Broadway Bookshelf — For Actors — Page 7

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

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For Actors Books

Gypsy

(1994)

Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, ...

The Shamrock Road

(1998)

Play script. A charming original story of the Irish "travelling people" set In Ireland In the late 1800's. It combines adventure, musical comedy, puppetry and dance. Open stage and set props. Period costumes. Cast of 4 women, 5 men and choruses (few or many) of leprechaun, gypsies and tinkers. Piano/vocal score available from the publisher, Anchorage Press Plays. Teenager Jimmy, his younger sister and their widowed mother travel the Irish fairs vending their wares. Disaster strikes when thei...

Musical!: A Grand Tour

(1997)

Many histories of Broadway musicals are on the shelves, most of them taking the predictable path of chronological order, or by composer. Denny Martin Flynn's history follows a rough chronology, but instead examines the development of musicals in chapters divided by dominant personality ("Jerome Robbins and Oklahoma!"), by discipline ("Lyrics," "Bookwriters"), or by genre ("Revues," "The Rock Musical"). Though oddly apocalyptic toward the end, given the recent vitality of musicals, the book offer...

Lady in the Dark: Biography of a Musical

(2009)

When Lady in the Dark opened on January 23, 1941, its many firsts immediately distinguished it as a new and unusual work. The curious directive to playwright Moss Hart to complete a play about psychoanalysis came from his own Freudian psychiatrist. For the first time since his brother George's death, Ira Gershwin returned to writing lyrics for the theater. And for emigre composer Kurt Weill, it was a crack at an opulent first-class production. Together Hart, Gershwin, and Weill (with a little he...

Lady in the Dark: Biography of a Musical

J. Massenet, itineraires pour un theatre musical

(1996)

itineraires pour un theatre musical: Essai (Serie "Musique") (French Edition)

J. Massenet, itineraires pour un theatre musical

Unfinished Show Business: Broadway Musicals as Works-in-Process

(2005)

In this fresh approach to musical theatre history, Bruce Kirle challenges the commonly understood trajectory of the genre. Drawing on the notion that the world of the author stays fixed while the world of the audience is ever-changing, Kirle suggests that musicals are open, fluid products of the particular cultural moment in which they are performed. Incomplete as printed texts and scores, musicals take on unpredictable lives of their own in the complex transformation from page to stage. ...

Unfinished Show Business: Broadway Musicals as Works-in-Process

Place for Us: Essay on the Broadway Musical

(2000)

Everybody "knows" that gay men love show tunes; as D.A. Miller writes in one self-mockingly academic passage of Place for Us, the original cast albums "were used, scholars now believe, in a puberty rite that, though it was conducted by single individuals in secrecy and shame, was nonetheless so widely diffused as to remain, for several generations, as practically normative for gay men and it was almost unknown for straight ones." Miller's elaborate pondering of the intersection of homosexuality ...

Place for Us: Essay on the Broadway Musical

The Cycle Path - A Stage Musical

(2007)

The remarkable story of a woman who suffers from and overcomes Conversion Syndrome Disorder (CSD), a rare, crippling and extremely frightening condition which causes physical paralysis bought on by anxiety. This real life story describes how Fiona experienced domestic abuse, family problems and how she managed somehow to overcome all this not knowing for years what her illness was. She is now a successful journalist and activist. The Cycle Path is an admirable story of hope and empowerment and ...

Successful Singing Auditions

(2002)

In this hands-on guide to auditioning for musical theatre, Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher draw on their extensive experience in voice training and auditioning to create a complete guide for the singer. Practical and direct, they address the kinds of shows for which a singer might audition, including the concept musical, the classic book musical and the sketch musical. They answer vital questions - what to bring to an audition, hot to think about your voice, and how to choose the right selecti...

Blue - The Musical

(2008)

For her second book with Chipmunka Rosealine Allen presents this is unusual musical script. 'Blue' poses an interesting theme, spread over several decades, starting from the mid 1960s this unique play documents the highs and lows of some of Britain's first black immigrants. Some will agree it is an accurate representation of the lives of certain members of the black community. What will you think?

