Best products from r/Broadway

My recommendations are a bit limited because I haven't been to New York in many years, but from productions I've seen elsewhere or from previous casts, I'd recommend Wicked, Cabaret, and to a lesser extent Chicago. Wicked is what really drew me into musicals and it's a phenomenal extravaganza in terms of music and sets. I love gritty type musicals, and Cabaret has such a fun gritty atmosphere, it's very playful but very dark, and the ending left me stunned and speechless. Chicago is very fun and my mom who isn't into musicals, still talks about how much she enjoyed it years later.

Definitely the best way to experience theatre is live, but since I often can't, I watch a lot of cast recordings. The 2006 production of Company at the Lincoln Centre (it aired on PBS's Greats Performances), is my favourite. It's available on youtube or you can rent it from amazon. The first time I watched it, there were a couple of songs I found a bit boring, but over time, the more carefully I listened to it or had situations that made me relate to the feelings they convey, the more I love it.

I definitely agree with /u/ally-saurus's analogy. You get sucked in by a Harry Potter, and then find out there's such a wide variety of literature in the world, and generations of prolific authors. Maybe once you get into Hemingway or Shakespeare, you may find that you've outgrown some Harry Potter type books, but you'll likely still have a soft spot for it. I certainly found that I was first was drawn to the big, flashy productions but these days, smaller esoteric ones are what I prefer.

I never saw “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812”, but the book about the making of the musical is gorgeous. It’s not necessarily my favorite Broadway swag overall, but it’s probably my favorite for a show I haven’t seen.

For easily available merchandise, I’m rather fond of my denim “Oklahoma!” tote and “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” mug, and I also love my Hadestown keychain. For rarer swag that required eBay, I love my “Great Comet” egg shaker and my “Hadestown” train whistle from opening night.

The DK Musicals: The Definitive Illustrated History book is beautiful! And pretty comprehensive, though a lot of the choices are strange. This is not the right book if you're looking for an actual definitive history, but if you want a huge, beautifully designed book about musical theatre, it's great.

I'm also a big fan of Sam Wasson's Fosse biography.

This is presumably the book in question. Do keep in mind that we had to submit the article about the sound long before we actually went into production, so there are some outdated things, including an image from a piece of software that was not ultimately used in the show, but so it goes.

As you might have guessed, I was a member of team sound for this production and still hold it very close to my heart. It’s funny that you say that we were the first in aspects of sound, as even the equipment manufacturer told us their gear wouldn’t do what we wanted it to do... crazy ride.

In terms of mic placement for that production, it was definitely a conscious choice to use boom mics. Part of this was practical since the performers spend all of the show in front of some aspect of the sound system their voices are coming from and this helps increase our ability to have higher volume before feedback occurs, but part of this also came from the director. You will notice that Rachel’s current production (Hadestown... not sure people have heard of it) also has all actors in boom mics. I was told that this is because she does not want to pretend that the equipment/technology does not exist, which I totally get. This gets into the complicated question of which parts of the theater experience can we as the audience pretend don’t exist and which take us out of the action, which is a very personal thing. As a sound person, I am severely biased and don’t think we should apologize any more for the mics we need to get the show’s appropriate sound than the Lighting Designer should apologize for the lights on trusses all over the space which make the show look beautiful.

There was a professional recording. PBS made one in 1999 for it's Great Performances series. You can buy the VHS used on Amazon.

Kiss Me Kate (Broadway Revival - PBS Great Performances) [VHS] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00008NFR7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_qAUWDbDTXK2KP

If you love Sondheim I highly recommend his Finishing the Hat/Look, I made a Hat. These two books contain lyrics from all his shows, annotated with anecdotes and insightful observations written by Sondheim himself.

Other musicals also have books that trace the whole development process and provide a behind-the-scene look of the show, such as Hamilton: A Revolution, The Great Comet: The Journey of a New Musical to Broadway and Wicked: The Grimmerie

Found it-it’s from 2010 so it’s a bit old. Is sure you could find it cheaper if you get it used.

