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Broadway Bookshelf — History — Page 2

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

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History Books

When the British Musical Ruled the World

(6/1/2023)

Gives his account of how Evita, Cats, Starlight Express, Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Chess, and Miss Saigon changed the business of musical theater in the 1980s. With insightful, personal stories from cast members, set designers, musical supervisors, dancers, lighting designers, production managers, singers, and choreographers ... and the backstage drama, production nightmares, and financial woes that threatened to derail the shows at multiple points. 268 pages.

When the British Musical Ruled the World

Gays on Broadway

(6/1/2023)

Chronological review of the long journey to bring the culture of gay men and women onto the American stage. From the genteel female impersonators of the 1910s to the raucous drag queens of La Cage aux Folles, from the men of The Normal Heart to the women of Fun Home, and from Eva Le Gallienne and Tallulah Bankhead to Tennessee Williams and Nathan Lane .. chronicles the plays and people that brought gay culture to Broadway. 240 pages.

Gays on Broadway

Cinderellas of West 53rd Street: Stories from the Legendary Rehearsal Club

(4/14/2023)

Foreword by Blythe Danner. National network of Rehearsal Club "Cinderellas" (coined by TV Guide in the 1950s) came together to tell their stories, spanning four decades, 1940s - 1970s. Captures New York City and Broadway history while charting the journey leading to The Rehearsal Club's incorporation in 2019. Carol Burnett, Blythe Danner and others are recognizable, well-known RC Alums. 264 pages. Hardcover released 4/15/23. Audiobook on CD and Audible Audiobook with bonus materials to be relea...

Cinderellas of West 53rd Street: Stories from the Legendary Rehearsal Club

Theatre Spaces 1920-2020: Finding the Fun in Functionalism

(4/6/2023)

Lavishly illustrated hands-on account of the creation of new theatre spaces spanning a century. A compelling history that is part memoir, part impassioned call to rethink the design of our theatre spaces and the future of live theatre. 256 pages.

Theatre Spaces 1920-2020: Finding the Fun in Functionalism

Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams's Greatest Creation

(4/4/2023)

An exploration of the cultural impact of Blanche DuBois, examining Tennessee Williams's most enduring creation through the performances of seven brilliant actresses who have taken on the role: Jessica Tandy, Vivien Leigh, Ann-Margret, Jessica Lange, Patricia Clarkson, Cate Blanchett, and Jemier Jackson. Exploring themes of womanhood, sexuality, mental illness, and the idealized South, Blanche is an engrossing cultural history of a rich and complex character that sheds light on who we are. Photo...

Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams's Greatest Creation

American Dramatists in the 21st Century: Opening Doors

(2/23/2023)

Examines the careers of seven award-winning playwrights: David Adjmi, Julia Cho, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Will Eno, Martyna Majok, Dominique Morisseau and Anna Ziegler. Covering all their plays, including several as yet unpublished, nothing their critical reception while drawing on their own commentary on their approach to writing and the business of developing a career. 256 pages.

American Dramatists in the 21st Century: Opening Doors

Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity

(2/17/2023)

Explores how ability, sexuality, and size intersect with gender, race, and ethnicity in casting and performance. Asks/answers "Why did A Chorus Line, a show that sought to individuate dancers, inevitably make them indistinguishable? How does the use of fat suits in musicals like Dreamgirls and Hairspray stigmatize fatness? What were the political implications of casting two straight actors as the gay couple in La Cage aux Folles in 1983? How did deaf actors change the sound of musicals in Deaf ...

Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity

When Broadway Was Black: The Triumphant Story of the All-Black Musical that Changed the World

(2/7/2023)

In-depth look into the rise of the 1921 Broadway hit, Shuffle Along, the first all-Black musical to succeed on Broadway, with a score by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake. Book by F. E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles. The story of how Sissle and Blake, along with comedians Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, overcame poverty, racism, and violence to harness the energy of the Harlem Renaissance. 512 pages.

