1780. Albany, New York.
As the war for American Independence carries on, two newlyweds are settling into their new adventure: marriage. But the honeymoon's over, and Alexander Hamilton and Eliza Schuyler are learning firsthand just how tricky wedded life can be. Alex is still General George Washington's right-hand man and his attention these days is nothing if not divided--much like the colonies' interests as the end of the Revolution draws near. Alex & Eliza's relationship is tested furthe...
An eye-opening history of Manhattan told through its most celebrated street.
Broadway takes us on a mile-by-mile journey that traces the gradual evolution of the seventeenth-century’s Brede Wegh, a muddy cow path in a backwater Dutch settlement, to the twentieth century’s Great White Way. We learn why one side of the street was once considered more fashionable than the other; witness construction of the Ansonia Apartments, Trinity Church, and the Flatiron Building and the burning of P. T. Ba...
A revelatory portrait of the creative partnership that transformed musical theater and provided the soundtrack to the American Century
They stand at the apex of the great age of songwriting, the creators of the classic Broadway musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, whose songs have never lost their popularity or emotional power. Even before they joined forces, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written dozens of Broadway shows, but tog...
Sweeney Todd, the gruesome tale of a murderous barber and his pastry chef accomplice, is unquestionably strange subject matter for the musical theatre - but eight Tony awards and enormous successes on Broadway and the West End testify to its enduring popularity with audiences. Written by Hugh Wheeler, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, the musical premiered in 1979 and has seen numerous revivals, including Tim Burton's 2007 film version. Aaron C. Thomas addresses this darkly funny piece...
For nearly a decade, Jackie Apodaca and Michael Kostroff shared duties as advice columnists for the actors’ trade paper, Backstage. Their highly popular weekly feature, "The Working Actor," fielded questions from actors all over the country. A cross between "Dear Abby" and the Hollywood Reporter, their column was a fact-based, humorous, compassionate take on the questions actors most wanted answered. Using some their most interesting, entertaining, and informative columns as launch points, Answ...
(Piano/Vocal/Guitar Songbook). A musical drama biopic chronicling P.T. Barnum (played by Hugh Jackman) and his founding of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, this December 2017 film features a stunning soundtrack by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul of La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen fame. Our songbook features piano/vocal/guitar arrangements of 9 songs: Come Alive * From Now On * The Greatest Show * A Million Dreams * Never Enough * The Other Side * Rewrite the Stars * This Is Me * Tightrope.
The Actor Uncovered is certainly not a set of rigid rules advocating one "method" or one singular "truth." Departing from the common guidebook format, Michael Howard uses a unique approach to teaching acting, reflecting on his own history and sharing his own experiences as an actor, director, and teacher. How he writes about the process and craft of acting is at once intensely personal and relatable by others.
Readers are invited to participate as though present in this master teacher's clas...
The Miracle Worker. The Patty Duke Show. Valley of the Dolls. Those perennial film and television titles still reverberate with audiences entranced with Academy Award-winning film actress and Broadway and television icon Patty Duke.
This musical adaptation of the 1993 film starring Robert De Niro and Chazz Palminteri was released on Broadway in December 2016 featuring the music of Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. Our vocal selections folio includes standard piano/vocal arrangements with the melody in the piano part. Songs include: Ain't It the Truth · Belmont Avenue · The Choices We Make · Hurt Someone · I like It · In a World like This · Look to Your Heart · Nicky Machiavelli · One of the Great Ones · Out of Your Head · Roll...
Beyond being just fuel for the body, food carries symbolic importance used to define individuals, situations, and places, making it an ideal communication tool. In musical theater, food can be used as a shortcut to tell the audience more about a setting, character, or situation. Because everyone relates to eating, food can also be used to evoke empathy, amusement, or shock from the audience. In some cases, food is central to show’s plot. This book looks at popular musical theater shows to exami...
Often dismissed as kitsch sentimentalism, The Sound of Music (1959) has proven enduringly popular and surprisingly influential, both within the field of musical theatre and the wider world. The Broadway production won five Tony Awards, the London production became the longest-running West End musical, and the movie version became the highest-grossing film of all time. Over sixty years it has become a cultural icon, with wildly shifting significance in different cultures, but the stage musical h...
