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 Theatre Biographies I to M
See also: Theatre > Playwrights
Film > Biographies; Directors;
Producers
 A Strange Eventful History
Michael Holyroyd
Henry Irving and Ellen Terry were the king and queen of the Victorian stage. In his first major biography for fifteen years, Michael Holroyd explores their public and private lives, showing how their artistic legacy and lines of inheritance came to influence the modern world. A witty, elegant and brilliantly paced tragicomedy, and an absorbing chronicle of two great theatrical families, A Strange Eventful History is a masterwork of the biographer's art. Hardcover, 620 pp. $57.95.
 Kander and Ebb
James Leve
John Kander and Fred Ebb, one of the greatest and longest lasting composer-lyricist partnerships in Broadway history, created some of the most memorable musicals of all time, including Chicago, Cabaret, and Zorba. This book examines their artistic accomplishments as individuals and as a team. Kander and Ebb is essential reading for students of Musical theatre and lovers of Kander and Ebb's songs and shows. Hardcover, 365 pp. $49.99.
 Jerome
Kern
Stephen Banfield
A founding father of the modern American musical, Jerome Kern (1885-1945)
was the composer of legions of popular songs, including such standards
as "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Ol' Man River." His
1927 Show Boat with Oscar Hammerstein II helped to set a new standard
for musical theatre. This book is the first to provide a critical
overview of Kern's musical accomplishments throughout his career,
with a special focus on his musical and lyrical structure. Softcover,
375 pp. $45.95
 The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein
Martin Duberman
Lincoln Kerstein's contributions to the nation's life, as both an intellectual force and advocate of the arts, were unparalleled. Among much else, Kirstein helped create Lincoln Center in New York, and the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut. But behind this remarkably accomplished and renowned public face lay a complex, contradictory, often tortured human being. Martin Duberman renders accessible a towering figure of great complexity and achievemment. Hardcover, $47.00.
 Everybody's Daughter: Nobody's Child
Jane Lapotaire
A memoir written by one of Britain's most outstanding actors, Everybody's Daughter, Nobody's Child is a vivid chronicle of childhood, evoking the England of the fifties and the confusions of growing up illegitimate. Softcover, 369 pp. $18.00.
 Time Out of Mind: If I am not myself, then who am I?
Jane Lapotaire
Jane Lapotaire has written an unsparing and splendidly written
memoir about what happens when the 'you' you've known all your life is
no longer the same. In the long haul back to life after she suffered
cerebral haemorrhage, there were some hard lessons to be learned and
her work as an actress took a severe battering. But she has survived,
and in this moving, darkly funny book, she explains why she believes
it herself when people say how lucky she is. Softcover, 303 pp. $18.00.
 Mainly On Directing Gypsy, West Side Story, and Other Musicals
by Arthur Laurents
Playwright, screenwriter, director, Arthur Laurents has been at the birth and rebirth of the American musical theatre's greatest creations for the past five decades. At the age of ninety one, he has just directed the wildly acclaimed new production of West Side Story on Broadway.
This book revels in the author's love for and understanding of, musical theatre, the people who make it and the audiences who attend.
He writes from experience, in rich detail about his work and the work of other great directors. There isn't a page in this book that doesn't entertain or give the reader a fascinating insight into the art of directing.
This is a book inspired by love, which we can be thankful for. Hardcover $28.95.
 Jacques Lecoq
Simon Murray
Jacques Lecoq's influence on the theatre of the latter half of
the twentieth century cannot be overestimated. This is the first book
to combine an historical introduction to his life and the context in
which he worked, an analysis of his teaching methods and principles,
practical exercises demonstrating Lecoq's distinctive approach to actor
training, and more. Softcover, 180 pp. $23.95.
 Gypsy: The Art of the Tease
Rachel Shteir
The best introductory book on the magnificent Gypsy Rose Lee, a woman whose name come to connote the importance of the sexual gimmick and the eroticism of the undelivered promise. Softcover, 222 pp. $18.00.
 Pimps,
Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends
John Leguizamo
Keenly intelligent and insanely funny, this book offers a unique behind-the-scenes
look at the magic and chaos of stardom, as well as an intimate portrait of John
Leguizamo's greatest achievement -- to grow up Latino in America and to succeed
on his terms. Along the way, he offers candid anecdotes about his friends, family,
and colleagues, including Spike Lee, Steven Seagal, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn,
Harrison Ford, Brian De Palma, Al Pacino, Baz Luhrmann, and Nicole Kidman. Hardcover,
276 pp. $33.50.
 Frank Loesser
Thomas L. Riis
Immensely prolific and a personally magnetic man, Loesser was a major figure during the Broadway golden age that included Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, and Bernstein. Here, Thomas L. Riis, in a deeply informed and lively discussion of Loesser's life and musical career, presents a critical look at one of the mmost important -- though often overshadowed -- Broadway composers. Hardcover, 329 pp. $47.95.
 Lucille Lortel: The Queen of Off Broadway
Alexis Greene
Lucille Lortel is as enigmatic as she is accomplished. One
of the first major female theatre producers, she was a leader in
the burgeoning off-Broadway uprising in the 50's and 60's. With
her fine-tuned taste for the off-beat, Lortel produced some of
the most fearless and innovative pieces of theatre in New York. The
Queen of Off-Broadway explores the life of this significant
woman, where she began and what she achieved. Hardcover, 374 pp.
