For almost thirty years, Jack Viertel has been a major figure in the Broadway theater world?he’s helped create shows like Hairspray, Angels in America, and Into the Woods; served as dramaturg of the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles; and is currently senior vice president of Jujamcyn Theaters, which host such shows as The Book of Mormon and Jersey Boys. Not long ago, Viertel noticed that while colleges offer intensive classes on Shakespeare's plays, dissecting them line by line to uncover their structure and meaning, there was nothing that dealt with musical theater in the same in-depth way. And why shouldn’t there be? he asked. If Shakespeare is England’s national theater, aren’t Broadway musicals ours?
In The Secret Life of the American Musical, Viertel gives musicals the Shakespeare treatment. The book draws on a range of examples?from Carousel to Wicked, The Music Man to The Book of Mormon?and personal encounters to paint a picture of how Broadway musicals are made, taking you through all the phases of a typical musical theater story, from opening numbers to finales. It’s a hilarious and compelling look at what Viertel has learned over the course of his career, full of observations about the egotists, geniuses, and workaday professionals who have sustained this unique American art form.
Jack Viertel
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A show business romance crossing 7000 miles and 70 years, Broadway Melody lands securely in the confines of Times Square and the Theater District, as a crackerjack trumpet player and a blue-collar spotlight operator vie for the love of an aspiring ingenue who holds them both in t…
How does an effeminate boy–raised in Cowboyland with cattle and guns, hunting and trucks, sports and church, jocks and jerks, cruelty and small-mindedness–get from the Black Hills of South Dakota to the thrills and heartbreak of the white-hot lights of Broadway and the West End?…
First full-length book about Burton Lane, covering his early days working on Tin Pan Alley and Broadway while still in his teens, through his compositions of film songs for more than twenty years, working with well-known lyricists including Harold Adamson, Ralph Freed, Frank Loes…
Kelly K. Klarkson and Quentavius da Quitter are in love. Kelly K. Klarkson and Quentavius da Quitter skate and smoke and taste one another’s fingers and snort molly and try to pick a name for their rap group. And then there’s their personal demons: Kelly exorcized hers a long tim…
Unpacks and explores Blankenbuehler's philosophies with regards to storytelling through the body, arguing how his prioritization of the ensemble as crucial to understanding the action within a show consequently positions the ensemble body as an indispensable element through which…
A career chronicle combined with close examinations of some of Yeston's most noteworthy compositions, including songs from his famous musicals as well as his lesser-known works. Behind-the-scenes accounts and analysis of Yeston's Broadway shows. From the author's full access to t…
healing and humor; from Broadway stages and beloved Disney films; in recording studios with artists like Diana Ross, Barry Manilow, and Nancy LaMott; and through the metaphysical teachings he shares with audiences across the nation. Now, in this irresistible collection, he reveal…
Collection of 25 removable, ready-to-frame prints by Al Hirschfeld featuring some of the most recognizable icons of the 20th century. Accompanied by commentary and biographies by David Leopold, Creative Director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation. Introduction by Dick Cavett. 58 pag…
The full audio production of AUGHTS, a radio play written and directed by Jake Lebowitz, is available free on YouTube, podcast platforms, and the show's website.
Music historian and critic Lawrence Schulman will release new titles including a third GARLAND volume and a photographic biography of Judy Garland, with forewords from Will Friedwald and James Fisher.
CENTER STAGE RECORDS has announced the release of The Pianist: World Premiere Recording – based on the new musical stage adaptation of Wladyslaw Szpilman’s internationally acclaimed memoir, the basis of Roman Polanski’s Academy Award-winning film.
Ghostlight Records has released the CHESS (2025 Broadway Cast Recording) on CD and vinyl, featuring Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele and Nicholas Christopher from the Imperial Theatre revival.
Tony Award nominee Kevin Chamberlin, Caroline Bowman, Timothy H.
Broadway Records released the world premiere cast recording of THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, featuring music by Anna Mullarkey from the National Theatre's revival starring Nicola Coughlan.
Broadway director and choreographer Richard J.
Decca Records will release the original cast album of 13 GOING ON 30 – THE MUSICAL, featuring Lucie Jones and David Hunter from the show's Manchester premiere cast.
Jonathan Bailey will take on the title role in Audible's new global adaptation of Dracula, joining Ella Purnell, Aimee Lou Wood, Maggie Gyllenhaal and more in the full-cast audio production.
Composer Ian Ferguson and writer Lauren LeBlanc will release a cast album of their original musical THE PENUMBRA, following its Dallas Children's Theater workshop presentation.
Tori Keenan-Zelt will discuss her play THE JONBENÉT GAME during an evening event at The Drama Book Shop in New York City, exploring themes of true crime, memory, and grief.
Johanna Telander's new concept album reimagines global 'Ladies in White' ghost legends, featuring an all-female cast including Militia Vox, Natalie Toro, Felicia Curry and Melody Munitz.
MEMENTO GOREY: The Last Interviews with Edward Gorey, a new book by Christopher Seufert, collects unpublished interviews and photographs documenting the designer's life and work.
The original stage work BIG MAN: A NEW MUSICAL, currently in development, will release the show's second single “Wander” in streaming and digital formats featuring Kevin Chamberlin.
The New York City Center Gala production of Bat Boy: The Musical (New York City Center Cast Recording) is available in digital and streaming formats.
Evita: The Full Album, the full cast recording of Jamie Lloyd's West End production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, led by Rachel Zegler, is available now.
You can now get a first listen to two new singles from the upcoming album Beau: The Musical recording.
Theatre Communications Group will publish an anthology of more than thirty plays by women+ playwrights, a civic initiative from the Flynn Center with the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize examining democracy in America.
Audible has a packed slate of new releases and live programming arriving this September, featuring everything from conversations with Barack Obama and a return to the fan-favorite Bobiverse to Colin Kaepernick's deeply personal story and more.
The Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show will record a cast album, featuring Rachel Dratch as “Narrator,” Luke Evans as “Frank-N-Furter,” Amber Gray as “Riff Raff,” Stephanie Hsu as “Janet,” Juliette Lewis as “Magenta,” and more.
This Ain’t No Disco: World Premiere Recording – Songs from the Musical by Stephen Trask and Peter Yanowitz is out now in digital and streaming formats.
Night Side Songs – the cast album of the transformative new musical produced by Lincoln Center Theater at LCT3 / the Claire Tow Theater – is available in streaming and digital formats now with a music video for My Stuff out now.
The original Broadway cast recording for Schmigadoon! is currently available to stream everywhere you listen to music.
Composer Yu-Peng Chen, known for scoring Genshin Impact, will release a 12-movement symphonic suite for piano and orchestra tracing a journey from birth to farewell.
Night Side Songs – the cast album, will be released in streaming and digital formats.
BroadwayWorld has your exclusive first listen to Lena Hall singing Lay Your Head from This Ain’t No Disco: World Premiere Recording – Songs from the Musical.
The musical Suffs is being adapted into a young adult novel! The book is written by the musical's writer, Shaina Taub, alongside author Betsy Cornwell.
Tony Award-winning producer and founder and CEO of Broadway Plus, Nathaniel Hill, is releasing a book.
Composer Micah Levy has released a revised, updated version of his orchestral children's album, previously performed by the Dallas, San Diego and Utah Symphonies, for streaming platforms.
Center Stage Records will release This Ain’t No Disco: World Premiere Recording – Songs from the Musical by Stephen Trask and Peter Yanowitz in digital and streaming formats.
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