After an eight year absence from big musical theatre, Jeremy Stanford suddenly finds himself cast in a leading role of one of the most expensive and eagerly anticipated Australian musicals ever; Priscilla Queen of the Desert - The Musical. Involved from the outset, starting with the workshop of the first script, he navigates the auditions, the nerve-wracking rehearsals and finally, the incredibly fraught lead up to the world premier of this hit show. It's a wild bus trip through a landscape of ...
A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he's always wanted: a chance to finally fit in. Both deeply personal and profoundly contemporary, DEAR EVAN HANSEN is a new American musical about life and the way we live it.
The book-produced by Melcher Media, the team behind Hamilton, Wicked, Rent, and many more-tells the story of the musical from its conception nearly a decade a...
Composer, pianist, author, television teacher, Harvard lecturer, cultural icon, humanist and conductor without peer, Leonard Bernstein's versatility was legendary. He captivated Broadway with such hits as On the Town and West Side Story and introduced middle America to classical music with his Young People's Concerts on television. He composed three symphonies and a full-length opera, and he inspired the world's leading orchestras to give some of the most memorable performances of the twentieth...
This edited volume provides new readings of the life and career of iconic actress Vivien Leigh (191367), written by experts from theatre and film studies and curators from the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. The collection uses newly accessible family archives to explore the intensely complex relationship between Vivien Leigh's approach to the craft of acting for stage and screen, and how she shaped, developed and projected her public persona as one of the most talked about and photographed a...
Broadway Rhythm is a guide to Manhattan like nothing you've ever read. Author Dominic Symonds calls it a performance cartography, and argues that the city of New York maps its iconicity in the music of the Broadway songbook. A series of walking tours takes the reader through the landscape of Manhattan, clambering over rooftops, riding the subway, and flying over skyscrapers. Symonds argues that Broadway's songs can themselves be used as maps to better understand the city though identifiable pat...
An essential introductory textbook that provides a comprehensive and student-friendly overview of the key processes involved in developing and managing a theatre in the 21st century. It covers a complete range of topics fundamental to successful commercial and not-for-profit theatre management, from developing a mission statement to communicating with stakeholders, from marketing and promotion to fund development platforms, and from governance structures to community engagement. With over two d...
7 songs from the stage musical adapted from Victor Hugo's 1831 novel of the same name and the music from the 1996 Disney animated feature film. This collection includes vocal line arrangements with piano accompaniment for the songs: The Bells of Notre Dame * Esmeralda * Flight into Egypt * God Help the Outcasts * Hellfire * In a Place of Miracles * Made of Stone * Rest and Recreation * Someday * Top of the World * and more.
When Sholem Asch wrote God of Vengeance in 1907, he didn’t imagine the height of controversy the play would eventually reach. Performing at first in Yiddish and German, the play’s subject matter wasn’t deemed contentious until it was produced in English, when the American audiences were scandalized by the onstage depiction of an amorous affair between two women. Paula Vogel’s newest work traces the trajectory of the show’s success through its tour in Europe to its abrupt and explosive demise on...
The glorious world of P.T. Barnum and the holiday movie The Greatest Showman come to life in this lavish art book. Featuring unit photography and concept art of stars Hugh Jackman, Zac Ephron, Michelle Williams, and Zendaya as well as behind-the-scenes tales of the film’s making. Lyrics to the movie musical’s showstopping tunes, by the song-writing team behind La-La Land. Foreword by Director Michael Gracey.
The complete memoirs of Neil Simon, the greatest—and most successful—American playwright of all time, the author of such iconic works as Lost in Yonkers, The Odd Couple, Biloxi Blues, and The Goodbye Girl, now with an insightful Introduction by Nathan Lane.
This omnibus edition combines Neil Simon’s two memoirs, Rewrites and The Play Goes On, into one volume that spans his extraordinary five-decade career in theater, television, and film. Rewrites takes Simon through his first love, his firs...
The final work from the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, actor, and musician, drawn from his transformative last days
In searing, beautiful prose, Sam Shepard’s extraordinary narrative leaps off the page with its immediacy and power. It tells in a brilliant braid of voices the story of an unnamed narrator who traces, before our rapt eyes, his memories of work, adventure, and travel as he undergoes medical tests and treatments for a condition that is rendering him more and more dependent on th...
Founded in 1910, Detroit's Players Club is an all-male club devoted to the production of theater by members for other members' enjoyment. Called simply "The Players," members of the club design, direct, and act in the shows, including playing the female roles. In Detroit on Stage, Marijean Levering takes readers behind the scenes of the club's private "frolics" to explore the unique history of The Players, discover what traditions they still hold dear, and examine why they have survived relativ...
