At This Theatre: 100 Years of Broadway Shows, Stories, and Stars

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This is the ultimate backstage tour of Broadway! AT THIS THEATRE tells the complete history of Broadway in the 20th century, theatre by theatre. This gorgeous book is now updated, revised and with a larger format, covering 1900 to 2001. PLAYBILL's columnist, Louis Botto, along with Robert Viagas, opens the doors and lets readers explore the 40 active Broadway theatres in New York. From the conception and design of the buildings, to their original creators, and on to the theatres' transformation, often under duress, from legitimate houses to vaudeville and Burlesque, to movie houses and then back to their original purpose, this book captures the magical world of Broadway. It is a complete and authoritative history that only Botto, the curator of PLAYBILL's incomparable 116-year-old archives, can tell. Expanded from his popular column in PLAYBILL magazine, AT THIS THEATRE is the biography of those living, breathing buildings we call theatres. In this substantially updated version, Botto includes the histories of all the theatre rescued from the wrecker in the last ten years, including the American Airlines Theatre, Disney's New Amsterdam, and the Lyric and the Apollo, now combined into the Ford Center. AT THIS THEATRE is filled with great stories featuring a cast of characters including Ethel Merman, David Merrick, Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy. And it's also a theatrical spectacle boasting lavish illustrations of posters, programs, and photographs throughout. This is the gift book for every theatre lover on your list, including yourself!

SYNOPSIS

New edition of a history in which Botto (senior editor of Playbill adds coverage of the 18 years since the original 1984 publication, six new chapters covering the Broadway theaters that have been recently renovated, and 100-plus photographs and covers that appeared on Playbill, the magazine program for America's legitimate theaters. He provides facts and stories about each theater's history and heritage, ownerships, producers and directors, playwrights, lyricists and composers, actors, transitions and renewals, and other topics that will interest fans. Heavily illustrated with about 400 b&w and color production photographs and images. Oversize: 9x11.25". Annotation c. Book News, Inc.,Portland, OR

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