Must-Read Books for Theater Fans

From the 2-time Tony Award-winner and the star of TV’s Younger, funny and intimate stories and reflections about how crafting has kept her sane while navigating the highs and lows of family, love, and show business (and how it can help you, too).

Whether she’s playing an “age-defying” book editor on television or dazzling audiences on the Broadway stage, Sutton Foster manages to make it all look easy. How? Crafting. From the moment she picked up a cross stitch needle to escape the bullying chorus girls in her early performing days, she was hooked. Cross stitching led to crocheting, crocheting led to collages, which led to drawing, and so much more. Channeling her emotions into her creations centered Sutton as she navigated the significant moments in her life and gave her tangible reminders of her experiences. Now, in this charming and poignant collection, Sutton shares those moments, including her fraught relationship with her agoraphobic mother;  a painful divorce splashed on the pages of the tabloids; her struggles with fertility; the thrills she found on the stage during hit plays like Thoroughly Modern Millie, Anything Goes, and Violet; her breakout TV role in Younger; and the joy of adopting her daughter, Emily. Accompanying the stories, Sutton has included crochet patterns, recipes, and so much more!
 
Witty and poignant, Hooked will leave readers entertained as well as inspire them to pick up their own cross stitch needles and paintbrushes.

From Tony Award-winning director and recipient of the prestigious Mr. Abbott Award, Kenny Leon, comes a powerful memoir of the lessons he has learned on his incredible life journey.

When Kenny Leon's grandmother told him to "take you wherever you go," she could hardly have anticipated that he would establish himself as one of Broadway's most exciting and acclaimed directors. But through years of hard work, Kenny would migrate from a small wooden house in rural Florida to the Tony Awards' stage, where he would win Best Direction of a Play for his 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun.

In Take You Wherever You Go, Leon reflects on the pillars of wisdom he learned every step of the way from the most important people in his life--from his grandmother's sagacious and encouraging motivations to the steady hand of his mother to the deep artistic and social influence of iconic American playwright August Wilson.

Take You Wherever You Go is a poignant, ruminative, and inspirational memoir that empowers you to be true to yourself as you navigate your own path.

A New York Times Bestseller

"A "well rounded and entertaining" (New York Times) Hollywood biography about the passionate, turbulent marriage of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh.

In 1934, a friend brought fledgling actress Vivien Leigh to see Theatre Royal, where she would first lay eyes on Laurence Olivier in his brilliant performance as Anthony Cavendish. That night, she confided to a friend, he was the man she was going to marry. There was just one problem: she was already married—and so was he.

TRULY, MADLY is the biography of a marriage, a love affair that still captivates millions, even decades after both actors' deaths. Vivien and Larry were two of the first truly global celebrities – their fame fueled by the explosive growth of tabloids and television, which helped and hurt them in equal measure. They seemed to have it all and yet, in their own minds, they were doomed, blighted by her long-undiagnosed mental-illness, which transformed their relationship from the stuff of dreams into a living nightmare.

Through new research, including exclusive access to previously unpublished correspondence and interviews with their friends and family, author Stephen Galloway takes readers on a bewitching journey. He brilliantly studies their tempestuous liaison, one that took place against the backdrop of two world wars, the Golden Age of Hollywood and the upheavals of the 1960s — as they struggled with love, loss and the ultimate agony of their parting.

The official behind-the-scenes look at the powerful Grammy-award winning musical based on Alanis Morissette's cult classic album Jagged Little Pill.

Celebrating its 25-year anniversary in 2020, singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette's Grammy-Award winning album Jagged Little Pill has come to define a generation. In the "triumphant and moving" (Variety) Broadway musical of the same name, Morissette's iconic numbers -- including smash hits like "Ironic," "You Oughta Know," and "Hand in My Pocket," -- are paired with new songs by the beloved musician and a powerful original story by Academy Award-winning writer Diablo Cody (Juno). Hailed as "urgent, wildly entertaining, and wickedly funny" (The Boston Globe) and "joyful and redemptive, rousing and real" (The New York Times), the Jagged Little Pill musical is a poignant and emotionally revelatory experience that is speaking to audiences across generations.

Now, for the first time, this book will take you behind the scenes with stunning photography, original in-depth interviews with the cast, crew, Alanis Morissette, and Diablo Cody, and an introduction from Morissette herself on the album's genesis and journey from release to acclaimed musical -- including details and anecdotes on her collaboration on the show. Including the full annotated libretto and a retrospective look at Alanis's artistic influences and the significance of the album within the cultural context of the 90s as well as its long-term impact on the music world as we know it, this beautifully rendered book is a must-have keepsake for anyone who has been touched by this production or Morissette's music.

A backstage pass to the groundbreaking, hit musical Hamilton, winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, including the award-winning libretto, behind-the-scenes photos and interviews, and exclusive footnotes from composer-lyricist-star Lin-Manuel Miranda, now streaming on Disney+ with the original cast.