Two New Theater Book Releases
by Deb Miller on September 4, 2026
Theater lovers can catch up on their reading and revisit some of their favorite works and NYC landmarks with two recently released books. One is a two-play volume that concludes a series of twelve critically acclaimed award-winning Off-Broadway productions; the other is a new murder mystery by an industry artist, centered on the 1975 Broadway community.
Richard Nelson, The Michaels (Cover design: Mark Melnick; Cover photograph: Daniel Johnson/Stills.com)
Richard Nelson, The Michaels: A Family at Home and Abroad (New York, TCG, 2026, paperback, $18.95, ISBN 978-1-63670-262-9) – As a resident of upstate New York for more than 40 years, Tony-winning playwright and director Richard Nelson based his celebrated series, the Rhinebeck Panorama, on the everyday lives of three fictional families (the Apples, the Gabriels, and the Michaels) in his titular town. The latest published volume of two plays on the Michaels, a family rooted in modern dance, represents the final installment of his intimate cycle of twelve ordinary conversation-driven works that focus on relatable human themes.
In his signature style, the first of the two, The Michaels: Conversations During Difficult Times, is set around their kitchen table, while a meal is being prepared and eaten, and dances are being rehearsed. They deal with the terminal diagnosis of Rose – the dancer, choreographer, founder, and artistic director of their dance company. The closing work, What Happened?: The Michaels Abroad, takes place in September 2021, at the height of the COVID pandemic, in the kitchen of one of their former company members in Angers, France, where they have come for a student dance festival. In both, the characters talk to – and listen to – each other and reflect on the affecting topics of illness and death, relationships and memories, crisis and resilience, American politics, and their beloved art and legacy. It’s all done in the privacy of their own homes, as they would normally do, and just as everyone does. The up-close and personal format and verisimilitude makes us feel a part of the conversation.
The book includes a production history and list of characters in the plays, along with a foreword by actors Maryann Plunkett and Jay O. Sanders, who starred in the shows from 2010-2021. They insightfully praise the quiet familiarity of Nelson’s groundbreaking approach to recognizing, without fanfare, the profundity of living and the challenges and joys we all face.
Frank “Fraver” Verlizzo, Sanity Claus (Art: Fraver)
Frank “Fraver” Verlizzo, Sanity Claus: A Retro Broadway Mystery (Kenmore, WA, Camel Press, 2026, paperback, $18.95, ISBN 978-1-68492-291-8) – Prior to making his debut as a mystery novelist, Fraver was renowned for his iconic poster designs and advertising art for some of Broadway’s greatest hits from the 1970s and beyond. He’s now combined his love and knowledge of NYC theater and Times Square nightlife in the creation of his Retro Broadway Mystery Series, beginning with Scenery of the Crime, and most recently in his second book, Sanity Claus.
Set in 1975, the newly published holiday-themed narrative is focused on the mysteries surrounding the theatrical Von Zell family. When the acclaimed actor Yule, starring in the upcoming Broadway comedy thriller Saint Nick, finds his brother Rudolph dead in his apartment, he becomes the main suspect. The stress of the show and the investigation threaten Yule’s mental stability, causing the producer to invoke the “sanity clause” in his contract, in order to replace him with another actor. To clear his name and to save his role and his reputation, Yule’s theatrical ad executives enlist the aid of their NYPD Detective friend, a psychic, and their circle of theater contacts. But as the unexplained deaths and disappearances of the Von Zells and their closest friends escalate, the family becomes convinced that they’re all the targets of an unknown killer.
The complicated dynamics of the story and its two dozen characters are interwoven with references and descriptions of the real sites and shows of New York, and the behind-the-scenes workings of Broadway, as experienced by Fraver during his decades in the theater industry. It makes for an interesting read for enthusiasts of both the theater and NYC.
