The Faber Pocket Guide to Musicals

With hit TV shows picking the leads in productions of Oliver! and The Sound Of Music, and smash musicals like Hairspray and Wicked all the West End rage, musical theatre is as popular as it's ever been. James Inverne provides an indispensable guide to his top one hundred greatest shows of all time - and ten of the worst. Whether you know your Pal Joey from The Producers, your West Side Story from your Witch Witch, the Faber Pocket Guide To Musicals is packed with entertaining behind-the-scenes stories, essential songlists and comprehensive recording guides. Did you know, for instance, that one of the best recordings of Les Miserables is in Hebrew? Or that the Mel Brooks wasn't the first person to want to make a musical of The Producers? (That claim goes to Eric Idle.) Or the ridiculous story of the huge purpose-built theatre constructed in Holland to house a flop about Grace Kelly? Key features include: - The hundred greatest musicals - Numbers to listen for - Snapshot plot summaries - Ten terrible musicals - Recommended recordings James Inverne has been writing about musical theatre for years and brings copious knowledge, passion for the subject and a sense of fun to a genre that continues to entertain us all. Make the most of the musicals with this vital book.

James Inverne is one of the UK's leading arts journalists. He currently edits Gramophone, the world's best-selling classical music magazine, and before that spent more than five years with Time Magazine as European Performing Arts Correspondent. He has regularly written reviews and major features for many publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Sunday Telegraph, The Times and the Mail On Sunday and he was London Theatre Correspondent for Playbill Online . Previous books include Inverne's Stage and Screen Trivia, Wrestling With Elephants: The Authorised Biography of Don Black, The Impresarios and Jack Tinker: A Life In Review. Prizes include the Press Gazette Award for Exclusive of the Year.