Steven Suskin

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of an award-winning musical! Here is the official, fascinating, behind-the scenes journey of the new musical Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, from its inception, to Off-Off Broadway, to Off-Broadway, to its premiere at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway. The musical is based on a dramatic 70-page slice of Leo Tolstoy s War and Peace. Profusely illustrated, the book also includes an annotated script and a special CD with three songs from the Off-Broadway production and two all-new recordings for the Broadway production featuring Josh Groban with a 25-piece orchestra. "

The Journey of a New Musical to Broadway

The Great Comet

"These cautionary tales are provocative, highly instructive, occasionally brutal, and, from a safe distance, downright hilarious, making Second Act Trouble the perfect Broadway bedtime reader - unless you are prone to nightmares."--BOOK JACKET.

Behind the Scenes at Broadway's Big Musical Bombs

Second Act Trouble

Picking up where Suskin's earlier "Opening on Broadway" leaves off, this new collection offers excerpted first night reviews of 210 of the most popular Broadway productions of recent memory--"A Chorus Line, Hair, Pippin, Grease, Cabaret, Annie, Ain't Misbehavin', Jesus Christ, Superstar" and many more. The reviews also serve to chronicle many of the careers that were made and broken during this period of the Broadway theatre. 100 photos.

A Critical Quotebook of the Musical Theatre, 1965 Through 1981

More Opening Nights on Broadway

Broadway Yearbook 2000-2001 is a relevant and irreverent record of the theatrical year. A vivid album of the year on the Great White Way, Broadway Yearbook gives readers front-row seats for the phenomenon of The Producers and the rest of the season's hits and misses. Steven Suskin's acclaimed new theatre annual delivers a vibrant, candid, and thoughtful account of every show to hit the boards: exciting musicals such as The Full Monty and the revival of 42nd Street; intriguing new plays like Proof and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife; and fascinating failures, including Jane Eyre and the beleaguered Seussical. Broadway Yearbook tells us what the shows were actually like. It is an interpretive record, featuring not only dates and names but also the stories behind the statistics. Each entry is accompanied by credits and cast lists, scorecards summarizing overall critical reception for each show, a summary of each show's financial performance, and copies of the illustrative program covers and title pages. Appendices provide a roundup of the season's major awards, memorable performances of the year, obituaries, long run leaders, shows still running from prior seasons, scheduled shows that never reached Broadway, and a comprehensive index. Steven Suskin has provided a unique and detailed record of the season's memorable moments and high points (and low points as well). Written from an insider's perspective, the book is knowledgeable, intriguing, provocative, and entertaining. Broadway Yearbook brings the shows of the 2000-2001 season back for an encore.

A Relevant and Irreverent Record

Broadway Yearbook 2000-2001

Offstage Observations: Inside Tales of the Not-So-Legitimate Theatre follows a stage-struck teenager as he crashes the gates of Broadway and forges a career, keenly observing hits and flops while rubbing shoulders with celebrities famous (and infamous), as well as the people who fueled the industry.

Inside Tales of the Not-So-Legitimate Theatre

Offstage Observations

Includes over 30 major composers and their work

The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers : Revised and Expanded

Show Tunes, 1905-1991

Show Tunes fully chronicles the shows, songs, and careers of the major composers of the American musical theatre, from Jerome Kern's earliest interpolations to the latest hits on Broadway. Legendary composers like Gershwin, Rodgers, Porter, Berlin, Bernstein, and Sondheim have been joined by more recent songwriters like Stephen Schwartz, Stephen Flaherty, Michael John LaChiusa, and Adam Guettel. This majestic reference book covers their work, their innovations, their successes, and their failures. Show Tunes is simply the most comprehensive volume of its kind ever produced, and this newly revised and updated edition discusses almost 1,000 shows and 9,000 show tunes. The book has been called "a concise skeleton key to the Broadway musical" (Variety) and "a ground-breaking reference work with a difference" (Show Music)-or, as the Washington Post observed, "It makes you sing and dance all over your memory." The eagerly anticipated Fourth Edition, updated through May, 2009, features the entire theatrical output of forty of Broadway's leading composers, in addition to a wide selection of work by other songwriters. The listings include essential production data and statistics, the most extensive information available on published and recorded songs, and lively commentary on the shows, songs, and diverse careers. Based on meticulous research, the book also uncovers dozens of lost musicals-including shows that either closed out of town or were never headed for Broadway-and catalogs hundreds of previously unknown songs, including a number of musical gems that have been misplaced, cut, or forgotten. Informative, insightful, and provocative, Show Tunes is an essential guide for anyone interested in the American musical.

