LibGuides: Theatre 240: Music and the Theatre: History Sources

Tips for Using Library Books and Ebooks

The books below are a mix of physical and ebooks. Additional books are discoverable through the library's catalog and databases. You are also able to request books from Ann Arbor's physical collection.

Some tips to help find information in these books:

Look at chapter titles or in the index to see if your topic is covered at all.
Look for options to "search within" the book or publication.
You are able to cite specific chapters or sections of books.
For most ebooks, you should be able to download either sections or the full text as a PDFs.
We use the Library of Congress call numbers to arrange books, and if you need help finding them on the shelf, please ask the circulation desk workers.
Double check the publication dates on these books, as some will not include more recently produced shows.

Ebooks Video Tutorial Playlist
This playlist of tutorials will help you search for, access, and download ebook content from the library databases.

General Histories and Encyclopedias

20 Seasons: Broadway Musicals of the 21st Century by Amy S. Osatinski
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
This book catalogues, categorizes, and analyzes the 269 musicals that opened on Broadway from the 2000-2001 season through the 2019-2020 season. This book is the first to comprehensively examine the musicals that premiered on Broadway during this important historical period, which was bookended by the 9/11 terrorist attacks on one end and the Coronavirus pandemic on the other.
Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theatre by Ethan. Mordden
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2013
Mordden offers an entirely fresh and infectiously delightful history of American musical theatre. Anything Goes stages a grand revue of the musical from the 1700s through to the present day, narrated in Mordden's famously witty, scholarly, and conversational style. He also explores the changing structure of musical comedy and operetta, and the evolution of the role of the star.
The Cambridge Companion to the Musical by William A. Everett and Paul R. Laird (Editor)
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2017
The expanded and updated third edition of this acclaimed Companion provides an accessible, broadly based survey of one of the liveliest and most popular forms of musical performance. It ranges from the American musical of the nineteenth century to the most recent productions on Broadway, in London's West End, and many other venues, and includes key information on singers, audiences, critical reception, and traditions.
The Golden Age of American Musical Theatre by Corinne J. Naden
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2011
This book provides synopses, cast and production credits, song titles, and other pertinent information for over 180 musicals from Oklahoma! to On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.
A History of the American Musical Theatre by Nathan Hurwitz
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2014
From the diverse proto-theatres of the mid-1800s, though the revues of the '20s, the 'true musicals' of the '40s, the politicisation of the '60s and the 'mega-musicals' of the '80s, every era in American musical theatre reflected a unique set of socio-cultural factors. Nathan Hurwitz uses these factors to explain the output of each decade in turn, showing how the most popular productions spoke directly to the audiences of the time. This study spans from the earliest spectacles and minstrel shows to contemporary musicals such as Avenue Q and Spiderman.
Milestones in Musical Theatre by Mary Jo Lodge (Editor)
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
This book tracks ten of the most significant moments in musical theatre history, from some of its earliest incarnations to its rise as a global phenomenon.
Musical Theatre by John Kenrick
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2008
This book presents a comprehensive history of stage musicals from the earliest accounts of the ancient Greeks and Romans, for whom songs were common elements in staging, to Jacques Offenbach in Paris during the 1840s, to Gilbert and Sullivan in the UK, to the rise of music halls and vaudeville traditions in America, and eventually to “Broadway’s Golden Age." The 21st century has also brought a popular new wave of musicals to the Broadway stage, from “The Producers” to “Spamalot.”
No Legs, No Jokes, No Chance by Phillip Patinkin
Call Number: ML 1711 .P37 2008
Publication Date: 2008
This book traces the American musical from its rich and varied beginnings in European opera, American minstrel shows, and vaudeville through its many permutations to its current state--from, as Sheldon Patinkin puts it, La Boheme to Rent. The result is a broad, clear, and detailed picture of American musicals within both an aesthetic and a historical context.
The Oxford Companion to the American Musical by Thomas S. Hischak
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2008
This online encyclopedia will give brief overviews of shows as well as biographies of performers and directors.
The Routledge Companion to Musical Theatre by Laura MacDonald and Ryan Donovan (Editors)
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2022
This book is a comprehensive guide for those studying the components of musical theatre, its history, practitioners, audiences, and agendas. The Companion expands the study of musical theatre to include the ways we practice and experience musicals, their engagement with technology, and their navigation of international commercial marketplaces. The Companion is the first collection to include global musical theatre in each chapter, reflecting the musical's status as the world's most popular theatrical form.
The Routledge Companion to the Contemporary American Stage Musical by Jessica Sternfeld and Elizabeth Wollman (Editors)
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2019
Forty-four essays examine the contemporary musical as an ever-shifting product of an ever-changing culture. This volume sheds new light on the American musical as a thriving, contemporary performing arts genre, one that could have died out in the post-Tin Pan Alley era but instead has managed to remain culturally viable and influential, in part by newly embracing a series of complex contradictions.
Showtime: A history of the Broadway musical theater by Larry Stempel
Call Number: ML 1711.8 .N3 S73 2010
Publication Date: 2010
Beginning with the scandalous Astor Place Opera House riot of 1849, Larry Stempel traces the growth of musicals from minstrel shows and burlesques, through the golden age of Show Boat and Oklahoma!, to such groundbreaking works as Company and Rent. Stempel describes the Broadway stage with vivid accounts of the performers drawn to it, and detailed portraits of the creators who wrote the music, lyrics, and stories for its shows, both beloved and less well known.
The World of Musicals by Mark A. Robinson
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2014
This online encyclopedia will give brief overviews of shows as well as biographies of performers and directors. Use Gale Virtual Reference Library and then use the "Search within publication" to find entries in this encyclopedia.

