In two volumes spanning the era from the mid-19th century to the present, this encyclopedia offers nearly 200 entries on a variety of topics, including spotlights on 30 landmark productions. Also 30 extended thematic essays gauging the impact of theater on American life. There are also 110 profile entries on key persons and institutions whose unique careers and contributions impacted Broadway.
This is the most comprehensive and insightful reference available on Broadway theater as an American cultural phenomenon and an illuminator of American life. Broadway: An Encyclopedia of Theater and American Culture is the first major reference work to explore just how much the "Great White Way" illuminates our national character. In two volumes spanning the era from the mid-19th century to the present, it offers nearly 200 entries on a variety of topics, including spotlights on 30 landmark productions—from Shuffle Along to Oklahoma! to Oh Calcutta! to The Producers—that not only changed American theater but American culture as well. In addition, Broadway offers thirty extended thematic essays gauging the powerful impact of theater on American life, with entries on race relations, women in society, sexuality, film, media, technology, tourism, and off-Broadway and noncommercial theater. There are also 110 profile entries on key persons and institutions—from the famous to the infamous to the all but forgotten—whose unique careers and contributions impacted Broadway and its place in the American landscape.
"This volume, essential for anyone who loves Broadway, includes a full introduction by Ben Brantley, chief theater critic of The Times, his selection of 25 of the influential Broadway plays that defined the twentieth century, and his choice of 100 other, memorable plays - right up through plays currently running on Broadway.".
"These cautionary tales are provocative, highly instructive, occasionally brutal, and, from a safe distance, downright hilarious, making Second Act Trouble the perfect Broadway bedtime reader - unless you are prone to nightmares."--BOOK JACKET.
(Vocal Collection). A delightful collection of musical theatre songs that kids love to perform, from a variety of shows. Using original scores, the songs have been selected and adapted with the ranges and skills of young singers in mind. Included in this collection are short summaries for each of the musicals, a dramatic and character set-up for each song, audition tips, 16-bar cut suggestions, and audio tracks of piano accompaniments. Songs include: All I Do is Dream of You (from Singin' in the Rain ) * Alone in the Universe (Seussical: The Musical) * Be Kind to Your Parents (Fanny) * Big Blue World (Finding Nemo: The Musical) * Consider Yourself (Oliver) * Different (Honk!) * Doll on a Music Box/Truly Scrumptious (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) * The Girl I Mean to Be (The Secret Garden) * Good Morning (Singin' in the Rain) * Green Eggs and Ham (Seussical: The Musical) * Heart (Damn Yankees) * I Gotta Crow (Peter Pan) * I Just Can't Wait to Be King (The Lion King) * I Want It Now (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) * It's Possible (Seussical: The Musical) * Johnny One Note (Babes in Arms) * Part of Your World (The Little Mermaid) * Pure Imagination ( Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) * Shy (Once Upon a Mattress) * Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (Mary Poppins: The New Musical) * When I Get My Name in Lights (The Boy From Oz) * Wouldn't It Be Loverly (My Fair Lady) . Audio is accessed online using the unique code inside the book and can be streamed or downloaded. The audio files include PLAYBACK+, a multi-functional audio player that allows you to slow down audio without changing pitch, set loop points, change keys, and pan left or right.
(Vocal Collection). Theatre songs have been chosen for each voice type to teach traditional lyric singing in the classical voice studio. Keys have been carefully selected for optimal use by beginning singers. The versions of the songs are short and simple, appropriate for a novice singer. For many American voice students, particularly, this collection would be the perfect first book for a teacher to assign. There are 23-24 per volume. Hal Leonard. Contents: All The Things You Are * And This Is My Beloved * Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man * Climb Ev'ry Mountain * Goodnight, My Someone * Hello, Young Lovers * I Could Have Danced All Night * I Have Dreamed * I'll Know * It's a Grand Night For Singing * Just Imagine * Look For The Silver Lining * Look to the Rainbow * Make Believe * Many a New Day * Once You Lose Your Heart * Out Of My Dreams * The Simple Joys Of Maidenhood * The Sound Of Music * Till There Was You * Why Do I Love You? * With a Song In My Heart * Wouldn't It Be Loverly * You'll Never Walk Alone
Whether you're coming to Broadway fresh faced or are an old hand, you'll enjoy these 150+ profiles of the great musicals to hit the stage--including Hamilton!
(Vocal Collection). 40 songs, including: This Can't Be Love * Bye, Bye Baby * I Won't Send Roses * The Surrey With The Fringe On Top * Once In Love With Amy.
