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Broadway Bookshelf — Show Book — Page 4

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

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Show Book Books

The Seagull

(10/24/2017)

Chekhov's play adapted by Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), to play the Lyric Hammersmith, London in October 2017. 128 pages.

The Seagull

Labour of Love

(10/18/2017)

James Graham's play about British politics currently running in a world premiere production at the West End's Noel Coward Theatre, starring Martin Freeman and Sarah Lancashire. 128 pages.

Labour of Love

M. Butterfly: Broadway Revival Edition

(10/3/2017)

Based on a true story that stunned the world, and inspired by Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly, M. Butterfly was an immediate sensation when it premiered in 1988. It opens in the cramped prison cell where diplomat Rene Gallimard is being held captive by the French government—and by his own illusions. He recalls a time when Song Liling, the beautiful Chinese diva, touched him with a love as vivid, as seductive—and as elusive—as a butterfly. How could he have known that his true ...

M. Butterfly: Broadway Revival Edition

Sondheim and Lapine's Into the Woods (The Fourth Wall)

(9/28/2017)

The Woods are just Trees. The Trees are just Wood.’ – All together In 1987, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine combined several classic fairy tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Jack and the Beanstalk to create Into the Woods. Funny and heartfelt, this musical explores what it might mean to act responsibly in society, both as a parent and as a child. Situating the work within Sondheim’s oeuvre and the Broadway canon, Olaf Jubin first offers a detailed reading of th...

Sondheim and Lapine's Into the Woods (The Fourth Wall)

1984 (Broadway Edition) (Oberon Modern Plays)

(7/10/2017)

April, 1984. Winston Smith thinks a thought, starts a diary, and falls in love. But Big Brother is watching him, and the door to Room 101 can swing open in the blink of an eye. Its ideas have become our ideas, and Orwell’s fiction is often said to be our reality. The definitive book of the 20th century is re-examined in a radical new adaptation exploring why Orwell’s vision of the future is as relevant as ever. An edited and updated version of the script of this critically acclaimed adaptat...

1984 (Broadway Edition) (Oberon Modern Plays)

Hamilton: The Revolution

(4/12/2016)

Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical Hamilton is as revolutionary as its subject, the poor kid from the Caribbean who fought the British, defended the Constitution, and helped to found the United States. Fusing hip-hop, pop, R&B, and the best traditions of theater, this once-in-a-generation show broadens the sound of Broadway, reveals the storytelling power of rap, and claims our country's origins for a diverse new generation. HAMILTON: THE REVOLUTION gives readers an unprecedented vi...

Hamilton: The Revolution

Hamilton - Vocal Selections

(4/1/2016)

(Vocal Selections). 17 selections from the critically acclaimed musical about Alexander Hamilton which debuted on Broadway in August 2015 to unprecedented advanced box office sales. Our collection features 17 selections in piano/vocal format from the music penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, including: Alexander Hamilton * Burn * Dear Theodosia * Hurricane * It's Quiet Uptown * My Shot * One Last Time * Satisfied * That Would Be Enough * Washington on Your Side * You'll Be Back * and more. Also includ...

Hamilton - Vocal Selections

The Best American Short Plays 2013-2014

(8/20/2015)

The Best American Short Plays 20132014 takes a look at our changing times. Uncertain seems to be the watchword of todays world, full of surprises, shocks, and even a few delights. Uncertainty brings with it fear and insecurity, as well as a nostalgic longing for the good old days, but for some, uncertainty means opportunity and along with it the prospect of change for the better. This volume explores various experiences of uncertainty and includes a series of nine plays gathered by Daniel Galla...

The Best American Short Plays 2013-2014

The Book of Broadway: The 150 Definitive Plays and Musicals

(8/1/2015)

The Book of Broadway is a celebratory, gorgeous tome dedicated to what is arguably the quintessential American art form: the Broadway show. The book profiles 150 of the best, biggest, most influential, and most fascinating Broadway musicals and plays ever produced, spanning the mid-nineteenth century to the twenty-first century. Shows profiled include everything from the 1860s musical The Black Crook, which captivated and titillated audiences for more than five hours, to the Pulitzer Prizeâ??w...

The Book of Broadway: The 150 Definitive Plays and Musicals

Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical

(5/1/2015)

Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical tells the full story of the making and remaking of the most important musical in Broadway history. Drawing on exhaustive archival research and including much new information from early draft scripts and scores, this book reveals how Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern created Show Boat in the crucible of the Jazz Age to fit the talents of the show's original 1927 cast. After showing how major figures such as Paul Robeson and Helen Morgan define...

Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical

The Great Parade: Broadway's Astonishing, Never-to-Be-Forgotten 1963-1964 Season

(4/7/2015)

It was the Broadway season when Barbra Streisand demanded "Don’t Rain on My Parade" and Carol Channing heard the waiters at the Harmonia Gardens say "Hello, Dolly!". From June 1, 1963 through the final day of May 31, 1964, theatergoers were offered 68 different productions: 24 new plays, 15 new comedies, 14 new musicals, 5 revivals of plays, 3 revues, 3 plays in Yiddish, 2 in French, 1 double-bill and even 1 puppet show. Peter Filichia’s The Great Parade will look at what a Broadway season ...

The Great Parade: Broadway's Astonishing, Never-to-Be-Forgotten 1963-1964 Season

Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts of More Than 14,000 Shows Through 2007

(1/31/2015)

New York City's Broadway district is by far the most prestigious and lucrative venue for American performers, playwrights, entertainers, and technicians. While there are many reference works and critical studies of selected Broadway plays or musicals and even more works about the highlights of the American theater, this is the first single-volume book to cover all of the activities on Broadway between 1919 and 2007. More than 14,000 productions are briefly described, including hundreds of plays...

Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts of More Than 14,000 Sho

ZOMBIE BROADWAY, Issue 1

(12/19/2014)

They say that New Yorkers have seen everything. But that was before New York City was hit by a zombie infestation, destroying the city, and killing most of its inhabitants. Now the President and all his men have to solve this zombie problem before it hits the rest of the country. Dropping a bomb on the city seems like the only solution, until the mayor of New York comes up with a last ditch effort: put on a Zombie Broadway! Crazy? Well, not completely. Seems like zombies aren't so different fro...

ZOMBIE BROADWAY, Issue 1

Mickey & Sage

(12/15/2014)

This four-scene, 60-minute piece lays bare the way that the minor differences that kids note about their playmates' home lives take on greater weight and power as childhood ends. --Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice Listening to two kids talking smack during forced backyard playdates can be pretty funny. They mangle adult language they're trying to ape, and what it all means. But there's a disturbing undercurrent to MICKEY & SAGE. Comedy leavens the underlying painful circumstances, as filtered ...

Mickey & Sage

The Broadway Anthology: And Tender Buttons

(12/11/2014)

The Broadway Anthology: And Tender Buttons (Bonus Book) By Edward L. Bernays, Samuel Hoffenstein (Authored by), Walter J. Kingsley (Authored by), Murdock Pemberton (Authored by), Gertrude Stein (Authored by)

The Broadway Anthology: And Tender Buttons

The Broadway Comedy Murders

(12/1/2014)

Hollywood comedy writer Springer McKay’s latest adventure finds him on Broadway, where his satirical play, Boob Tube, is in rehearsal with a bunch of wildly eccentric actors—British stage legend Lady Kate Ashley, egotistical sitcom star Wally Wheeler, highly neurotic Tony Award–winner Nedda Norman, and action film star Kirby Gates, who has saved the world a million times. Retired junk dealer Sid Rosko is the producer. Five quirky young performers round out the cast. When two surprisin...

The Broadway Comedy Murders

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: (Broadway Tie-in Edition)

(11/25/2014)

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he hates the color yellow. The improbable story of Christopher's quest as he investigates the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: (Broadway Tie-in Edition)

Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History

(11/18/2014)

“One of the best literary works of this year” (Miami Herald-Tribune): The true story of a theatrical dream—or nightmare—come true…the making of the Spider-Man musical. As you might imagine, writing a Broadway musical has its challenges. But it turns out there are challenges one can’t begin to imagine when collaborating with two rock legends and a superstar director to stage the biggest, most expensive production in theater history. Renowned director Julie Taymor picked playwright...

Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway Hi

Who Should Sing 'Ol' Man River'?: The Lives of an American Song

(11/17/2014)

A Broadway classic, a call to action, and an incredibly malleable popular song, "Ol' Man River" is not your typical musical theater standard. Written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in the 1920s for Show Boat, "Ol Man River" perfectly blends two seemingly incongruous traits-the gravity of a Negro spiritual and the crowd-pleasing power of a Broadway anthem. Inspired by the voice of African American singer Paul Robeson, who adopted the tune for his own goals as an activist, "Ol' Man River...

