There’s nothing like the thrill of diving into a new book, where every page turns into an adventure. This Read A Book Day, we’re here to help you find your next favorite story. We’ve got a curated list of must-reads just for you. So, grab a cozy spot, settle in, and let the words whisk you away to new worlds. Happy reading!
Broadway Book Club
Join the Broadway Book Club with an annual or quarterly subscription to receive 5 or 7 scripts! Specialty Collections, curated packs of 5 scripts on themes such as Banned Books, Tony Award® Winners and more, are available for delivery at any time.
John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath by
Winner of the 1990 Tony Award® for Best Play
Photo by Craig Schwartz, 2013 A Noise Within production
Renowned first as a novel, and then as a prize-winning motion picture, the story of the Joad family and their flight from the dust bowl of Oklahoma is familiar to all. Desperately proud, but reduced to poverty by the loss of their farm, the Joads pile their few possessions on a battered old truck and head west for California, hoping to find work and a better life. Led by the indomitable Ma Joad, who is determined to keep the family together at any cost, and by the volatile young Tom Joad, an ex-convict who grows increasingly impatient with the intolerance and exploitation that they encounter on their trek, the Joads must deal with death and terrible deprivation before reaching their destination—where their waning hopes are dealt a final blow by the stark realities of the Great Depression. And yet, despite the anguish and suffering that it depicts, the play becomes in the final essence a soaring and deeply moving affirmation of the indomitability of the human spirit and of the essential goodness and strength that—then as now—reside in the hearts and minds of the “common man,” throughout the world.
John Steinbeck’s East of Eden by
Escaping a turbulent past, Adam Trask is determined to make a new start in California’s Salinas Valley. Adam and his wife, Cathy, settle on a beautiful farm, and soon Cathy gives birth to twins Caleb and Aron. But family history, sibling rivalry, and the impending danger of World War I will threaten their little piece of paradise. EAST OF EDEN is an American epic, grand in scope yet deeply personal, that asks if it is possible to escape the mistakes of previous generations.
Of Mice and Men by
Photo by Richard Phibbs, 2014 Broadway revival
Two drifters, George and his friend Lennie, with delusions of living off the “fat of the land,” have just arrived at a ranch to work for enough money to buy their own place. Lennie is a man-child, a little boy in the body of a dangerously powerful man. It’s Lennie’s obsessions with things soft and cuddly that have made George cautious about who the gentle giant, with his brute strength, associates with. His promise to allow Lennie to “tend to the rabbits” on their future land keeps Lennie calm, amidst distractions, as the overgrown child needs constant reassurance. But when a ranch boss’ promiscuous wife is found dead in the barn with a broken neck, it’s obvious that Lennie, albeit accidentally, killed her. George, now worried about his own safety, knows exactly where Lennie has gone to hide, and he meets him there. Realizing they can’t run away anymore, George is faced with a moral question: How should he deal with Lennie before the ranchers find him and take matters into their own hands?
Flesh and Blood by Peter Gaitens, adapted from the novel by Michael Cunningham
Adapted from Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Michael Cunningham’s keenly observed saga of twentieth-century American life, FLESH AND BLOOD traces nearly 100 years in the lives of one archetypal family. Dominated by their volatile father, the Greek immigrant Constantine, and alienated from their mother, the genteel and ambitious Mary, the Stassos children, Susan, Billy and Zoe, struggle to build lives and find love in a culture undergoing tectonic shifts. Like lonely planets whose long, elliptical orbits collide in unexpected, sometimes violent ways, the members of the Stassos family, as well as the extraordinary friends and lovers whom they find along their way, careen both towards and away from one another in poignant, heartbreaking and sometimes shattering fashion. Burdened by expectation, betrayed by circumstance and confounded by desires that they can only struggle to control, the ever-evolving clan marches inexorably toward tragedy—and ultimately redemption. Eschewing a literal translation of the novel’s massive scale, the play employs an almost musical structure, relying on theatrical versions of counterpoint, rhythm and harmony to illustrate both the yawning chasms and the intimate spaces that define human relationships. Finding humor in the most unlikely of places, sadness in the funniest of exchanges and grace in the most devastating of circumstances, Flesh and Blood is a detailed, poetic and boldly theatrical reinvention of a classic American story.
Act One by James Lapine, from the autobiography by Moss Hart
Growing up in an impoverished family in the Bronx, Moss Hart dreamed of being part of the glamorous world of the theatre. Forced to drop out of school at age thirteen, Hart’s famous memoir Act One is a classic Hortatio Alger story that plots Hart’s unlikely collaboration with the legendary playwright George S. Kaufman. Tony Award-winning writer and director James Lapine has adapted Act One for the stage, creating a funny, heartbreaking, and suspenseful play that celebrates the making of a playwright and his play Once in a Lifetime. ACT ONE offers great fun to a director to utilize over fifty roles, which can be played by a cast as few as twelve, and in a production that can be done as simply or elaborately as desired.
