THE BOOK SHELF: "Broadway Musical MVPs," Funny Girl, "Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll & Musicals," Wicked and More

By Steven Suskin
15 Jan 2012

Cover art for "Broadway Musical MVPs, 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Past 50 Seasons"
Cover art for "Broadway Musical MVPs, 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Past 50 Seasons"

Paging through a stack of recent theatre-related books, scripts and sheet music, including the latest from Peter Filichia, a travel tome celebrating Shakespeare's Italy, a Wicked memoir, a feminist approach to musicals and more.

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As the new year arrives, I take the opportunity to clear the shelf of 2011 items that I haven't yet had the opportunity to include on our Playbill Book Shelf. All are theatre-related, one way or another, and should interest readers who are interested in the varied areas covered.

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Peter Filichia needs no introduction to readers of this column. He has for many years written reviews, Broadway columns and books; he has also earned a reputation for being highly supportive of new and emerging talent. Unlike many of his colleagues, he actually seems to love theatre and the people in it — even when he is forced to admit that he doesn't appreciate a particular show. His newest book, "Broadway Musical MVPs, 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Past 50 Seasons" [Applause] is not unlike his prior offering, "Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season." Here, he applies classifications from sports — MVP, Rookie of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year and more — and shoehorns them into Broadway musical seasons. This is sometimes a stretch, and Filichia maintains a sense of humor about it. The format, though, allows him to write innumerable perceptive essays on Broadway musical people — and that is the delight of the book. Filichia breezily fills the pages with information, trivia and miscellany, making "Broadway Musical MVPs" a trove of such things.

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Cover art for "Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Musicals"

Scott Miller, founder and artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, has written a handful of musical theatre books over the years (including "Deconstructing Harold Hill" and "From Assassins to West Side Story"). Now comes "Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Musicals" [Northeastern University Press], in which he explores what he calls Broadway's "new, postmodern Golden Age." Times have changed, in society and on stage; "America is no longer the country that Rodgers and Hammerstein and Jerry Herman wrote about." That's for sure, yes; although I don't quite know that this "sex, drugs and rock & roll" era includes such postmodern Golden Age musicals as Sweeney Todd, Annie, Ragtime, The Producers and Light in the Piazza.

But that is neither here nor there. Miller takes ten musicals — The Wild Party (the Andrew Lippa version), Grease, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Show, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, I Love My Wife, Bat Boy, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and High Fidelity — and examines them thoroughly and thoughtfully. (Who ever thought we'd see a scholarly consideration of High Fidelity? Or I Love My Wife, even.) Readers might not necessarily ascribe to Miller's notion of the importance of these musicals; wholehearted agreement is not required. What's important here are the well-rounded discussions, combining analysis, history and anecdotes.

Passionate about theatre books? See what the Playbill Store has on its shelves.

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