Musicals are something I consider to be a complete art form. Acting, music and dance come together with costume, lighting, set design and countless other crafts to create something that can feel completely magical.
We all remember the songs, performances and moments that make a musical special, but the story behind the show can be every bit as fascinating as the one unfolding on stage. Some of my favourite theatre books are the ones that let you see how it all came together, from the first idea and early drafts to the finished production.
I have picked ten books that do exactly that. Some are big, beautifully illustrated books to sit and lose yourself in. Others are more intimate accounts of the writing process. All of them give you something new to appreciate the next time you see the show.
If you want one book that celebrates musical theatre as a whole, Musicals: The Definitive Illustrated Story is a very good place to start.
It takes you from the early days of vaudeville and movie musicals through to the West End and Broadway shows we know today. There are timelines, photographs, profiles of major creators and guides to some of the most important musicals ever made. It is the sort of book you can dip into for ten minutes and still be reading an hour later.
Wicked: The Grimmerie is one of those books that feels special before you have even opened it. It is designed to look like the spell book used by Elphaba in the show, so it feels like something brought back from Oz rather than a standard behind-the-scenes book.
Inside you will find production photography, interviews, stories from the cast and creative team, an Ozian glossary and even a step-by-step look at how Elphaba is turned green before every performance. It is imaginative, detailed and exactly the sort of book Wicked deserves.
There are few musicals as rich, dark and brilliantly constructed as Sweeney Todd, and Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: Behind the Bloody Musical Masterpiece gives it the serious attention it deserves.
Rick Pender traces the story from its gruesome nineteenth-century origins to Christopher Bond’s play and Sondheim’s original 1979 production. It explores the score, Hugh Wheeler’s book, Hal Prince’s direction and the many stage and screen versions that followed. This is a proper deep dive, but never a dry one, and it is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to understand why the show continues to feel so powerful.
Working on a Song is one of the most honest and useful books I have read about writing a musical.
Anaïs Mitchell takes us through the long process of creating Hadestown, explaining how the songs changed as the show moved from an independent theatre project to Broadway. She shares early lyrics, rewrites, abandoned ideas and the thinking behind individual choices. You do not need to be a songwriter to enjoy it. It is simply fascinating to see how much work, doubt and persistence can sit behind something that eventually feels effortless.
Hamilton: The Revolution is probably one of the best-known musical theatre books, and for good reason.
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter tell the story of the show’s journey to Broadway, alongside the complete libretto and more than 200 annotations from Miranda. There are photographs, notebook pages, emails and interviews with the people who helped create it. It is a beautiful book, but also a genuinely revealing account of how history, hip-hop and theatre came together to make something completely original.
Before Hamilton, there was In the Heights. In the Heights: Finding Home follows the musical from its earliest beginnings through Broadway and into its film adaptation.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alegría Hudes and Jeremy McCarter share the stories behind the show, together with annotated lyrics and photographs from the stage and film productions. What I particularly like about this book is that it never loses sight of the community at the centre of the musical. It is as much about home, identity and belonging as it is about putting on a show.
Knowing the true story behind Come From Away makes the musical even more remarkable. Come From Away: Welcome to the Rock brings together the complete book and lyrics with production photographs, design sketches and interviews with the real people whose experiences inspired it.
It also follows the development of the musical, from the original idea at a reunion in Gander to an international success. Like the show, the book is incredibly warm and human. It reminds you that this is not only a great piece of theatre, but a true story about kindness at a moment when it was desperately needed.
Dear Evan Hansen: Through the Window looks at the making of a much more contemporary kind of musical.
It follows the show through writing, casting and rehearsals, with interviews, unseen lyrics, behind-the-scenes photography and the complete libretto. There is also plenty on the themes behind the story, including adolescence, mental health and the way we present ourselves online. It is thoughtful, beautifully produced and much more than a souvenir of the show.
Turning a film as loved as Back to the Future into a stage musical was never going to be straightforward. Creating Back to the Future The Musical shows how the creative team managed it without losing what people loved about the original.
The book covers the show’s journey through its Manchester tryout and West End opening, with interviews, previously unpublished photography and the complete lyrics to the original songs. The technical side is particularly interesting because so much of the production’s impact comes from solving the seemingly impossible on stage. This is a brilliant example of film and theatre meeting in the middle, which is naturally something we love at Fourth Wall.
Few shows have crossed between stage, screen and popular culture quite like The Rocky Horror Show. Rocky Horror: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Cult Classic tells that story through the photography of Mick Rock.
Rock was invited to document the making of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and captured the cast and crew both in character and away from the cameras. The photographs are bold, candid and full of personality. It is a glorious book about a production that never played by the rules and has been loved for it ever since.
What I love about these books is that none of them take away the magic of seeing a musical. If anything, they add to it.
Once you know how a lyric changed, why a design decision was made or just how long it took to get a show onto the stage, you notice something different the next time you watch it. They are books for people who never really want the curtain to come down.
