Spring is in the air and the theater world is buzzing. We want to see all the new shows, catch up on long-running favorites, and visit the Museum of Broadway (where the exhibit of work by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld was recently extended, and they keep adding new cool stuff to gawk at).
But all of those activities involve a lot of standing in line. You stand in line to get theater tickets, to go in, and to buy souvenirs. And when you’re not standing in line, you still have to wait! You wait for the weeks to pass before the week of the performance you’re seeing. Then you wait for the days to pass before the day of the performance. Then you wait for the hours to pass before the hour of the performance. And then you wait for the minutes to pass before the curtain rises.
What to do? Why, read books about theater, of course. Here’s our latest roundup of books about and set in the world of the performing arts. Enjoy! And grab us a ticket too, while you’re at it.
The Piano Tuner
By Chiang-Sheng Kuo
$25.99, Arcade
Playhouse
By Richard Bausch
$29, Knopf Publishing Group
Up With the Sun
By Thomas Mallon
$28, Knopf Publishing Group
Literary fiction loves a showbiz setting. Frustrated dreams and failed careers are catnip for a writer looking to explore a character’s inner turmoil. And the pressure and backbiting in a TV family dynasty like on Succession or Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone are nothing compared to the battle royals of community theater.
In The Piano Tuner, a schlumpy, nameless man who serves as the title repairman was once a classical-music prodigy. What happened to him is the heart of this lyrical novel that also includes a widower in mourning for his young wife. Chiang-Sheng Kuo’s novel was a sensation in Taiwan, winning every award in sight.
Richard Bausch knows about awards. He’s won a passel of them over the years, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (not really an award, but it sure feels like one), two National Book Awards for his short stories, and many more. In Playhouse, Bausch captures the intensity of a regional theater production of King Lear, spotlighting everyone from a self-important TV star who’s playing Lear when he’s not trying to play with every woman in sight, to a TV anchor who’s reeling from a scandal involving his niece … who was just cast as Cordelia. Instead of hijinks and humor, Bausch goes deeper and does the always-smart trick of weaving in Shakespeare to excellent effect.
Finally, author Thomas Mallon is known for his dissections of Washington, D.C., political life and history with a queer slant. Here, he pivots to New York City and the almost-success of a handsome, closeted actor so desperate for success he becomes his own worst enemy. Dick Kallman flies very close to the sun: He stars on Broadway, takes part in a Desilu workshop (overseen by Lucille Ball), and books a prime-time series. But we know it never works out. The story is told by his friend and observer who shows how Kallman faded from view until his headline-grabbing murder in 1980. Where did it go wrong? Where didn’t it? Kallman crosses paths and battles with everyone, from Ball to Johnny Carson — and mostly himself.
The Wife of Willesden
By Zadie Smith
$17, Penguin Books
Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven
By Stephen Adly Guirgis
$16.95, Theatre Communications Group
Radio Plays
By Caryl Phillips
$34.95, Methuen Drama
Maybe during the lockdown (may it never return) you dove into the pleasure of reading plays because you finally had time to do it. But nothing works those theater muscles in between shows quite like reading a drama or musical and bringing it to life in your head. Zadie Smith is one of the brainiest writers around ever since her debut, White Teeth. Now she’s delivered her first play. Smith takes the Chaucer tale about the wife of Bath and turns her into the wife of Willesden, a Jamaican-born British woman who’s been married five times and will tell you all about it in bawdy, hilarious detail.
Stephen Adly Guirgis just saw his Pulitzer Prize–winning play, Between Riverside and Crazy, debut on Broadway. Hopefully we won’t have to wait long to see the rambunctious Halfway Bitches follow in its wake. This story of women at a halfway house who struggle with each other and themselves is too delicious — read the dialogue out loud to get the full blast of humor and heart.
Caryl Phillips is one of Britain’s most important writers, best known in the U.S. for his novels. Phillips is also a distinctive playwright, and this collection gathers the nine radio plays he penned for the BBC from 1984 to 2016. Radio plays are a mainstay of the U.K. scene but are sadly underappreciated here. Maybe podcasts can help this distinctive genre find a new audience.
The Great American Songbook: 201 Favorites You Ought to Know (and Love)
By Steven Suskin, forward by John Pizzarelli
$24.95, Backbeat Books
Spoken Word: A Cultural History
By Joshua Bennett
$30, Knopf Publishing Group
Tip of the Tongue: Reflections on Language and Meaning
By Peter Brook
$16.95, Theatre Communications Group
Just like an artist in the theater, fans of the arts always have more to learn. These three books make that a treat.
In The Great American Songbook, author Steven Suskin offers up 201 gems by the likes of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. His appreciation sets the scene for each song within both the world at large and the work of the composer, and he offers up why each song works and the impact each had on the future of songwriting. It’s opinionated, fun, informative, and will have you scrambling to play them again.
In Spoken Word, Joshua Bennett gives poetry slams their due, from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in NYC to the Get Me High lounge in Chicago — right up to President Barack Obama hosting a Poetry Jam at the White House, where a young Bennett crossed paths with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who famously offered up a section of his work in progress about a founding father he was crafting into a musical.