When Broadway Was Black: The Triumphant Story of the All-Black Musical that Changed t

Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical

(1/31/2023)

"Diving deep into Hammerstein’s life, examining his papers and his lyrics, critic Laurie Winer shows how he orchestrated a collective reimagining of America, urging it forward with a subtly progressive vision of the relationship between country and city, rich and poor, America and the rest of the world. His rejection of bitterness, his openness to strangers, and his optimistic humor shaped not only the musical but the American dream itself. His vision can continue to be a touchstone to this d...

Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical

Oz and the Musical: Performing the American Fairy Tale

(12/27/2022)

"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1900) by Frank L. Baum has served as the basis for some of the most popular musicals on stage and screen. Show by show, Bunch highlights the forms and conventions of musical work as practiced in its time and context–such as the turn-of-the-century extravaganza, the classical Hollywood film musical, the Black Broadway musical of the 1970s, and the twenty-first-century mega-musical. He then shows how the journey of each show teaches participants and audiences somet...

Oz and the Musical: Performing the American Fairy Tale

Finale: Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim

(11/22/2022)

Personal collection of interviews with the late Stephen Sondheim, conducted in the last years of the artist's life (unedited from the February 22 New Yorker article). Audio versions narrated by Christopher Grove and Keith Sellon-Wright. 240 pages.

Finale: Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim

There's a Body in the Window Seat!: The History of Arsenic and Old Lace

(11/2/2022)

Detailed history of one of the most beloved American murder-mysteries and comedies, Joseph Kesselring's Arsenic and Old Lace. Follows the actors, both on the stage and on the screen, as they handle the demands of the roles and behind-the-scenes relationships. 168 pages.

There's a Body in the Window Seat!: The History of Arsenic and Old Lace

Anne Frank & Emmett Till: Why I Wrote the Play Anne & Emmett

(10/22/2022)

By Janet Langhart Cohen, who wrote the play Anne & Emmett, which has been performed across the U.S. since 2007 (the play is also being published in paperback and Kindle format). An effort to reveal how some of the people the author has known and the seminal events she experienced enabled her to link together, in an imaginary conversation, the seemingly disparate lives of Anne Frank and Emmett Till, two iconic figures who were murdered by societies that couldn’t protect them.

Anne Frank & Emmett Till: Why I Wrote the Play Anne & Emmett

Carefully Taught: American History through Broadway Musicals

(10/15/2022)

Looks at American history as depicted in forty Broadway musicals. Categories include: biographies of famous Americans, (Andrew Jackson and Fiorello LaGuardia), stories with national conflicts (Hamilton, South Pacific), events that captured the attention of the American public (Floyd Collins, Newsies), and sociological studies or satires of specific eras (The Music Man, Hair). Approaches American history from two vantage points: the point of view of the playwright and composer accompanied with t...

Carefully Taught: American History through Broadway Musicals

Miracle of The Music Man: The Classic American Story of Meredith Willson

(9/15/2022)

The author brings to life the origins of this classic show, the music behind it, and the unlikely story of its creator. Interweaving behind-the-scenes accounts of people who worked with Willson, Cabaniss looks at his long and unusual career as a composer, conductor, radio personality, and flutist. 208 pages.

Miracle of The Music Man: The Classic American Story of Meredith Willson

Attack of the Monster Musical: A Cultural History of Little Shop of Horrors

(9/8/2022)

Chronicles the unlikely phenomenon of Little Shop of Horrors, the musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Looks at the creation of the musical and its place in the contemporary musical theatre canon and examines its afterlives and wider cultural context. Told through archival research and eyewitness accounts, with extensive use of Ashman's personal papers, offering a unique and inspiring study of one of musical theatre's greatest talents. 256 pages.

