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Broadway Bookshelf

Biographies, show books, musical scores, history, and must-read theatre books.
Biographies Show Books Autobiography For Actors Musical Scores Reference Books History

Kismet (Vocal Selections) (1986)

8 songs from the 1953 musical, including: And This Is My Beloved * Baubles, Bangles and Beads * Bored * He's in Love * Night of My Nights * Not Since Nineval * Sands of Time * Stranger in Paradise.
Kismet (Vocal Selections) Cover
Barnum : A Musical Suggested By the Life of P.T. Barnum (1980)

The Tony and Outer Critics Circle Arward-winning musical Barnum ran for over 2 years on Broadway. It follows the ups and downs of P.T.'s varied life, from his fraudulent and sensational promotions to his American Museum and Barnum and Bailey Circus. It takes us backstage as well, giving us a glimpse of his love affairs and marriage. Production photographs are included.
Barnum : A Musical Suggested By the Life of P.T. Barnum  Cover
Peter Pan (Vocal Selections) (1982)

8 vocal selections from the 1954 Broadway version of the beloved story starring Mary Martin. Includes: Captain Hook's Waltz * Distant Melody * I Won't Grow Up * I'm Flying * I've Gotta Crow * Never Never Land * Tender Shepherd (Count Your Sheep) * Wendy.
Peter Pan (Vocal Selections) Cover
Three Sisters (1934)

A Musical Play in Three Acts Programme (Theatre Royale Drury Lane June 4, 1934) Including, Eliot Makeham, Charlotte Greenwood, Adele Dixon, Victoria Hopper, Dick Francis, Albert Burdon, Esmond Knight, Stanley Holloway, Leonard Thorn, Anthony Hankey, Richard Dolman, Lucie Evely, Clare Lindsay, Bruce Seton, Eileen Clifton
Three Sisters Cover
Book of World-Famous Libretti: The Musical Theatre from 1598 to Today (1984)

In this handsome and invaluable book, James Fuld, author of The Book of World-Famous Music, examines the libretti of 167 works of musical theater. For each opera, operetta, or musical comedy libretto, he supplies a facsimile of the title page (see opposite) and, facing, all the relevant facts that can be gleaned from a close study of the original publication. In addition to a description of the physical properties of each libretto, you will find, for example, the date and place of the first perf...
Book of World-Famous Libretti: The Musical Theatre from 1598 to Today Cover
Stars of the American Musical Theater in Historic Photographs (1981)

361 portraits, from 1860s to 1950 of over 400 stars. Informative captions. An illustrious collection, long overdue.
Stars of the American Musical Theater in Historic Photographs Cover
Encyclopedia of theatre music (1961)

A comprehensive listing of more than 4000 songs from Broadway and Hollywood, 1900-1960
Encyclopedia of theatre music Cover
The Singing Actor (1983)

How to Be a Success in Musical Theatre and Night Clubs
The Singing Actor Cover
Ring Bells! Sing Songs! Broadway Musicals of the 1930's (1971)

Broadway Musicals of the 1930's
Ring Bells! Sing Songs! Broadway Musicals of the 1930's Cover
How to succeed in business without really trying (Vocal Selections) (1983)

7 songs from the Broadway standard, including: Brotherhood of Man * Grand Old Ivy * Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm * How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying * I Believe in You * Love from a Heart of Gold * Paris Original.
How to succeed in business without really trying (Vocal Selections) Cover
Man of LA Mancha (Vocal Score) (1965)

Includes 21 songs: Abduction Aldonza La Mancha Barber's Song The Combat Dubbing Dulcinea Golden Helmet of Mambrino I Really Like Him I, Don Quixote I'm Only Thinking of Him The Impossible Dream (The Quest) It's All the Same Knight of Mirrors Knight of Woeful Count Little Bird Little Bird A Little Gossip Moorish Dance Overture To Each His Dulcinea We're Only Thinking of Him What Does He Want of Me.
Man of LA Mancha (Vocal Score) Cover
American Song: The Complete Musical Theater Companion, 1900-1984. Two volumes (1985)

These companion volumes to Bloom's important American Song: The Complete Musical Theatre Companion (LJ 7/96) and Hollywood Song: The Complete Film and Musical Companion (LJ 3/15/95) focus on popular songs from the early 1890s to 2000, defining "Tin Pan Alley" broadly to incorporate tunes ranging from George M. Cohan's patriotic gems to "easy listening" (e.g., Henry Mancini, Burt Bacharach). Rock, country, folk, and other genres are not treated here. Although these works are presented as Volumes ...
American Song: The Complete Musical Theater Companion, 1900-1984. Two volumes Cover
A Connecticut Yankee: The Musical (1984)

