Books for Musicals

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/28/05 at 1:33am

How come musical's books aren't printed? Like you can find the music but you can never find the book to accompany it. Why is that?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/28/05 at 1:37am

Many times you can. Here are some books that are published:

...Forum
Into the Woods
Sunday in the Park with George
Sweeney Todd
Passion
A Little Night Music
Company
Follies
Pacific Overtures
Man of La Mancha
Brigadoon
My Fair Lady
Caroline, or Change
Finian's Rainbow
Gypsy

etc.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/28/05 at 1:38am

The books of many acclaimed musicals are published. Check Amazon or the Drama Bookshop for titles.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/28/05 at 2:03am

oh, i guess the ones i was looking for were like tick tick boom and the last 5 years. I know i can find them online, but i'd rather have a real copy.

[maybethistime]

Posted: 2/28/05 at 2:48am

Tons of musical's books were published up until the mid to late 70's through the Fireside Theatre and other various publishers. They are mostly now out of print but are still available through used book services like ebay or abe.com (advanced book exchange). Most recent musicals, unless we're really lucky, don't publish their scripts, with the exception of some (the Hairspray books, The Producers book, etc.) but many other new musicals like Taboo, Wild Party, L5Y, and countless others just don't do it anymore. If you know where to look, you can almost always find what you're looking for now. I have a libretto collection and I have found almost every book I've ever wanted... published or "unpublished" (keeping in mind sometimes you can find the liscensing companies' editions). Examples of that are a copy of MTI's Godspell Libretto or R&H Library's Once Upon a Mattress that I've found online or at used bookstores, etc. It may take years for something to finally turn up, but even if it comes down to one of the actor's scripts, they're out there.

I think one of the reasons people are hesitant to publish books in the fist place is the fear that people will produce illegal versions of their shows (MTI closes all the ebay auctions with their libs). To find out if a book was every published for an old show, I check the Library of Congress catalog... It's tedious, but if you want it, some are much easier to track down than you think, especially when you add things to "want lists" then ebay or abe or wherever email you when something is added that matches your criteria.

That was really long and probably tons of info you could care less about, but I hope it answered something!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/28/05 at 1:21pm

No, thanks for your info. I'm looking for the wild party or tick tick boom. I really want my college to do tick tick boom for our spring musical next year, but not sure how to present it to them if i don't have a script.

[boatsintheghetto]

Posted: 2/28/05 at 2:01pm

Hairspray and Urinetown are available too