What are the best coffee table books on broadway topics these days?

[buddharich]

Posted: 5/4/08 at 7:08pm

I love love love those oversized coffee table books aobut specific shows, or picture books, about musicals and/or plays. Those playbill yearbooks are amazing! the books on Jersey Boys, Mary Poppins, The Sound Of Music, Mamma Mia!, Broadway Musicals, How Does The Show Go On?, etc. (why no coffee table books on Spring Awakening, The Drowsy Chaperone, Gypsy (a complete history), etc.?) - anybody have The South Pacific Companion? Is it worth purchasing??

[jv92]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 4:19pm

There's a Spring Awakening book coming out.
There should be a Gypsy one AND a Follies one AND a Grey Gardens one, but those are just dreams.
Despite the fact that I wasn't the biggest fan of the show, the recent Mary Poppins book was quite lovely, despite the fact that the author called Clive Barnes the dean of drama critics or something like that.
The Ken Bloom Broadway Musicals: 101 Greatest Shows book is quite excellent, especially in its revised paperback edition featuring Grey Gardens and Sunday in the Park with George. Where Piazza, Nine and Pacific Overtures are I don't know, but it's still loaded with fabulous pictures and excellent, informative text.
I'm happy to tell everyone a Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein tome is coming out this holiday season. There is already a book by Ockie (read Hugh Fordin's book on him and you'll start calling him that, I swear) himself called Lyrics, but this is complete. The other volume, despite its brilliant essay on lyric writing and introduction by his friend and teacher, Stephen Sondheim, only features his select favorite lyrics.
Anyone know if a similar volume is in store for Comden and Green or Fred Ebb?

[singtopher]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 4:22pm

I have the Playbill At This Theatre book on my table.

[once a month]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 4:27pm

My favorite four, in no particular order are:

Broadway Day & Night: Backstage and Behind the Scenes by Ken Marsolais, Rodger McFarlane and Tom Viola (great stories and pic)

Broadway The American Musical by Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon-the companion volume to the wonderful PBS series

Broadway Musicals
More Broadway Musicals Since 1980, both volumes by Martin Gottfried

[ashley0139]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 4:33pm

Yes, I also love the Broadway the American Musical one. There is SO MUCH good info in there.

The Aida one is decent. It has a good description of the evolution of the show.

Of course, the RENT one is amazing.

[wickedmenzel318]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 1:42pm

What are all the shows that have a coffee table book?

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 1:51pm

Broadway: The American musical is great, as is the Mary Poppins book. I also love the Playbill yearbooks.

[TheActr97J]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 2:09pm

Broadway: The American Musical is on my coffee table.

[pushdabutton]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 3:27pm

I would love to see one for In The Heights.

[Weez]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 3:37pm

Get Amy Arbus's 'The Fourth Wall'. I unpacked it at the bookshop I worked in one day, and the poor thing never made it to the shopfloor. I knew I HAD to have it the instant I saw it. Beautiful creature!

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 4:34pm

They're quite a good read:

1. Spring Awakening - In The Flesh - Great OBC pictures and has the entire book and lyrics.
2. Hey Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
3. Miss Saigon - Nice history of the production and pre/post production pictures. A must have for Saigon fans.
4. Playbill "At This Theater" - History of theaters on Broadway

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 4:58pm

I LOVE The Fourth Wall.

I also (quite embarrassingly) own The Grimmerie and the Rent bible.

[iluvny04]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 5:05pm

Broadway Tails, if you like broadway and animals this book is for you. Bill Berloni tells stories of most of the animals hes worked with from Sandy in Annie(the one that started his career as broadway's go to Animal guy) to the Brusier's of Legally Blonde. The Sandy story by far is perhaps the most touching.
Updated On: 9/14/08 at 05:05 PM

[musicalmaster703]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 8:14pm

I second In the Heights

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 8:16pm

GYPSY needs a big-ass coffee table book from Merman to LuPone. If any show has enough material to fill a book, it's that.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 8:22pm

Okay, I'll be the first geek to say it...

The Wicked "Grimmerie" is wonderful. Very well done, with incredible photos from several productions, as well as the original Oz book, etc.

From an art direction standpoint, it's pretty fantastic.

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 8:27pm

I agree Besty. It's a gorgeous book. HUGE pictures, too.

[puppet]

Posted: 9/14/08 at 10:34pm

The AVE Q fuzzy orange book is great with lost of information on the show plus unused scenes. BUT BEWARE, it SHEDS. So I sprayed the front and back with 2 coats of hair spray and it doesn't shed any longer.
There is a blank white page in the front and I got Rob McClure and Maggie Lakis from the tour to sign it on that page.

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 9/15/08 at 1:52am

Were those paperback volumes on "Annie" and "Cats" the first modern single-show coffee table books? (No, you can't have my "Annie" one, lol.) And was the "Les Miz" one the first to be in hardback? Then came "Phantom" and the other British invasion shows, I guess, up through "Sunset Boulevard."

"Rent," followed by "Titanic," must have kicked off the really big popularity in American shows that we see now. Or was there one for "Beauty and the Beast" that I don't have?

[Wildcard]

Posted: 4/27/12 at 1:34pm

Can the Book of Mormon: Complete Book and Lyrics be counted as an informative/illustrative companion book or is it merely lyrics from the show? The cover seems nice enough for a coffee table book.

[ABB2357]

Posted: 4/27/12 at 2:14pm

BROADWAY DAY & NIGHT is fantastic. Great stories and wonderful pictures.

The BOOK OF MORMON one only contains the complete book and lyrics, and it's small - not coffee table size.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 4/27/12 at 3:35pm

I've recently added 'The Color Purple; A Memory Book of The Broadway Musical' to my collection, and it's wonderful!

[TheGirlUpstairs]

Posted: 4/27/12 at 5:46pm

I agree with those who recommended At This Theatre and Broadway: The American Musical. Both have a lot of good information and great pictures.

I don't know if the Sondheim books (Finishing The Hat and Look, I Made A Hat) count as coffee table books, but they're fantastic as well.

[JoseLee_]

Posted: 2/6/14 at 3:04pm

My Coffee Table Books:
Playbill Broadway Yearbooks ALL 1-9.
Rent
Wicked: A Pop-Up Compendium
Wicked: The Grimmerie
The Lion King: Pride Rock On Broadway
Beauty and the Beast: A Celebration of the Broadway Musical
The Book of Mormon: The Testament of a Broadway Musical
Chicago: The Movie and Lyrics
Newsies: Stories of the Unlikely Broadway Hit (only non-hardcover)
Avenue Q: The Book
Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons

Planning on buying many more soon.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 2/6/14 at 3:10pm

I have this and it's enormous and full of absolutely beautiful pictures.

http://www.playbillstore.com/brmureandup1.html