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Half a Century of Broadway Posters Featured in New Book "A Must See"
By Robert Simonson
22 Jul 2004
Fifty years of Broadway's visual ballyhoo has been collected between the covers of Stephen Suskin's new book, "A Must See! Brilliant Broadway Artwork."
Suskin—an author, music critic and Playbill On-Line columnist—combed through archives to find the 200 selected for inclusion in the book. His criterion varied. "Some of the art conjured up cherished memories of well love classics," stated a press release, "others were created by famous artists, or were merely graphically interesting.
The posters, reprinted in color, include ones designed by Al Hirschfeld (Man and Superman, Man of La Mancha), Norman Rockwell (Abe Lincoln in Illinois), Peter Arno (Under the Yum Yum Tree), Alberto Vargas (Mexican Hayride), William Steig (The Conquering Hero), Edward Gorey (Dracula), Richard Avedon (An Evening With Nichols and May) and James Thurber (The Male Animal).
There are also iconic images, like the Cubistic horse used in the Equus poster, the Chaghall-like artwork used for Fiddler on the Roof, the Shaw-as-God Hirschfeld illustration employed by My Fair Lady, the ticket-selling image of a leggy Gwen Verdon from Sweet Charity, the lonely figure carrying two suitcases seen on every Death of a Salesman poster and the spare red-and-white line drawing which advertised the flop Carrie.
Also featured are several images from The Theatre Guild, whose posters were notorious for their graphic sophistication, and rarities, such as the original out-of-town poster for Oklahoma!, when it was called Away We Go!
The tome is published by Chronicle Books. The 156-page book is priced at $22.95.
The prolific Suskin's many books included "Show Tunes: The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers," "Opening Night on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Golden Era of the Musical Theatre," and "More Opening Nights on Broadway: A Critical Quotebook of the Musical Theatre from 1965 Through 1981."
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