The Inheritance, Part One by
Winner of the 2020 Tony Award® for Best Play
Photo by Marc Brenner, 2018 West End production
Intended to be performed side by side with The Inheritance, Part Two
Winner of the 2020 Tony Award for Best Play. Winner of the 2020 Drama Desk Award for Best Play. Winner of the 2019 Olivier Award for Best Play. Decades after the height of the AIDS epidemic, The Inheritance tells the story of three generations of gay men in New York City attempting to forge a future for themselves amid a turbulent and changing America. Eric Glass is a political activist engaged to his writer boyfriend, Toby Darling. When two strangers enter their lives—an older man and a younger one—their futures suddenly become uncertain as they begin to chart divergent paths. Inspired by E.M. Forster’s masterpiece Howards End, The Inheritance is an epic examination of survival, healing, class divide, and what it means to call a place home.
The Inheritance, Part Two by
Winner of the 2020 Tony Award® for Best Play
Intended to be performed side by side with The Inheritance, Part One
Picking up where Part One ended, The Inheritance, Part Two takes its characters on roller-coaster journeys of self-discovery, self-deception, and self-destruction. Eric, reeling from his discovery at Walter’s house, finds himself growing even closer to Henry—while Toby tumbles down a dark hole of celebrity and addiction as he runs from a hidden past that will inevitably catch up with him. And the young man Leo, returning to Toby’s life and Toby’s bed, discovers a world of books—in particular the works of E.M. Forster—that open up a new realm of life to him, but at the same time finds himself in more danger than before. All three lives intersect as they are faced with the decision to heal or to burn. Inspired by E.M. Forster’s Howards End, The Inheritance is an epic examination of survival, healing, class divide, and what it means to call a place home.
Father of the Bride by
From the novel by Edward Streeter, illustrated by Gluyas Williams
Mr. Banks learns that one of the young men he has seen occasionally about the house is about to become his son-in-law. Daughter Kay announces the engagement out of nowhere. Mrs. Banks and her sons are happy, but Mr. Banks is in a dither. The groom-to-be, Buckley Dunstan, appears on the scene and Mr. Banks realizes that the engagement is serious. Buckley and Kay don’t want a “big” wedding — just a simple affair with a few friends! We soon learn, however, that the “few” friends’ idea is out. Then trouble really begins. The guest list grows larger each day, a caterer is called in, florists, furniture movers and dressmakers take over, and the Banks household is soon caught in turmoil — not to mention growing debt. When Kay, in a fit of temper, calls off the wedding, everyone’s patience snaps. But all is set right, and the wedding (despite more last-minute crises) comes off beautifully. In the end, the father of the bride is a happy, proud man, glad that the wedding is over, but knowing too that it was worth all the money and aggravation to start his daughter off so handsomely on the road to married life.
Vanity Fair by
Photo by Sara Krulwich, 2017 Pearl Theater production
Based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray
Becky is “bad.” Amelia is “good.” But in an unfair world, it isn’t always that simple…Two women—one born into privilege, another straight from the streets—attempt to navigate a society that punishes them for every misstep. Clever Becky’s not afraid to break the rules; soft-hearted Amelia’s scared to bend them. Both strive for what they want—but neither can thrive without the other. Through Becky and Amelia’s victories and losses, this thrilling, highly theatrical (im)morality play explores how flexible our morals can become when the wheel of fortune turns…Bold, wickedly funny, and shockingly relevant, Vanity Fair demands that we face our own hypocrisy. After all…who are we to judge?
Misery by William Goldman, based on the novel by Stephen King
Misery follows successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon, who is rescued from a car crash by his “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes, and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While Paul is convalescing, Annie reads his latest book and becomes enraged when she discovers the author has killed off her favorite character, Misery Chastain. Annie forces Paul to write a new Misery novel, and he quickly realizes Annie has no intention of letting him go anywhere. The irate Annie has Paul writing as if his life depends on it, and it does.
The Joy Luck Club by Susan Kim, adapted from the novel by Amy Tan
The Joy Luck Club tells the story of four older Chinese-American women and their complex relationships with their American-born daughters. The play moves from China in the early twentieth century and San Francisco from the 1950s to the 1980s, as the eight women struggle to reach across a seemingly unpassable chasm of culture, generation and expectations to find strength and happiness.
