Broadway Musicals: Show by Show

As a published theater critic, I find this book indispensable. Just enough info about dates, casts, directors, composers, songs, etc. to fill in memory gaps. I buy every new edition (current 5th edition covers through 2007 season) and it's soon dogeared from use.

Broadway Musicals Show by Show: Sixth EditionExcellent book, containing very interesting facts and figures, reviews,casts, runs, & theatres played. This edition includes upto Young Frankstein. Very handy for revealing obscure facts about the shows. It has (and still is) very helpful in my selection of shows to add to my Musicals CD collection.

I purchased this book for my father. He is a music professor and teaches a course in Broadway Musicals. He just raved about how helpful it is to he and his students.

Enough can't be said about this book! It is a masterpiece for theatre buffs like myself. I live by that book, since I'm involved in theatre on a daily basis. When considering which musical to use in our high school's season next year I immediately turned to this book for it's easy synopsis of so many hit shows, it's staistics about the shows, and it's genuine knowledge. The best reference book about theatre on the market today! Period.

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.