Who Should Sing 'Ol' Man River'?: The Lives of an American Song

Oliver!: A Dickensian Musical

(10/15/2014)

When the show was first produced in 1960, at a time when transatlantic musical theatre was dominated by American productions, Oliver! already stood out for its overt Englishness. But in writing Oliver!, librettist and composer Lionel Bart had to reconcile the Englishness of his Dickensian source with the American qualities of the integrated book musical. To do so, he turned to the musical traditions that had defined his upbringing: English music hall, Cockney street singing, and East End Yiddis...

Oliver!: A Dickensian Musical

Made In Heaven

(10/14/2014)

Off Broadway audiences, gay and straight, laughed themselves hoarse at this brilliantly constructed, lovingly raunchy farce about two brothers -- conjoined twins sharing a penis -- whose plan to marry their slightly overweight, cheerfully self-loathing girlfriend runs afoul when one brother finally summons the courage to reveal that he is gay. The trio invites a sizzling hot, morally challenged male hustler into the household to help fix the problem. But his presence becomes the fuse that sets ...

Made In Heaven

The Light in the Piazza

(10/1/2014)

“The Light in the Piazza beautifully captures the eternal allure of Italy. . . . The story wraps itself around your heart.”—Chicago Sun-Times “Guettel’s music and lyrics take nothing from the razzle-dazzle bargain basement of feeling; they represent, instead, a genuine expense of spirit. . . . The Light in the Piazza doesn’t want to make theatre-goers feel good; it wants to make them feel deeply.”—The New Yorker “With Adam Guettel’s gorgeous melodies, a compelling narr...

The Light in the Piazza

This Is Our Youth: Broadway Edition

(10/1/2014)

This Is Our Youth, Kenneth Lonergan’s lacerating look at affluent young Manhattanites of the 1980s, depicts two days in the lives of three college-age Upper West Siders who are from wealthy families but living in doped-up squalor. Dennis—with a famous painter father and social activist mother—is a small-time drug dealer and total mess. His hero-worshipping friend Warren has just impulsively stolen $15,000 from his father, an abusive lingerie tycoon. When Jessica, a mixed-up prep school gi...

This Is Our Youth: Broadway Edition

The New Picasso: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Concept Musical (a Romantic Musical Thriller)

(9/26/2014)

The New Picasso (imagine Great Expectations & Titanic meet Moulin Rouge! & The Great Gatsby) and The Tower of Babel from award-winning writer Jonathan David Sloate, composer for the Mortal Kombat franchise, Academy Awards winner Sense and Sensibility, Beowulf, the ShoWest Awards, and movies starring Kate Winslet (Titanic), Hugh Grant (Notting Hill), Tom Wilkinson (Batman Begins, Shakespeare in Love, Rush Hour), Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee, Harry Potter), Alan Rickman (Die Hard, Robin Hood), Chr...

The New Picasso: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Concept Musical (a Roma

American Musicals: The Complete Books and Lyrics of 16 Broadway Classics, 1927–1969: (A two-volume Library of America Collector's Boxed Set)

(9/25/2014)

including Oklahoma!, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, and 11 other great shows, this landmark collection is your ticket to the Golden Age of the Broadway musical: The Broadway musical is one of America’s great indigenous popular forms, a glorious hybrid that emerged “out of our speech, our tempo, our moral attitudes, our way of moving” (as Leonard Bernstein put it). Now in a landmark two-volume collection, The Library of America presents sixteen enduring master...

American Musicals: The Complete Books and Lyrics of 16 Broadway Classics, 1927–1969

The Playbill Broadway Yearbook: June 2013 to May 2014: Tenth Annual Edition

(9/1/2014)

Taking the format of a school yearbook, the ninth edition of The Playbill Broadway Yearbook is packed with photos (more than 4,000, many in color) and memorabilia from the entire 20132014 Broadway season. This edition documents the more than 70 Broadway shows of that season which is every show that ran during the seasonnot just the new shows like Bullets Over Broadway, Aladdin, After Midnight, Bridges of Madison County, If/Then and Beautiful, but the long-running ones from seasons past, like Th...

The Playbill Broadway Yearbook: June 2013 to May 2014: Tenth Annual Edition

Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 38th Series

(8/20/2014)

One of Manhattan's most established play festivals, the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival fosters the work of emerging writers, giving them the exposure of publication and representation. From the initial pool of over 860 submissions, the Final Thirty plays were chosen to be performed over a period of one week. A panel of judges comprised of celebrity playwrights, theatrical agents and artistic directors nominated one or more of each evening's plays as finalists. The final roun...

