Broadway Direct spotlights the best theater books of the month, just for you.

Oh Miriam! Stories From An Extraordinary Life
By Miriam Margolyes
$29.99, John Murray

Actor Miriam Margolyes triumphed on stage with her one-woman show Dickens’ Women. She also starred in the musical Wicked in London before popping into the Broadway edition (her only appearance on the Great White Way to date). But she’s world famous for her many film and TV roles, ranging from Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence to the Harry Potter films and voice-over work, like the classic Babe (she brought to life Fly, the female sheepdog) and even the voice of a seemingly adorable alien in the recent Dr. Who holiday special. With decades of outrageous and sometimes caustic comments, Margolyes is officially an institution in the U.K. Proof? Her first memoir stayed on the U.K. bestseller lists for a year! And now Margolyes returns with more stories and a sort of guide to life, with advice on how to break the ice when talking to strangers at a party and the like. Expect outrageous comments and twice the fun if you hear it on audio.

Here in the Dark
By Alexis Soloski
$27.99, Flatiron Books

When a theater critic pens a debut novel about a theater critic turned amateur private eye, you naturally expect a wicked satire of pretentious actors and backstabbing Broadway. Instead, Soloski — a culture reporter for The New York Times and onetime theater critic at The Village Voice — delivers a dark noir where the critic is a failed actor, successful addict, and afraid/unwilling to feel any emotions outside of a darkened playhouse. Huh! So expect instead a serious thriller with a caustic eye turned on critics, wrapped in a twisty tale with all the satisfying reveals of a Golden Age mystery.

Everywhere an Oink Oink
By David Mamet
$27.99, Simon & Schuster

Playwright David Mamet is one of the major figures in theater, and among his two dozen books, you’ll find plenty of tales about life among the savages of Broadway and beyond. But Mamet is also an excellent filmmaker — for heaven’s sake, Homicide is deeply underappreciated and Things Change is the charmer that reveals this guy has a heart, to name just two of his best as a director. After decades of script writing, script doctoring, and hobnobbing with legends such as Jack Nicholson and Paul Newman, he’s got stories to tell. Mametian stories to tell, as the subtitle — An Embittered, Dyspeptic and Accurate Report of Forty Years in Hollywood — makes clear. Caustic? Of course. Theater lovers will appreciate his observations on the different strategies of film versus theater.

---

Michael Giltz is the cohost of the weekly entertainment podcast Showbiz Sandbox. He covers all areas of entertainment as a journalist, critic, feature writer, and analyst. Giltz has written for numerous outlets, including the New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Entertainment Weekly, and The Advocate. When Michael’s not attending theater, he’s reading about it.