Favorite Books About Theatre — Page 2

Ethan Mordden's astonishing collection of books which follow the American Musical through the twentieth century are pretty comprehensive and wise. They're each written to cover a decade. "The Golden Age of the Broadway Musical", "Make Believe" (20's), "Sing for Your Supper" (30's), "Beautiful Mornin' " (40's), "Coming Up Roses" (50's), "Open a New Window" (60's), "One More Kiss" (70's), the follow-up "The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen".... all amazing. Also, his biography of Flo Ziegfeld is fascinating.

If you REALLY want to understand how we got where we are, check out "No Applause -- Just Throw Money: The Book that Made Vaudeville Famous" bu Trav S.D. (real name Travis Stewart) is really brilliant. c.2005, Faber and Faber Inc. Don't know if you can find it, but you should. As a piece of real theatre historytelling, it puts into perspective where we've landed.

Finally, Stewart W. Little and Arthur Cantor's 1970/1971 "The Playmakers" (Dutton; probably out of print, though) was, in its day, considered one of the best "real dissection" books of those who were at the top of their form at the time. By now, we've heard some of the stories, but this is an original, and a great read.

Frank Rich's Ghost Light.

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A Pictorial History of the American Theatre - Daniel Blum, thousands of rare stage photographs 1900-1956,hardback, usually found in used books stores or amazon.com

The Cambridge History of American Theatre - Volumes I&II, edited by Don Wilmeth & Christopher Bigsby, paperback Drama Book store

Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving - Bram Stoker, Macmillan Co Press, paperback

Edith Craig,(daughter of Ellen Terry) Dramatic Lives 1869-1947 by Katharine Cockin, paperback

The Presence of the Actor, Joseph Chaikin, paperback

I'm with Sueleen. Brilliant, moving work.

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The Half by Simon Annand. It's a collection of photos of actors in British productions getting ready before a show, ranging from the early 80s to present day. Judi Dench, a very young Colin Firth, Imelda Staunton as Adelaide in the 80s, Jeremy Irons- tons and tons of well-regarded actors. It's really a wonderful book, and probably says a lot more about theatre and actors than pages of words can.

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The two earlier books by Ethan Mordden are also excellent reads: BETTER FOOT FORWARD (c.1974) and BROADWAY BABIES (c.1982)

Mordden's series covering the 1920s thru the 1970s is fantastic reading, but even better is his rant "The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen" covering 1980 to the early years of C21. This book shows you how Broadway fell from being a place of theatrical innovation to its present state as a dumping ground for retreads of popular films and cartoon musicals geared to the masses. Mordden doesn't delve much into the why. The simplest answer is that producers an make more money with long running tourist attractions that have mass appeal. The result has been a serious dumbing down of the art form.

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Thank you, whomever, for reminding me about Helene Hanff's "Underfoot in Showbusiness". It's such a fabulous book about being young and in New York and trying to make in theater.(I haven't read that in ages. I used to re-read all of her stuff every year. But, after her death, re-reading them saddened me.)

Stephen Suskin also wrote three books where he tries to do what William Goldman did in "The Season", cover every show that opened in those seasons. But, without the societal analysis (no chapters on the phenomenon of Homosexuals in the theater).

They are wonderful. Unfortunately, he stopped writing them because they were too time consuming. They had a really utilitarian title like "Broadway Season"

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