year-old blown away by watching the company's spring gala. The GLAMOUR. The VIRTUOSITY. The RIPPED MEN IN TIGHTS!

Center Center

Swan Dive

(7/27/2021)

In this love letter to the art of dance and the sport that has been her livelihood, NYCB’s first Asian American female soloist Georgina Pazcoguin lays bare her unfiltered story of leaving small-town Pennsylvania for New York City and training amid the unique demands of being a hybrid professional athlete/artist, all before finishing high school. She pitches us into the fascinating, whirling shoes of dancers in one of the most revered ballet companies in the world with an unapologetic sense of...

Swan Dive

My Melancholy Baby: The First Ballads of the Great American Songbook, 1902-1913

(7/15/2021)

Focuses on ten ballads to show how the style of the Great American Songbook evolved. Unveils the complicated, often-hidden origins of these enduring, pioneering works. Includes colorful stories that amplify the rising of an American folk art composed by innovators both famous and obscure. From previously underexamined sources, Garber demonstrates how these songs shaped the music industry and the lives of ordinary Americans. Famous composers like Irving Berlin and little-known figures as Maybell...

My Melancholy Baby: The First Ballads of the Great American Songbook, 1902-1913

Hirschfeld: The Biography

(7/6/2021)

The first portrait of the renowned artist's life ... through interviews with Hirschfeld himself, his friends and family, and his famous subjects, as well as through letters, scrapbooks, and home movies.

Hirschfeld: The Biography

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

(7/6/2021)

In Gary, Taylor Mac’s singular worldview intersects with William Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Set during the fall of the Roman Empire just after the blood-soaked conclusion of Shakespeare’s play, the years of bloody battles are over, the country has been stolen by madmen, and there are casualties everywhere. And two very lowly servants—Gary and Janice—are charged with cleaning up the bodies. It’s the year 400—but it feels like the end of the world.

Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

That's Entertainment: A Biography of Broadway Composer Arthur Schwartz

(6/25/2021)

First full-length biography of composer Arthur Schwartz. Covers his work on Broadway and in Hollywood with lyricists Howard Dietz, Dorothy Fields, Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Loesser, Johnny Mercer Leo Robin. Describes his creative process and includes behind-the-scenes stories of each of his major musicals

That's Entertainment: A Biography of Broadway Composer Arthur Schwartz

Blue Song: St. Louis in the Life and Work of Tennessee Williams

(6/24/2021)

While it has been written that Tennessee Williams had a dislike of St. Louis, the city where he lived the longest, Schvey reveals how the city was indispensable to Williams' formation and development both as a person and artist, and that he remained emotionally tethered to St. Louis for a host of reasons for the rest of his life.

Blue Song: St. Louis in the Life and Work of Tennessee Williams

Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero

(6/15/2021)

The story of Nick Cordero and Amanda Kloots' love and fairy-tale marriage, of the disease that quickly upended it, of the fight for Nick’s survival, of her grief and how she came to terms with his death, of keeping Nick's memory alive for Elvis and the world. Includes 16 pages of color photos exclusive to the book.Audio versions narrated by Amanda Kloots.

Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero

Blue Song: St. Louis in the Life and Work of Tennessee Williams

(6/4/2021)

While it has been written that Tennessee Williams had a dislike of St. Louis, the city where he lived the longest, Schvey reveals how the city was indispensable to Williams' formation and development both as a person and artist, and that he remained emotionally tethered to St. Louis for a host of reasons for the rest of his life.

Blue Song: St. Louis in the Life and Work of Tennessee Williams

Hirschfeld: The Biography

(4/20/2021)

The first portrait of the renowned artist's life ... through interviews with Hirschfeld himself, his friends and family, and his famous subjects, as well as through letters, scrapbooks, and home movies. [Appears to be the same book that was announced under Sarah Crichton Books in 2017, but never appeared.]336 pages.

Hirschfeld: The Biography

Broadway Goes to War: American Theater during World War II

(4/20/2021)

Analysis of how American theater actively addressed and debated timely and controversial topics during World War II, including how productions such as Watch on the Rhine (1941), The Moon is Down (1942), Tomorrow the World (1943), and A Bell for Adano (1944) encouraged public discussion of the war's impact on daily life and raised critical topics about the conflict well before other forms of popular media.

Broadway Goes to War: American Theater during World War II

The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia

(4/15/2021)

Detailed and comprehensive reference devoted to musical theater’s most prolific and admired composer and lyricist. Entries cover Sondheim's numerous collaborators—from composers and directors to designers and orchestras; key songs; major works; Sondheim’s mentoring by Oscar Hammerstein II and his early collaboration with Leonard Bernstein; profiles of the actors who originated roles and sang Sondheim's songs for the first time. Features a detailed biographical entry for Sondheim, a chrono...

The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia

Lilyville: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I've Played

(4/13/2021)

Memoir that shares the highs and lows of a remarkable career that has spanned five decades, and shares the lessons that she has learned, often the hard way, about how to live a life in the spotlight, strive for excellence, and still get along with your mother.

Lilyville: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I've Played

Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park With George

(4/13/2021)

Putting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. In 1984, James Lapine, then a fledgling playwright and director, met Stephen Sondheim, already a legendary Broadway composer, and the two decided to turn Georges Seurat’s masterwork Sunday on the Island of La Grand Jatte into a musical.

Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park With Georg

Hymn

(3/31/2021)

Two men meet at a funeral. Gil knew the deceased. Benny did not. Before long their families are close. Soon they'll be singing the same tune. Benny is a loner anchored by his wife and children. Gil longs to fulfill his potential. They develop a deep bond but as cracks appear in their fragile lives they start to realise that true courage comes in different forms. Featuring music from Gil and Benny's lives, Lolita Chakrabarti's searching, soulful new play asks what it takes to be a good fat...

Hymn

American Musicals in Context: From the American Revolution to the 21st Century

(3/31/2021)

A fresh look at history-based musicals, helping readers to understand the American story through one of the country's most celebrated art forms: the musical. Provides the synopsis, critical and audience reception, and historical context and analysis for each of 20 musicals selected for the unique and illuminating way they present America's story on the stage.

American Musicals in Context: From the American Revolution to the 21st Century

I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir

(3/1/2021)

A poignant and hilarious memoir from the cultural icon, gay rights activist, and four-time Tony Award–winning actor and playwright, revealing never-before-told stories of his personal struggles and conflict, of sex and romance, and of his fabled career.

I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir

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