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Women Writing Musicals

The Legacy That the History Books Left Out

Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
99 of 99 copies available
99 of 99 copies available

The first-ever book to tell the stories of the hundreds of inspiring women who wrote Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals

A supplemental PDF is included with the audio.

There were the women who pounded the pavement selling their songs in Tin Pan Alley at the turn of the twentieth century, to the women who broke new ground writing shows during the Great Depression, to the women who penned protest musicals fighting for social justice during the 1970s, to those who are revitalizing the landscape of American musicals today. Women Writing Musicals is the first-ever book to tell the story of the legacy that our history books left out.

Author Jennifer Ashley Tepper offers here the definitive audiobook on the topic, covering prolific and celebrated writers in the theater canon, like Betty Comden and Jeanine Tesori, to women who wrote musicals but gained fame elsewhere, like Dolly Parton and Sara Bareilles, and names you have never heard of—but definitely should have. Among the gems shared here:

The story of Clara Driscoll, who saved the Alamo and also wrote a Broadway musical

The first all-female writing team for a musical—in 1924

The career of Micki Grant who, in 1972, became the first Black woman to write the book, music, and lyrics for the musical Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, which became a giant hit

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 5, 2024
      Tepper (The Untold Stories of Broadway), creative director at 54 Below, a nonprofit cabaret club, provides an exhaustive tribute to women whose contributions to Broadway musical history have often been overlooked. Spanning from the 18th century to the present, the brief profiles feature such figures as Ann Julia Hatton, “the first woman to write a libretto” (for 1794’s Tammany); Elsie Janis, who starred in and wrote the lyrics for 1919’s Elsie Janis and Her Gang on Broadway, which featured out-of-work WWI veterans; and the all-female creative team behind 1922’s Just Because. Carolyn Leigh’s lyrics to the mid-20th-century musicals Peter Pan and Little Me helped to make her one of the first “female musical theatre writers to enter the permanent canon of the art form,” while Quiara Alegría Hudes wrote the book to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical In the Heights, helping to break new ground by “paint a portrait of real modern-day Latinx people and their everyday struggles.” Tepper is thorough in her research and well-intentioned in her attempt to right historical wrongs, though stiff prose and the sheer number of profiles makes this best suited for scholars and devoted fans of the genre. It’s a valuable if occasionally dry accounting of a lesser-known corner of Broadway history.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Jenn Lee does a serviceable narration of this treasure-trove of stories featuring women who created musicals on and off Broadway. Many women were helped by the men in their families--Mary Rodgers, daughter of composer Richard Rodgers, for example--while others were prominent figures of their time, such as Dorothy Parker, who was known for her biting wit. Lee's precise delivery complements Tepper's comprehensive research. Her energy and excitement are contagious as she describes Ann Julia Hatton, the first woman to write a libretto; playwright/director Vinnette Carroll, the first Black director of a Broadway production; and Dorothy Fields, who gave Broadway 50 years of books and lyrics. This audiobook is a treat for theater historians, students of women's issues, actors, and ordinary people who love musicals. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

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