Below is a manageable list of a dozen theater books — recently published or soon to be– that look to be good summer reads: five memoirs or biographies, four books of history or criticism, three novels.
Memoirs and Biographies
“Theater Kid: A Broadway Memoir
Seller, a Broadway producer best-known for the landmark musicals “Rent” and “Hamilton,” tells of his difficult childhood and his youthful romance with theater in the spirit of Moss Hart’s memoir “Act One” and his adult successes a la Harold Prince’s “Contradictions.” This is the only book on this list I’ve already read, and I recommend it. (My review.)
In Gad We Trust: a Tell Some by Josh Gad
The Tony-nominated actor of “The Book of Mormon” gets personal, about he lasting impact of his parents’ divorce; how he struggled with weight and self-image; his first big break; how everytone was sure his most successful ventures (both on the big screen and the stage) would fail
Actress of a Certain Age My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Successt by Jeff Hiller
A humorous collection of autobiographical essays from comedian and Somebody Somewhere actor Jeff Hiller (who made his Broadway debut 15 years ago in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson)
Grief…A Comedy by Alison Larkin
The actress and comic turned the death of fiancé into a one-woman show, and now a book – the second solo show and book based on her personal experiences; the first was a bestseller, “The English American”
Baldwin: A Love Story, by Nicholas Boggs
The overlapping stories of writer James Baldwin’s most sustaining intimate and artistic relationships: with his mentor, the Black American painter Beauford Delaney; with his lover and muse, the Swiss painter Lucien Happersberger; and with his collaborators, the famed Turkish actor Engin Cezzar and the iconoclastic French artist Yoran Cazac.
History and Criticism
Theatre Fandom: Engaged Audiences in the Twenty-first Century edited by Kirsty Sedgman, Francesca Coppa, and Matt Hills.
Essays by 20 contributors, including an interview with playwright Dominique Morisseau, that look at the topic from many angles, some focusing on specific shows (Rent, Hamilton, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) or theater companies (Punchdrunk), some addressing such questions as: How are fans distinct from regular theatergoers, and how can they be developed?
Theater after Film by Martin Harries
A look at the influence of film on theater after 1945, with a focus on the work of Tennessee Williams, Samuel Beckett, and Adrienne Kennedy.
Michael John LaChiusa: A Critical Companion by Joshua Robinson
Focuses on seven of LaChiusa’s musicals: Marie Christine, First Lady Suite, First Daughter Suite, Giant, Hello Again, See What I Wanna See, and The Wild Party.
Authority: Essays by Andrea Long Chu
This collection by the Pulitzer winning critic of New York Magazine has only one essay about theater, but it’s a doozy – her takedown of Phantom of the Opera, and Andrew Lloyd Webber and, for the most part, all of Broadway musical theater, which inspired outrage and ridicule when it was published in the magazine.
Theater/Theater Adjacent Novels
The Sound of Murder by Joseph Zellnik
The composer of “Yank!” has written a murder mystery involving another musical, “The Sound of Music.” A day after the show’s world premiere in New Haven in 1959, the lifeless body of beautiful newcomer Eva Rossi – Mary Martin’s understudy – is discovered in a bizarrely-appointed hotel room, beneath a wall defaced with a bloody inscription: How do you solve a problem like Maria?
Flashout: A Novel by Alexis Soloski
The second novel by Soloski (the first was Here in the Dark) who covers theater for the New York Times.
New York, 1972. A cloistered college student slips out of the dorms to attend a performance by a legendary experimental performance troupe. Within months, she has left campus life behind and joined the company, infatuated by its charismatic leader and his promises of absolute freedom
Elphie: A Wicked Childhood by Gregory Maguire
The author of the novel that inspired “Wicked” the Broadway musical (and the Hollywood movies) backtracks to tell the coming-of-age story of the girl who would become the Wicked Witch of the West.
Your purchase through some of the links above may generate a small commission, which helps support my work. Many of these books are (or will be) available to borrow at the New York Public Library and other local libraries.