Attack of the Monster Musical: A Cultural History of Little Shop of Horrors

Scene Shift: U.S. Set Designers in Conversation

(8/11/2022)

Showcases contemporary U.S. set design by engaging designers with one another, pairing dialogue and imagery from varied experiences and practices. The conversations include designers (30 in all) who are commercially successful, artistically successful, and those who have existed on the fringes of the theatre world whose work is not necessarily definable, and therefore not as visible. 268 pages.

Scene Shift: U.S. Set Designers in Conversation

Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era

(7/25/2022)

Traces the development of yellowface in the U.S. context during the Exclusion Era (1862–1940), when Asians faced legal and cultural exclusion from immigration and citizenship. Examines a wide-ranging set of primary sources, including makeup guidebooks, play catalogs, advertisements, biographies, and backstage anecdotes, providing new ways of understanding and categorizing yellowface as theatrical practice and historical subject. 296 pages.

Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era

The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals

(7/15/2022)

Surveys every single book musical that opened during the decade. Each musical has its own entry which features: Plot summary; cast members; creative team; song lists; opening and closing dates; number of performances; critical commentary; film adaptations, recordings, and published scripts, when applicable. Numerous appendixes include a chronology of book musicals by season; chronology of revues; chronology of revivals of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas; a selected discography; filmography; publ...

The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals

The Jukebox Musical: An Interpretive History

(6/30/2022)

Comprehensive guide to the unique genre of the jukebox musical, delving into its history to explain why these musicals have quickly become beloved for multiple generations of theatergoers and practitioners.

The Jukebox Musical: An Interpretive History

The Long Revolution: Writings from the Frontlines of a New American Theatre

(6/28/2022)

Gathers sixty years of essays, speeches, and manifestos by the founding mother of the resident professional theatre movement. Topics such as: The Institution as Art-Work, the Profit in NonProfit, Race and a Deepening Aesthetic, and Creativity and the Public Mind. Also includes intimate portraits of artists with whom Fichandler frequently collaborated and director's notes from the major productions that defined her vision. 320 pages

The Long Revolution: Writings from the Frontlines of a New American Theatre

Deep Are the Roots: Trailblazers Who Changed Black British Theatre

(4/27/2022)

Celebrates the pioneers of Black British theatre, beginning in 1825, when Ira Aldridge made history as the first Black actor to play Shakespeare's Othello in the United Kingdom, and ending in 1975 with the success of Britain’s first Black-led theatre company.

Deep Are the Roots: Trailblazers Who Changed Black British Theatre

Offstage Observations: Inside Tales of the Not-So-Legitimate Theatre

(4/15/2022)

The author introduces Broadway, once upon a time ... taking the reader through a decade's worth of adventures, working his way from a menial pencil sharpener for producer David Merrick toward a career as a full-fledged manager, producer, and drama critic. The book follows the author's progress from the wintry night after his sixteenth birthday, when he unexpectedly finds himself alone on the empty stage of a Broadway theatre, peering out at the silent, empty auditorium lit only by a solitary gh...

Offstage Observations: Inside Tales of the Not-So-Legitimate Theatre

The Golden Age Musicals of Darryl F. Zanuck: The Gentleman Preferred Blondes

(3/15/2022)

First book devoted to the musicals that Darryl F. Zanuck produced at Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Pictures, and Twentieth Century Fox. Spotlights how he placed his personal imprint on the genre and how he nurtured and showcased several blonde female stars who headlined the musicals, including Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Vivian Blaine, June Haver, Marilyn Monroe, and Sheree North. 320 pages.

The Golden Age Musicals of Darryl F. Zanuck: The Gentleman Preferred Blondes

West Side Story, Gypsy, and the Art of Broadway Orchestration

(11/19/2021)

Routledge Research in Music series. Draws on extensive archival research with original manuscripts to provide a detailed account of the process of orchestration for West Side Story and Gypsy, and their context in the history of Broadway orchestration. Breaking down how the two composers, Leonard Bernstein and Jules Styne, collaborated with orchestrators Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal, and Robert Ginzler to better understand both these two iconic shows and the importance of orchestration within musical...

