Favorite Books About Theatre

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Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 12:37pm

NOT plays. I'm looking for books on theatre history, books about the history of a particular person or company, theoretical commentaries by directors and writers, etc. What are your favorites?

I love The Empty Space, by Peter Brook, and The Director's Voice by Arthur Bartow.

"We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in it's flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung, the dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future too." - Tom Stoppard, Shipwreck

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 12:49pm

I don't know if this fits your criteria, but I would recommend Steven Suskin's newest book THE SOUND OF BROADWAY MUSIC, A BOOK OF ORCHESTRATORS & ORCHESTRATIONS. He includes a helpful anthology of virtually every musical from the 1940's through the 1970's plus many earlier shows. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it makes a great reference book.

"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 12:51pm

A SENSE OF DIRECTION by William Ball

A DIRECTOR PREPARES by Anne Bogart

THE FERVENT YEARS by Harold Clurman

A LIFE by Elia Kazan

NOT SINCE CARRIE

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” ~ Muhammad Ali

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 12:52pm

Broadway Tails: Heartfelt Stories of Rescued Dogs Who Became Showbiz Superstar, by Bill Berloni

Really!

"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 12:54pm

This really goes back a ways, but I love BRING ON THE GIRLS by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton. It's a great first-person look at the Broadway scene in the 1920s/30s, when they were doing the Princess Theater shows and working with Ziegfeld and other big producers of the day.

Maggie-the-schnoodle

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 12:58pm

Act One by Moss Hart and The Season by William Goldman. All else is parsley.

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 1:35pm

Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies by Ted Chapin

I have also re-read both Julie Andrews's and Carol Burnett's memoirs (Home and One More Time respectively) numerous times.

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 6:40pm

Not Since Carrie

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 6:42pm

The Making of No, No, Nanette and Diary of a Mad Playwright are jewels.

#10

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 6:47pm

"Changing Stages" by Richard Eyre is a great read. My favorite biography of Chekhov is the one by Henri Troyat -- I remember trying to find that book for years and paying a fortune for it; now it's available used online everywhere. It's the best (also his biography on Turgenev).

Strangely enough, have any of you seen the book 'How the Show Goes On'? It's by Jeff Kurtti and Thomas Schumacher. Ostensibly it's for kids, but it's a really great read for adults, too! I even think it should be considered a theatre primer at schools. Brilliant.

I agree with 'Not Since Carrie'. That was an eye-opening book.

#11

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 7:52pm

Maureen Stapleton's A HELL OF A LIFE is simply the best theatrical memoir ever.

Favorite Books About Theatre

#12

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 9:11pm

The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway
by William Goldman

#13

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 9:28pm

"Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies by Ted Chapin"

ABSOLUTELY. Required reading for any theater fan.

#14

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 9:35pm

The indispensible one, already cited a few times, is Goldman's THE SEASON.

Often ignored are several books by Lehman Engel (if you don't recognize the name, shame on you - try google or wikipedia):

THE CRITICS
WORDS WITH MUSIC
The American Musical Theater: A Consideration
Their Words Are Music

2016 These Paper Bullets (1/02) Our Mother's Brief Affair (1/06), Dragon Boat Racing (1/08), Howard - reading (1/28), Shear Madness (2/10), Fun Home (2/17), Women Without Men (2/18), Trip Of Love (2/21), The First Gentleman -reading (2/22), Southern Comfort (2/23), The Robber Bridegroom (2/24), She Loves Me (3/11), Shuffle Along (4/12), Shear Madness (4/14), Dear Evan Hansen (4/16), American Psycho (4/23), Tuck Everlasting (5/10), Indian Summer (5/15), Peer Gynt (5/18), Broadway's Rising Stars (7/11), Trip of Love (7/27), CATS (7/31), The Layover (8/17), An Act Of God (8/31), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (8/24), Heisenberg (10/12), Fiddler On The Roof (11/02), Othello (11/23), Dear Evan Hansen (11/26), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (12/21) 2017 In Transit (2/01), Groundhog Day (4/04), Ring Twice For Miranda (4/07), Church And State (4/10), The Lucky One (4/19), Ernest Shackleton Loves Me (5/16), Building The Wall (5/19), Indecent (6/01), Six Degrees of Separation (6/09), Marvin's Room (6/28), A Doll's House Pt 2 (7/25) Curvy Widow (8/01)

Updated On: 3/31/10 at 09:35 PM

#15

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 10:35pm

Not Since Carrie is fun.

The Season is fantastic (though kinda outdated).

Everything was Possible is required reading.

I also suggest - if you can get your hands on any of 'em - memoirs of Simon Gray.

#16

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 10:44pm

I really enjoyed "But He Doesn't Know the Territory", by Meredith Willson.

#17

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 10:51pm

"Second Act Trouble: Behind the Scenes at Broadway's Big Musical Bombs" by Steven Suskin. I really enjoyed the stories about some of the musicals that didn't make it. It makes me appreciate all the work that goes into a musical to get it to NYC.

It also gave me an appreciation for the amount of privacy shows were entitled to in out of town tryouts before the internet.

"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal "I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello

#18

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 10:53pm

Without You

#19

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 11:18pm

I teach children's theater and always recomend 'How does the show go on' to them. It's published by disney and offers a great look into what goes into a show.

#20

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 3/31/10 at 11:59pm

Hal Prince's "Contradictions" is a favorite.

And I have to echo "Act One."

#21

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 4/1/10 at 12:50am

This is actually an audio book from the Teaching Co....traces the musical from minstrel shows, thorough vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley, to the book musical. Lots of examples on piano given...pretty informative

Great American Music: Broadway Musicals http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=7318

#22

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 4/1/10 at 3:00am

I loved Everything was Possible! I also suggest Merle Secrest's biography on Sondheim, im a die hard fan and am learning even more about him through this book. Also for a lighter, fun quick read, Cheno's book was fun. Next up for me is Howard Kissel's book on David Merrick, if anyones read it let me know how it is!

<------ Me and my friends with patti Lupone at my friends afterparty for her concert with audra mcdonald during the summer of 2007.
"I am sorry but it is an unjust world and virtue is only triumphant in theatricle performances" The Mikado

#23

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 4/1/10 at 3:38pm

One that is often overlooked is "Underfoot in Show Business" by Helene Hanff (author of 84 Charing Cross Road). It's part theater memoir, part life in NYC. There are some great moments like when she was working in a press office and they were trying to decide on the name of "Oklahoma". They got everything all set up and then the producers decided to add "!" to the end of the title.

If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

#24

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 4/1/10 at 3:54pm

"Second Act Trouble" is very interesting because the bulk of the book is contemporary news coverage of troubled shows- written (usually) during the previews or early days of the run before the show's final outcome is determined.

To read about the rampant drug use during "On a Clear Day...." was particularly fascinating.

#25

Favorite Books About Theatre

Posted: 4/1/10 at 5:23pm

In the past 4 months I played catch-up. I read "The Season" first and I suggest you read it before you read any books after it was written. It took me a while to get through but I found it referenced in the books I read after it.

I really enjoyed "A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett", "Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies" and "Sondheim: A Life". All of which I find to be required reading.

I read another that I can't remember the name of about more recent show failures and I can't remember the name.

I need to read a few more. A few of which have been mentioned here.

Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder

Updated On: 4/2/10 at 05:23 PM

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