Performing in Musicals

(1988)

Here is a basic acting textbook written especially for singers, actors, and dancers who want to work in musical theater but have little or no experience in the area. 'Performing in Musicals' provides novice performers with the information they need to audition, prepare a role, rehearse, and play the part. Taking a practical, systematic approach, Elaine Novak discusses virtually every aspect of musical theater: its history and development, basic elements (book, lyrics, score, and dances), pr...

A Talmud Tale: A Musical

(2010)

Award-winning Talmud teacher Judith Abrams brings her love of Jewish tradition to the musical stage in this new musical drama. Rachel's bat mitzvah is nearing, and fights with her mother are heating up. Will the ceremony marking Rachel's coming of age instead tear apart her family? Assistance comes from an unlikely source: a friendly time-traveling angel who transports Rachel nearly 2,000 years to the ancient world of Talmudic Israel. There, a classic story of love and parental disapproval play...

Approaches To The American Musical

(1996)

Most books on the American musical are little more than exercises in nostalgia. The specially commissioned essays that make up Approaches to the American Musical take a different view of the form. Going beyond the common assertion that musicals are simply escapist, these examinations of American stage and film musicals argue that Porgy and Bess, Top Hat, Kiss Me Kate and All That Jazz were popular precisely because they engaged with such important American issues as ethnicity, commerce and inter...

Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Musical Theatre

(2006)

Did you know that the idea behind the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes was first tried out in Toronto? That Canada produced the world's longest-running annual revue? Few people realize the Canadian influences that are at the heart of American and British culture. Author Mel Atkey's research for Broadway North included interviews with Norman and Elaine Campbell and Don Harron, creators of Anne of Green Gables-The Musical; Mavor Moore, founder of the Charlottetown Festival and of Spring Thaw; J...

Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Musical Theatre

Broadway's memorable melodies

(1995)

A directory of the popular songs from the musical theatre

Opening Night on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Golden Era of the Musical Theatre, Oklahoma!

(1993)

A critical quotebook of the Golden Era of the Musical Theatre, from Oklahoma! (1943) to Fiddler on the Roof (1964). Suskin combines the glitter and excitement of nearly 300 Broadway premieres with the expert commentary of a true show business insider. Includes a Broadway scorecard. Photos.

Opening Night on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Golden Era of the Musical Thea

Oklahoma!: The Making of an American Musical

(2007)

The first collaboration of famed music-and-lyrics team Rodgers and Hammerstein, Oklahoma! still has "more than six hundred productions per year," but, according to University of North Carolina music department chair Carter, the musical has never received a "scholarly" treatment. This meticulously researched, soundly reported tome covers much of the same territory as Max Wilk's 1993 title, OK! The Story of Oklahoma!, but instead of calling on the testimony of cast and crew, Carter delves into the...

Oklahoma!: The Making of an American Musical

Love & Science

(1993)

Richard Foreman founded the Ontological-Hysteric theatre in 1968. The theatre is currently in the historic St. Marks Church, where he rehearses and produced one of his new plays each year, each play performing for 16 weeks every winter.

Jackson Pollock the Musical

(2007)

Driven genius, misunderstood drunk, the most influential, elusive and provocative artist of the modern world? Jackson Pollock the Musical is a tragi-comic, imaginary musical journey to discover the nature of the greatest American painter of the 20th Century, his death by car crash and his continuation in the Underworld. With eighteen original songs - ranging through traditional spiritual, folk, bebop, swing, music hall, free jazz, concrete and early electronic/experimental audio - Jackson Pollo...

Uncle Tom's Cabin

(1994)

Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman. Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century, and the second best-selling book of that century, following the Bible. It is credited with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. In the first year after it was published, 300,000 copies of the book were sold ...

Showdown at Dry Gulch: A Musical Based on Elijah

(2001)

This children's non-seasonal musical uses the story of Elijah as found in 1 Kings 17-18 to teach children about Elijah's obedience to God and of Elijah's steadfast faith in the Lord. The musical score is for children's choir, piano, and flute. Narrations and short dramatic scenes advance the story from the terrible drought to the altar where God's fire consumed the offering. Meet Queen Jezebel, King Ahab, and Eli and others as they praise God for sending the rain.

