Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts of More Than 14,000 Shows through 2007 »

Award winner Thomas S. Hischak is Professor of Theatre Arts at the State University of New York College at Cortland. He is the author of twelve books including American Plays and Musicals on Screen (McFarland, 2005), on theatre, film and Tin Pan Alley and has several published plays.

New York City's Broadway district is by far the most prestigious and lucrative venue for American performers, playwrights, entertainers, and technicians. While there are many reference works and critical studies of selected Broadway plays or musicals and even more works about the highlights of the American theater, this is the first single-volume book to cover all of the activities on Broadway between 1919 and 2007.

More than 14,000 productions are briefly described, including hundreds of plays, musicals, revivals, and specialty programs that have been performed on the Great White Way. Entries include famous and forgotten works, designed to give a complete picture of Broadway's history and development, its evolution since the early twentieth century, and its rise to unparalleled prominence in the world of American theater. More than just raw data, the productions are identified in terms of plot, cast, personnel, critical reaction, and significance in the history of New York theater and culture. In addition to a chronological list of all Broadway productions between 1919 and 2007, the book also includes approximately 600 important productions performed on Broadway before 1919.