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Entrepreneurs and impresarios, the Shubert Brothers (Sam, Lee, and J.J.) produced some 600 plays, revues, and musicals from A Chorus Line to Cats and championed stars from Sarah Bernhardt and Ethel Barrymore to Al Jolson, Carmen Miranda, Judi Dench, and Nicole Kidman. But their greatest legacy was the theaters that they owned. Focusing on the 17 Broadway houses currently owned by the Shubert Organization, this book presents a unique pageant of the past 100 years on the American stage.

The illustrations -- including new photographs by architectural photographer Whitney Cox; three lavish 8-page gatefolds; and numerous production shots, programs, song sheets, and original costume and set designs from the fabulous Shubert Archive -- are irresistible to any theater lover. To peruse these pages is to relive American theater history.

The brothers Shubert Sam, Lee, and J.J. are synonymous with 20th-century American theater. At the zenith of their magisterial reign, the Shubert empire encompassed 104 playhouses, theatrical bookings into 1000 theaters across the country, and the development of hundreds of Broadway plays, musicals, and revues. This drop-dead gorgeous tome is a visual and archival love song to the Shuberts and their entertainment dynasty. Arranged sequentially by street, the work dwells on the 17 Broadway theaters still in the Shubert stable. Legendary palaces like the Belasco, Majestic, Booth, Shubert, and Imperial are feted, with hundreds of detailed historical and contemporary architectural photographs, production stills, splashy gatefolds, and memorabilia mined from the Shubert archival repository by an accomplished collaborative team from the Shubert Organization, who also provide an engaging and active text. Affordably priced, this is the drama queen of the theatrical publishing season. A standing ovation to Abrams and the Shubert Organization; a Bronx cheer to anyone who takes a pass. Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.