Showdown at Dry Gulch: A Musical Based on Elijah

Love, Crime and Johannesburg: A Musical Junction Avenue Theatre Company

(2000)

'Why bother to rob a bank, when you can own a bank?' asked Bertold Brecht. The question is reiterated in the very Brechtian Love, Crime and Johannesburg, the story of Jimmy 'Long Legs' Mangane and the trouble he gets into in the new South Africa. Jimmy, a people's poet involved in the struggle, is accused of robbing a bank. He passionately asserts his innocence, claiming to work for the 'secret secret service'. Lewis, his old friend and comrade from the struggle, now owns a bank. How did this ...

Love, Crime and Johannesburg: A Musical Junction Avenue Theatre Company

Let's Put on a Musical!: How to Choose the Right Show for Your School, Community, or Professional Theater

(2004)

Doing a show is great fun—but how do you know which one to do? This practical resource will guide your school, community, or professional theater group to a musical that perfectly fits your budget, creative team, production capabilities, and audience. With Let’s Put on a Musical! you’ll discover more than 200 famous and little-known shows—all cleverly categorized and described in terms of: • Story • Best-known songs • Musical requirements, including instrumentation •...

Let's Put on a Musical!: How to Choose the Right Show for Your School, Community, or

What a World!: A Musical for You and Your Friends to Perform

(1998)

An ordinary girl with the boredom blues encounters an outer space visitor who shows her that there's plenty to sing about in this play that will have the whole audience singing along with familiar tunes. Ages 9-12. Pub: 4/98.

What a World!: A Musical for You and Your Friends to Perform

Opera--Dead or Alive: Production, Performance and Enjoyment of Musical Theatre

(1972)

Playwright, director, and critic Ronald E. Mitchell offers general readers a richer understanding of traditions, terms, styles, and staging techniques of musical theater, including an introduction to seventeen examples of operas and musicals, from baroque and romantic operas to Gilbert & Sullivan, from proletarian dramas to Broadway shows like Oklahoma.

Opera--Dead or Alive: Production, Performance and Enjoyment of Musical Theatre

Singing for Musicals: A Practical Guide

(2008)

Perfect for drama students, choir leaders, and aspiring singers, this insightful handbook provides insight into every aspect of performing in musical theater. Hints are provided for singers on developing vocal techniques, preparing songs for both audition and performance, and exploring character within song. Warm-up exercises for groups and individuals are also included along with advice on releasing tension from the body and voice; training methods for improving posture; and a listing of vario...

Making It Big: The Diary of a Broadway Musical

(2004)

In a year when the downtown musicals Rent and Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk have electrified audiences in New York City, freelancer Isenberg unfortunately chose to track a far more conventional musical: Big, based on the popular movie starring Tom Hanks. As the title suggests, this is indeed a diary, with many episodic, telegraphic entries, offering an accumulation of detail (auditions, rehearsals, advertising, press coverage, tryouts, etc.) but little opportunity to develop characters, ...

Making It Big: The Diary of a Broadway Musical

Musical Performance: A Guide to Understanding

(2003)

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...

Musical Performance: A Guide to Understanding

The Musical as Drama

(2006)

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...

Musical Theatre

(2011)

Find out about the unique combination of dance, drama, singing, performance and speaking that makes up musical theatre. Discover the most successful shows ever. Who are the leading lights in musical theatre? What do you need to become successful on the stage of a show like "Cats"? Then read the related story. This is one of the first six titles in the new "Starstruck" series from Ransom, a series designed for kids interested in the performing arts. Each book is highly illustrated with both photo...

The American Musical Theatre Song Encyclopedia

(1995)

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 ...

The American Musical Theatre Song Encyclopedia

Sing Out, Louise!: 150 Stars of the Musical Theatre Remember 50 Years on Broadway

(1993)

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.

Sing Out, Louise!: 150 Stars of the Musical Theatre Remember 50 Years on Broadway

Next!: Auditioning for the Musical Theatre

(1995)

A complete and concise guide for the actor auditioning for musicals.

Next!: Auditioning for the Musical Theatre

The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity

(2009)

The American musical has long provided an important vehicle through which writers, performers, and audiences reimagine who they are and how they might best interact with the world around them. Musicals are especially good at this because they provide not only an opportunity for us to enact dramatic versions of alternative identities, but also the material for performing such alternatives in the real world, through songs and the characters and attitudes those songs project. This book addresses...

The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity

Great Musicals of the American Theatre

(1976)

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.