Musical Genres

The Disney Musical on Stage and Screen by George Rodosthenous (Editor)
Call Number: PN 1999 .W27 D576 2017
Publication Date: 2017
This book is the first critical treatment of the corporation's hugely successful musicals both on screen and on the stage. Its 13 articles open up a new territory in the critical discussion of the Disney mega-musical, its gender, sexual and racial politics, outreach work and impact of stage, film and television adaptations.
A Fine Romance by Geoffrey Block
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
How do we compare a Broadway musical to its Hollywood counterpart? This book answers this question by exploring the symbiotic relationship between a dozen Broadway musicals and their Hollywood film adaptations.
The Jukebox Musical by Kevin Byrne and Emily Fuchs
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2022
This is a comprehensive guide to the unique genre of the jukebox musical, delving into its history to explain why these musicals have quickly become beloved for multiple generations of theatergoers and practitioners. Providing a concise exploration of the three main categories of the jukebox musical--biographical, genre-specific, and artist catalog--this text is perfect for those wishing to learn more about this relatively recent and unique genre of theater.
The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Screen Adaptations by Dominic McHugh (Editor)
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2019
This book traces how the genre of the stage-to-screen musical has evolved, starting with screen adaptations of operettas such as The Desert Song and Rio Rita, and looks at how the Hollywood studios in the 1930s exploited the publication of sheet music as part of their income.
The Theater Will Rock by Elizabeth Lara Wollman
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2006
This book traces the rock musical's evolution over nearly fifty years, in popular productions such as Hair, The Who's Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Little Shop of Horrors, Rent, and Mamma Mia!---and in notable flops such as The Capeman.

Special Topics

Performance

Dance on the American Musical Theatre Stage by Ray Miller
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
This book chronicles the development of dance, with an emphasis on musicals and the Broadway stage, in the United States from its colonial beginnings to performances of the present day.
Here for the Hearing by Michael Buchler and Gregory John Decker (Editor)
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
This book offers a series of essays that show the integrated role that musical structure (including harmony, melody, rhythm, meter, form, and musical association) plays in making sense of what transpires onstage in musicals.

