Broadway: The American Musical

Musicals of the 1980s

42nd St.

Warren, Harry. All the Vocal Selections from 42nd Street : David Merrick presents a new Broadway musical. Lyrics by Al Dubin.
New York : Warner Bros. Publications, 1980.
Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays

Based on the 1933 movie. This was Gower Champion's last work as a director and choreographer; he died the day the show opened. The music consisted of Harry Warren songs as well as other familiar standards, such as Forty-Second Street, Lullaby of Broadway, and About a Quarter to Nine.

Cats

Lloyd Webber, Andrew. Vocal Selections from Cats: [the songs from the musical; based on Old Possum's book of practical cats by T.S. Eliot]
New York, N.Y. : The Entertainment Company ; Winona, MN : Hal Leonard
Publishing Corporation, c1981.
Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays

Cats. Souvenir Album.
New York: 1981.
Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays

Cats, advertised as "now and forever" in fact ran for 18 years on Broadway. Memory is its best-remembered song.

Rent

Larson, Jonathan. Rent: vocal selections.
Cover photos, Amy Guip; interior photos, Joan Marcus.
[S.l.] : EMI Music Publishing ; Milwaukee, WI : exclusively distributed by Hal Leonard, c1996.
Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays

Jonathan Larson's version of La Boheme, set in the East Village. Developed in a series of workshops, the play was in its off-Broadway dress rehearsal when Larson died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm. The resulting publicity drew attention the show, which became enormously popular, drawing a new young audience to the musical theatre.

La Cage aux Folles

Herman, Jerry. La Cage aux Folles : the Broadway musical. Libretto by Harvey Fierstein;
based on the play...by Jean Poiret.
New York : S. French, c1987.
Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays

Herman, Jerry. La Cage aux Folles: the Broadway musical. Libretto by Harvey Fierstein;
based on the play...by Jean Poiret; [arranged by Patrick Holland].
[New York]: Jerryco Music Co. c1983.
Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays

Herman, Jerry. La Cage aux Folles
[New York]: Edward H. Morris, 1983.
Sheet Music Collection

Based on the popular French movie about gay nightclub owners in St. Tropez.
Shortly after it opened the AIDS epidemic began to decimate the theatrical
profession; the Broadway dance community was particularly hard-hit. The song
I Am What I Am became, in Harvey Fierstein's words, "a sort of anthem in
our community."

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