Staging A Musical

(1999)

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, ...

Music Theory for Musical Theatre

(2008)

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.

From Assassins to West Side Story: The Director's Guide to Musical Theatre

(1996)

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...

From Assassins to West Side Story: The Director's Guide to Musical Theatre

Get the Callback: The Art of Auditioning for Musical Theatre

(2009)

This easy to use handbook, Get the Callback: The Art of Auditioning for Musical Theatre, offers practical advice on all the facets of auditioning. It walks the reader step by step through the audition process, explaining what to expect, how to behave, and how to prepare for a (hopefully) winning audition. It also coaches the actor through the ins and outs of pursuing a career in musical theatre, with detailed advice on callbacks, job offers, headshots, resumes, and college auditions.

How to Audition for the Musical Theatre: A Step-By-Step Guide to Effective Preparation

(1995)

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...

How to Audition for the Musical Theatre: A Step-By-Step Guide to Effective Preparatio

Musicals!: Directing School and Community Theatre

(1997)

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 ...

Musicals!: Directing School and Community Theatre

Singing in Musical Theater: The Training of Singers and Actors

(2007)

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.

Singing in Musical Theater: The Training of Singers and Actors

Deconstructing Harold Hill: An Insider's Guide to Musical Theatre

(1999)

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 ...

Deconstructing Harold Hill: An Insider's Guide to Musical Theatre

The New Broadway Song Companion

(2009)

This is a completely revised and expanded second edition of The Broadway Song Companion, the first complete guide and access point to the vast literature of the Broadway musical for the solo performer. Designed with the working actor in mind, the volume lists every song from over 300 Broadway shows, including at least 90 more than the first edition. Organized by show, each song is annotated with the name of the character(s) who sing(s) the song, the vocal range, and a style category, such as upt...

Musical Theatre Training: The Broadway Theatre Project Handbook

(2009)

Written by project cofounder and noted choreographer Debra McWaters, it explains the methods used by the Broadway Theatre Project to train those pursuing a career in musical theatre. It includes the lessons and advice of cofounder Ann Reinking and past instructors such as Ben Vereen, Joel Grey, Jeff Goldblum, Julie Andrews, Terrence Mann, Tommy Tune, and the late Gregory Hines, among others. McWaters covers techniques and approaches to dance, voice, acting, and the creative process. Unlike ...

Musical Theatre Training: The Broadway Theatre Project Handbook

Musical Theater: An Appreciation

(2004)

This unique historical survey illustrates the interaction of multiple artistic and dramatic considerations with an overview of the development of numerous popular musical theater genres. This introduction provides more than a history of musical theater, it studies the music within the shows to provide an understanding of the contributions of musical theater composers as clearly as the artistry of musical theater lyricists and librettists. The familiarity of the musical helps readers understand h...

Auditioning for the Musical Theatre

(1988)

Proven tactics and techniques from a leading New York vocal coach on how to "act" a song, choose the right material, handle a callback, what to wear, how to use eye contact, select a voice teacher and vocal coach, and more. Includes 130 excellent yet unusual audition songs for all types of situations and performers, including juveniles and dancers.

The Life Of Tymon Of Athens

(2008)

The Life of Timon of Athens is a play by William Shakespeare about the fortunes of an Athenian named Timon (and probably influenced by the philosopher of the same name, as well), generally regarded as one of his most obscure and difficult works. Originally grouped with the tragedies, it is generally considered such, but some scholars group it with the problem plays.

Measure for Measure

(2009)

This drama is classified as a comedy play by William Shakespeare. However it is also referred to as a 'problem play', because it cannot be easily described as either a tragedy or comedy. The story of the plot centres on Angelo who has been empowered by the Duke of Vienna to rule his land, whilst he wanders about disguised as a friar to investigate the moral decay of his dukedom. Resorting to an old law against fornication to enforce his strict standards of morality, Angelo proceeds to condemn fo...

Antony and Cleopatra

(2005)

A battle-hardened soldier, Antony is one of the three leaders of the Roman world. But he is also a man in the grip of an all-consuming passion for the exotic and tempestuous queen of Egypt. And when their life of pleasure together is threatened by the encroaching politics of Rome, the conflict between love and duty has devastating consequences.

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