English Theater

Born to a Magical Fantasy Princess and a nine-to-five Supervillain in the most superhero riddled city in the world, Perry's never felt...adequate. He's got no talent for magic, and not a scrap of superpowers to his name. When The System boots and unlocks his powers, it forces him to follow in his father's footsteps, but he'd rather take after his mother... Maybe there's a way he can do both...

As author Ethan Mordden looks back at Chicago's various moving parts - including the original 1926 play that started it all, a sexy silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, a talkie remake with Ginger Rogers, the musical itself, and at last the movie of the musical - we learn how the American theater serves as a kind of alternative news medium, a town crier warning the public about the racy, devious interior contradictions of American society. Opinionated, witty, and rich in backstage anecdotes, All That Jazz brings the American musical to life in all its artistry and excitement.

Oli the goblin is the last creature anyone would send on a world-ending quest. But the Dark Lord's under siege and without his doomsday weapon, those pesky forces of Good might just get it done this time. Seizing the long-awaited opportunity to serve their Big Boss, Oli and his cousins strike out on a super secret mission to retrieve the doomsday weap-on a road trip to see their family. With the hopes of every creature sinister and foul riding on them, the goblins hurry directly to their destination. Mostly directly. Okay, so it's more of a zigzag.

Two mismatched brothers must save their late mother's failing board game company using an unconventional marketing framework, or risk losing their family legacy forever. When their mother unexpectedly passes away, Joe and Pete inherit her once-thriving board game company. But with the stock price plummeting and their own incompetence threatening to sink the business, these polar opposite brothers – Joe, an overconfident jock, and Pete, a sensitive poet – must put aside their differences and work together to save their family's legacy.

After 40 years with his beloved wife, Henry is alone for the first time. His sudden bachelorhood is a struggle for him and his daughter Lisa, who is feeling pressure to fill the void. To give Henry the companionship he’s craving, Lisa buys him a personal robotic assistant. The device transforms Henry’s life and inspires him to embrace the possibility of romance during his golden years.

Ali Stroker won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Ado Annie in a revival of Oklahoma! and before that made history as the first actor in a wheelchair to appear on Broadway. Listeners can now experience her incredible one-woman show as she performs crowd favorites as well as some unexpected songs while telling stories from her life and talking about her personal motto: “Turn your limitations into opportunities.”

Perry returns to Franklin City to find his home under the control of a being of unimaginable power. To stop the mad god’s cruel games, Perry has to win… if he can even remember he’s playing. And even as Perry struggles to save his city, an unstoppable force from the dawn of the age of capes grows in power, laying their plans to extinguish humanity from the face of the Earth. Join Paradox as he walks the fine line between Madness and Sanity, Hero and Villain… Life and Death.

A spirited factory worker on a mission. A nerdy manager with a propensity for puzzles. An unexpected adventure. Charmingly British and off-beat, Miscellaneous 0125 is a story about following your dreams, healing past traumas, and the joy of truly being understood.

Once an inventive puppeteer, Sabbath at sixty-four is still defiantly antagonistic and exceedingly libidinous. But after the death of his longtime mistress—an erotic free spirit whose adulterous daring surpassed even his own—Sabbath, bereft and grieving and besieged by the ghosts of those who loved and hated him most, contrives a succession of farcical disasters that take him to the brink of madness and extinction.

Every self-respecting lich has a few hundred phylacteries at a minimum, and Harold wants to check in on a few thousand of his. Rumors reach him that the vicious Mantis Queen has one of them. Naturally, she's at the other end of the region. It's just a casual stroll across the deserted and inhospitable Flaming Steppes. Inhospitable for the living, that is!

Since it first opened on Broadway in September 1964, Fiddler on the Roof has constantly been onstage somewhere, including five Broadway revivals, four productions on London's West End, and thousands of schools, army bases, and countries from Argentina to Japan. Barbara Isenberg interviewed the men and women behind the original production, the film, and significant revivals.

From the bestselling author of Christmas in Snow Falls comes a heartwarming read that’s perfect for fans of Jenny Hale, Sheila Roberts, Debbie Macomber, and Jill Shalvis. After years of chasing her dreams on Broadway, struggling actress Amy Jenkins returns to her small hometown. What starts as a simple favor turns into a chance for Amy to rediscover her passion for performing and find a new love in the most unexpected place. As Amy reconnects with her past, she meets Tim Smith, the rugged and charming handyman who helps bring her theatrical vision to life. Despite her initial dismissal, ...

In 2001, Ian McKellen put on the robe and pointed hat of a wizard named Gandalf and won a place in the hearts of Tolkien fans worldwide. Though his role in the film adaptation of Lord of the Rings introduced him to a new audience, McKellen had a thriving career a lifetime before his visit to Middle Earth. He made his West End acting debut in 1964 in James Saunders's A Scent of Flowers, but it was in 1980 that he took Broadway by storm when he played Antonio Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Tony Award-winning play Amadeus....

In the distant past, a time of magic and swordplay, there lived Harold, the mightiest lich of all, a master of arcane sciences, and a challenger of gods. After reaching the pinnacle of his power and finding it surprisingly bland, Harold waged a cataclysmic war against the gods, aiming to shatter the very system that confined him.

From syndicated humor columnist Marc Acito comes a wildly inventive and hysterically funny novel that is equal parts Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Fame, Risky Business, Dead Poets Society, and The Catcher in the Rye.

Was murder part of the game? Seventeen-year-old Kat McDonough grew up with theater in her blood - and a penchant for make-believe. More than a decade older, Seth Mazzaglia was well-known in the community theater circle of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He, too, had a rich inner life - and he soon had Kat convinced that they were soul mates. To intensify their bond, Seth lured Kat into a world of violent sex and role-playing, where she was his slave. Enter Lizzi Marriott, the new girl in town. And when she accepts an invitation to Kat and Seth's apartment....

How do master storytellers compel us? There have been many attempts to understand what makes a good story, but few have used a scientific approach. In The Science of Storytelling, Will Storr applies dazzling psychological research and cutting-edge neuroscience to our myths and archetypes to show how we can tell better stories, revealing, among other things, how storytellers - and also our brains - create worlds by being attuned to moments of unexpected change.

The idea of American musical theater often conjures up images of bright lights and big city, but its lifeblood is found in amateur productions at high schools, community theaters, after-school programs, summer camps, and dinner theaters. In Beyond Broadway, author Stacy Wolf looks at the widespread presence and persistence of musical theater in US culture and examines it as a social practice - a live, visceral experience of creating, watching, and listening.

When Mia mysteriously disappears from her college campus, her mother Joyce fears the worst — and a warning from Mia’s ex-boyfriend reveals she may have left the country to join a cult. Joyce impulsively launches a cross-continental trip to rescue her, gradually learning more about the seductive cult leader via audio tapes her daughter left behind.

Ah, Nyil, with its magic, its monsters, and its petty gods. A divine spat leaves French medic Viv stranded in the middle of an arcane disaster zone crawling with undead horrors. Thankfully, there are strange allies to be found, not least the mysterious interface that helps humans survive in this merciless world. Viv will have to progress fast to survive this calamity and find civilisation. She will also need a bit of luck. Unless, of course, she becomes the calamity herself. After all, luck is such a fickle thing.