A Musical based on the novel by Mark Twain. Includes: * Can't You Do a Friend a Favor * I Blush * I Feel at Home with You * Thou Swell * You Always Love the Same Girl and others.
A Connecticut Yankee: The Musical Cover
Ten Great Musicals of the American Theatre (1973)

Includes - Of Thee I Sing - Porgy and Bess - One Touch of Venus - Brigadoon - Kiss Me, Kate - West Side Story - Gypsy - Fiddler on the Roof - 1776 - Company
Ten Great Musicals of the American Theatre Cover
Better Foot Forward (1976)

The History of American Musical Theatre
Better Foot Forward Cover
Musical Notes: A Practical Guide to Staffing and Staging Standards of the American Musical Theater (1986)

“The entries in this `Guide' are arranged alphabetically, providing information on authorship and original production, a substantial synopsis of the story-line, notes on the production of the show (which include Tony Awards, ideas on technical and costume requirements, possible pitfalls, and budget suggestions), a list of songs of special interest, and details of instrumentation. A supplementary section on `Concept, Rock, Nostalgia and Others' differs from the main body of entries in providin...
Musical Notes: A Practical Guide to Staffing and Staging Standards of the American Mu Cover
Broadway Musicals (1986)

A colorful tribute to the great Broadway shows of our time. 395 illustrations, 112 in full color.
Broadway Musicals Cover
Opera--Dead or Alive: Production, Performance and Enjoyment of Musical Theatre (1972)

Playwright, director, and critic Ronald E. Mitchell offers general readers a richer understanding of traditions, terms, styles, and staging techniques of musical theater, including an introduction to seventeen examples of operas and musicals, from baroque and romantic operas to Gilbert & Sullivan, from proletarian dramas to Broadway shows like Oklahoma.
Opera--Dead or Alive: Production, Performance and Enjoyment of Musical Theatre Cover
The World Of Musical Comedy (1984)

Acclaimed through three editions for its uniquely informative and entertaining style, this fourth edition of Stanley Green’s World of Musical Comedy updates and enlarges the theatrical scope to include such recent shows as A Chorus Line, Barnum, They’re Playing Our Song, and Annie. In a format that provides biographies of all the leading figures in the musical’s development, Stanley Green manages to convey the spirit of the Broadway stage, its musical make-believe, and yet remain objective...
The World Of Musical Comedy Cover
America's Musical Stage: Two Hundred Years of Musical Theatre (1985)

Mates shows the musical stage in all its guises--from burlesque to musical comedy to grand opera--from its beginnings in pre-Revolutionary America to the present day. He deals sensitively with the recurrent aesthetic question of popular versus highbrow art and also looks at critical reactions to popular theatrical forms of musical entertainment. He introduces the reader to various types of theatrical companies, the changing repertory, and the many kinds of musical performers who have animated th...
America's Musical Stage: Two Hundred Years of Musical Theatre Cover
Great Musicals of the American Theatre (1976)

Originally published in 1973 under the title Ten great musicals of the American theatre. Includes the librettos of Of thee I sing, Porgy and Bess, One touch of Venus, Brigadoon, Kiss me Kate, West Side story, Gypsy, Fiddler on the roof, 1776, and Company.
Great Musicals of the American Theatre Cover
Encyclopedia Of The Musical Theatre (1980)

Drawing equally from Viennese operetta, Parisian cabaret, vaudeville, and Tin Pan Alley, the American musical theatre has thrived in an unprecedented variety of forms and styles as our truest hybrid art. From Show Boat and Oklahoma! to West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, and A Chorus Line, the musical has attracted our finest actors, composers, writers, directors, and choreographers. The greats and near-greats are finally brought together in this essential reference guide to over 2,000 persona...
Encyclopedia Of The Musical Theatre Cover
King Henry VI (1891)

Henry VI, Part 1 or The First Part of Henry the Sixt (often written as 1 Henry VI) is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas 2 Henry VI deals with the King's inability to quell the bickering of his nobles, and the inevitability of armed conflict, and 3 Henry VI deals with the horrors of that conflict, 1 Henry VI deals with the loss of England's French territories and the political machination...
King Henry VI Cover
The Seesaw Log: A Chronicle of the Stage Production, with the Text, of Two for the Seesaw (1984)

A day-by-day candid account of the creativity, conflict and compromise involved in the making of a smash-hit Broadway play.
The Seesaw Log: A Chronicle of the Stage Production, with the Text, of Two for the Se Cover
The Real Thing (1984)

A talented ensemble cast brings to life Stoppard's classic play featuring the loves and loves lost of playwright Henry; his wife, Charlotte; an actor named Max; and his activist wife, Annie. Featuring a play within a play, this production is superbly performed if slightly confusing in audiobook format—it's often difficult to keep track of who is speaking and to keep track of the endlessly reconfiguring relationships. Henry searches for meaning both in art and romantic relationships as he atte...
The Real Thing Cover
Theatre of Tennessee Williams, Vol. 4: Sweet Bird of Youth / Period of Adjustment / The Night of the Iguana (1972)

