A New York Times Bestseller 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? In The 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—from Oklahoma! to Hamilton 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.

To Broadway, To Life! The Musical Theater of Bock and Harnick is the first complete book about these creative figures, one of Broadway's most important songwriting teams. The book draws from personal interviews with Bock and Harnick themselves to offer an in-depth exploration their shows, including Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me, and Fiorello!, and their greater place in musical theater history.

(Applause Books). As a boy growing up in the East Bronx, Harold Thau dreamed the American Dream. In Bronx to Broadway, he pays homage to that experience which carried him from a sea of tenements to the exciting Great White Way and a successful career as a theatre producer. Rich in colorful inside stories of show business personalities, Harold Thau provides a portrait of the entertainment industry seldom evoked and largely unseen, told with insight, humor, and a sense of humanity about the business of show business.

Whether you're coming to Broadway fresh faced or are an old hand, you'll enjoy these 150+ profiles of the great musicals to hit the stage--including Hamilton!

For millions of people around the world, Carol Brady is synonymous with motherhood, but growing up as the youngest of ten children in rural Indiana in the aftermath of the Great Depression, Florence Henderson lived a life quite different from that of the quintessential TV mom she later played on television. Florence's father was a dirt-poor tobacco tenant farmer who was nearly fifty years old when he married Florence's twenty-five-year-old mother, and was nearly seventy when Florence was born. Florence's childhood was full of deprivation and abandonment. Her father was an alcoholic at a time when there was no rehab or help for the disease. Their home rarely had electricity or running water. When she was twelve, Florence's mother left the family to work in Cleveland and never returned. Florence opens up about her childhood, as well as the challenges she's faced as an adult, including stage fright, postpartum depression, her extramarital affairs, divorce, her hearing loss, and heart problems. She writes with honesty and wisdom of how her faith and ability to survive has brought her through rough times to a life of profound joy and purpose.

A Self-Help Guide--with Jazz Hands! Life is Like a Musical features 50 wry, witty tips on getting ahead in life and love--all learned in the showbiz trenches. "Hilarious, wise, and one-of-a-kind. This book is so damn brilliant I'm surprised it didn't already exist." -- Sarah Knight, bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck Before Tim Federle became a bestselling author and a Broadway playwright, he worked as a back-up dancer at the Super Bowl, a polar bear at Radio City, and a card-carrying chorus boy on Broadway. Life is Life a Musical features 50 tips learned backstage, onstage, and in between gigs, with chapters such as "Dance Like Everyone's Watching" and "Save the Drama for the Stage." This charming and clever guide will appeal to all ages and inspire readers to step into the lead role of their own life, even if they're not a recovering theater major.

First published in 1954, THE BISHOP OF BROADWAY chronicles the life of David Belasco (1853-1931), an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright who became the first writer to adapt the short story Madame Butterfly for the stage, thereby launching the theatrical career of many actors, including Mary Pickford, Lenore Ulric and Barbara Stanwyck. David Belasco also pioneered many innovative new forms of stage lighting and special effects in order to create realism and naturalism. Owing to his austere, clericlike dress and personal manner, David Belasco came to be known as the “bishop of Broadway.” Born in San Francisco, California, the son of Sephardic Jewish parents who had moved from London, England during the California Gold Rush, Belasco began his illustrious theatre career with a wide variety of jobs in in a San Francisco theatre, and gaining first experience as a stage manager while on the road. This eventually led to a role as stage manager, and he learned the business inside out. A gifted playwright, David Belasco went to New York City in 1882 to work as stage manager for the Madison Square Theatre, and the old Lyceum Theatre while writing plays. By 1895, the “bishop of Broadway” was so successful that he set himself up as an independent producer. During his long creative career, stretching between 1884 and 1930, David Belasco either wrote, directed, or produced more than 100 Broadway plays including Hearts of Oak, The Heart of Maryland, and Du Barry—making him the most powerful personality on the New York city theater scene. Written by fellow Broadway actor, Craig Timberlake, THE BISHOP OF BROADWAY provides an in-depth glimpse into the life and times of this remarkable Broadway figure of the early twentieth century. Beautifully illustrated throughout with black & white photographs.