Off Off Broadway Festival Plays, 38th Series

Broadway Musicals Show by Show 2006-2013: A Musical and Historical Look at Broadway's Biggest Hits

(8/1/2014)

(Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook). 31 shows are covered in the latest addition to this unique series, which showcases Broadway's biggest hits year-by-year and show-by-show. A sampling of the shows covered include: Spring Awakening (2006) * Legally Blonde (2007) * In the Heights (2008) * Memphis (2009) * The Addams Family (2010) * The Book of Mormon (2011) * Once (2012) * A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (2013) * and many more.

Broadway Musicals Show by Show 2006-2013: A Musical and Historical Look at Broadway's

Broadway Musicals, Show-by-Show: Eighth Edition

(8/1/2014)

This updated edition of one of the bestselling and most comprehensive Broadway reference books, first published in 1985, has been expanded to include many of the most important and memorable productions of American musical theater, including revivals. Chronologically arranged, beginning with The Black Crook in 1866, the eighth edition adds new entries and photos on numerous musicals from recent years, including Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; The Book of Mormon; Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark; O...

Broadway Musicals, Show-by-Show: Eighth Edition

Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Broadway Edition

(5/27/2014)

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, “the best rock musical ever” (Rolling Stone) follows the journey of “internationally ignored song stylist” Hedwig Schmidt, victim of a botched sex-change operation, as dazzlingly recounted by Hedwig (née Hansel) herself in the form of a lounge act, backed by the rockband The Angry Inch, and transported to the Belasco Theatre “for one night only” and taking over the set for Hurt Locker: The Musical. This new edition contains the updated book and lyrics fro...

Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Broadway Edition

The Musical Theater of Stephen Schwartz: From Godspell to Wicked and Beyond

(4/10/2014)

As the composer/lyricist for Godspell, Pippin, Wicked, and other musicals, Stephen Schwartz has enjoyed one of the most significant careers in American musical theater for more than four decades. Schwartz has also achieved success on the big screen, contributing to such films as Enchanted, The Prince of Egypt, and Pocahontas. For his work, he has received six Tony nominations, three Grammys, and three Academy Awards. The Musical Theater of Stephen Schwartz: From Godspell to Wicked and Beyon...

The Musical Theater of Stephen Schwartz: From Godspell to Wicked and Beyond

The 9/11 Project: A Musical Play in Three Acts by D. A. Smith

(3/30/2014)

Where were you... ...on September 11, 2001? ...when they caught Saddam Hussein? ...when Barack Obama won the Presidential Election? ...when you heard bin Laden was killed? In this thrilling new play script, the questions of interviewer August Estelle Anderson invite veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan to relate vibrant stories that will make you laugh, cry, and marvel at how human beings can adapt to the worst of conditions or fall under the grindstone of reality. Author D....

The 9/11 Project: A Musical Play in Three Acts by D. A. Smith

Les Miserables: From Stage to Screen

(4/16/2013)

It has been 150 years since Victor Hugos novel Les Misérables was first published. However, for the last 25 or so, the poignant saga of Jean Valjean, a villain to some, but a savior to others, set in France during the early years of the 19th century, has become one of the worlds most popular musicals, and is about to become one of the must-see movies of 2013. In Les Misérables: The Official Archives, the reader can find out how the musical came to lifethe trials and tribulations of turning it...

Les Miserables: From Stage to Screen

The Book of Mormon: The Testament of a Broadway Musical

(12/4/2012)

In celebration of the making of The Book of Mormon, the authors, production team, and entire original cast recount their experiences as they grew their show from the initial idea to opening night on Broadway. With the complete book and lyrics annotated by the full creative team and cast, along with more than 700 photographs and illustrations, they share the journey that began one night in a Manhattan bar and culminated seven years later in the achievement that is The Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon: The Testament of a Broadway Musical

Stagecraft Fundamentals

(7/15/2012)

Stagecraft Fundamentals Second Edition tackles every aspect of theatre production with Emmy Award-winning author Rita Kogler Carver's signature witty and engaging voice. The history of stagecraft, safety precautions, lighting, costumes, scenery, career planning tips, and more are discussed, illustrated by beautiful color examples that display step-by-step procedures and the finished product. This second edition offers even more in-demand information on stage management, drawing and drafting (bo...

