How do you feel about Musicals? This distinctly American form of entertainment has brought pleasure to fans for over a hundred years.  Although it was originally created here, this genre has spread all around the world. We're proud to present an article on Musical Theatre, presented below.  Read how Musicals affected one man's life!  Learn a little about the history of Musicals and what it is about America that made it fertile ground for the birth of Musicals. After you read our article, follow the Related Links we provide to other fun and informative web sites on Musical Theatre.  Also, please buy a few of the Books we recommend below.  These great books will surely please fans of Musical Theatre!  Thanks for checking out our recommended books!  Related Links: Musicals101 - This site is "The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film."   They provide a history of Musical Theatre, reviews, sample lyrics and scenes, and information on how to put on a Musical.   Music Theatre International (MTI) - According to their About MTI page, "Since it's founding in 1952, MTI has been responsible for supplying scripts and musical materials to theatres worldwide and for protecting the rights and legacy of the authors who it represents."  This is the place to go if you are thinking of putting on a Musical.   Wikipedia has a great introductory article about Musical Theatre.  It is loaded with links to sites on shows, composer/writers and performers.   The Yahoo Directory has a page on Musicals.  It provides links to web sites on the subject.    ArtsLynx.org has a page on Musicals that has a large number of links to fun and interesting web sites.    Read These Books:

Broadway Musicals: The 101 Greatest Shows of All Time Finally, a book as glorious as its subject: this lush showcase for everyone who loves musicals covers the 101 most influential, popular, and enduring Broadway shows--all of which have toured the country and been performed in theatres large and small everywhere. Each listing includes expert commentary that sets the play in historical and cultural context, plus features on the creators and performers, plot synopses, cast and song lists, production details, backstage anecdotes, and more. Four or five beautifully reproduced photographs from each show--the majority never before published--accompany the text and make the shows leap off the page. Appendices and special features include cast albums, poster artists, revivals, guilty pleasures, Off-Broadway musicals, notable flops, and much more. At This Theatre: 100 Years of Broadway Shows, Stories, and Stars This is the ultimate backstage tour of Broadway! AT THIS THEATRE tells the complete history of Broadway in the 20th century, theatre by theatre. This gorgeous book is now updated, revised and with a larger format, covering 1900 to 2001. PLAYBILL's columnist, Louis Botto, along with Robert Viagas, opens the doors and lets readers explore the 40 active Broadway theatres in New York. From the conception and design of the buildings, to their original creators, and on to the theatres' transformation, often under duress, from legitimate houses to vaudeville and Burlesque, to movie houses and then back to their original purpose, this book captures the magical world of Broadway. It is a complete and authoritative history that only Botto, the curator of PLAYBILL's incomparable 116-year-old archives, can tell. Expanded from his popular column in PLAYBILL magazine, AT THIS THEATRE is the biography of those living, breathing buildings we call theatres. In this substantially updated version, Botto includes the histories of all the theatre rescued from the wrecker in the last ten years, including the American Airlines Theatre, Disney's New Amsterdam, and the Lyric and the Apollo, now combined into the Ford Center. AT THIS THEATRE is filled with great stories featuring a cast of characters including Ethel Merman, David Merrick, Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy. And it's also a theatrical spectacle boasting lavish illustrations of posters, programs, and photographs throughout. This is the gift book for every theatre lover on your list, including yourself! Broadway: The American Musical Along with jazz and abstract expressionism, the Broadway musical is one of the few uniquely American art forms. A companion to the six-part PBS documentary series, Broadway: The American Musical is the first comprehensive history of the musical, from its roots at the turn of the 20th century through the smashing successes of the new millennium. The compelling, in-depth text is lavishly illustrated with a treasure trove of photographs, sheet-music covers, posters, scenic renderings, production stills, rehearsal shots, and caricatures, many previously unpublished.   Complementing the narrative are lively sidebars that highlight the stars, the shows, and the songs--the key ingredients that make the musical great. Each chapter will also include essays written by some of Broadway's most fascinating luminaries, past and present. An entertaining amalgam of unpublished material, candid and production photographs, and a trunkful of anecdotes and Broadway lore, Broadway will appeal to eighth-graders in their first high school musical as well as to connoisseurs of the art form. The Rise and Fall of the Broadway Musical Mark N. Grant thoroughly investigates all aspects of the Broadway musical as he traces the transformation of singing and melody, libretto and lyric writing, dance rhythms, sound design, and choreography and stage direction through three distinct eras: the formative period (1866-1927), the golden age (1927-1966), and the fall (1967 to the present). He explores how and why the unsophisticated genre of pre-1920s musical comedy evolved into the creative, innovative, and immensely popular theater produced by the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and then steadily faded as a significant entertainment genre in American culture.