Book picks similar to
Grease by Jim Jacobs
plays
theatre
scripts
romance
American Buffalo
David Mamet - 1975
It received four Drama Desk Award nominations, including Outstanding New American Play. The 1983 revival was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Reproduction & the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actor in a Play (Pacino). In 1976 the play won an Obie Award for best new play.
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad
Arthur Kopit - 1960
Wealthy, overbearing Madame Rosepettle with her stuttering, awkward son Jonathan at her heels, arrives at a posh hotel with a man-eating tropical plant, pirahna fish and coffin in tow. Rosalie, a voluptuous babysitter from the couple next door "who never come home" attempts to seduce Jonathan and proves a formidable opponent to Madame herself.
August: Osage County
Tracy Letts - 2008
When the patriarch of the Weston clan disappears one hot summer night, the family reunites at the Oklahoma homestead, where long-held secrets are unflinchingly and uproariously revealed. The three-act, three-and-a-half-hour mammoth of a play combines epic tragedy with black comedy, dramatizing three generations of unfulfilled dreams and leaving not one of its thirteen characters unscathed.
Look Back in Anger
John Osborne - 1957
He browbeats his flatmate, terrorizes his wife, and is not above sleeping with her best friend-who loathes Jimmy almost as much as he loathes himself. Yet this working-class Hamlet, the original Angry Young Man, is one of the most mesmerizing characters ever to burst onto a stage, a malevolently vital, volcanically articulate internal exile in the dreary, dreaming Siberia of postwar England.First produced in 1956, Look Back in Anger launched a revolution in the English theater. Savagely, sadly, and always impolitely, it compels readers and audiences to acknowledge the hidden currents of rottenness and rage in what used to be called "the good life."
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Script Book "Once More With Feeling"
Joss Whedon - 2002
A superbly enjoyable pastiche of old Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows, it finds an all-singing, all-dancing demon descending on Sunnydale intent on making the town's inhabitants free their innermost secrets through song. As a pivotal episode it proves a turning point for many of the characters, and as a unique piece of TV it's quite clearly unrivalled. There isn't a bad song among them and it's hard not to turn demon-green with envy that show creator Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed this episode, can be so sickeningly talented. It doesn't matter that some of the cast are less then blessed vocally, but stand-out performances from James Marsters (Spike) and Amber Benson (Tara) help carry along the weaker voices. This book is fan's dream with a detailed behind-the-scenes look at how the episode came about, the complete script, photographs and even the music sheets should you wish to try the songs from the comfort of your Steinway. This is a worthy and essential companion to perhaps Buffy's finest hour (and eight minutes) yet. --Jonathan Weir
Deathtrap
Ira Levin - 1978
A possible break in his fortunes occurs when he receives a script from a student in the seminar he has been conducting at a nearby college a thriller which Sidney recognizes immediately as a potential Broadway hit. Sidney's plan, which he devises with his wife's help, is to offer collaboration to the student, an idea which the younger man quickly accepts. Thereafter suspense mounts steadily as the plot begins to twist and turn with devilish cleverness, and with such an abundance of thrills and laughter, that audiences will be held enthralled until the final, startling moments of the play.
The Front Page
Ben Hecht - 1924
Hildy wants to break away from journalism and go on a belated honeymoon. There is a jailbreak and into Hildy's hands falls the escapee as hostage. He conceals his prize in a rolltop desk and phones his scoop to his managing editor. Their job is to prevent other reporters and the sheriff from opening the desk and finding their story. Some hoods are enli