Stanley Green (1) (1923–1990)

If you are looking for a rather comprehensive history of musical theatre in the first half of the 20th century, this is a great resource. However, it does lose a little as it gets closer to its 1962 publication date.

Well, it’s more of a reference book than anything else, but there are lots of (very grainy) pics of Fred and Ginger, a decent back story of Fred and Adele and the plot summaries of all his movies. What’s not to like!

I guess one of the best reference books about Broadway's shows out there. This book comes with a complete list of people involved on every show, a sinopse and more often than not, curious facts about the productions. It is organized chronologically, but has great indexes at the end. My only complaint is that the pictures are all in black and white.

This was a college text book and is now out-of-date, but I still go back to it when I want to find out when a musical debuted or who was in the original cast. It is a solid basic history of musicals.