Books that every Broadway fan should read? — Page 2

@ Gypsy9 and twinbelters: Thanks for the input re: Mordden. I'm still wary of his half-cocked punditry (even when I agree with his point of view), but his take-no-prisoners approach is damned entertaining when it's based on substance (or a lack thereof). I will try to check out "Happiest Corpse" once I've been able to get my hands on his 20's, 30's and 40's books.

I saw that piece in the Times yesterday and basically agreed with it.

Though I couldn't believe, in the comments section, that someone suggested Mark Selwyn's "Broadway Babies Say Goodnight" (the subtitle of which could be "Musical Theater Would Be Terrific If It Weren't For All The Faggots") in the same sentence as "The Season"!

You should give Ethan Mordden's "Broadway Babies" a try, too. It's almost seems like a warm-up for his seven part series, but it's a very good book in it's own right. One thing about Mordden is that when he loves something, he makes you want to go and see it or listen to it too.

A book I just finished re-reading for the umteenth time is Helene Hanff's "Underfoot in Show Business", a wonderful book about trying to break into theater (and being broke) in New York in the 30's, 40's and 50's.

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I don't know if it's available in the US, but when I was in London I picked up a book called The Half by Simon Annand. It's a collection of really fantastic photographs of actors in West End productions getting ready for shows over the last 25 years. It's a lot more fascinating than it sounds. Loads of well-known actors are included, some when their careers were just starting.

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