And the late, bold, legendary director Peter Brook instructs on every time he staged a piece, from Marat/Sade to The Mahabharata. Brook offers up insights into how we can appreciate Bill S. on so many levels, more thoughts on his concept of “empty space,” and more in this swan song, part of a trilogy offering up personal stories and piercing gems any lover of theater will want to ponder.
Always the Almost
By Edward Underhill
$18.99, Wednesday Books
The Roof Over Our Heads
By Nicole Kronzer
$18.99, Harry N. Abrams
I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know
By Leslie Odom, Jr. & Nicolette Robinson
$17.999, Feiwel & Friends
Theater lovers are kids at heart — it’s all about playing, isn’t it? So it’s no surprise their passion starts young.
In the debut novel of film and TV composer Edward Underhill, it’s the arts that help our hero understand himself. Miles is 16 years old, trans, and totally focused on the biggest piano competition in the Midwest. But his stern instructor says Miles is playing like he doesn’t even know who he is (duh). And Miles really wants to win back his boyfriend, the football star who dumped him when Miles came out as trans. So he does not need the distraction of new queer kid in town Eric, a cool cartoonist who respects Miles and seems to like him as he is. Which makes no sense, since Miles is never enough, just … almost enough. And if you don’t think Miles just might find confidence in himself and find that reflected in his performance on the piano, you’re not paying attention.
Finn is paying attention. He’s the star of The Roof Over Our Heads, even if he’s not the star of any of his family’s theatrical ventures, because Finn has serious issues with remembering his lines. He has no more time for stage fright. One of his moms is recovering from cancer, their cool Victorian home is technically owned by Minnesota’s biggest regional theater, and everyone — including his actor mom, his director mom, and his two actor brothers — may be kicked out. Only a crazy roll of the dice and an immersive theatrical experience set in their home may save the day — if Finn can stay off-script and help them protect the roof over their heads.
And little kids pay attention when you read to them. What better way to share your love of books and theater? They’ll love whatever you read to them. Why not start with this sweet ode to a parent’s unlimited love, by actor Leslie Odom Jr., his wife, Nicolette Robinson, and their illustrator collaborator, Joy Hwang Ruiz.
Empty Theatre
By Jac Jemc
$28, MCD
Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide
By Rupert Holmes
$28, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster
The Fawn
By Magda Szabó, translated by Len Rix
$17.95, The New York Review of Books
Ever felt trapped in your job? The stars in these three novels can identify.
In Empty Theatre, King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Elizabeth of Austria bristle over the duties they’ve been assigned since birth. Ludwig is bored by the affairs of state and would much rather obsessively pore over the operas of Wagner. Elizabeth — Sisi, to her friends — would actually prefer more responsibility, but her role is simply brood mare, ravaging her beauty with an endless succession of children to ensure the royal line. Grrr. They both lavish attention on gorgeous works of art and fanciful palaces made to order, set designers with unlimited time and budgets who make the most of whatever outlet they can.
If you really don’t like your job, why not murder your employer? Happily, there’s a “Poison Ivy League” school that will educate you in the fine art of murder. Your target must be worthy of death; that is, the world will be a better place if they’re gone. So, no, that singer who bested you at the audition isn’t fair game, even if their high note was shaky and too sharp. But if you have a Bad Person in mind and can survive your classmates (who might practice by trying to off you), it could happen. It’s the latest confection by Rupert Holmes, the theatrical whiz behind the Tony-winning The Mystery of Edwin Drood, the TV show Remember WENN, and the pop hit “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).” Expect clever wordplay, lots of humor, and a dash of mayhem.
The Fawn is the latest reissue of a little-known gem by The New York Review of Books. If they put it out, you’ll want to read it. Here, the protagonist, Eszter, really has nothing to complain about. She overcame childhood poverty and the trauma of World War II to become a leading star of the stage in Budapest. Unfortunately, she’s cast herself in the role of the bitterly wronged. Why was she born poor? Why did her father fritter away their chances? Why was her classmate Angela so generous and kind to her, an act the self-flagellating Eszter can never forgive? Truly, fame can’t bring happiness. (Though, if we’re going to be bitter, we might as well be famous as well, no?)
Don’t Think, Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet
By Alice Robb
$29.99, Mariner Books
Acting Naturally
By David Thomson
$30, Knopf Publishing Group
Try Not to Hold It Against Me: A Producer’s Life
By Julian Schlossberg
$26.95, Beaufort Books
Three new nonfiction books explore the world of the arts: one from the perspective of a student devoting their life to dance, another from the audience where a critic offers insight into what makes great acting, and a third from a producer who somehow makes those crazy ideas of the artists into reality.