Beyond being just fuel for the body, food carries symbolic importance used to define individuals, situations, and places, making it an ideal communication tool. In musical theater, food can be used as a shortcut to tell the audience more about a setting, character, or situation. Because everyone relates to eating, food can also be used to evoke empathy, amusement, or shock from the audience. In some cases, food is central to show’s plot. This book looks at popular musical theater shows to exami...
In late 2016, Lin-Manuel Miranda released this "mixtape" album of 23 tracks from the score to the mega-hit, Tony Award-winning Broadway sensation Hamilton as performed by several recording artists. This songbook features piano, voice and guitar arrangements for 22 of these songs: Dear Theodosia (Regina Spektor feat. Ben Folds) * Helpless (Ashanti feat. Ja Rule) * History Has Its Eyes on You (John Legend) * It's Quiet Uptown (Kelly Clarkson) * My Shot (The Roots) * Satisfied (Sia feat. Miguel & ...
Nicol Williamson became famous overnight for his performance in John Osborne’s Inadmissible Evidence in 1964 at London’s Royal Court Theatre, going on to gain a reputation as perhaps the best – and most difficult – British actor of his generation and ending the ‘60s with a Hamlet which became as legendary as it was controversial. The following year he was invited to perform at the White House – the first actor ever to receive such an invitation – but Williamson’s spectacular early success was n...
The official behind-the-scenes book of the new hit musical.
A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he's always wanted: a chance to finally fit in. Both deeply personal and profoundly contemporary, DEAR EVAN HANSEN is a new American musical about life and the way we live it.
The book-produced by Melcher Media, the team behind Hamilton, Wicked, Rent, and many more-tells...
"Do You Mind If I Smoke?" tells the story of Fenella Fielding's remarkable 65-year career in theatre, radio, TV and film. Best known for her 1960s film appearances in classic comedies such as "Carry On Screaming", "Doctor in Clover" and "Carry On Regardless", Fielding's sublime talents also brought her success in serious roles on the stage, including title roles in "Hedda Gabler" and "Colette". Spiced with star-studded anecdotes and personalized with moving stories about innocence and experienc...
In a career spanning six decades, Agnes Moorehead (1900-1974) was perhaps unique among 20th-century American actresses in making her name in four entertainment media--radio, theater, film and television--after age 40. Focusing on 25 of her most representative performances, this retrospective analyzes her work on radio serials like Mayor of the Town (1942-1949) and Suspense (1942-1962), her stage productions of Don Juan in Hell and Gigi, her television appearances on Bewitched and The Twilight Z...
The list of Nicholas Hytner's accomplishments is long and distinguished: as Artistic Director of London's National Theatre from 2003-2015, he directed and produced a great number of their most popular and memorable plays and musicals, many of which have come to Broadway: Carousel, Richard Bean's One Man, Two Guvnors, David Hare's Stuff Happens among them. He directed both the London and Broadway productions of Miss Saigon, each of which ran for ten years. He directed Alan Bennett's The Madness ...
Ever wondered why actors don’t wear green onstage? Or never wish each other “good luck”? Or avoid whistling in the dressing room? Or refuse to mention a certain Shakespeare play by name? “BREAK A LEG!” A TREASURY OF THEATRE TRADITIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS is a fascinating compendium of facts and fancies about theatre life, exploring the origin of the colorful traditions and superstitions that are as vital a part of theatre as the plays onstage. Includes entries on: Cats, Candles & Curtains • Peaco...
The Lion King debuted July 8, 1997, at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, and was an instant success before premiering at the New Amsterdam Theatre on November 13, 1997. It is Broadway's highest grossing production of all time, having grossed more than $1 billion. The show won six 1998 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical, making Julie Taymor the first woman in theatrical history bestowed with the honor. The Lion King has also earned more than 70 major arts award...
Drawing on his own life and career and the rich lore of The Lion King, Alton Fitzgerald White, Broadway's longest running "King," delivers his message of service -- taking responsibility for and deriving happiness from commonplace achievements -- as a philosophy that anyone can get through each day with satisfaction, pride and a sense of accomplishment.
If you've ever wondered how an actor can perform the same role hundreds of times without burning out, in White's book you'll meet someone who ...