I think I found it in the clearance section when I first got it, it doesn’t have a huge selection but it was still pretty fun!

Luckily Hamilton is one of the few musicals that has no dialogue in between. So listening to the whole album from beginning to end is like going to the actual musical with your eyes closed. So you aren't missing anything.

As for advice in listening to musicals in the future, I would suggest looking for the "Book" of the musical online. The Book of Mormon Cast Recording only has the songs, so much of the funny dialogue and some context gets missed. This is when you would try to find a copy of the Book, either to purchase or downloadable online.

Additionally, there are a decent amount of recordings of classic musicals or revivals that do include the dialogue. A lot of the Stephen Sondheim musicals have this, like Sweeney Todd or Assassins.

I am sure plenty of other people on this sub can provide suggestions. Just ask us, and enjoy your dive into Broadway music.

I have these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EO1DUC/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've never really needed them since shows, as they say, play to the back of the house. But when if you NEED to see someone's face at the expense of the rest of the set, they're good. I used them at Les Liaisons Dangereuses and felt like a perv :)

The show will basically tell you everything you need to know, but in a nutshell: gold plates, Utah, Joseph Smith, mission, magic underwear. On a serious note, if you'd like to read up on the history of Mormonism in America, I'd recommend borrowing [Under the Banner of Heaven] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1400032806/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_gzNczbGTWMEVV) by Jon Krakauer from the library. He's one of my favorite non-fiction writers and even if you don't read the entire book (which deals mostly with Mormon fundamentalists, i.e. polygamists), there are several early chapters that will tell you more than you need to know about how Mormonism developed as a religion and what Mormons believe.

A well as those already mentioned, there's the 3CD complete recording of The Most Happy Fella and 3CD complete recording of Show Boat. Both contain bonus material.

https://www.jayrecords.com/recording/the-most-happy-fella/

https://www.amazon.com/Show-Boat-1988-Studio-Cast/dp/B000002SJL

These are wonderful! They're the perfect size for a playbill, and much cheaper than the binders you can get at playbill.com.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006HV8V2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XKW45Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use this Avery binder and these inserts! The inserts are nice because they are bigger than the standard so they cover the entire playbill. The binder is just the right size to cover all the playbills, and it holds about 20, give or take a few. SO much cheaper than the playbill brand and it works great.

Not Since Carrie---https://www.amazon.com/Not-Since-Carrie-Broadway-Musical/dp/0312082738/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539125599&sr=8-1&keywords=not+since+carrie

The Best of the Worst----A History of Broadway's Greatest Flops

I'm going to recommend picking up the Hamiltome, which provides anotated versions of the lyrics, which manage to be informative (Pointing out historical inacuracies and the dramaturgical reasons why LMM chose to make that change) or just fun little gags ('When you're gone, I'll go mad"^1 1)He did.) about the lyrics.

I really like this: https://www.amazon.com/Musical-Stages-Autobiography-Richard-Rodgers/dp/0306811340 Not sure how much he changes to flatter himself but it's a good read.

Of course! I live in Canada, but I’m sure you can find this on the US’ Amazon site too!

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B0006HV8V2?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Same here! I've been looping the same 8 bars of "alexander hamilton" for days now.

This book was a great purchase too:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/154000418X

And you might be the target audience for this too:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1495070352

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After looking at those expensive Playbill binders for a long time, I ended up getting these, along with the sheet protectors Amazon suggests with them.

It's the same thing as far as I can tell, it just doesn't say "Playbill" on the spine. For that, I cut off the tops of Playbills people don't want and tape the logo neatly on the spine.

https://www.amazon.com/Playbills-Photoplays-Performers-Pioneered-Talkies-ebook/dp/B079K7F86B is a ebook who provide you the best Playbills.

I use this binder:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006HV8V2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_F8TCDbJYMCVXS

And these sheet protectors:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XKW45Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_I.TCDbBS43725

A classic: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Since-Carrie-Broadway-Musical/dp/0312082738/ref=nodl_