Identity and Society

African American Perspectives in Musical Theatre by Eric M. Glover
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
From Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins's 1879 musical Peculiar Sam to Lynn Nottage's 2021 musical MJ, the 'Black musical' does not get the credit it deserves for sustaining the genre we know and love. This introductory book is devoted to representative African-American perspectives in musical theatre from the literature of slavery and freedom, 1746-1865, to the contemporary period, offering the reader case studies of what the 'Black musical' is, how it works, and why it matters.
Beyond Broadway by Stacy Wolf
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2019
Author Stacy Wolf considers the widespread presence and persistence of musical theatre in U.S. culture, and examines it as a live, pleasurable, participatory experience of creating, watching, and listening.
Broadway Bodies by Ryan Donovan
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
Broadway has long preserved the ideology of the "Broadway Body": the hyper-fit, exceptionally able, triple-threat performer who represents how Broadway musicals favor certain kinds of bodies. Casting is always a political act, situated within a power structure that gives preference to the Broadway Body. Author Ryan Donovan explores how ability, sexuality, and size intersect with gender, race, and ethnicity in casting and performance. T
The Great White Way by Warren Hoffman
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2014
Presented chronologically, this book shows how perceptions of race altered over time and how musicals dealt with those changes. Hoffman focuses first on shows leading up to and comprising the Golden Age of Broadway (1927-1960s), then turns his attention to the revivals and nostalgic vehicles that defined the final quarter of the twentieth century.
Hip-Hop in Musical Theater by Nicole Hodges Persley
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
This book takes an intersectional standpoint to explore Hip-Hop's influence on musical theater practice and aesthetics by giving the reader a comprehensive map of musical theater productions that have been impacted by Hip-Hop music and culture.
Love Is Love Is Love: Broadway Musicals and LGBTQ Politics, 2010-2020 by Aaron C. Thomas
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
The politics of Broadway musicals matter a great deal more to a U.S. American culture than they appear to mean, and they are especially important to mainstream politics surrounding sex, gender, and sexuality. This book looks to Broadway musicals of the past decade for help understanding the current state of LGBTQ politics in the United States.
A Problem Like Maria by Stacy Wolf
Call Number: ML 2054 .W65 2002
Publication Date: 2002
Subverting assumptions that American musical theater is steeped in nostalgia, cheap sentiment, misogyny, and homophobia, this book shows how musicals of the 1950s and early 1960s celebrated strong women characters who defied the era's gender expectations.
Race in American Musical Theater by Josephine Lee
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
This book highlights elements of theatrical production and reception that are particular to musical theater. Examining how race functions through the recurrence of particular racial stereotypes and storylines, this introductory volume also looks at casting practices, the history of the chorus line, and the popularity of recent shows such as Hamilton.

Biographies and Interviews

The 100 Most Important People in Musical Theatre by Andy Propst
Call Number: ML 102 .M875 P76 2019
Publication Date: 2019
The profiles in this book provide a terrific history of musical theater, guiding readers from the era of operetta and the ascendancy of the book musical to the emergence of the concept musical and contemporary productions-from The Mikado and The Phantom of the Opera to Fun Home and Hamilton.
Conversations with Women in Musical Theatre Leadership by Amanda Wansa Morgan (Editor)
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
This book features 15 interviews with Broadway-level musical theatre music directors, directors, writers, composers, lyricists, stage managers, orchestrators, music arrangers, and other women in positions of leadership. Built around extensive interviews with women at the top of their careers in the creative and leadership spheres of musical theatre, these first-hand accounts offer insight into the jobs themselves, the skills that they require, and how those skills can be developed.
Nothing Like a Dame by Eddie Shapiro (Editor)
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2014
Theater journalist Eddie Shapiro records in-depth conversations with twenty leading women of Broadway. He carefully selected Tony Award-winning stars who have spent the majority of their careers in theater, leaving aside those who have moved on or occasionally drop back in.
Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical by Laurie Winer
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2023
Diving deep into Hammerstein's life, examining his papers and his lyrics, critic Laurie Winer shows how he orchestrated a collective reimagining of America, urging it forward with a subtly progressive vision of the relationship between country and city, rich and poor, America and the rest of the world.
Sondheim in Our Time and His by W. Anthony Sheppard (Editor)
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 2022
This book offers a wide-ranging historical investigation of the landmark works and extraordinary career of Stephen Sondheim, a career which has spanned much of the history of American musical theater.

Credible Sources Outside the Library

Legacy Project | Dramatists Guild Foundation
The Legacy Project interviews bring us into writers’ homes to see the very places where some of their most beloved works came to life. Revealing the origins of famous songs, delving into relationships with their mentors – writers tell stories that they have never told before. These are candid, no-holds-barred discussions on the struggles of the craft and the triumphs of successes, allowing the true individual behind the fame to emerge.
Musicals 101
The website of Broadway history buff John Kenrick. Find a number of different interviews, show profiles, and chronologies.
Musical Theater | Kennedy Center
A collection of interviews with artists and backstage looks at various productions from the Kennedy Center. This is a small collection and isn't searchable, but the video interviews could be useful.