Did you know that Frank Sinatra was nearly considered for the original production of Fiddler on the Roof? Or that Jerome Robbins never choreographed the famous "Dance at the Gym" in West Side Story? Or that Lin-Manuel Miranda called out an audience member on Twitter for texting during a performance of Hamilton (the perpetrator was Madonna)? In Show and Tell: The New Book of Broadway Anecdotes, Broadway aficionado-in-chief Ken Bloom takes us on a spirited spin thr...

The first and best biography of this pioneering comic duo and Broadway Stars—in a new edition!Joe Weber and Lew Fields were the dominant musical comedy team at the turn of the last century. They created classic comedic characters and routines and formed their own theatrical troupe, running a theater in New York for many years where they produced successful revues that combined music, dance, and song. So famous were they in their time that they inspired a full-lengt...

Jerry Herman is one of Broadway's most celebrated composers and lyricists. He is the author of two of the biggest successes in musical theater history: Hello, Dolly! and Mame . Herman is also responsible for Mack and Mabel, Milk and Honey , and the musical version of the film La Cage Aux Folles. All of these have been produced many times, in both professional and amateur productions around the world. He is currently writing a new musical, Miss Spectacular , commissioned by Steve Wynn to be...

A new biography of one of the key composers of 20th-century American popular song and jazz, Eubie Blake: Rags, Rhythm and Race illuminates Blake's little-known impact on over 100 years of American culture. A gifted musician, Blake rose from performing in dance halls and bordellos of his native Baltimore to the heights of Broadway. In 1921, together with performer and lyricist Noble Sissle, Blake created Shuffle Along which became a sleeper smash on Broadway eventually bec...

Relive the glory days of New York's poshest night spot with recipes and drinks you can prepare at your own home!In its heyday, The Stork Club was the "place to be seen" among New York's glitterati. Gossip columnist Walter Winchell held the corner table, recording the comings and goings of the brightest stars of stage and screen-including Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, and Ralph Bellamy-along with shining literary lions-from Ernest Hemingway to Dashiell Hamett and Anit...

Fetch and the Not So Fine Art of Making Friends is a beautifully illustrated book for children ages 9-12. Fetch, a young golden retriever, has been asked by her humans to protect their yard from local intruders who are getting into their garbage and eating their flowers and vegetables. A fox named Sneak and a rabbit named Bounce are the main troublemakers. Fetch proposes they form a Truce, where they agree to stop fighting and help each other with common problems. The Truce works ...

A detailed, historic guide to the rich physical history of New York City, from its founding by Dutch settlers to the turn of the twentieth century.Nooks and Corners of Old New York celebrates the people, places, and events that shaped New York City's history. The author-a newspaper reporter and novelist who wrote extensively on New York's early history-paints a vivid picture of several centuries of stories, scandals, and celebrations. While the history may...

This book contains 250 anecdotes about the theater, including these: 1) British actor Pete Postlethwaite has a rugged face. When he was studying at the Bristol Old Vic, he ran out of money to pay for the completion of his course of study. However, the head of the school knew that the young man had real talent, so he told him, "Listen, I have a hunch you're going to do all right in this business, so I'm going to put down the outstanding amount as a debt and then, in a few years' time, I'll ...

The celebrated, multi-award-winning film critic's intelligent guide to the movies—with more than 2,800 reviews."A master of synopsis, Pauline Kael has contrived to tell us between the covers of one book what eight decades of film are about and who is in them and behind them, and to reflect, swiftly but astutely, on what they signify. No one else has done that; no one else could have done that." —Wallace Shawn, from the ForewordLook up a movie in this guide,...

The star of Hitchcock's Rope and Strangers on a Train "recalls life onstage and in film in an engaging, colorful memoir" ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review).Synonymous with the golden age of Broadway, the dazzling lights of Hollywood, and the rise of television arts, Farley Granger's charm and talent captivated the acting community and audiences alike. Working with creative visionaries like Alfred Hitchcock, Luchino Visconti, and Nick Ray, G...

One of the greatest American singers and actresses of her generation looks back on a magical and turbulent life spanning a half century of theatrical history from the golden age of the Broadway musical to the present day.A legend of the American theater, Barbara Cook burst upon the scene to become Broadway's leading ingénue in roles such as Cunégonde in Leonard Bernstein's Candide, Amalia Balash in Jerry Bock's She Loves Me, and her career-defining, Tony-winning r...

The "essential and hilarious" book that highlights almost 200 musicals and examines how they became Broadway's biggest fails ( The New Yorker ).Ken Mandelbaum offers the behind-the-scenes story of the development of almost two hundred musical flops that played Broadway between 1950 and 1990, along with a reevaluative and often revisionist study of their quality.Here they all are, from such legendary catastrophes as...