It must have been tempting for Alice Robb to deliver a takedown on the world of ballet. Robb scored a slot at the prestigious School of American Ballet, realized at 15 she wasn’t going to make it to the heights of the profession, and quit … only to discover the traits drummed into her of stoicism, silence, and submission were exactly what the world expected of women and served her well. Ironic? Oh yes, and it says as much about the world as it does about ballet. But Robb digs deeper. She explores her genuine love for the world of dance, profiles fellow classmates from her time in it, and lucidly charts the highs and lows, the good and the bad of ballet. That damning title — Don’t Think, Dear — shows Robb didn’t always do as she was told, and thank goodness for that.
Critic David Thomson is a child of the cinema. But as one of the most interesting writers alive on that art form, his insights and quirky asides about the movies are catnip to any fan of the arts. For years now, it seems like Thomson has been tidying up after his magnum opus, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, named in one poll by Sight & Sound as the greatest work on cinema in history. After looking closely at directors and the role of murder in previous books, he now steps back and considers the challenge of acting naturally. To be sure, good acting on film can be radically different than good acting on stage. But good actors are good actors, and it’s no surprise that four of the five actors on the cover have triumphed on stage and the fifth got their start on the boards. (Those actors would be Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Marlon Brando, and Cary Grant.) Thomson is a treat to read and will surely make any theater buff see the work of actors in a fresh light.
Some people devote their lives to performing. Others cheer it on — or critique it — from the audience. And some people help make it happen. The producer is that crazy person who herds cats (deals with the artists), raises money, and handles a thousand other details to get words on the page onto the stage (or screen or TV). Julian Schlosssberg has done it all and now wants to … well, not dish, he’s too genial for that. But he’s got stories, for sure. Schlossberg has done it all, from the six-time Tony-nominated musical Bullets Over Broadway to the Cannes Film Festival to Las Vegas and TV. Barbra Streisand, Elia Kazan, Liza Minnelli, Burt Reynolds, Shirley MacLaine, Frank Sinatra, Al Pacino, Lillian Hellman, and many others make appearances. Even the blurbs are intriguing, including a foreword from the great Elaine May to this comment from Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham: “Mike Nichols was doing a play in London and afterwards invited me to join him and Jeremy Irons for a bite, where he introduced me to Julian Schlossberg. When Julian left to catch a plane Mike said, ‘There goes the nicest producer in show business.’ Like a fool, I believed him. I still do.” Can you resist that? We couldn’t either.
Enter Ghost
By Isabella Hammad
$28, Grove Press
Quick Bright Things
By Michael Golding
$21, Michael Golding
Putting on a play anywhere is an act of madness, fraught with endless complications and unexpected challenges both onstage and off. But imagine putting on Hamlet in the West Bank. Sonia returns to Palestine after years in London, where she built a successful career. But a visit back home — a home she thought she’d left behind — finds Sonia drawn more and more toward Ramallah than Haifa. And the more roadblocks in her way, the more rewarding she finds the work.
The stakes seem just as high to the artists portrayed in Quick Bright Things, even if working on Broadway in 1948 during the Golden Age of musical theater isn’t quite as difficult as putting on a show in the volatile Middle East. But don’t tell that to Joe, the brilliant director mounting a musical production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He and his Girl Friday — the incredibly capable Carrie — and the rehearsal pianist Artie can’t imagine anything more traumatic and thrilling and infuriating and exciting and important than what they’re doing. Writer Michael Golding is a onetime actor turned Lambda-nominated novelist who knows of what he speaks. Golding even wrote a score for the musical-within-the-novel, which is included as well.
Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams’ Greatest Creation
By Nancy Schoenberger
$30, Harper
Reckoning
By V (formerly Eve Ensler)
$28, Bloomsbury Publishing
Roald Dahl: Teller of the Unexpected
By Matthew Dennison
$27.95, Pegasus Books
Three works of nonfiction tackle the personal in unexpected ways.
Nancy Schoenberger delivers a biography of Blanche Dubois, one of the most indelible characters ever created for the stage. Since we’ve had biographies of God and the atomic bomb, writing a biography of a character who has come alive on stage and film and TV (and is thrilling audiences right now in the West End) makes perfect sense.
The artist V (formerly known as Eve Ensler) is forever famous for her earth-shaking work The Vagina Monologues. V uses her personal story of surviving trauma and the self-hatred that followed to examine the world at large and help us see it in a new, more enlightening way. In other words, what she’s always done.
And what better time to examine the life of Roald Dahl than when his books for kids are being tweaked and made bland to appeal to new generations? Biographer Matthew Dennison shows how Dahl yearned for acceptance, yet pushed it away at every turn with his intractable, irritable, sometimes irredeemable nature. Maybe it was the need to rebel along with a vehement loathing of authority and adults in general that kids identified with in the first place? Get rid of that and then what’s the point of reading him? Just a thought.
Brick Shakespeare
Construction and photography by John McCann
Edited and narrated by Monica Sweeney and Becky Thomas
$29.95, Skyhorse
Shakespeare. In Lego. Four comedies. Four tragedies. Two thousand color photographs. Turns out tragedy is a little easier to bear and comedy is even funnier in Lego. Need we say more?
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 the theater, he’s reading about it.
