Musicals!: A Complete Selection Guide for Local Productions - by Richard Chigley Lynch
From A . . . My Name Is Alice to The Zulu and the Zayde, this second edition of a title first published in 1984 contains information about 500 musicals (100 of which are new to this edition) available for production by community theaters and schools. Listed alphabetically by title, each entry includes date of original production, playwright, composer, lyricist, plot summary, licensing agent and music publisher, recordings and librettos available (for in-depth research by the user), and cast (number of males, females, children, chorus or not). New to this edition are names of either the original or revival cast, roles played, and songs each role sings. Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning plays are noted. Appendixes of licensing agents and of publishers provide address and telephone and fax numbers. Indexes are by composer, lyricist, and librettist and by song title.
The plot summaries are the most useful and interesting aspect of the book. Each is approximately 100-200 words and describes the setting and plot. Many include notes about the level of performance difficulty or set or makeup challenges ("all Earthlings have blue skin" in Via Galactica; "the cast is on roller skates . . . the set is high tech, costumes are robotic" in Starlight Express). Others refer to reviews of the original production, its simplicity or elaborateness, style of dance and music (tap, ballet, rock, operatic), and type of audience (adult, children, mature). What is not included that would be helpful to the intended user, especially for the lesser-known titles, is singing range for each part.
This second edition will be useful in high school and college theater departments or community theater offices looking for alternatives to yet another staging of Oklahoma! or Brigadoon.
Drama Book Shop will present a conversation with author Julie Gilbert about her acclaimed book, 'Giant Love,' (Pantheon) the compelling story of the writing of Edna Ferber's celebrated novel 'Giant'. Learn more!
Yusuf/Cat Stevens has announced his long-awaited memoir, Cat On The Road To Findout. Coming later this year, the new autobiography is an extraordinary soul-baring journey through the triumphs, trials, and transcendental quest of one of music’s most enigmatic figures of our time.
Cabaret Classics will release Toast of the Town, Volume 1, the new big band album from Boston-based vocalist Brian De Lorenzo, on CD and streaming and digital platforms in June. Learn more about the album here!
Following Jill Sobule's tragic passing last week, a new music video from her autobiographical musical F*ck 7th Grade has been shared by her representatives. Watch it here.
Jeffrey Seller has made the theatre that has changed my life. I will always remember being twelve years old and being obsessed with all that is Rent. This show changed the face of theatre. He did it again with Hamilton and In The Heights as well. His artistic blueprint is all over the DNA of Broadway. His new memoir 'Theatre Kid' is out and it is a must read for theatre fans and artists alike. Watch in this video!
Center Stage Records and Yellow Sound Label has released The 12 – A New Musical (Original Cast Recording). You can now learn more about the musical, and listen here!
The original cast recording of Broadway's Hamilton has become the first original cast album to hit 500 weeks on the Billboard 200. The album was originally released in September of 2015.
The Blues Brothers universe is returning, beginning with a brand new original graphic novel: The Blues Brothers: The Escape of Joliet Jake. Written by Stella Aykroyd, Luke Pisano, and James Werner, the graphic novel serves as a sequel to the 1980 film.
After announcing a robust new 16-LP box set in 2024, Harry Potter: The Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Rhino now shares four individual Motion Picture Soundtrack LPs from the Harry Potter franchise.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a newly restored and remastered version of the movie will be unleashed in breathtaking 4K Ultra HD.
On December 2, 2025, Penguin Workshop will publish DOLLY PARTON’S BILLY THE KID DANCES HIS HEART OUT, the third standalone children’s picture book in Parton’s bestselling series featuring French bulldog, her god-dog, Billy the Kid.
In celebration of DRAG: The Musical’s dynamite Off-Broadway run at New World Stages, DRAG: The Musical LIVE (The Cast Recording) is now available. Listen to it here!
GHOSTLIGHT RECORDS has released the new EP from Tony Award winner and Grammy Award nominee Lena Hall, Songs from Your Friends & Neighbors. Listen here!
Gypsy: 2024 Broadway Cast Recording – starring six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald – will be released. BroadwayWorld has your exclusive first listen to “All I Need Is the Girl” performed by Kevin Csolak here!
Craft Latino will release the first-ever vinyl reissue of Strikes Back, the GRAMMY®-nominated 10th solo album from legendary singer Héctor “El Cantante” Lavoe.
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.