"May is one of the foremost authorities on writer James Michener. In this book he takes you inside the creation of Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific and the musical South Pacific May fascinates us with his detailed accounts of key players like Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Josh Logan, and many others."--Ken Womble, director of James Michener: An Epic Life
"Stephen J. May confirms his reputation as James Michener’s most pertinent, sensitive, and accessible biographer with Michener’s South Pacific. In the wake of the acclaimed 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific, it may seem absurd that, once upon a time--six decades ago--adapting such a serious, unflinching work as Michener’s for the musical stage was a risky challenge."--Laurence Maslon, author of The South Pacific Companion
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, James A. Michener was an obscure textbook editor working in New York. Within three years, he was a naval officer stationed in the South Pacific. By the end of the decade, he was an accomplished author, well on the way to worldwide fame.
Michener’s first novel, Tales of the South Pacific, won the Pulitzer Prize. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein used it as the basis for the Broadway musical South Pacific, which also won the Pulitzer. How this all came to be is the subject of Stephen May’s Michener’s South Pacific.
An award-winning biographer of Michener, May was a featured interviewee on the fiftieth-anniversary DVD release of the film version of the musical. During taping, he realized there was much he didn’t know about how Michener’s experiences in the South Pacific shaped the man and led to his early work.
May delves deeply into this formative and turbulent period in Michener’s life and career, using letters, journal entries, and naval records to examine how a reserved, middle-aged lieutenant known as "Prof" to his fellow officers became one of the most successful writers of the twentieth century.
Stephen J. May is the author of Michener: A Writer’s Journey, which served as the basis for the PBS documentary James Michener: An Epic Life. He has also written a two-volume biography of Zane Grey and served as technical advisor for the most recent Broadway revival of South Pacific.
Cynthia Erivo, who stars as Elphaba in the two-part movie adaptation of the Wicked musical, is set to narrate a new audiobook edition of the original 1995 novel.
Omnivore Recordings has announced that Vince Guaraldi’s Oh, Good Grief! will be getting a reissue released on CD and yellow vinyl on May 30. The album was originally released in May of 1968.
Theater star and Nashville recording artist RACHEL POTTER – best known for appearances on Fox TV’s “The X Factor” and the Broadway musicals The Addams Family and Evita – has released “The Animazement Trio.' Listen here!
Jeffrey Seller, the Tony Award-winning producer behind Hamilton, Rent, Avenue Q, and In the Heights is releasing his new memoir Theater Kid—and he's taking it on the road. Learn more about upcoming events.
Dolly Parton has announced the release of her upcoming book, STAR OF THE SHOW: My Life on Stage. A celebration of Dolly Parton’s iconic career as a performer, the book features entertaining personal stories alongside 350 full-color photographs.
In celebration of DRAG: The Musical’s dynamite off-Broadway run at New World Stages, the team behind the show will release ‘DRAG: The Musical LIVE (The Cast Recording)’ on April 25th.
The American Composers Orchestra (ACO) is set to release the world premiere recording of composer Huang Ruo and librettist David Henry Hwang’s moving and timely opera An American Soldier digitally via Platoon on Friday, May 23, 2025.
Theatre Communications Group will publish Stereophonic by David Adjmi, featuring original songs by Will Butler of Arcade Fire. Learn more about Stereophonic here!
To celebrate Record Store Day 2025, multi-platinum artist and songwriter Sam Smith will release a very special recording of their acclaimed BBC Proms performance from London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall on 2xLP vinyl on April 12th.
Ridley Scott’s epic Kingdom of Heaven will receive a new restored and remastered release of the Director's Cut, hitting digital retailers and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc on May 27.
Singer-songwriter Jill Sobule has announced the cast recording of her New York Times Critic’s Pick, Drama Desk-nominated autobiographical musical F*ck 7th Grade, to be released on June 6.
The 2024 Broadway revival, led by six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald, has recorded a cast album which is set to be released digitally on April 25. The first single, 'Together, Wherever We Go,' will be available to stream on April 11.
Craft Recordings will reissue six records from Original Jazz Classics, including newly remastered editions of Bill Evans’ Interplay and Moon Beams, Lee Morgan’s Here’s Lee Morgan, and more.
The Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording of WAITING IN THE WINGS is now available. WAITING IN THE WINGS: The Musical is based on the popular 2014 film (of the same name). Listen here!
The original cast recording of Broadway's Hamilton has been selected to join the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress, joining a selection that also includes the original recordings of Guys and Dolls, Gypsy, and Sweeney Todd.
An Original Cast Recording of CAT KID COMIC CLUB: THE MUSICAL is in the works, featuring a book and lyrics by Kevin Del Aguila and music by Brad Alexander. Learn more here!
Real Women Have Curves: The Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) is set to be released in June. Learn more about the production, currently running on Broadway, and see how to purchase tickets.
Sutton Foster, Michael Urie, Daniel Breaker, Will Chase, Ana Gasteyer, and Nikki Renée Daniels will appear at The Museum of Broadway on April 22nd to perform a few selections from the Once Upon a Mattress cast recording and to sign CDs.
17-time GRAMMY Award-winning artist and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Sting is set to release STING 3.0 LIVE worldwide on April 25, available digitally, on CD and on 180g vinyl, with the exclusive Record Store Day Deluxe Edition out April 12 (US only).
Your Lie in April, one of the most popular romantic stories and greatest tearjerkers in the history of Japanese manga – which is a popular form of graphic novel – features music by multi-Grammy, Tony, and Emmy Award-nominated Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, Bonnie & Clyde, Death Note: The Musical) with lyrics by Carly Robyn Green and Tracy Miller.
The Sound of Murder, a new musical theater-themed mystery novel from composer Joseph Zellnik, is now available in paperback and eBook on major online book retailers.
Dramatists Play Service has published Just for Us, the solo play by writer-performer Alex Edelman. Learn more about Just For Us's stage history and more about Edelman here.
Frank Wildhorn’s Your Lie in April: The Musical (Original London Cast Recording) will available in streaming and digital formats Friday, April 4. BroadwayWorld has your exclusive first listen to '4.9 (Speed of Sound)' from the album here!
The creators of Larry the Musical: An American Journey will release the concept album on Saturday, April 5, 2025, available digitally and on vinyl. Learn more!
The book—like the documentary—describes how the first scrappy local production of Godspell launched the careers of Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Paul Shaffer, Andrea Martin, and Dave Thomas.
Regina Spektor will reissue five of her acclaimed albums on limited edition color vinyl: Begin To Hope, Far, What We Saw From The Cheap Seats, Remember Us To Life, and Live in London. She will also return to the road this summer on her Midsummer Daydream Tour.
Multi Grammy-nominated vocal powerhouse Ryan Shaw and acclaimed pianist/composer/arranger Ray Angry (The Roots) have teamed up for OFF BROADWAY. Learn more about the album.
From composer Thomas Newman comes the premiere recording of his debut ballet score, Of Mice and Men. Composed for The Joffrey Ballet’s critically acclaimed 2022 production, the album will be released on April 25, 2025.
Vocal powerhouse Ryan Shaw and acclaimed pianist/composer/arranger Ray Angry (The Roots) have teamed up for Off Broadway, a new studio album featuring R&B, soul, jazz, rock, reggae, house, and classical-inspired takes on classic Broadway hits.
Now in its 7th year, the October Project Poetry Contest, the international poetry contest co-founded by award-winning poet/lyricist Julie Flanders, vocalist Marina Belica and composer Emil Adler of internationally-acclaimed October Project Music, will be held again this April during National Poetry Month.