Key Resources

Major References

American and British Theatrical Biography: a Directory
A reference tool to locate biographical information about people associated with American and British theatre.

The American Film Musical
An account of the Hollywood musical and its place in American life.

The American Musical Film Song Encyclopedia
This volume is about film musicals, rather than stage musicals. It covers 1760 songs from 500 film musicals. It has an alphabetic list of song entries, an index by the name of the film and alternative song titles.

American Song : the Complete Musical Theatre Companion
This major reference work by Ken Bloom includes title entries on 4,800 American musicals.  Each entry includes the opening date, theatre, composer, lyricist, song and cast list of each show.  Volume 2 includes two indexes: an index to all the people involved in a show e.g. librettist and a title index of songs. It also lists all show titles by year.

The Blackwell Guide to the Musical Theatre on Record
Kurt Ganzl has compiled an annotated list of the best 100 recordings of musicals and operettas.

Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now
Steyn examines the American and the British musical side by side.

Broadway in the West End: an Index of Reviews of American Theatre in London, 1950-1975
An index of reviews of American musicals and plays performed on the London stage.  The newspapers and magazines indexed include "The Guardian", "The Observer", "The Times", "Punch" etc.

The Broadway Musical: a Critical and Musical Survey
A survey of the most important musicals.  It discusses how Broadway composers have used composition to create drama.  Illustrated with 150 musical excerpts.

Broadway Musicals of the 30s
Well illustrated history of Broadway musicals in the 1930s by Stanley Green.  Includes a chronological listing of cast and credits of all 175 productions show in New York from 1930-1939.

Broadway Musicals, Show by Show
Stanley Green's list of Broadway's 300 best musicals.  Each entry includes credits, plot, comment, film versions etc.

A Chronology of American Musical Theater
A three volume encyclopedia covering musicals in New York 1750-2001 largely through theatre programs. The third volume includes indexes to shows, songs and people.

The encyclopedia of the musical theatre
This two volume encyclopedia, although an American publication, was written by Kurt Gänzl, a New Zealander. It has three main types of information – entries on people, shows, and worklists of authors and composers.

Encyclopedia of Theatre Music: a comprehensive listing of more than 4,000 songs from Broadway and Hollywood, 1900-1960
Complete listing of published songs from every Broadway musical: 1925-1960.  The songs are listed by title and by the name of the musical.

Hollywood Song : the Complete Film & Musical Companion
Volume 1 and 2 of this companion lists American films with original music.  The listing includes the composer of the music score and a list of the film's songs.  The third volume contains complete indexes to personnel e.g. lyricist, composer, and songs.

The London stage, 1660-1800 : a calendar of plays, entertainments & afterpieces, together with casts, box-receipts and contemporary comment
A detailed account of  London theatre from the time of the restoration of Charles II to the departure of David Garrick from the stage in 1776.

Musicals! : a Complete Selection Guide for Local Productions
An aid to anyone wishing to produce a musical for school or community groups. Each entry contains a brief synopsis of the plot and an estimation of the size of the cast required. Most importantly, the US licensing agents are listed for contact on the theatrical rights of each property.

The Musicals No One Came to See: a Guidebook to Four Decades of Musical-comedy Casualties on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in Out-of-town Try-out, 1943-1983
A listing of unsuccessful Broadway and off-Broadway shows that includes the writers, major stars, credits, opening dates, reviews, copyright, agent and information on the publication of librettos, recordings and sheet music.

The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: a History of America's Great Lyricists
TIn Pan Alley was the name given to the popular songwriting and sheet music publishing industry in New York from the 1890s to the 1950s.  This book is a history of the songwriters of the period including George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart. 

Show Tunes, 1905-1985: the Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway's Major Composers
A comprehensive musical theatre reference book that lists the Broadway composers and their musicals.  Each entry includes a mini biography of the composer and an annotated list of all their musicals.

Spread a Little Happiness: the First Hundred Years of the British Musical
A well illustrated history of the British musical by Sheridan Morley, one time arts editor and drama critic of "Punch".

Stage Lives: a Bibliography and Index to Theatrical Biographies in English
Comprised of two parts, a bibliography of theatrical biographies and a name index.

The Story and the Song: a Survey of English Musical plays, 1916-78
A record of British operetta and musical theatre from Chu Chin Chow in 1916 to Evita in 1976.

Journals

Musical Stages Online
Online companion to Musical Stages, Britain's only musical theatre magazine.

Theatricopia
A list of links for magazines, newsletters and reviews on musicals.

Community Resources

Awards

Albemarle of London
A wonderful theatre site that includes a listing of the Lawrence Olivier Awards and Critics' Circle Theatre awards for best musical.

Tony Awards
Includes a searchable database of the Tony Awards for best musical.

Education

Edith Cowan University / Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts [WAAPA]
Check the web site for information on the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts renown undergraduate courses in musical theatre.

Interest/Support Groups

Western Australian Musical Theatre Groups
Find a group in your neighbourhood to share the joys of musical theatre productions.

Other Information Resources

Net Links

Looking for the home pages of famous musicals such as "Phantom of the Opera", "Les Miserables", "The Producers " etc?

Musicals 101.com
The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film that was recommended by the American review journal  "Choice".  The site has over 600 pages with 2000 illustrations.  It contains sections on the history of musicals, reference features, licensing companies, reviews and essays, what's new?, finding scripts and recordings, how musicals are made and special courses eg Noel Coward 101.  There is also a site index and a search facility.

Musicals.Net
Links to all the major musicals.  Each musical is organised into sections including links, media, songlist, synopsis and a chance to rate the musical.

Stephen Sondheim Stage
A very comprehensive musical theatre site for this acclaimed composer, including a discography and current articles.

The Really Useful Company Presents Andrew Lloyd Webber
Everything you always wanted to know about Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals, including up-to-date news about current productions and a monthly quiz with prizes.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization
The official Rodgers and Hammerstein web site that includes mini biographies, a database of shows, concert library, news, quizzes and a search facility.

Databases

Musical Cast Album Database
An excellent database of 3300 recordings of Broadway and other musicals.  Each recording is searchable by title, composer, lyricist, author, artist, conductor and song title.  Each sound recording entry includes the composer, lyricist, premiere, recording year, label, length, number of tracks, singers and song titles.