The Broadway musical is one of America’s great indigenous popular forms, a glorious hybrid that emerged “out of our speech, our tempo, our moral attitudes, our way of moving” (as Leonard Bernstein put it). Now in the second volume of a landmark two-volume collection, The Library of America presents eight enduring masterpieces charting the Broadway musical’s narrative tradition from the genre’s Golden Age to its response to the turbulent 1960s with the Tony Award–winning shows Cabaret and 1776. Based on new research, this historic collection presents the complete libretto of each musical in its Broadway opening night version, making these beloved stories available as never before. Several shows, including Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady, return to print for the first time in decades.

Each of these classic musicals has evolved over time, receiving many important revivals and new productions. This Library of America boxed set offers readers unprecedented insight into this living history with a selection of hard-to-find or previously unpublished supplementary items, including lyrics of songs dropped out-of-town or added in later revivals. Lavishly illustrated with 32 pages of photographs and other images drawn from the original productions, the set also contains biographical sketches of the book writers and lyricists; cast lists and other information about the shows’ Broadway openings; and detailed accounts of the path each show took on the road to Broadway.

AMERICAN MUSICALS 1950–1969 contains:

Guys and Dolls

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser · Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

The Pajama Game

Book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell · Music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross

My Fair Lady

Adaptation and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner · Music by Frederick Loewe

Gypsy

Book by Arthur Laurents · Music by Jule Styne

Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Book by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove · Lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim

Fiddler on the Roof

Book by Joseph Stein · Music by Jerry Bock · Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

Cabaret

Book by Joe Masteroff · Music by John Kander · Lyrics by Fred Ebb

1776

Music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards · Book by Peter Stone

Laurence Maslon is an arts professor in the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. The author or editor of several books about musical theater, including The South Pacific Companion, he co-wrote two episodes of the Emmy-winning Broadway: The American Musical with Michael Kantor, as well as the companion volume. He also wrote the acclaimed American Masters/Thirteen documentary Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds. He lives in New York.