West Side Story, Gypsy, and the Art of Broadway Orchestration

Everything is Choreography: The Musical Theater of Tommy Tune

(11/15/2021)

Broadway Legacies series. First full scale book about the career of the director-choreographer Tommy Tune (Grand Hotel, My One and Only, Nine, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, The Will Rogers Follies). "Celebrates and examines with a critical eye his major projects, and summons for readers a glorious period of dance, performance, and theatrical imagination." 288 pages.

Everything is Choreography: The Musical Theater of Tommy Tune

Making Broadway Dance

(11/1/2021)

Examines choreography for musical theatre through the lens of dance studies, script analysis, movement research and dramaturgical inquiry ... the choreographic systems of some of Broadway's most influential dance-makers including George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Katherine Dunham, Bob Fosse, Savion Glover, Sergio Trujillo, Steven Hoggett and Camille Brown. 232 pages.

Making Broadway Dance

Affair of the Heart: British Theatre from 1992 to 2020

(10/21/2021)

Selected theatre reviews from 1992 to 2020 ... starting each chapter is a brief commentary on the developments of that era and the social, political and cultural context within which this theatre was being produced. Also included are key obituaries and letters in response to reviews written.

Affair of the Heart: British Theatre from 1992 to 2020

A History of the Theatre Costume Business: Creators of Character

(9/30/2021)

Comprehensive book on the subject, as related by award-winning actors and designers, and firsthand by the drapers, tailors, and craftspeople who make the clothes that dazzle on stage. ".. shows that there is as much drama behind the scenes as there is in the performance: famous actors relate their intimate experiences in the fitting room, the glories of gorgeous costumes, and the mortification when things go wrong, while the costume makers explain how famous shows were created with toil, tears,...

A History of the Theatre Costume Business: Creators of Character

Working Backstage: A Cultural History and Ethnography of Technical Theater Labor

(9/20/2021)

Illuminates the work of New York City's theater technicians, shining a light on the essential contributions of unionized stagehands, carpenters, electricians, sound engineers, properties artisans, wardrobe crews, makeup artists, and child guardians. Based on the author's (a former theater technician herself) archival research and interviews with more than 100 backstage technicians, members of the New York locals of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

Working Backstage: A Cultural History and Ethnography of Technical Theater Labor

Balanchine’s Apprentice

(9/14/2021)

In this long-awaited memoir, dancer and choreographer John Clifford offers a highly personal look inside the day-to-day operations of the New York City Ballet and its creative mastermind, George Balanchine. Balanchine’s Apprentice is the story of Clifford―an exceptionally talented artist―and the guiding inspiration for his life’s work in dance.

Balanchine’s Apprentice

Shakespearean

(9/7/2021)

When Robert McCrum began his recovery from a life-changing stroke, described in My Year Off, he discovered that the only words that made sense to him were snatches of Shakespeare. Unable to travel or move as he used to, McCrum found the First Folio became his ‘book of life’, an endless source of inspiration through which he could embark on ‘journeys of the mind’, and see a reflection of our own disrupted times.

Shakespearean

Pick a Pocket Or Two: A History of British Musical Theatre

(9/1/2021)

The full history of the British musical, from The Beggar's Opera (1728) to the present, with an interest in isolating the unique qualities of the form and its influence on the American model. Covers not only the shows and their authors but the personalities as well.

Pick a Pocket Or Two: A History of British Musical Theatre

Ever After: Forty Years of Musical Theater and Beyond, 1977-2019

(8/1/2021)

Ever After remains far more than a detailed show-by-show history. With nearly one hundred first-person interviews, it is also a definitive behind-the-scenes account of how those shows were made. Singer invites the people who created the last forty years of musical theater on and off Broadway to tell their own stories. From an unparalleled look at A Chorus Line's final bow through the revolutionary evolution of Sunday in the Park with George, as recounted by Stephen Sondheim, the tragic triumph ...

