Websites
Internet Broadway Data Base: Data on shows that opened on Broadway: creative team, casts (both opening night and replacements), songs, and awards.
Internet Movie Data Base: Wealth of data on movies and television, including--of course--musicals!
Internet Movie Data Base: Wealth of data on movies and television, including--of course--musicals!
Books (General)
- Maslon, Laurence. American Musicals (The Library of America, 2014). This two-volume set contains the complete books and lyrics of 16 classic Broadway musicals (eight in each of the volumes). Volume 1 (1927-1949) contains Show Boat, As Thousands Cheer, Pal Joey, Oklahoma!, On the Town, Finian's Rainbow, Kiss Me, Kate, and South Pacific. Volume 2 (1950-1969) contains Guys and Dolls, The Pajama Game, My Fair Lady, Gypsy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, and 1776.
- Michael Kantor and Laurence Mason (2020). Broadway: The American Musical, 3rd edition. Here is the link on Amazon.com (though, of course, you may purchase it "anywhere books are sold"). This is the companion book to the 2004 PBS documentary, and it has been updated to 2020.
- Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theatre (Oxford, 2013)
- Make Believe: The Broadway Musical in the 1920s (Oxford, 1997)
- Sing for Your Supper: The Broadway Musical in the 1930s (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)
- Beautiful Mornin': The Broadway Musical in the 1940s (Oxford, 1999)
- Coming Up Roses: The Broadway Musical in the 1950s (Oxford 1998)
- Open a New Window: The Broadway Musical in the 1960s (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001)
- One More Kiss: The Broadway Musical in the 1970s (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)
- The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen: The Last 25 Years of the Broadway Musical (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)
- Maslon, Laurence. Broadway to Main Street: How Show Tunes Enchanted America (Oxford University Press, 2018).
- Nachman, Gerald. Showstoppers!: The Surprising Backstage Stories of Broadway's Most Remarkable Songs (Chicago Review Press, 2017). Includes "mini-chapters" on each of eleven songs by Rodgers and/or Hammerstein--and many more by other composers & lyricists.
- Suskin, Steven. The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations (Oxford University Pressm 2009).
Books (Specific Composers/Lyricists)
RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN:
- Mordden, Ethan: Rodgers and Hammerstein (Abrams, 1992)
- Carter, Tim. Oklahoma!:The Making of An American Musical (Yale University Press, 2007)
- Wilk, Max. OK! The Story of Oklahoma!: A Celebration of America's Most Beloved Musical (Applause Books, 2002)
- Carter, Tim. Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel (Oxford University Press, 2017, part of the Oxford KEYNOTES series)
- Lovensheimer, Jim. South Pacific: Paradise Rewritten (Oxford University Press, 2010).
- Kander, John; Ebb, Fred; and Greg Lawrence. Colored Lights: Forty Years of Words and Music, Show Biz, Collaboration, and All That Jazz (Faber and Faber, Inc., 2003).
- Leve, James. Kander and Ebb (Yale University Press, 2009).
- Masteroff, Joe; Kander, John; and Fred Ebb. Cabaret: The Illustrated Book and Lyrics (1998 Revival) (Newmarket Press, 1999).
- Jerry Herman (with Marilyn Stasio): Showtune: A Memoir (Penguin, 1996)
- Jerry Herman & Ken Bloom: Jerry Herman: The Lyrics--A Celebration (Routledge, 2003)
- Stephen Citron: Jerry Herman: Poet of the Showtune (Yale University Press, 2004)
- Philip Lambert: To Broadway, To Life!: The Musical Theater of Bock and Harnick (Oxford University Press, 2011)
Social Media & Podcasts
Facebook
- If you are on Facebook, consider "following" Rodgers & Hammerstein. They post photos and an occasional video. Sometimes they tease you to get you to purchase or subscribe to something else, but it can be comforting to know that 73,000 other fans are similarly hooked.
- Laurence Maslon, author of Broadway to Main Street: How Show Tunes Enchanted America, has a weekly podcast ("Broadway to Main Street"). Subscribe at the iTunes Store or wherever you get your podcasts. Each week, Larry takes some aspect of show music and plays an hour's worth of songs-plus-commentary. Recent episodes have focused on Judy Garland singing Broadway musicals (even though she never appeared in a Broadway show). What I like about this podcast is (1) he knows his stuff, and (2) he plays entire songs rather than snippets.