Featured Books in Musical Theater
Below are a few of the frequently referenced titles available in the Music and Dance Library. There are many more excellent resources beyond this list both online and in print. For more information on how to find specific titles or materials, go to the Contact/Need Help? page.
American Musicals by
The Broadway musical is one of America's great indigenous popular forms, a glorious hybrid that emerged "out of our speech, our tempo, our moral attitudes, our way of moving" (as Leonard Bernstein put it). Now, in this first volume of a landmark two-volume collection, The Library of America presents eight enduring masterpieces charting the Broadway musical's narrative tradition from the groundbreaking Show Boat (1927) through the start of the genre's Golden Age in 1949. Based on new research, this historic collection presents the complete libretto of each musical in its Broadway opening night version, making these beloved stories available as never before. Irving Berlin and Moss Hart's As Thousands Cheer is published here for the first time. Show Boat and Pal Joey are presented in newly restored versions. South Pacific returns to print for the first time in decades. Each of these classic musicals has evolved over time, receiving many important revivals and new productions. This Library of America volume offers readers unprecedented insight into this living history with a selection of hard-to-find or previously unpublished supplementary items, including lyrics of songs dropped out-of-town or added in later revivals. Lavishly illustrated with 32 pages of photographs and other images drawn from the original productions, this volume also contains biographical sketches of the book writers and lyricists; cast lists and other information about the shows' Broadway openings; and detailed accounts of the path each show took on the road to Broadway. AMERICAN MUSICALS 1927-1949 contains: Show Boat Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II · Music by Jerome Kern As Thousands Cheer Lyrics and music by Irving Berlin · Sketches by Moss Hart Pal Joey Book by John O'Hara · Music by Richard Rodgers · Lyrics by Lorenz Hart Oklahoma! Music by Richard Rodgers · Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II On the Town Book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green · Music by Leonard Bernstein Finian's Rainbow Music by Burton Lane · Lyrics by E. Y. Harburg · Book by Fred Saidy and E. Y. Harburg Kiss Me, Kate Music and lyrics by Cole Porter · Book by Sam[uel] and Bella Spewack South Pacific Music by Richard Rodgers · Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
Call Number: ML48 .A44 2014xISBN: 1598532588Publication Date: 2014-09-25
American Musicals, 1950-1969 by
The Broadway musical is one of America's great indigenous popular forms, a glorious hybrid that emerged "out of our speech, our tempo, our moral attitudes, our way of moving" (as Leonard Bernstein put it). Now in the second volume of a landmark two-volume collection, The Library of America presents eight enduring masterpieces charting the Broadway musical's narrative tradition from the genre's Golden Age to its response to the turbulent 1960s with the Tony Award-winning shows Cabaret and 1776. Based on new research, this historic collection presents the complete libretto of each musical in its Broadway opening night version, making these beloved stories available as never before. Several shows, including Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady, return to print for the first time in decades. Each of these classic musicals has evolved over time, receiving many important revivals and new productions. This Library of America boxed set offers readers unprecedented insight into this living history with a selection of hard-to-find or previously unpublished supplementary items, including lyrics of songs dropped out-of-town or added in later revivals. Lavishly illustrated with 32 pages of photographs and other images drawn from the original productions, the set also contains biographical sketches of the book writers and lyricists; cast lists and other information about the shows' Broadway openings; and detailed accounts of the path each show took on the road to Broadway. AMERICAN MUSICALS 1950-1969 contains: Guys and Dolls Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser · Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows The Pajama Game Book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell · Music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross My Fair Lady Adaptation and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner · Music by Frederick Loewe Gypsy Book by Arthur Laurents · Music by Jule Styne Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Book by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove · Lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim Fiddler on the Roof Book by Joseph Stein · Music by Jerry Bock · Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick Cabaret Book by Joe Masteroff · Music by John Kander · Lyrics by Fred Ebb 1776 Music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards · Book by Peter Stone LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America's best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.
