Take Your Kids Behind The Scenes Of Broadway With This Stunning Picture Book

Theater fans disheartened by Broadway’s slower-than-anticipated pandemic rebound can find solace in the pages of a new picture book.

HuffPost caught a sneak peek at John Robert Allman’s “B Is for Broadway: Onstage and Backstage From A to Z” ahead of its release this week. The 48-page book pairs letters of the alphabet with theatrical terms like “auditions,” “intermission” and “understudies.” The full-color illustrations by Peter Emmerich reference classic productions like “West Side Story” and “A Chorus Line” as well as “Hamilton,” “Wicked” and other modern hits. Beloved stars such as Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel and Lin-Manuel Miranda are depicted throughout, too.

Allman, a lifelong musical theater devotee who is based in New York, wrote “B Is For Broadway” as a companion piece to his 2019 debut, “A Is for Audra: Broadway’s Leading Ladies From A to Z.” This time, however, he and Emmerich sought to focus on the educational aspects of theater as an art form and career path for budding young thespians, as opposed to providing fan service for established theatergoers.

“We wanted to continue giving people something in the children’s book space that celebrated theater, but maybe shone a spotlight on a different aspect,” he told HuffPost. “So we talked about a handful of different ways of doing it and ultimately landed on pulling back the curtain on everything that goes on behind the scenes and gives readers a look at all that goes into making a show.”

Both Allman and Emmerich say they’ve found kindred spirits ― at least in the creative sense ― in one another, and have plans in the works for a future collaboration.

“We share a very visceral passion for the magic of live theater and the performances that we love,” Allman explained. “And this very innate desire to be able to share that and pass it on to future generations of theatergoers is, I think, a huge driver for both of us.”

“We don’t have to ask each other many questions because we approach things from the same point of view,” added Emmerich, who has spent much of his career working for Disney. “We are very simpatico and it is honestly a blessing.”

Sadly, “B Is for Broadway” arrives when New York’s theater industry is facing yet another uncertain season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Though many Broadway and off-Broadway theaters reopened for business last fall, the rise of the omicron variant of the coronavirus prompted the shuttering of several shows. Others have taken unprecedented steps to postpone or curtail performances to avoid a permanent closure, though such moves are risky and reportedly conflict with union regulations for performers and backstage crew.

With that in mind, Allman and Emmerich have chosen to donate a portion of the book’s proceeds to the Actors Fund, a nonprofit that has provided financial aid to more than 40,000 people in the arts during COVID-19.

And both the author and artist are hopeful their work will encourage readers to seek out live theatrical performances so long as they feel safe to do so.

“Maybe it will inspire people who can go see a show to buy a ticket and get back to something they love,” Emmerich said. “If John and I have contributed to that in any way, then we have succeeded.”