Broadway Musicals Show by Show

by Stanley Green

(Applause Books). The most comprehensive and widely used Broadway reference book has been expanded and updated to include nearly 400 of the most important and memorable productions of the American musical theatre, including revivals. Chronologically arranged beginning with The Black Crook in 1866, the sixth edition adds entries on numerous musicals from recent years, including The Lion King , Hairspray , The Producers , Wicked , Mamma Mia! , Thoroughly Modern Millie , Avenue Q , and others. Features a wealth of statistics, music and lyrics information; names of producers, directors and choreographers; cast lists; New York run dates; songs; and more. Also includes inside information, info on critical reception, and pithy commentary about each show.

Genres: Theatre, Nonfiction, Musicals, Music, Reference

446 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1984

Reviews

[ALLEN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does what it says, at least until late 2013 when this version went to bed. There is a need in the field for blunt factuality that does not have critics' or performers' personal opinions bound into the text, and this one is blessedly free of that. A useful resource and IMO Broadway devotees who don't have a reference work like this one, should.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

One could get seriously lost within the pages of “Broadway Musicals: Show by Show” and not because the book is disorganized or difficult to navigate. Quite the contrary. With multiple indexes – by composer/lyricist, show title, librettist, major cast members, and director – plus a chronological listing of the three biggest annual shows spanning the years between 1866 through 2010, this book is the clearest way to navigate an overview of Broadway history.

What makes it easy to lose one’s way is that in coming across the listing for West Side Story, one might be so intrigued by the promo shot of Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert shown on the sheet music cover for “Something’s Coming” on the page opposite that it may cause some curiosity about Lawrence’s other Broadway work. A trip to the performer index reveals two Lawrence listings in the book – “West Side Story” and another one called “The New Faces of 1952,” produced a few years prior to WWS and which also starred Paul Lynde. I didn’t have to look far to discover that Lynde was not the only TV actor to perform in a major Broadway production: just below the “New Faces” listing is information on a musical called “Wish You Were Here” that lists Florence Henderson as a cast member. One could try and discover if Uncle Arthur or Carol Brady had any other Broadway roles listed in the book (they each have two) but then again, one might be distracted from doing so by a photo of Rosalind Russell on the opposite page which shows that Cary Grant’s fast-talking “Girl Friday” could also sing: she was apparently in Leonard Bernstein’s “Wonderful Town.”

Although these little details -- which barely scratch the surface of the wealth of info included in this book – provide a mouse-eye’s view of Broadway, there is the potential for receiving a broader look at Herald Square from this book as well (especially if one possesses more powers of concentration than this particular reviewer). The multiple prefaces included, all written by different people who all had a slightly different take on the famed NYC theater district, are very insightful. The first preface and the introduction by Stanley Green are particularly so but I also found the preface to the latest edition, written by Cary Ginell, quite interesting as well.

With each chronological listing including the name of the composer, lyricist, writers of the “book,” producers, director, choreographer, cast, songs, synopsis, and the “New York run” (including the name of the theater and number of shows), “Broadway Musicals: Show by Show” is an invaluable reference tool for all those with even a remote interest in the history of Broadway.

[Isabel Kabara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Broadway and everything about it. It was so cool to read and learn about shows that I didn't even know about, and it was great to even learn more about the shows I know and love! I would totally recommend this book to any Broadway enthusiast, or anyone in general who wants to learn more about Broadway musicals. Also, it is a big book and will take a while to read, but the amazing content makes up for it.

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

the one read was the seventh edition, but will be interested in reading some later ones, too. It is quite a memory lane starting from the late 1800s, and fun to see the variations on new productions. It also mentions the movies made from the shows. Pretty lovely book -- I'll look for the eighth and so on -- probably for the sake of book thickness there might just be separate updates as opposed to trying to decide at what point to start or what could be left out. Because it's **all** lovely. Thinking of that, maybe looking at some of the older editions to be sure I don't miss a swing.

[ellis · Rating 1 out of 5]

i'm actually impressed that just one little book can get so many things obviously wrong. the ninth edition calls fun home "fun house," forgets the "H" in whizzer brown's name, claims that "falsettos" is a "simple tale" and "without camp," spells trousers with three "S"s, calls marvin bisexual (HELLO?), calls whizzer marvin's "friend," asserts that "in trousers" was performed in 1987 (it was 1978, 1979, 1981, and 1985), and generally misleads and deceives the reader about the plot of "falsettos." have i mentioned that falsettos is my favorite musical and i don't like this book.

[Chy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. An excellent book about broadway musicals ranging from the 1800s through the mid 1990s. Each musical listed gives a short summary, lists the directors, writers, lyricists, choreographers, producers and casts as well as lists any revivals of the shows. The only thing I didn't like is how outdated it was.

[Dawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, how I have missed theater this past year. This was a fun read. Do you know what a coryphee is? I learned the word from the first long-running musical hit 'The Black Crook' performed in 1866. Lots of fun material that is well put together by the author.

[ScottRichard Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative

A very informative history of the American musical. It includes casts, directors , choreographers, etc. The synopsis of each work is great, especially when you have memories of seeing it in person.

[Becca Kidwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

An antiquated musical primer that was better in paper

I bought the first edition of this book (in paperback) shortly after it was a handy reference and introduction to Broadway musicals for me to use through high school. I bought this edition for the same purpose in Kindle form and my first disappointment has to be the formatting. The indices are not even located in the contents, so to get to them prior to reading the entire book, you is to go to the 2010 section and flip forward from there. The other issue with formatting is cross-referencing. Reference books in e-book form should have links to easily jump from one related topic to another (ex. revivals, actors, songs, etc.). With the paperback version I did this easier with the indices and flipping, but as I said, the indices are clunky in e-book for. For revivals, it says "see page..." which would be slightly helpful if the e-book had page numbers! I like to have all of my books in one place, so reference books that don't have interactive formatting are not going to be high in my list in the future. I bought this because puff it's familiar and usefulness in the past (but I would have returned this if it was my first use).

I've known since the first edition preface that this is not a comprehensive or impartial account of Broadway musical history and I got it to be a simple book to thumb through in preparation for research, but I will look for better reference books/websites before I do any serious work.

This book is good for a high school student or younger who wants a brief, biased, poorly formatted introduction to Broadway musicals, but is otherwise as useless as a hardcover encyclopedia. I'd say this book it's past its prime.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Described by the author, Stanley Green, as a combination history, guide, fact book and photograph album of the most memorable productions presented both on and off Broadway each year from 1866 to 2018. The wide variety of the types of stories told, the embracing of changing technology and social norms makes this a history of American society as well. Without photos of playbills and posters and a brief summary of the plot and the musical's performance, Green also lists revival performances and movie versions of each musical. He lists the cast, songs, songwriter, lyricst, producer, director, choreographer, songs and the theatre where the musical was performed and the dates of the run.

There are so many more musicals out there than I realized. Especially since those listed in the book are the successful, award-winning or otherwise memorable performances. Not all the musicals performed in say, just New York City that year, or published that year.

[Bayley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely quintessential to the collection of any broadway musical lover. This book is excellent!

[Thom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, quick reference guide to Broadway musicals by year.

[StageNotes · Rating 5 out of 5]

We use this book so much to get the facts about our favorite Broadway shows (and to learn about ones we are unfamiliar with too!). This book needs to be on the shelf of every Broadway lover!

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Learned A LOT, just about one of my favorite topics: BROADWAY!!! Loved it! :-)

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great reference book or one to skim (which I did) to learn about your favorite musicals. Seems pretty comprehensive