Theater Life

As author Ethan Mordden looks back at Chicago's various moving parts - including the original 1926 play that started it all, a sexy silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, a talkie remake with Ginger Rogers, the musical itself, and at last the movie of the musical - we learn how the American theater serves as a kind of alternative news medium, a town crier warning the public about the racy, devious interior contradictions of American society. Opinionated, witty, and rich in backstage anecdotes, All That Jazz brings the American musical to life in all its artistry and excitement.

Norman Mathews was born in the wrong town, the wrong era, and with the wrong name. What’s a boy to do? He conjured up a more enticing, imaginary world to better navigate the perils of childhood. Dreams of a life in the theater and of passionate romance were stymied by lack of self-assurance.

Blending a behind-the-scenes history of New York City’s Public Theater with an affecting remembrance of her husband, Public Theater founder Joe Papp, Public/Private is Gail Merrifield Papp’s enthralling and heartfelt memoir of a legendary theatrical institution.

Brimming with insights from a veritable Who's Who of Broadway Babies and complemented by more than two hundred color and black-and-white images, Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy offers a witty, multidimensional look at the musical genius behind Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, and the landmark West Side Story and Gypsy.

Carey Perloff, Artistic Director of San Francisco's legendary American Conservatory Theater, pens a lively and revealing memoir of her 20-plus years at the helm and delivers a provocative and impassioned manifesto for the role of live theater in today's technology-infused world. Perloff's personal and professional journey - her life as a woman in a male-dominated profession, as a wife and mother, a playwright, director, producer, arts advocate, and citizen in a city erupting with enormous change.

When Margaret Thursday lands a role as a child actress at a well-known London theatre, becoming famous almost overnight, news of her success reaches her bitter enemy, the matron of her old orphanage. Margaret knows that Matron is set on revenge, but she keeps her head held high, focusing on the play. But Matron’s evil plans are well prepared and Margaret is going to need her wits about her – and the help of her friends – if she is to escape unharmed.

Mona’s demanding mother ruled their home until a car crash took her life and changed their family forever. Left to tend to a distant father and a needy younger brother, Mona finds her new role almost too much to bear. And when a new stepmother, troubled and depressed, adds yet another crack to the family portrait, Mona’s forced to shoulder an even greater share of the emotional burden.

A new and long-awaited novel exploring what happens when untested people are put to a hard test and in its aftermath find themselves in a newly uncertain world.

Tito, el héroe de este relato, hace un viaje a su infancia, la recorre a través de capítulos de una vida de variados matices: tenebrosos, humillantes, alegres, reveladores, tristes y definitorios para convertirse en el hombre que escribe la historia.

¡¿A quién le gustan las cucarachas?! Pues esta cucarachita, ¡les va a encantar! Esta tierna historia musical nos enseña que cultivar la paciencia nos premiará con el regalo del verdadero amor y la amistad.

Mommie dearest...or is it daughter dearest? A recognizable teen star without a job, Olivia gets proactive. Dons a disguise and heads to a Hollywood benefit in Las Vegas in hopes of networking. She meets a producer who was tracked down by the father of a famous abducted girl. He wanted to share the young girl’s twisted secret diary. The producer insisted Olivia read it. "Spectacular stuff. Nothing like it." Not all mother-daughter relationships are loving. Abuse comes in all forms. And goes both ways. So does revenge, and jealousy. The aftermath is a wasteland.

Seit Erscheinen seines gefeierten Romans Rabenliebe hat Peter Wawerzinek wohl an die hundert Mal daraus gelesen...

Before Tim Federle became a best-selling author and a Broadway playwright, he worked as a back-up dancer at the Super Bowl, a polar bear at Radio City, and a card-carrying chorus boy on Broadway. Life Is Like a Musical features 50 tips learned backstage, onstage, and in between gigs, with chapters such as "Dance Like Everyone's Watching" and "Save the Drama for the Stage". This charming and clever guide will appeal to all ages and inspire listeners to step into the lead roles of their own lives, even if they're not recovering theater majors.

After all the backstage ghost drama during Phantasm, things are quiet for the Backstagers of the St. Genesius School Drama Club - too quiet. But when that quiet is filled by a mysterious voice that haunts the Backstagers day and night, they set off on a globetrotting adventure to discover the ancient secrets of the legendary artifacts of the theater.