This amazing new collection features over 600 Broadway songs arranged with melody, lyrics and chords for C instruments. Definitely a must-own resource for any gigging or auditioning musician or actor! Includes: All at Once You Love Her * All I Ask of You * Alone in the Universe * Always Look on the Bright Side of Life * And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going * Another Op'nin', Another Show * Any Dream Will Do * Anything Goes * Aquarius * Be Our Guest * Bess, You Is My Woman * Big Spender * Body and...
Biography of lyricist, bookwriter, librettist John Treville Latouche (Cabin in the Sky, Beggar's Holiday, The Golden Apple, Candide ). The book draws widely on archival materials such as Latouche's diaries and the papers of Bernstein, Ellington, Moore, Moross, and many others, to tell for the first time, the story of this fascinating man and his work. 592 pages.
Eight monologues for male and female performers cover major events – such as the Wolfenden Report of 1957, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the debate over the age of consent – through deeply affecting and personal rites-of-passage stories. Commissioned to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act and broadcast on BBC Four and BBC America. They were also staged at The Old Vic in London. The Man on the Platform by Mark Gatiss, The Perfect Gentleman by Jackie Clune, Safest Spot in Town by Keit...
A chronological reprinting of one of the most important comic strips of the 20th Century. Annie is a cultural icon--in both her red-headed, blank-eyed appearance, and as an embodiment of American individuality, spunk, and self-reliance. Even those who don't know strip are keenly aware of the plucky orphan, her loveable dog Sandy, and her adoptive benefactor, "Daddy" Warbucks, through the Broadway play, the hit movie, and the song "Tomorrow," made famous by both.
What would you do if you foun...
In Arlen and Harburg's Over the Rainbow, author Walter Frisch traces the history of this song from its inception during the development of The Wizard of Oz's screenplay, to its various reinterpretations over the course of the twentieth century. Through analysis of the song's music and lyrics, this Oxford Keynotes volume provides a close reading of the piece while examining the evolution of its meaning as it traversed widely varying cultural contexts. From its adoption as a jazz standard by ge...
Through detailed case studies of canonical plays by Shakespeare, Jonson, Kyd and Heywood ... what it felt like to be part of performances in English theatre and appreciate the key role theatregoers played in the life of early modern drama ... how theatregoers were altered by drama's affective encounters ... how they were undeniable influences upon those encounters. 246 pages.
Includes new introduction by Mark Fisher. Making its New York City debut at 59E59 October 2017. 48 pages. Paperback published previously, including in July 2015.
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.
After opening in a small Off-Broadway theater, Rent , a modern adaptation of Puccini's La Boheme , quickly became a worldwide phenomenon with a more zealous and devoted fan base than had any musical in history. Rent FAQ includes biographical info on the musical's brilliant creator, Jonathan Larson, who tragically passed away at age 35 the night before the show began preview performances. Other chapters focus on the creative team and original cast; the development of the script and score from ea...
Chronicle of the commercially unsuccessful British musical of the last half a century, up to 2016. Presents a rolling panorama of the good, the bad and the ugly, reassessing their place in theatrical history. Wright reveals a consistent striving at invention, with subjects including the electric chair, the Holocaust, the Virgin Mary, social inequality and Trade Unionism, sexual problems and murder, as well as biographical treatments of Hollywood stars, French painters, tragic novelists, royalty...
Tells the story of Arthur Miller's time in China directing Death of a Salesman at the Beijing People's Theatre, with Chinese actors. Second edition is given a contemporary context as the production and process is investigated against the backdrop of twenty-first century China and its theatre, through a new introduction by Claire Conceison, Professor of Theatre Studies at Duke University. Photographs by Inge Morath. 264 pages.
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.
Biography of the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and important figure in the history of American avant-garde theater and performance art, Ellen Stewart (1919–2011). Richly illustrated, including posters and photographs of early productions and other rarely-seen photos, and featuring interviews with a wide range of now-famous La MaMa alums ... a book for theater aficionados and anyone interested in the history of Off-Off-Broadway, the cultural history of New York City, or visual cul...
Foreword by her sister, Idina Menzel. " the story of one younger sister growing up in the shadow of a larger-than-life older sister—looking up to her, wondering how they were alike and how they were different and, ultimately, learning how to live her own life and speak in her own voice on her own terms." Audiobook read by the author.
Biography of Al Hirschfeld, the caricaturist of Broadway. From interviews with the artist himself, his friends and wives, celebrity subjects, agent, daughter, and more; with access to personal correspondence, journals, home movies, and scrapbooks.