$49.50.
 Patti LuPone: A Memoir
Patti LuPone
The legendary Patti LuPone shares the highs and lows of her extraordinary career on the stage and in film and TV. The unalloyed joy she has found in performing ultimately becomes a love letter to the theatre. She does not hesitate to share the intimate story of her life both onstage and off with the humour and outspoken candor that have become her trademarks. Cloth, $29.99. September.
 Pictorial Illusionism: The Theatre of Steele MacKaye
J.A. Sokalski
In the first full-length critical study of the work of Steele MacKaye--director, actor, inventor, painter, theorist, and writer--J.A. Sokalski draws on a wealth of primary sources to examine the aims and methods of Steele's unified theory of pictorial illusionism. Hardccover, 315 pp. $55.00.
 David Mamet: A Life in the Theatre
Ira Nadel
Breaking through David Mamet's notoriously private persona, Ira Nadel delivers a revealing and insightful biography of the celebrated playwright, director, and essayist. With verve and precision, Nadel delves deep into Mamet's complicated family life, his life before the theatre, and his early career. By using Mamet's plays and other writing as a guide, Nadel is able to find clarity in Mamet's extraordinary life. Hardcover, $29.95.
 Somerset Maugham: A Life
Jeffrey Meyers
With the same skill brought to his biographies of Orwell, D.H.
Lawrence, Hemingway and Scott Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Meyers tells the story
of the extraordinary life of Somerset Maugham. From his sad, orphaned
childhood to his luxurious and glamorous old age, this is a fascinating
portrait of Maugham as a brilliant and complex man whose talent has held
and dazzled a cultivated audience from the late Victorian era to the
21st century. Hardcover, 411 pp. $45.00.
 The Girl Who Fell Down: A Biography of Joan McCracken
Lisa Jo Sagolla
An overnight sensation for her 1943 comedic role in Oklahoma!,
Joan McCracken established the prototype dancer-comedienne, headlining
in ballet, stage, film, and television productions. This first biography
of McCracken, constructed from extensive interviews with her friends,
family, and colleagues, paints a vivid portrait of a pioneering entertainer
whose spirit and style were cut short by an untimely death due to diabetes.
Hardcover, 304 pp. $45.00.
 Time
Steps: My Musical Comedy Life
Donna McKechnie
Recounting her dazzling Broadway career, Donna McKechnie shares her memories
of working with Bob Fosse, Gwen Verdon, Stephen Sondheim, Fred Astaire, and many
other well-know luminaries. Musical theatre enthusiasts, and Donna McKechnie
fans especially, will be delighted by this candid, funny, and deeply personal
memoir by a vivacious woman with an indominable spirit and an illustrious, ongoing
career. Hardcover, 289 pp. $34.50.
 Sam Mendes at the Donmar: Stepping into Freedom
Matt Wolf
The name Sam Mendes came to major recognition with the film American Beauty and
rightly so. But Sam Mendes came to that project by his work as Artistic Director
of the Donmar Warehouse. A small space situated cheek by jowl to London's West
End in Covent Garden is where he worked his theatrical wonders from 1989 onwards.
Shakespeare, Chekhov, Sondheim, Kander and Ebb, Stoppard and many newer writers
were all there for Mendes to work his theatrical magic with. A respected arts
journalist/theatre critic retells conversations, gives analysis and provides
behind the scenes reporting. $29.95.
 Vsevolod Meyerhold
Johnathan Pitches
This fact-filled guide is the first volume to combine a biographical
introduction of Meyerholds life, a clear explanation of his theoretical
writings, an analysis of his masterpiece production Revisor,
or The Government Inspector, and a comprehensive and usable
description of the biomechanical exercises that he developed for
training the actor. Softcover, 162 pp. $23.95.
 Arthur Miller: His Life and Work
Martin Gottfried
Drawing on interviews, correspondences, and Miller's annotated
scripts and notebooks, Martin Gottried paints a remarkably detailed
portrait of the esteemed playwright. This critical biography reveals
the man behind the plays, and the the life that shaped his creative
vision. Theatre enthusiasts will not want to be without this important
publication. Hardcover, 484 pp. $46.00.
 The Legendary Mizners
Alan Johnston
Born in the 1870's in California, Addison and Wilson Mizner
(the former an architect and real-estate dealer, the latter a
singer, playwright, fight promoter, and con man) ingeniously
rose to prominence during the various booms of the 1920's. Alva
Johnston's joint biography of the brothers is a delightful portrait
of two of the early twentieth century's most clever and infamous
rascals. Softcover, 304 pp. $39.95.
 Ariane Mnouchkine
Judith G. Miller
Ariane Mnouchkine, the most significant living French theatre director, has devised over the last forty years a form of research and creation with her theatre collective, Le Theatre du Soleil, that is both engaged with contemporary history and committed to reinvigorating theatre by foregrounding the centrality of the actor. Softcover, 157 pp. $36.50.
 The 20th Century Muse
Annette and Luc Vezin
The artist's Muse -- whether a spouse, lover, model, tormentor,
patron, or fictional character -- has been a source of inspiration
throughout history. This captivating volume explores the impact
of these charismatic characters through a close examination of
some of the most fruitful creative relationships of all time. Softcover,
320 pp. $55.00.
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