We wanted to share with you some of our favourite biographies by theatremakers with you and also share with you some of those that we want most to read!
If you know of other great biographies that should be added to this list by theatremakers, we would love to hear from you!!
These are listed in no particular order.
Happy reading!
Home Work
By: Julie Andrews
From: The UK
Best Known For: The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady (stage)
Profession: Performer
Steps in Time: An Autobiography
By: Fred Astaire
From: USA
Best Known For: Top Hat, Funny Face, Swing Time and Easter Parade
Profession: Performer and Choreographer
Master of Ceremonies
By: Joel Grey
From: USA
Best Known For: Cabaret
Profession: Performer and Director
Too Much is Not Enough
By: Andrew Rannells
From: USA
Best Known For: The Book of Mormon
Profession: Performer
Come Along and Listen to My Life in Theatre
By: Martin Markinson
From: USA
Best Known For: Torch Song Trilogy
Profession: Theatre Owner and Producer
Failing Up
By: Leslie Odom Jr
From: USA
Best Known For: Hamilton
Profession: Performer
Life Isn’t Everything: Mike Nichols as Remembered by 150 of His Closest Friends
By: Ash Carter and Sam Kashner
From: Germany
Best Known For: Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, The Graduate (Film)
Profession: EGOT winning Director (including 8 Tonys for Directing) and Produce
A Chorus Line and the Musicals of Michael Bennett
By: Ken Madelbaum
From: USA
Best Known For: A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls, Follies and Promises Promises
Profession: Director, Writer, Choreographer and Dancer
Bowerbird: The Art of Making Theatre Drawn From Life
By: Alana Valentine
From: Australia
Best Known For: Parramatta Girls and Run Rabbit Run
Profession: Playwright
Time Steps: My Musical Comedy Life
By: Donna McKechnie
From: USA
Best Known For: A Chorus Line, How to Succeed in Business and Promises Promises
Profession: Performer
Just as I Am
By: Cicely Tyson
From: USA
Best Known For: The Trip to Bountiful and the The Corn is Green
Profession: Performer
Stages: A Theater Memoir
By: Albert Poland
From: USA
Best Known For: Little Shop of Horrors and Boy From Oz
Profession: Producer and General Manager
Up in the Cheap Seats
By : Ron Fassler
From: USA
Profession: Audience
Still Here: The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch
By: Alexandra Jacobs
From: USA
Best Known For: Company and Show Boat
Profession: Performer
Unmasked: A Memoir
By: Andrew Lloyd Webber
From: The UK
Best Known For: Cats, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera and Jesus Christ Superstar
Profession: Composer, Producer and Theatre Owner
White Hot Grief Parade
By: Alexandra Silber
From: USA
Best Known For: Fiddler on the Roof
Profession: Performer
Rita Moreno: A Memoir
By: Rita Moreno
From: Puerto Rico
Best Known For: The Ritz, Romeo and Juliet and Skydrift
Profession: EGOT winning performer
Top End Girl
By: Miranda Tapsell
From: Australia
Best Known For: The Sapphires and The Secret River
Profession: Performer
Bossypants
By: Tina Fey
From: USA
Best Known For: Mean Girls
Profession: Comedian and Book Writer
** Note: This was written in 2011, pre-Mean Girls the Musical
A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love and Faith in Stages
By: Kristin Chenoweth
From: USA
Best Known For: Wicked and You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown
Profession: Performer
** Note: This book celebrates its 10th anniversary this year (2020)
How I Learned To Act
By: Francis Greenslade
From: Australia
Best Known For: Mad As Hell
Profession: Performer
Magic time: A Memoir, Notes on Theatre & Other Entertainment
By: Edwin Wilson
From: USA
Best Known For: Theatre Criticism
Profession: Director, Teacher, Playwright and Critic
Simple Gifts (A Life in the Theatre)
By: George Ogilvie
From: Australia
Best Known For: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (Film) and Artistic Director of State Theatre Company, SA
Profession: Director
Jerome Robbins, by Himself: Selections from His Letters, Journals, Drawings, Photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir
By: Jerome Robbins
From: USA
Best Known For: West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof
Profession: Choreographer, Director, Producer and Show Doctor
Life In Motion
By: Misty Copeland
From: USA
Best Known For: Becoming the first African American Female Principal Ballerina at ABT
Profession: Ballerina
** Note: Misty Copeland has a series of books for all ages.
Keith Bain - The Principles of Movement
By: Michael Campbell
From: Australia
Best Known For: Founding Member of AusDance
Profession: Choreographer, Dancer and Actor
Stars in Their Underwear: My unpredictable journey from Broadway dancer to costume designer for some of Hollywood's biggest stars
By: Diana Eden
From: USA
Best Known For: Jubilee and Tamara
Profession: Costume Designer, Dancer, Actress
David Williamson: A Celebration
By: Katharine Brisbane
From: Australia
Best Known For: The Removalists and Don’s Party
Profession: Playwright
It's Always Loud in the Balcony: A Life in Black Theater, from Harlem to Hollywood and Back
By: Richard Wesley
From: USA
Best Known For: Autumn, Black Terror and The Sirens
Profession: Playwright, Screenwriter, Professor and Writer on Political Theater
Without You
By: Anthony Rapp
From: USA
Best Known For: Rent
Profession: Performer
