The Fantasticks tells an age-old tale. Its ingredients are simple: a boy, a girl, two fathers, and a wall. Its scenery, a tattered cardboard moon, hovers over an empty wooden platform. With these bare essentials, Jones and Schmdt launched a theatrical phenomenon unmatched the world over.

"The Amazing Story of the Fantasticks is the detailed history of how this fabulously successful show by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt came into being and how and why it succeeded. In tracing the evolution of the show from an idea to a cultural phenomenon, the book takes readers through the countless auditions to attract backers, the search for theaters to hold tryouts (which indicated disaster), and eventual popular success. Among the actors who have performed in the musical are Anna Maria Alberghetti, Richard Chamberlain, Elliott Gould, Bert Lahr, Liza Minnelli, Robert Goulet, and Glenn Close."--Jacket.

Today the late actor Jerry Orbach (1935-2004) is best remembered as the world-weary New York City Detective Lennie Briscoe from the Emmy Award-winning NBC television series Law and Order. But that work only accounts for 12 years of a 50-year career that spanned stage, screen, and television. From the moment he landed the role of the Street Singer in the 1955 off-Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera, he distinguished himself as a major performer in popular musicals and plays, including The Fantasticks, Carnival, Scuba Duba, Promises, Promises, 6 RMS RIV VU, Chicago, and 42nd Street. Jerry Orbach also appeared in over 40 films, with Crimes and Misdemeanors; Prince of the City; Dirty Dancing; and the voice of the candlestick, Lumière, in Disney's Beauty and the Beast topping the list. From the '60s through the '90s, he was a guest or featured actor on major TV hits like The Defenders; Love American Style; Murder, She Wrote; The Golden Girls; and Frasier. Jerry Orbach, Prince of the City is the story of this versatile performer – his triumphs and tragedies public and private. Most of all, it is a study of a gifted actor's craft as told through the observations, insights, and reminiscences of those who knew him best. Listen to John Anthony Gilvey live at Book Expo America on the BEA Podcast.

In his play "The Romancers" Edmond Rostand satirizes the sentimentalism and escapism of Romantic literature of his times. Percinet is the only son of Bergamin and Sylvette is the only daughter of Pasquinot. Their fathers who are widowers and neighbors make a plan to marry their children with each other. In order to accomplish this, the fathers separate their children so that they may love each other the more, and desire to be re-united. As a part of their plan, Bergamin warns his son to stay away from Pasquinot and his daughter. Similarly, Pasquinot also warns his daughter that she should not be near to his mortal enemy Bergamin and his son. Inspite of their fathers' warnings, Percinet and Sylvette fall in love. They think themselves as the counterparts of Romeo and Juliet. They are worried that their love will also end in tragedy like that of Romeo and Juliet. They are emotional, daydreaming teenagers who have recently finished their school studies. They are deeply influenced by romantic literature of their times, especially by the romantic play "Romeo and Juliet" of William Shakespeare. They are so in love with each other that they desire to die rather than separate with each other. Bergamin then hires Straforel and his company for a fake kidnapping. At midnight hours, when Percinet and Sylvette are about to meet, Straforel with his company kidnap Sylvette and put her into the sedan chair. Percinet hears the cry of Sylvette, jumps over the wall and fights with his sword. At the same time, as planned, Pasquinot enters and calls Percinet a hero. He suggests Bergamin to put an end to their enmity and arrange the marriage of their children. Thus in the end the two children seem like puppets in the hands of their fathers. - MeroSpark Cloud Reference, http://www.merospark.com

Although the venue Off Broadway has long been the birthplace of innovative and popular musicals, there have been few studies of these influential works. Long-running champs, such as The Fantasticks and Little Shop of Horrors, are discussed in many books about American musicals, but what of the hundreds of other Off-Broadway musicals? In Off-Broadway Musicals since 1919, Thomas Hischak looks at more than 375 musicals, which are described, discussed, and analyzed, with particular attention given to their books, scores, performers, and creators. Presented chronologically and divided into chapters for each decade, beginning with the landmark musical Greenwich Village Follies (1919), the book culminates with the satiric The Toxic Avenger (2009). In this volume, any work of consequence is covered, especially if it was popular or influential, but also dozens of more obscure musicals are included to illustrate the depth and breadth of Off Broadway. Works that introduced an important artistic talent, from performers to songwriters, are looked at, and the selection represents the various trends and themes that made Off Broadway significant. In addition to essential data about each musical, the plot and score are described, the success (or lack of) is chronicled, and an opinionated commentary discusses the work's merits and influences on the musical theatre in general. The first book of its kind, this highly readable volume will please both the theatre scholar and the average musical theatre patron or fan.

From the award-winning team behind Ida, Always comes a story about a friendship that grows between a blind horse and a gruff goat All the animals at the Open Bud Ranch can see that Jack likes keeping his space to himself. But when Charlie arrives, he doesn’t see Jack at all. He’s still getting used to seeing out of only one of his eyes. The two get off to a bumpy start. At first, Jack is anxious and distrustful. But one day, he summons his courage and guides Charlie to his favorite sunlit field: this way, Charlie. And so begins a powerful friendship that will be tested by life’s storms—but will ultimately change each life for the better.

(Vocal Selections). 10 songs from the musical that originally starred Robert Preston and Mary Martin. Includes: Honeymoon Is Over, The * I Do, I Do * I Love My Wife * Someone Needs Me * Together Forever * and more.

Recounting the more than century-long stage and screen history of J.M. Barrie's play Peter Pan, Bruce K. Hanson updates and expands his 1993 volume on "The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up." Hanson traces the origin of Barrie's tale through the first London production in 1904, to various British and American theatrical and film productions up to and including the stage versions of 2010. Included are excerpts of interviews with actresses Dinah Sheridan, Mary Martin and Sandy Duncan, all of whom portrayed Peter Pan on stage, and Betty Comden and Adolph Green, lyricists for the 1954 Broadway musical. The book features a wealth of rare photos, posters, programs and costume designs. An appendix lists virtually every actor who has performed a featured role in a London, Broadway or Hollywood production of Peter Pan from 1904 to the present.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the iconic musical Sunday in the Park with George Putting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. In 1982, James Lapine, at the beginning of his career as a playwright and director, met Stephen Sondheim, nineteen years his senior and already a legendary Broadway composer and lyricist. Shortly thereafter, the two decided to write a musical inspired by Georges Seurat’s nineteenth-century painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. Through conversations between Lapine and Sondheim, as well as most of the production team, and with a treasure trove of personal photographs, sketches, script notes, and sheet music, the two Broadway icons lift the curtain on their beloved musical. Putting It Together is a deeply personal remembrance of their collaboration and friend - ship and the highs and lows of that journey, one that resulted in the beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning classic.