Reddit mentions of The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built

I sound like a broken record on this sub, but once again I'm going to recommend the book The Secret Life of the American Muscial by Jack Viertel.

A few specific scores I would personally recommend based on what you've said are:

• Redhead
  
• Jesus Christ Superstar
  
• Big River
  
• Urinetown, The Musical
  
• City of Angels
  
  
  Also, for your purposes, I recommend you listen to entire albums, and not shuffled blends so you can see how each song cycle progresses and works together.

You really should give this a read: The Secret Life of the American Musical. Viertel organizes songs to plot a traditional structure of a musical (I Want, Act II openers, 11 o'clock Numbers) and gives examples from musical history from Golden Age through Hamilton. It's a great read and I think neatly lays out what you're trying to do.

https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-American-Musical-Broadway/dp/0374536899

There are several great books out there. There's an outdated book from about ten years ago that catalogs just about every cast recording and gives them ratings (it only goes up to about 2004, but it's fantastic for everything before that).

https://www.amazon.com/Theatermania-Guide-Musical-Theater-Recordings/dp/0823084353

Also, The Secret Life of the American Musical is an AMAZING guide to the structures of musical, and comes with recommendations for shows at the back.

https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-American-Musical-Broadway/dp/0374536899/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492386029&sr=8-1&keywords=jack+viertel