The Theatre of Tennessee Williams brings together in matching format the plays of one of America's most persistently influential and innovative dramatists. Arranged in chronological order, this ongoing series includes the original cast listings and production notes for all full-length plays.
Theatre of Tennessee Williams, Vol. 4: Sweet Bird of Youth / Period of Adjustment / T Cover
Plays and Stories: Arthur Schnitzler (1982)

Arthur Schnitzler, Viennese playwright, novelist, short story writer, and physician, was a sophisticated writer much in vogue in his time. He chose themes of an erotic, romantic, or social nature, expressed with clarity, irony, and subtle wit. Reigen, a series of ten dialogues linking people of various social classes through their physical desire for one another, has been filmed many times as La Ronde. As a Jew, Schnitzler was sensitive to the problems of anti-Semitism, which he explored in the...
Plays and Stories: Arthur Schnitzler  Cover
Chicago And Other Plays (1981)

Includes: Chicago, Icarus's Mother, Red Cross, Fourteen Hundred Thousand, Melodrama Play.
Chicago And Other Plays Cover
Persecución (1986)

Cinco piezas de teatro se unen aqui bajo un mismo tema: la persecucion. Cruel, experimental, desenfadado, ironico y poetico, este libro ademas de ser una obra de arte, es tambien una vision profunda de la eterna dualidad que parece caracterizar al ser humano: su condicion tanto sublime como terrible que lo hace victima o victimario perseguido o perseguidor. Pero la obra ademas de ser una satira del actual regimen cubano, trasciende el mismo a traves de una liberacion que, como en el principio d...
Persecución Cover
Winning Monologs for Young Actors: 65 Honest-To-Life Characterizations to Delight Young Actors and Audiences of All Ages (1986)

A collection of sixty-five monologues providing young performers with a variety of audition pieces reflecting situations both serious and comic.
Winning Monologs for Young Actors: 65 Honest-To-Life Characterizations to Delight You Cover
Autobiography: Consisting of Present Indicative, Future Indefinite and The Uncompleted Past Conditional (1986)

This reissue contains all three instalments of Coward's biography. "Present Indicative", published in 1937, deals with Noel's childhood and early life up to "Cavalcade" in 1931; "Future Indefinite", published in 1954, deals with the War years; also included is the opening to a planned third volume.
Autobiography: Consisting of Present Indicative, Future Indefinite and The Uncomplete Cover
Diary of a Madman and Other Stories (1983)

Illuminates the Russian writer's thoughts on madness, bureaucracy, and illusion in these five tales. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Diary of a Madman and Other Stories Cover
La Mandragola (1981)

A superior treatment of Machiavelli's minor masterpiece! Flaumenhaft's beautifully crafted, literal translation aims to capture the original intent of the playwright. Machiavelli himself distinguished carefully between translations and revisions; thus, Flaumenhaft finds a faithful translation essential to conveying Machiavelli's thought and to allowing direct access to the work. The Prologue explores the relationship between Machiavelli's stage comedies--part of the Comedia Erudita of the Italia...
La Mandragola Cover
Così è (se vi pare) (1980)

osì è (se vi pare) (English: Right you are (if you think so)) is an Italian drama by Luigi Pirandello. It premiered 18 June 1917 in Milan.
Così è (se vi pare) Cover
Learning Through Drama: Report of the Schools Council Drama, Teaching Project (1977)

A guide to teaching drama. It stresses the place of drama in the school curriculum and makes detailed recommendations both on the organization and on the content of drama teaching.
Learning Through Drama: Report of the Schools Council Drama, Teaching Project  Cover
Polly: an opera (1922)

Trapes. There it is now! Whoever heard a man of fortune in England talk of the necessaries of life? If the necessaries of life would have satisfy'd such a poor body as me, to be sure I had never come to mend my fortune to the Plantations. Whether we can afford it or no, we must have superfluities. We never stint our Expence to our own fortunes, but are miserable, if we do not live up to the profuseness of our neighbours.
Polly: an opera Cover
All For Love: A Tragedy (207)

Although John Dryden the poet is best known for his alexandrine epics, John Dryden the playwright is most honored for this blank verse tragedy. The summit of Dryden's dramatic art, All For Love (1677) is a spectacle of passion as felt, feared, and disputed in the suspicious years following the English Civil War.
All For Love: A Tragedy Cover
Politics and the Arts (1968)

This excellent translation makes available a classic work central to one of the most interesting controversies of the eighteenth century: the quarrel between Rousseau and Voltaire. Besides containing some of the most sensitive literary criticism ever written (especially of Molière), the book is an excellent introduction to the principles of classical political thought. It demonstrates the paradoxes of Rousseau's though and clearly displays the temperament that led him to repudiate the hopes of ...
Politics and the Arts Cover
Ghosts and Other Plays (1964)

