The Playbill Broadway Yearbook June 2010 to May 2011: Seventh Annual Edition Edited by Robert Viagas

PRLog (Press Release) - Nov. 3, 2011 - This season, Broadway sold more tickets than ever—over 12 million total! Forty-two shows opened, thirty-four shows stayed on from last season, and one special case previewed for seven months without opening. While other “old media” withered in the face of a lingering recession and the ever-burgeoning online world, Broadway’s successes this year are pumping new shows into the touring pipeline and overseas. As all of this was going on, The Playbill Broadway Yearbook (Playbill and Applause Books, October 2011, $39.99) was, as usual, busily poking its nose backstage to photograph, report on, and interview the denizens of Broadway.

Using the style of a high school yearbook as inspiration, Playbill Books—a division of the iconic 125-year-old company that designs the programs for every Broadway show—has created the ultimate Broadway scrapbook. The Playbill Broadway Yearbook gives theatre fans everything from a comprehensive record of every person involved in every show of the season, to revealing interviews that give readers an all-access pass to Broadway’s backstages. At least one member of the cast or crew from every show reports on things that only those who were backstage would know: opening-night presents, daily rituals, celebrity visits, memorable ad-libs, and more.

Highlights from the seventh edition:
•Kathy Griffin snarking about her two-week visit to Broadway in her solo show, Kathy Griffin Wants a Tony
•Colman Domingo eloquently defending his show, The Scottsboro Boys, against the charges of racism that helped truncate its run
•Colin Quinn waxing philosophical about appearing in his own Long Story Short across the street from Al Pacino in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice
•Liz Pearce giving an understudy’s view of life inside the stage door in Billy Elliot
•Leigh Ann Larkin sharing her account of an A Little Night Music cast party at Stephen Sondheim’s house

*Robert Viagas is available for interview*

Robert Viagas is the founder of Playbill.com, host of Radio Playbill, editor of Louis Botto’s At This Theatre, and author of books including I’m the Greatest Star!, The Alchemy of Theatre, The Back Stage Guide to Broadway, and On the Line: The Creation of A Chorus Line. The assistant editor is Amy Asch, archivist for the Oscar Hammerstein II and Jonathan Larson estates.

Praise for The Playbill Broadway Yearbook

"…fascinating browsing of bite-sized vignettes about what goes on behind the scenes of all the Broadway shows… The Playbill Broadway Yearbook gives theater fans a fascinating insiders' glimpse of the daily life of Broadway in a way that you probably couldn't find anywhere else."  
Columbus Dispatch, Theatre Talk

“Whether or not you have ever been to New York City, if you are a theatre lover, The Playbill Broadway Yearbook will be a treasure you will refer back to for many years to come.”
Chicago Stage Style

“Just like when I was in high school, I can't wait each year for the annual Playbill Broadway Yearbook… as usual, it was worth the wait! If you aren't familiar with this series of books, you really owe it to your theatre-loving self to get these books.”
DK Theatre Scene

“Thank you Mr. Viagas and crew for giving us something that so concisely captures not only the details of the season but also the mood of the season.”
The Andy Gram