All the World's a Stage

Books about theater, TV, movies, Broadway, and Hollywood 🎭

Updated May 19, 2025
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The secret life of the American musical : how classic Broadway shows are built
Viertel, Jack.
Paper Book
ANew York TimesBestseller For almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in childhood in a darkened theater, grows into something more serious for high school...
When women invented television : the untold story of the female powerhouses who pioneered the way we watch today
Armstrong, Jennifer
Paper Book
New and Noteworthy  --New York Times Book Review Must-Read Book of March  --Entertainment Weekly Best Books of March  --HelloGiggles "Leaps at the throat of television history and takes down the patriarchy with its...
All's well
Awad, Mona
Paper Book
From the author of Bunny, which Margaret Atwood hails as "genius," comes a "wild, and exhilarating" (Lauren Groff) novel about a theater professor who is convinced staging Shakespeare's most maligned play will remedy all that ails her--but at what cost? Miranda Fitch's...
Shakespeare's ear : dark, strange, and fascinating tales from the world of theater
Rayborn, Tim 1968-
Paper Book
Shakespeare's Ear presents dark and sometimes funny pieces of fact and folklore that bedevil the mostly unknown history of theater. All manner of skullduggery, from revenge to murder, from affairs to persecution, proves that the drama off-stage was just as intense as any portrayed on it. The...
How to survive a killer musical : agony and ecstasy on the road to Broadway
Cohen, Douglas J.
Paper Book
When the young composer-lyricist Douglas Cohen first secured the musical rights to the novel No Way to Treat a Lady by William Goldman--the acclaimed author of The Princess Bride and Marathon Man--he hoped it would be his big break, the first step on a gilt path to artistic triumph and commercial...
Mercury Pictures presents : a novel
Marra, Anthony
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Winner of the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction * The epic tale of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive, moving from Mussolini's Italy to 1940s Los Angeles--a timeless story of love, deceit, and sacrifice from the...
The big screen : the story of the movies
Thomson, David 1941-
Paper Book
The Big Screentells the enthralling story of the movies: their rise and spread, their remarkable influence over us, and the technology that made the screen--smaller now, but ever more ubiquitous--as important as the images it carries. The Big Screenis not another history of...
I like to watch : arguing my way through the TV revolution
Nussbaum, Emily 1966-
Paper Book
From The New Yorker's fiercely original, Pulitzer Prize-winning culture critic, a provocative collection of new and previously published essays arguing that we are what we watch. "Emily Nussbaum is the perfect critic-smart, engaging, funny, generous, and insightful."...
Laura Lamont's life in pictures
Straub, Emma.
Paper Book
In 1920, Elsa Emerson, the youngest and blondest of three sisters, is born in Door County, Wisconsin. Married in her teens, she flees to Los Angeles and is discovered by one of the most powerful executives in Hollywood. Refashioned as an exotic brunette and renamed Laura Lamont, she experiences all...
Wonder of wonders : a cultural history of Fiddler on the roof
Solomon, Alisa 1956-
Paper Book
A sparkling and eye-opening history of the Broadway musical that changed the world In the half-century since its premiere, Fiddler on the Roof has had an astonishing global impact. Beloved by audiences the world over, performed from rural high schools to grand state...
Sunny days : the children's television revolution that changed America
Kamp, David
Paper Book
One of the "Best Books" of the year from The Smithsonian, The Washington Independent Review, and more! From bestselling writer David Kamp, the "fun, fascinating, and surprisingly touching," (People) behind-the-scenes story of the cultural heroes who created the...
Theater geek : the real life drama of a summer at Stagedoor Manor, the famous performing arts camp
Rapkin, Mickey.
Paper Book
What do Natalie Portman, Robert Downey, Jr., Zach Braff, and Mandy Moore have in common? Before they were stars, they were campers at Stagedoor Manor, the premier summer theater camp for children and teenagers. Founded in 1975, Stagedoor continues to attract scores of young performers eager to find...
While we were watching Downton Abbey
Wax, Wendy.
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of My Ex-Best Friend's Wedding comes a novel about four friends who share a passion for a beloved British television show that will change all of their lives. When the concierge of The Alexander, a historic Atlanta apartment building, invites his...
Do the movies have a future?
Denby, David 1943-
Paper Book
Received as an important work of one of our most important film critics, Do the Movies Have a Future? draws from a selection of the New Yorker writer's published pieces over a dozen years to examine the art, business, and future of the movies. In the second...
Lady director : adventures in Hollywood, television and beyond
Chopra, Joyce
Paper Book
An intimate account of a seminal filmmaker's development--as a creator and as a woman--both in art and in life. "Joyce Chopra, what a gift of an extraordinary filmmaker you are, and one of our great pioneers who forged a very difficult path. And for female filmmakers...
Disaster at the Vendome Theater
Longworth, M. L. (Mary Lou) 1963-
Paper Book
When Jean-Marc Sauvet accepted a role in a local theatre's summer production he had no idea the lead actress would be played by the great Liliane Poncet. But Jean-Marc's excitement about rubbing elbows with one of France's legendary film stars is quickly extinguished. The lead actor, Gauthier Lesage...

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