Favorite Books on Theater

Hey All.

Thought I would ask for some opinions on Broadway reading material and get some suggestions.

First (as you can guess from the name) I am a musician - and I actually like getting research books! (I have the new Suskin book about orchestrations on order now)

Seth Rudetsky's book made me laugh (Broadway Nights - still have not gotten Q Guide yet), but would love to get some ideas especially about books with artistic and creative team interviews - the "putting it together" books, and backstage anecdotes.

Any thoughts would be great - Thanks!

There's the truly extraordinary "Everything was Possible - The Birth of the Musical Follies. Ted Chapin really lays out a remarkable era of the creation of Sondheim and Goldman's (and Prince and Bennett's) masterpiece. Sure, his book is biased and subjective (he seems to share Ethel Shutta's distaste for Fifi D'Orsay for no real good reason other than Ethel did), but it paints such a crystal clear picture of the creation of that show.

I can tell you it's *not* Mainly on Directing by ARTHUR LAURENTS.

---

"Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions" comes to mind, would be especially enjoyable if you're a musician.

All of Stephen Citron's books. They're dual biographies that compare and contrast two theatre luminaries at a time. He also goes at it from a bit of a technical POV, though directed at the layman. For instance, as non-musician, I found his discussions of how various musical choices created the effects of the songs in the "Sondheim and Lloyd-Webber" book quite interesting--even if they might be no-brainers for a musician.

The Season and Moss Hart's Act One are the two absolute must-reads.