The Greatest Books of All Time on Performing Arts

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
447 Gypsy Ballads Federico García Lorca 1928 Spanish Spanish
762 Ballet Shoes Noel Streatfeild 1936 British English
868 Henry James Leon Edel 1953 American English
876 Lysistrata Aristophanes -411 Greek Ancient greek
932 The Clouds Aristophanes -423 Greek Ancient greek
943 The Bacchae Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
984 Tartuffe Molière 1664 French French
986 Electra Sophocles -409 Greek Ancient greek
1035 Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov 1897 Russian Russian
1305 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
2092 Mourning Becomes Electra Eugene O'Neill 1931 American English
2154 Don Juan Molière 1665 French French
2260 The Iceman Cometh Eugene O'Neill 1946 American English
2516 Hippolytus Euripides -428 Greek Ancient greek
2630 The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
2863 Endgame Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish French
3039 The Good Companions J. B. Priestley 1929 British English
3225 Much Ado about Nothing William Shakespeare 1600 British English
3272 Bohemian Lights Ramón del Valle-Inclán 1920 Spanish Spanish
3324 Monica Saunders Lewis 1930 British Welsh
3515 Rhinoceros and Other Plays Eugène Ionesco 1959 Romanian French
4482 The Collected Plays of W.B. Yeats William Butler Yeats 1934 Irish English
6506 Arcadia Jim Crace 1992 British English
6529 Born A Crime Trevor Noah 2016 South African English
7770 The Name Above the Title Frank Capra 1971 American English
9982 Pictures At A Revolution Mark Harris 2008 American English
11044 Untold Stories Alan Bennett 2005 British English
11660 Apollo’s Angels Jennifer Homans 2010 American English
11939 The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas Charles Edward Russell 1927 American English
14629 Sexual Perversity in Chicago David Mamet 1974 American English
14629 The New Fiction Joe David Bellamy 1974 American English
15897 Hollywood Babylon Kenneth Anger 1959 American English