Have you ever wanted to sneak behind the curtain of some of Broadway's greatest hits including Wicked, Rent, and A Chorus Line? Do you wonder what Patti LuPone revealed to Raul Esparza about Broadway dressing rooms or wish you were a fly on the wall during Audra McDonald's big break auditions? Are you dying to know why Laura Linney would watch Stockard Channing from the rafters each night? From opening nights to closing nights. From secret passageways to ghostly encounters. From Broadway debuts to landmark productions. Score a front row seat to read hundreds of stories about the most important stages in the world, seen through the eyes of the producers, actors, stagehands, writers, musicians, company managers, dressers, designers, directors, ushers, and door men who bring The Great White Way to life each night. You'll never look at Broadway the same way again. This is the second book in a multi-volume series that will tell the stories of all of the Broadway theaters. Volume 2 includes the Barrymore, the Circle in the Square, the Criterion Center Stage Right, the Gershwin, the Nederlander, the Palace, the Shubert, and the Vivian Beaumont: eight Broadway theaters that light up New York City. Volume 2 Interviewees: Deborah Abramson, Loni Ackerman, Lynn Ahrens, Rose M. Alaio, Mana Allen, Charlie Alterman, Michael Arden, Brittnye Batchelor, Bryan Batt, Hunter Bell, Marty Bell, Brig Berney, Michael Berresse, Ken Billington, Sandy Binion, Patricia Birch, Andre Bishop, Nick Blaemire, Corbin Bleu, Heidi Blickenstaff, Walter Bobbie, Anne Bobby, Chris Boneau, Beowulf Boritt, Christian Borle, Jeff Bowen, Jason Robert Brown, Jeb Brown, Laura Bell Bundy, Todd Buonopane, Jonathan Burkhart, Danny Burstein, Liz Callaway, Liz Caplan, Len Cariou, Craig Carnelia, Eileen Casey, Harrison Chad, Ted Chapin, Nancy Coyne, Gavin Creel, Charlotte d'Amboise, Ken Davenport, Penny Davis, Carmel Dean, Robin De Jesus, Ed Dixon, Christopher Durang, James Dybas, Jake Epstein, Raul Esparza, Ben Fankhauser, Tim Federle, Philip Feller, Bert Fink, Terry Finn, Stephen Flaherty, Merwin Foard, Shannon Ford, Hunter Foster, Fritz Frizsell, Larry Fuller, Artie Gaffin, Jack Gale, David Gallo, Irene Gandy, Chris Gattelli, Joanna Gleason, Annie Golden, Jason Graae, Todd Graff, Randy Graff, Ilene Graff, Amanda Green, Michael Greif, Harry Groener, Jonathan Groff, Julie Halston, Ann Harada, F. Michael Haynie, Diane Heatherington, Laura Heller, Tom Hewitt, John Hickok, Larry Hochman, Abe Jacob, Sally J. Jacobs, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Jeremy Jordan, Doug Katsaros, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Steve C. Kennedy, Chad Kimball, Eddie Korbich, Michael John LaChiusa, Liz Larsen, Baayork Lee, Telly Leung, Caissie Levy, Peter Link, Laura Linney, Jose Llana, William Ivey Long, David Loud, Anna Louizos, Hal Luftig, Arielle Tepper Madover, James Maloney, Richard Maltby Jr., Joe Mantello, Josh Marquette, Kathleen Marshall, Mel Marvin, Tony Massey, Michael Mayer, Neil Mazzella, Elizabeth McCann, Kevin McCollum, Donna McKechnie, John McMartin, Lindsay Mendez, Michael Mendez, Alan Menken, Joanna Merlin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jessica Molaskey, Eric William Morris, Randy Morrison, Robert Morse, Julia Murney, Austin Nathaniel, George Nestor, Casey Nicholaw, Jack O'Brien, Kelli O'Hara, Brynn O'Malley, Laura Osnes, Evan Pappas, Michon Peacock, Tim Pettolina, Hayley Podschun, Red Press, Lonny Price, Harold Prince, Ben Rappaport, Krysta Rodriguez, Steve Rosen, Daryl Roth, Michael Rupert, Alex Rybeck, Harvey Sabinson, Sarah Saltzberg, Don Scardino, Justin Scribner, Joan Shepard, David Shire, Rick Sordelet, Louis St. Louis, Michael Starobin, Don Stitt, David Stone, Charles Strouse, Julie Taymor, Bernie Telsey, Mary Testa, Joe Traina, Taylor Trensch, Mike VanPraagh, Donna Vivino, Frank Vlastnik, Jim Walton, Tony Walton, Robert E. Wankel, John Weidman, Ira Weitzman, George C. Wolfe, Amy Wolk, Greg Woolard, James Woolley, Nick Wyman, Maury Yeston, Brian Yorkey, Jerry"
During the Twenties, the Great White Way roared with nearly 300 book musicals. Luminaries who wrote for Broadway during this decade included Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Rudolf Friml, George Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein II, Lorenz Hart, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Sigmund Romberg, and Vincent Youmans, and the era’s stars included Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, and Marilyn Miller. Light-hearted Cinderella musicals dominated these years with such hits as Kern’s long-running Sally, along with romantic operettas that dealt with princes and princesses in disguise. Plots about bootleggers and Prohibition abounded, but there were also serious musicals, including Kern and Hammerstein’s masterpiece Show Boat. In The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals, Dan Dietz examines in detail every book musical that opened on Broadway during the years 1920-1929. The book discusses the era’s major successes as well as its forgotten failures. The hits include A Connecticut Yankee; Hit the Deck!; No, No, Nanette; Rose-Marie; Show Boat; The Student Prince; The Vagabond King; and Whoopee, as well as ambitious failures, including Deep River; Rainbow; and Rodgers’ daring Chee-Chee. Each entry contains the following information: Plot summary Cast members Names of creative personnel, including book writers, lyricists, composers, directors, choreographers, producers, and musical directors Opening and closing dates Number of performances Plot summary Critical commentary Musical numbers and names of the performers who introduced the songs Production data, including information about tryouts Source material Details about London productions Besides separate entries for each production, the book offers numerous appendixes, including ones which cover other shows produced during the decade (revues, plays with music, miscellaneous musical presentations, and a selected list of pre-Broadway closings). Other appendixes include a discography, filmography, a list of published scripts, and a list of black-themed musicals. This book contains a wealth of information and provides a comprehensive view of each show. The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals will be of use to scholars, historians, and casual fans of one of the greatest decades in the history of musical theatre.
