Includes the following information about Broadway musical shows produced between 1866 and 1987: Music by -- Lyrics by -- Book by -- Producer -- Director -- Cast stars -- Choreographer -- Songs -- New York run information.

Lists a selection of musicals presented on Broadway between 1866 and 1989. Listings include the composer, the writer of the book and lyrics, the producers and director, the original cast, lists of songs and number of performances, and a brief synopsis of the story.

Musicals have been a major part of American theater for many years, and nowhere have they been more loved and celebrated than Broadway, the theater capital of the world. The music of such composers as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Berlin, the Gershwin brothers, Lerner and Loewe, Steven Sondheim, and Andrew Lloyd Webber continues to run through people's minds, and such productions as South Pacific, Cats, My Fair Lady, The Phantom of the Opera, Guys and Dolls, Rent, and West Side Story remain at the top of Broadway's most popular productions. This book is a survey of Broadway musicals all through the 20th century, from the Tin Pan Alley-driven comedy works of the early part of the century, to the integrated musical plays that flourished in the heyday years of midcentury, and to the rock era, concept musicals, and the arrival of British mega-musicals late in the century. It also profiles some of the theater world's leading composers, writers, and directors, considers some of the most unforgettable and forgettable shows, illustrates the elusive fragility of the libretto, explains the compensating nature of production elements, and examines representative shows from every decade. An extensive discography offers a brief critique of more than 300 show cast albums.

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!

Show Tunes, the most comprehensive musical theatre reference book ever, chronicles the work of Broadway's greatest composers, from 1904 through 2009. Almost 1,000 shows and 10,000 show tunes are included, with additional musicals and composers added to the fourth edition. This fact-packed volume is informative, insightful, provocative, and entertaining: the definitive survey of a fascinating field. It is a must for musical theatre enthusiasts, performers, students, collectors, and anyone who enjoys Show Tunes.

In this fresh approach to musical theatre history, Bruce Kirle challenges the commonly understood trajectory of the genre. Drawing on the notion that the world of the author stays fixed while the world of the audience is ever-changing, Kirle suggests that musicals are open, fluid products of the particular cultural moment in which they are performed. Incomplete as printed texts and scores, musicals take on unpredictable lives of their own in the complex transformation from page to stage. Using lenses borrowed from performance studies, cultural studies, queer studies, and ethnoracial studies, Unfinished Show Business: Broadway Musicals as Works-in-Process argues that musicals are as interesting for the provocative issues they raise about shifting attitudes toward American identity as for their show-stopping song-and-dance numbers and conveniently happy endings. Kirle illustrates how performers such as Ed Wynn, Fanny Brice, and the Marx Brothers used their charismatic personalities and quirkiness to provide insights into the struggle of marginalized ethnoracial groups to assimilate. Using examples from favorites including Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line, and Les Misérables, Kirle demonstrates Broadway’s ability to bridge seemingly insoluble tensions in society, from economic and political anxiety surrounding World War II to generational conflict and youth counterculture to corporate America and the “me” generation. Enlivened by a gallery of some of Broadway’s most memorable moments—and some amusing, obscure ones as well—this study will appeal to students, scholars, and lifelong musical theatre enthusiasts.

"Wait..Gypsy didn't win the Tony for Best Musical?" That's a question that gets asked over and over again, every time a new Rose takes to the runway in the Broadway classic "Gypsy". In "Strippers, Showgirls and Sharks", the popular syndicated theatre critic Peter Filichia chronicles the history of the American musical by looking at those shows that did not win the Tony Award for Best Musical. It happens every spring: The American Theatre Wing bestows its annual awards. Only those shows that have reached Broadway are nominated and while all Tony Awards are created equal in height, width and depth, the universally acknowledged biggest prize is the Best Musical Tony. The envelope is opened. The winner is announced and, then, the screeching begins. "Oh no! They gave it to that?" Did the best musical always win the Best Musical prize? Were there other factors that kept a more deserving show from copping the prize? Peter Filichia answers all these questions and more in "Strippers, Showgirls and Sharks" as he looks at many of the 153 previous Best Musical Nominees that didn't win the big prize. What were the biggest omissions? "Gypsy" had the distinct displeasure of not being either the first or second choice of the committee. In 1959 when Ethel Merman and a variety of strippers took the stage, the Tony for Best Musical was a tie between "The Sound of Music" and "Fiorello". In 1971, Stephen Sondheim's "Follies" and its ghostly showgirls lost to a "groovy" re-tuning of "Two Gentlemen of Verona" that hasn't passed the test of time. And, in 1957, "West Side Story", its Jets and Sharks, were bested by the fine people of River City Iowa singing their Americana hearts out in "The Music Man". If you love Broadway, scratch your head on Tony Award night and still can't figure out how a show you loathed won the Tony for Best Musical, you will love riding through the years with Peter Filichia, one of America's most respected and popular theatre critics.