Call Number: ML48 .A447 2014xISBN: 1598532596Publication Date: 2014-09-25
Broadway to Main Street by
The music of Broadway is one of America's most unique and popular calling cards. In Broadway to Main Street: How Show Tunes Enchanted America, author Laurence Maslon tells the story of how the most beloved songs of the American Musical Theater made their way from the Theater District to living rooms across the country. The crossroads where the music of Broadway meets popular culture is an expansive and pervasive juncture throughout most of the twentieth century--from sheet music to radio broadcasts to popular and original cast recordings--and continues to influence culture today through television, streaming, and the Internet. The original Broadway cast album--from the 78 rpm recording of Oklahoma! to the digital download of Hamilton--is one of the most successful, yet undervalued, genres in the history of popular recording. The challenge of capturing musical narrative with limited technology inspired the imagination of both the recording industry and millions of listeners: between 1949 and 1969, fifteen different original cast albums hit number one on the popular music charts, ultimately tallying more weeks at number one than all of the albums by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles combined. The history of Broadway music is also the history of American popular music; the technological, commercial, and marketing forces of communications and media over the last century were inextricably bound up in the enterprise of bringing the musical gems of New York's Theater District to living rooms along Main Streets across the nation. Featuring new interviews with Stephen Schwartz, Chita Rivera, Steve Lawrence, and prominent record producers and music critics, the story of this commercial and emotional phenomenon is told here in full--from the imprimatur of sheet music from Broadway in the early 20th century to the renaissance of Broadway music in the digital age, folding in the immense impact of show music on American culture and in the context of the recording industry, popular tastes, and our shared national identity. A book which connects cherished cultural artifacts to the emotional narratives at the core of American popular music, Broadway to Main Street: How Show Tunes Enchanted America is an ideal companion for all fans of American musical theater and popular music.
ISBN: 0199832536Publication Date: 2018-08-31
Come from Away by
(Vocal Selections). Eleven songs for voice and piano are presented in this collection from this award-winning 2017 Broadway musical presenting the true story of airline passengers stranded in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Includes: Blankets and Bedding * Costume Party * Finale * I Am Here * Me and the Sky * Prayer * Screech In * Somewhere * Stop the World * 28 Hours/Wherever We Are * Welcome to the Rock.
Call Number: M1508 .C666 2017xISBN: 1540006980Publication Date: 2018-05-01
How to Write about Theatre by
How to Write About Theatre by Mark Fisher considers the various demands of theatre criticism with the citizen- and student-journalist in mind. Through direct and clear chapters, the book will break down the process of expressing the stage on the page into manageable processes to ensure that any student or theatregoer is able to evaluate and articulate their thoughts in a coherent, professional format. The distinction between professional critics and the citizen journalist is now extremely blurred. The reader/audience member is the most common sort of arts blogger and, as the publishing industry has discovered, they have a lot of power. How to Write About Theatre examines the way in which opinions once confined to private expression have become part of the public domain, through blogs and social media, and their effect on artistic institutions who are suddenly aware of those who encounter their work in ways they never were before. What's new is not the existence of this opinion but its public airing. How to Write About Theatre draws on Mark Fisher's 25 years of experience as a theatre critic, as well as his observations of other critics, past and present.
ISBN: 1472520548Publication Date: 2015-08-27
Ivo Van Hove by
This book offers a wealth of resources, critical overviews and detailed analysis of Ivo van Hove's internationally acclaimed work as the foremost director of theatre, opera and musicals in our time. Stunning production photos capture the power of van Hove's directorial vision, his innovative use of theatrical spaces, and the arresting stage images that have made his productions so popular among audiences worldwide over the last 30 years. Van Hove's own contribution to the book, which includes a foreword, interview and his director's notes for some of his most popular shows, makes this book a unique resource for students, scholars and for his fans across the different art forms in which he works. An informative introduction provides an overview of van Hove's unique approach to directing, while five sections, individually curated by experts in the respective fields of Shakespeare, classical theatre, modern theatre, opera, musicals, film, and international festival curatorship, offer readers a combination of critical insight and short excerpts by van Hove's collaborators, the actors in the ensemble companies van Hove works with in Amsterdam and New York, and by arts critics and reviewers.