The plays in this volume focus on the family and how it struggles to stay together by telling lies - and exposing them. In "Ghosts", Osvald Alving returns home only to discover the truth about the father he always looked up to, and learns the horrific effect his father's debauchery has had on him. It was Ibsen's most provocative drama, stripping away the surface of a middle-class family to expose layers of hypocrisy and immorality. "A Public Enemy" sets two brothers against each other when one w...
Ghosts and Other Plays Cover
The Feast At Solhoug (208)

Henrik Ibsen's "The Feast at Solhoug" is set at the annual feast to celebrate the wedding anniversary of Margit and Bengt Guateson. Knut Gesling, the King's sheriff, comes prior to the feast to ask for Margit's approval for marrying her sister, Signe. Knowing that Knut can be a brutal and violent man, Margit gives her permission on the condition that Knut can demonstrate he can be peaceful for a period of one year. In typical Ibsen fashion, anything but a peaceful outcome ensues. Written in 1855...
The Feast At Solhoug Cover
Max: A Play (1972)

A play that satirizes the political confusions of both youthful activists and middle-aged believers in gradual reform. Translated by A. Leslie Willson and Ralph Manheim. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book.
Max: A Play Cover
You Never Can Tell (1981)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ACT III The Clandons' sitting room in the hotel. An expensive apartment on the ground floor, with a French window leading to the gardens. In the centre of the room is a substantial table, surrounded by chairs, and draped with a maroon cloth on which opulently bound hotel and railway guides are displayed. A visitor e...
You Never Can Tell Cover
Selected Plays (1978)

Francis Russell O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet and art critic. He was a member of the New York School of poetry.
Selected Plays Cover
Mariana Pineda (1984)

Una joven granadina es encarcelada en 1831 por haber mandado bordar la bandera que servira de insignia a una insurreccion liberal. Le prometen la libertad si delata a los jefes de esta, pero, al negarse, es condenada a muerte y ejecutada.
Mariana Pineda Cover
The Zoo Story and the Sandbox (1959)

The Zoo Story is American playwright Edward Albee's first play; written in 1958 and completed in just three weeks. It was originally titled Peter and Jerry. The play explores themes of isolation, loneliness, miscommunication as anathematization, social disparity and dehumanization in a commercial world. Initially the play was rejected by New York producers. Albee first had it staged in Europe, premiering in West Berlin at the Schiller Theater Werkstatt on September 28, 1959. In its first Ameri...
The Zoo Story and the Sandbox Cover
Glued to the Box: Television Criticism from the (1984)

Collection of the Australian-born writer's TV criticism published in the London 'Observer' during the period 1979-82. It is a paperback edition of a volume first published by Jonathan Cape in 1983. His earlier volumes of TV criticism are 'Visions Before Midnight' (1977 & 1981) and 'The Crystal Bucket' (1983). They were published in a single volume with a new introduction and index as 'Clive James on Television' (1991).
Glued to the Box: Television Criticism from the  Cover
New Theatre Quarterly 1 (Part 1) (1985)

New Theatre Quarterly provides a vital international forum where theatrical scholarship and practice can meet and where prevailing dramatic assumptions can be subjected to vigorous critical questioning. It shows that theatre history has a contemporary relevance, that theatre studies need a methodology and that theatre criticism needs a language. The journal publishes news, analysis and debate within the field of theatre studies.
New Theatre Quarterly 1 (Part 1) Cover
AWAKE AND SING. A PLAY IN THREE ACTS (1935)

Awake and Sing! is a drama written by American playwright Clifford Odets. The play was initially produced by The Group Theatre in 1935. The play is set in The Bronx in 1933; it concerns the impoverished Berger family and their conflicts as the parents scheme to manipulate their children's relationships to their own ends, while their children strive for their own dreams.
AWAKE AND SING. A PLAY IN THREE ACTS Cover
Saint Joan of the Stockyards (1970)

"A major Brecht play in an outstanding translation with an expert and up-to-date preface." -- Eric Bentley "... a fine translation.... Jones has handled Brecht's meters with great skill." -- Choice
Saint Joan of the Stockyards Cover
Open Letters to the Intimate Theater (1966)

Swedish playwright, novelist, and short-story writer, who combined in his works psychology, naturalism, and later elements of new literary forms. Strindberg was married three times – several of his plays drew on the problems of his marriages and reflected his constant interest in self-analysis. A sensitive and controversial writer, who suffered from hostile reviews, Strindberg represented the 19th-century ideal of artist as a free personality, unrestrained by convention.
Open Letters to the Intimate Theater Cover

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