The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers

Show Tunes

This title examines the careers of Broadway's major orchestrators and follows the song as it travels from the composer's piano to the orchestra pit.

A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations

The Sound of Broadway Music

'Show Tunes' fully chronicles the shows, songs, and careers of the major composers of the American musical theatre, from Jerome Kern's earliest interpolations to the latest hits on Broadway. Legendary composers like Gershwin, Rodgers, Porter, Berlin, Bernstein, and Sondheim have been joined by more recent songwriters.

Called the "theater equivalent of longtime New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael" by Matinee Magazine, critic and producer Steven Suskin chronicles the 2001-2002 theater season in his latest installment in the Broadway Yearbook series. Commenting with wit and erudition on each show that opened on Broadway between May 2001 and May 2002, Suskin's vivid descriptions recall Tony winners like Thoroughly Modern Millie and Urinetown and commercial smashes like Mamma Mia! and The Graduate. A great read for theater buffs, the book is also a valuable sourcebook for critics, Broadway historians, and theater professionals, providing an array of statistics on every Broadway production of the season, as well as noteworthy off-Broadway performances. The intelligent and witty Broadway Yearbook, 2001-2002 will engage theater lovers, performers, and critics alike.

Broadway Yearbook 2001-2002

Broadway's top orchestrators - Robert Russell Bennett, Don Walker, Philip J. Lang, Jonathan Tunick - are names well known to musical theatre fans, but few people understand precisely what the orchestrator does. The Sound of Broadway Music is the first book ever written about these unsung stars of the Broadway musical whose work is so vital to each show's success. The book examines the careers of Broadway's major orchestrators and follows the song as it travels from the composer's piano to the orchestra pit. Steven Suskin has meticulously tracked down thousands of original orchestral scores, piecing together enigmatic notes and notations with long-forgotten documents and current interviews with dozens of composers, producers, conductors and arrangers. The information is separated into three main parts: a biographical section which gives a sense of the life and world of twelve major theatre orchestrators, as well as incorporating briefer sections on another thirty arrangers and conductors; a lively discussion of the art of orchestration, written for musical theatre enthusiasts (including those who do not read music); a biographical section which gives a sense of the life and world of twelve major theatre orchestrators, as well as incorporating briefer sections on another thirty arrangers and conductors; and an impressive show-by-show listing of more than seven hundred musicals, in many cases including a song-by-song listing of precisely who orchestrated what along with relevant comments from people involved with the productions. Stocked with intriguing facts and juicy anecdotes, many of which have never before appeared in print, The Sound of Broadway Music brings fascinating and often surprising new insight into the world of musical theatre.

Broadway Season 1999-2000 is a unique and detailed guide to the theatrical year presenting 46 different shows. The volume features a comprehensive discussion of every show that opened on Broadway during the 1999-2000 season as well as several non-Broadway productions of importance or general interest. Each entry is accompanied by credits and cast lists, scorecards summarizing overall critical reception for each show, and a recap of each show's financial performance. A new kind of theatre annual, this distinctive volume discusses what the shows are actually like (instead of merely relying on plot synopses or photographs). It is an interpretive record, featuring not only dates and names but also the stories behind the statistics. Opening night title pages illustrate each show discussion. Appendices include a roundup of the season's major awards, memorable performances of the year, obituaries, long run leaders, shows still running from prior seasons, scheduled shows that never reached Broadway, and a comprehensive index. Steven Suskin has provided a relevant and irreverent record of the year's memorable high points (and low points). Written from an insider's perspective, the book is knowledgeable, intriguing, provocative, and entertaining.

Broadway Yearbook, 1999-2000

Curtain up! A Must See! proudly presents a visual feast of Broadway ballyhoo. For this compendium of graphic design excellence, theatre historian Steven Suskin combed through rare archives to bring us more than fifty years of plays and 175 compelling pieces of Broadway art. Dazzling shows and their glittering stars spill off the pages in artwork from top illustrators of the day, such as Al Hirshfeld, William Steig, Peter Arno, Alberto Vargas, and even Norman Rockwell. Covering every genre, A Must See! includes great hits (Oklahoma!, A Streetcar Named Desire), ignominious flops (Kelly, Carrie), and assorted delights in between. Throughout, Suskin peppers the text with insider information and juicy asides. Much of this material hasn't been seen since the shows closed eons ago, making A Must See! a bonanza of a browsebook -- shining with well-loved classics and surprising oddities from the beloved world of Broadway.

Brilliant Broadway Artwork

A Must See!

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.

Steven Suskin

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