Broadway Musicals Show by Show

Rating:
Summary: Could use more frequent updates but...
Review: overall a nice book covering the Bway Musicals. I happened to purchase one for a friend who attends the theater (both Broadway and off-Broadway) religiously and she was very happy with the gift.

Rating:
Summary: A true must-have book for all musical theatre fans!
Review: This book has proven and indispensable part of my theatre library, and if you get it, it will become one for you as well. Want to know what date the original production of Show Boat opened on Broadway? This book will tell you. Who the original stars of Mexican Hayride were? That's in here, too. You will be able to find the answer to just about any question you could ever ask of Broadway's hit musicals. A perfect companion piece to Ken Mandelbaum's Not Since Carrie (which chronicles the flop musicals this book mostly excludes), and a wonderful way of tracking the history of the Broadway musical, Broadway Musicals: Show by Show is as comprehensive, helpful, and essential as reference books on Broadway come.

Rating:
Summary: A true must-have book for all musical theatre fans!
Review: This book has proven and indispensable part of my theatre library, and if you get it, it will become one for you as well. Want to know what date the original production of Show Boat opened on Broadway? This book will tell you. Who the original stars of Mexican Hayride were? That's in here, too. You will be able to find the answer to just about any question you could ever ask of Broadway's hit musicals. A perfect companion piece to Ken Mandelbaum's Not Since Carrie (which chronicles the flop musicals this book mostly excludes), and a wonderful way of tracking the history of the Broadway musical, Broadway Musicals: Show by Show is as comprehensive, helpful, and essential as reference books on Broadway come.

Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC! The most useful guide for easy theatre reference
Review: This is a good *reference* book to see what happened and how things played out on Broadway. The behind the scene stories and what lead up to the show is fascinating, although every listed show doesn't have that much detail behind it.

The book is usually updated with new editions, but currently is out-dated (doesn't include Lion King, The Producers, Jekyll & Hyde, Titanic, etc.) Reading about the earlier Broadway shows (first show "The Black Crook" [1866]) is interesting and contains information you probably won't find anywhere else, including some failed shows (less than 5 performances), last minute casting decisions or movies that were made based on the show. I wish the listed revival shows would have more information than a basic "ditto" that refers to the original performance. However, if it is really meant to be a reference book, then it succeeds in that business without really trying.

The statistics given for how many performances a show had is nice, but can't be used to determine the success of that show today. The revival shows are learning that. With better access to New York (modern travel) -- numbers are increasing, but on the other hand, with more choices and a finicky audience that may be too PC for it's own good, some old shows don't work well now. If you're looking for tools to help you decide on choosing a musical, take a look at "Let's Put on a Musical" by Peter Filichia (1993) which is seven years newer besides.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This was the required text book for a class in musical theater in college. I found it informative but lacked many details that I would have like to have known.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This was the required text book for a class in musical theater in college. I found it informative but lacked many details that I would have like to have known.