Stagecraft Fundamentals

A Ship Without A Sail

(7/3/2012)

From “Blue Moon” to “Where or When,” and “My Funny Valentine,” Lorenz Hart, together with Richard Rodgers, created some of the most beautiful and witty songs ever written. Here is the story of the strikingly unromantic life of this songwriting genius.His lyrics spin with pinwheel brilliance and sophistication, yet at their core is an unmistakable wistfulness. The sweetness of lyrics such as “My Romance” and “Isn’t It Romantic?” is unsurpassed in American song. But Hart’s...

A Ship Without A Sail

Funny

(6/1/2012)

Funny: The Book is an entertaining look at the art of comedy, from its historical roots to the latest scientific findings, with diversions into the worlds of movies (Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers), television (The Office), prose (Woody Allen, Robert Benchley), theater (The Front Page), jokes and stand-up comedy (Richard Pryor, Steve Martin), as well as personal reminiscences from the author's experiences on such TV programs as Mork and Mindy. With allusions to the not-always-funny Carl Ju...

Funny

Women Vaudeville Stars

(4/30/2012)

Mae West, Sarah Bernhardt, Ethel Barrymore and Helen Keller are perhaps among the best known women to appear on vaudeville stages. Each came to vaudeville by a different path and with a different offering: Mae West entered vaudeville with a song and dance routine when she was 13 years old. Ethel Barrymore dropped in on the Palace Theater to present one-act plays. Sarah Bernhardt was being celebrated by the British for her fifty years on the dramatic stage when she agreed to appear in the U.S. H...

Women Vaudeville Stars

The Art of Clowning

(4/24/2012)

The Art of Clowning is the first book on clowning technique and offers a step-by-step process for actors and other theatrical enthusiasts to discover their "inner clown." This fun and accessible guide expands on theories and exercises to help students and beginners develop solo and group performances. Using twenty years of teaching experience, Simon reveals a complete system of clowning that is a must-have for amateurs and experts alike. Now with even MORE ways to find your inner clown!

The Art of Clowning

The Study of Drama

(4/19/2012)

The Study of Drama by Harley Granville-Barker was published as part of the Cambridge Miscellany series in 1934. It contains the text of a lecture delivered by the author in Cambridge in 1934 on the study of 'drama as drama, considered in relation to the theatre'. The lecture is printed together with extensive notes, which were added subsequently.

The Study of Drama

Critical Essays on British South Asian Theatre

(4/15/2012)

Critical Essays on British South Asian Theatre marks a major contribution to the understanding of one of the most remarkable examples of diasporic artistic activity in recent history. The second volume on British South Asian theater compiled by Graham Ley and Sarah Dadswell, this volume provides detailed critical analyses of theater practice and performance from the last thirty years.

Critical Essays on British South Asian Theatre

An Actor's Guide to Getting Work

(4/15/2012)

Now in its fifth edition, An Actor's Guide to Getting Work is an invaluable resource which provides students and young actors with an insider's advice to prepare them to navigate the world of professional theatre. Written with honesty, humor and thoroughness, Simon Dunmore's book anticipates and addresses the numerous problems that actors are bound to face at some stage in their career. Competition for acting work is fierce and, although talent is important, actors need all the help they can ge...

An Actor's Guide to Getting Work

Hand Puppets

(4/4/2012)

Simple instructions, clear diagrams, full-size traceable patterns for creating delightful paper-bag puppets, rod puppets for shadow plays, and papier-mache puppets with cloth costumes. Special instructions for dressing and handling puppets, setting up a stage, and writing and producing your own original show.

Hand Puppets

The Sound of Music Family Scrapbook

(4/3/2012)

It's not an exaggeration to say that The Sound of Music is the most beloved film musical of all time. It has touched more than one generation, as over the years, many parents have shared the magic of this wonderful movie with their children. Seven very special children experienced The Sound of Music firsthand: the seven young actors cast as the von Trapp children. Now, for the first time, they tell their stories about making this celebrated film, from their auditions to rehearsals in Los Angeles...

The Sound of Music Family Scrapbook

Thrombo and Other Plays

(4/1/2012)

Albert Bermel writes comedies with a dark twist. The Times of London hailed Bermel's Workout as "one of the most expert pieces of comic writing to come out of America for some time." This volume includes nine witty, suspenseful plays - six of them full length, three short. Bermel's plays and translations have been performed throughout the world, including the Royal Court Theatre in London; Spoleto Festival, Italy; and on Broadway. Thrombo, a food farce, is set in a fictional African nation; Sho...

Thrombo and Other Plays

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