ISBN: 1350031542Publication Date: 2018-07-12
Music Direction for the Stage by
Theater music directors must draw on a remarkably broad range of musical skills. Not only do they conduct during rehearsals and performances, but they must also be adept arrangers, choral directors, vocal coaches, and accompanists. Like a record producer, the successful music director must have the flexibility to adjust as needed to a multifaceted job description, one which changes with each production and often with each performer. In Music Direction for the Stage, veteran music director and instructor Joseph Church demystifies the job in a book that offers aspiring and practicing music directors the practical tips and instruction they need in order to mount a successful musical production. Church, one of Broadway's foremost music directors, emerges from the orchestra pit to tell how the music is put into a musical show. He gives particular attention to the music itself, explaining how a music director can best plan the task of learning, analyzing, and teaching each new piece. Based on his years of professional experience, he offers a practical discussion of a music director's methods of analyzing, learning, and practicing a score, thoroughly illustrated by examples from the repertoire. The book also describes how a music director can effectively approach dramatic and choreographic rehearsals, including key tips on cueing music to dialogue and staging, determining incidental music and underscoring, making musical adjustments and revisions in rehearsal, and adjusting style and tempo to performers' needs. A key theme of the book is effective collaboration with other professionals, from the production team to the creative team to the performers themselves, all grounded in Church's real-world experience with professional, amateur, and even student performances. He concludes with a look at music direction as a career, offering invaluable advice on how the enterprising music director can find work and gain standing in the field.
ISBN: 0199993416Publication Date: 2015-02-02
The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies by
The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies offers a series of cutting-edge essays on the most important and compelling topics in the growing field of Sondheim Studies. Focusing on broad groups of issues relating to the music and the production of Sondheim works, rather than on biographicalquestions about the composer himself, the handbook represents a cross-disciplinary introduction to comprehending Sondheim in musicological, theatrical, and socio-cultural terms.This collection of never-before published essays addresses issues of artistic method and musico-dramaturgical form, while at the same time offering close readings of individual shows from a variety of analytical perspectives. The handbook is arranged into six broad sections: issues ofintertextuality and authorship; Sondheim's pioneering work in developing the non-linear form of the concept musical; the production history of Sondheim's work; his writing for film and television; his exploitation and deployment of a wide range of musical genres; and how interpretation through keycritical lenses (including sociology, history, and feminist and queer theory) establishes his position in a broader cultural context.
ISBN: 0195391373Publication Date: 2014-06-02
The Secret Life of the American Musical by
ANew York TimesBestseller For almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in childhood in a darkened theater, grows into something more serious for high school actors, and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again. Americans love musicals. Americans invented musicals. Americans perfected musicals. But what, exactly, is a musical? InThe Secret Life of the American Musical, Jack Viertel takes them apart, puts them back together, sings their praises, marvels at their unflagging inventiveness, and occasionally despairs over their more embarrassing shortcomings. In the process, he invites us to fall in love all over again by showing us how musicals happen, what makes them work, how they captivate audiences, and how one landmark show leads to the next--by design or by accident, by emulation or by rebellion--fromOklahoma! toHamilton and onward. Structured like a musical,The Secret Life of the American Musical begins with an overture and concludes with a curtain call, with stops in between for "I Want" songs, "conditional" love songs, production numbers, star turns, and finales. The ultimate insider, Viertel has spent three decades on Broadway, working on dozens of shows old and new as a conceiver, producer, dramaturg, and general creative force; he has his own unique way of looking at the process and at the people who collaborate to make musicals a reality. He shows us patterns in the architecture of classic shows and charts the inevitable evolution that has taken place in musical theater as America itself has evolved socially and politically. The Secret Life of the American Musical makes you feel as though you've been there in the rehearsal room, in the front row of the theater, and in the working offices of theater owners and producers as they pursue their own love affair with that rare and elusive beast--the Broadway hit.
ISBN: 0374256926Publication Date: 2016-03-01
Songwriters of the American Musical Theatre by
From the favorites of Tin Pan Alley to today's international blockbusters, the stylistic range required of a musical theatre performer is expansive. Musical theatre roles require the ability to adapt to a panoply of characters and vocal styles. By breaking down these styles and exploring the output of the great composers, Songwriters of the American Musical Theatre offers singers and performers an essential guide to the modern musical. Composers from Gilbert and Sullivan and Irving Berlin to Alain Boublil and Andrew Lloyd Webber are examined through a brief biography, a stylistic overview, and a comprehensive song list with notes on suitable voice types and further reading. This volume runs the gamut of modern musical theatre, from English light opera through the American Golden Age, up to the "mega musicals" of the late Twentieth Century, giving today's students and performers an indispensable survey of their craft.
Call Number: MT956 .H87 2017ISBN: 1138914428Publication Date: 2016-09-16