Ever After: Forty Years of Musical Theater and Beyond, 1977-2019

Hamilton and the New Revolution

(7/17/2021)

With Hamilton and the New Revolution, musical theatre scholar, director, and fanboy Scott Miller takes you on a phantasmagorical journey through the second decade of the millennium, every stop along the way a Broadway musical truly like no other, all of them brilliant, original, and unique, all pointing toward an even brighter future for the art form and all the young artists creating amazing new work for us every day. Miller’s eighth book of in-depth exploration takes another deep dive in...

Hamilton and the New Revolution

American Vaudeville

(7/1/2021)

At the heart of American Vaudeville is one strange, unsettling fact: for nearly fifty years, from the late nineteenth century to the 1930s, vaudeville was everywhere—then, suddenly, it was nowhere. This book tells the story of what was once the most popular form of entertainment in the country using lists, creation myths, thumbnail biographies, dreams, and obituaries. A lyric history—part social history, part song—American Vaudeville sits at the nexus between poetry, experimental nonficti...

American Vaudeville

An Illustrated History of British Theatre and Performance

(6/30/2021)

Paperback version of Robert Leach's 2019 hardcover book. Chronicles the history and development of theatre from the Roman era to the present day, restoring to the foreground of this evolution the contributions of women, gay people, and ethnic minorities, as well as the regional theatres of Wales and Scotland. Highly-illustrated chapters trace the development of theatre through major plays from each period; evaluations of playwrights; contemporary dramatic theory; acting and acting companies; da...

An Illustrated History of British Theatre and Performance

Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway

(6/29/2021)

Updated edition of 2000 book by Eve Golden about the most popular musical comedy star during the two decades preceding World War I. The first wife of legendary producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., Held was the brains and inspiration behind his Follies. Together, they brought the Paris scene to New York, complete with lavish costumes and sets and a chorus of stunningly beautiful women, dubbed "The Anna Held Girls." She concealed her Jewish background and her daughter from a previous marriage, and suff...

Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway

The Best American Short Plays 2018-2019

(6/1/2021)

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Paula Vogel once said that theater helps us learn how to be comfortable with being uncomfortable with each other. Revolving around the theme of "this is who we are," the one-act plays in this latest edition of the Best American Short Plays series (now in its ninth decade) explore the thoughtful ways in which playwrights are wrestling to make sense of our world today.

The Best American Short Plays 2018-2019

Drama

(5/26/2021)

David Rockwell's fascination with theater has long informed his built work, which includes hotels, restaurants, and cultural institutions. Explores the core principles that Rockwell uses to enhance the impact of his architecture, with contributions from experts across the creative world. A new insight into the work of an important contemporary architect and a compelling case for the virtues of interdisciplinary collaboration

Drama

The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals

(5/26/2021)

Newest in Dan Dietz' series of musicals by the decade. covers all 312 musicals that opened on Broadway during this decade, including The Balkan Princess, The Kiss Waltz, Naughty Marietta, The Firefly, Very Good Eddie, Leave It to Jane, Watch Your Step, See America First, and La-La-Lucille. Dietz places each musical in its historical context, including the women’s suffrage movement and the decade’s defining historical event, World War I. Each entry features: Plot summary; Cast members; Creativ...

The Complete Book of 1910s Broadway Musicals

50 Women in Theatre

(5/25/2021)

Since 1660 when actresses first began performing on the English stage, women have forged bright careers in theatre, while men called the shots. Four hundred years of women playwrights, from Aphra Behn to Caryl Churchill, yet plays by women make up less than a quarter of staged productions in the UK, leading to a scarcity of roles for women. With women buying most of the tickets, theatre productions risk losing their relevance to modern culture if they fail to represent the many and varied lives...

50 Women in Theatre

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