The Book of Broadway: The 150 Definitive Plays and Musicals

Be absorbed by the profiles of 150 of the biggest, most influential, and most important Broadway musicals and plays ever produced. Shows profiled include everything from the 1860s musical The Black Crook, which captivated and titillated audiences for more than five hours, to the Pulitzer Prize–winning 2010 play Clybourne Park.

The men and women who shaped Broadway history—Stephen Sondheim, Tennessee Williams, Bernadette Peters, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II—are celebrated for their groundbreaking work, and photographs throughout illustrate the stunning designs of the shows profiled.

This compilation by Author Eric Grode—arts writer for The New York Times, and author of Hair: The Story of the Show That Defined a Generation—is the ultimate guide to Broadway shows. Even if you consider yourself an expert in the theater, you will be amazed by the fantastic Broadway trivia scattered throughout this volume, as well as the palpable sense of history in this encyclopedic treatment of one of our most beloved pastimes.

Just a few of the titles included are:

-Annie
-The Book of Mormon
-Bye Bye Birdie
-Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
-Chicago
-Death of a Salesman
-Fiddler on the Roof
-Grease
-Guys and Dolls
-Hello, Dolly!
-Kiss Me, Kate
-Les Miserables
-The Music Man
-My Fair Lady
-The Phantom of the Opera
-Rent
-Six Degrees of Separation
-The Sound of Music
-A Streetcar Named Desire
-West Side Story