CHARLES BUSCH (1954 - )
| Nationality: | USA |
| Literary Agent: *: | |
| Email: | n/a |
| Website: |
* If shown, click on the literary agent's name for full contact details and links to all the Playwrights they represent.
Plays by Charles Busch
Ankles Aweigh |
| 1st Produced: | East Haddam, Connecticut | 1987 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, 1987 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | music and lyrics by Fain and Shapiro | |||||
| Synopsis: | Two sisters are filming a musical in Italy. They get involved with sailors, Russian spies and the Mafia | |||||
Apres Moi, Le Deluge |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in Tough Acts To Follow, Alamo Square, | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | written by Charles Busch and Kenneth Elliot | |||||
| Synopsis: | - | |||||
Before Our Mother's Eyes |
| 1st Produced: | New York | 1981 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Twin brothers Andreas and David are very, very close | |||||
Charles Busch, Alone With A Cast Of Thousands |
| 1st Produced: | U.S. Tours | 1978 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | includes Hollywood Confidential, 1978, A Theatrical Party, 1980, After You've Gone, 1982, Phantom Lovers, 1983. | |||||
| Synopsis: | ||||||
Die Mommie Die! |
| 1st Produced: | Coast Playhouse, LA | 1999 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | Comic melodrama. | - | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | music by Jeremy Grody | |||||
| Synopsis: | This comic melodrama evokes the 1960's movie thrillers that featured such aging cinematic icons as Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner and Susan Hayward. Faded pop singer, Angela Andrews, is trapped in a corrosive marriage to film producer, Sol Sussman. In her attempt to find happiness with her younger lover, an out of work TV star, Angela murders her husband with the aid of a poisoned suppository. In a plot that reflects both Greek tragedy as well as Hollywood folklore, Angela's resentful daughter, Edith, convinces Angela's emotionally disturbed son, Lance, to avenge their father's death by killing their mother. Lance, demanding proof of Angela's crime, slips some LSD into her after-dinner coffee, triggering a wild acid trip that exposes all of Angela's dark secrets. | |||||
Gidget Goes Psychotic |
| 1st Produced: | New York | 1986 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, 1986 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | ||||||
Green Heart, The |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | Musical | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Music by Rusty Magee; lyrics by Rusty Magee; book by Charles Busch. Based on the short story by Jack Ritchie | |||||
| Synopsis: | When millionaire William Graham realises he has squandered all his money - he looks for a rich wife to keep him and his mistress in the style they are used to | |||||
House Of Flowers |
| 1st Produced: | New York | 1991 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, 1991 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | Adaptation | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | libretto by Truman Capote | |||||
| Synopsis: | ||||||
Lady In Question, The |
| 1st Produced: | New York | 1989 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "Four Plays", Fireside Theatre, New York, 1990 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 5 | Female | 4 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | spoof on trashy damsel in distress versus Nazis movies | |||||
Myrtle Pope, The Story of A Woman Possessed |
| 1st Produced: | - | 1977 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Myrtle having killed her twin sister lives in exile but becomes a cabaret singer. She murders her agent and dies in the arms of her son - who does not know she is his mother | |||||
Old Coozies |
| 1st Produced: | - | 1976 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | One act | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Two novelists remain friends through thirty years despite rivalry over their work and love lives | |||||
Our Leading Lady |
| 1st Produced: | 2007 | |||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 4 | Female | 5 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Set in Washington, DC, in 1865, the play is about Laura Keene, the British-born stage actress whose company was performing Tom Taylor's Our American Cousinat Ford's Theatre the night Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth. In classic Charles Busch fashion, Our Leading Lady is a backstage comedy in which a presidential assassination is not merely a national tragedy but also a vexing interruption in a powerful woman's quest for fame and glory. Imagine the collision of the Civil War era with Noises Off, | |||||
Out-Takes Of A B-Movie |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Max runs a memorabilia shop in Greenwich Village which is a hang out for various misfits | |||||
Pardon My Inquisition; Or, Kiss The Blood Off My Castanets |
| 1st Produced: | Limbo Lounge, New York | 1986 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "Three Plays", Fireside Theatre, New York, 1992 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | One act | Parts: | Male | 9 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Maria a prostitute is in love with Don Arturo. He is having an affair with a married woman, the Marquesa Del Drago. The Marquesa looks just like Maria. To get Don Arturo for herself Maria informs the Inquisition that the Marquesa is unfaithful. | |||||
Psycho Beach Party |
| 1st Produced: | New York | 1987 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "Four Plays", Fireside Theatre, New York, 1990 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 5 | Female | 6 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | a perky teenager in Malibu Beach circa 1962 wants to learn to surf, unfortunately she suffers from multiple personality disorder | |||||
Queen Amarantha |
| 1st Produced: | - | - | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, 1998 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | Romantic Adventure | - | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | cross dressing classic about sexual ambiguity with a lonely Garboesque queen who dresses as a man | |||||
Red Scare On Sunset |
| 1st Produced: | WPA Theater, New York | 1991 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, 1991 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | 6 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | 1950s Hollywood film star Mary Dale discovers that her husband has joined the Communist Party and that his group plan to scrap the star system | |||||
Shanghai Moon |
| 1st Produced: | Theater For The New City, New York | 1999 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | 1931 Lady Sylvia Allington accompanies her diplomat husband to Shanghai. He is there to negotiate the gift of a priceless statue to the British Museum. Lady Sylvia falls in love with a mysterious man Gong Fe. Everything spirals into disaster - murder and suicide | |||||
Sister Act |
| 1st Produced: | - | 1976 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Two showgirls are Siamese twins and they must now decide whether to have the operation to separate | |||||
Sleeping Beauty Or Coma |
| 1st Produced: | Limbo Lounge, New York | 1984 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "Four Plays", Fireside Theatre, New York, 1990 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | - | Parts: | Male | 6 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Swinging London in the 1960s. Sebastian Lore discovers Enid and plans to make her a superstar model. But she escapes his clutches and with two friends helping her she does in fact become a supermodel and the "face of the Sixties". In revenge Sebastian spikes her drink and she falls into a twenty year coma. | |||||
Swingtime Canteen |
| 1st Produced: | Blu Angel Theatre, New York | 1995 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | - | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | Musical | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 5 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Book by Linda Thorsen Bond, William Repicci and Charles Busch | |||||
| Synopsis: | This star spangled hit enjoyed long runs Off Broadway and in London. MGM is putting glamorous movie legend Marian Ames out to pasture, but this is 1944 and no time for self pity. Marian gathers her instrument playing gal pals from the Hollywood Canteen to entertain the troops in London. Her show is a rip roaring canteen extravaganza that features five archetypal film characters from the 1940s singing over 30 vintage classics. Laughs, emotional fireworks and air raids punctuate this hilarious and heart warming musical celebration. | |||||
Taboo |
| 1st Produced: | Plymouth Theater, New York | 2003 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | - | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| Music: | Original Broadway recording: DRG (94773) | 2004 | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page | |||||
| Genre: | - | Musical | Parts: | Male | - | Female | 0 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | Music by Boy George; Lyrics by Boy George; Co-Composer: Kevan Frost; Music Co-Writer: John Themis and Richie Stevens; Book by Charles Busch; Adapted from the original book by Mark Davies. Written with Mark Davies (Busch rewrote for an American audience) | |||||
| Synopsis: | Setting: An abandoned London warehouse, which formerly was the location of the hottest club of the '80s, Taboo, and a great variety of places in and about London. | |||||
Tale Of The Allergist's Wife, The |
| 1st Produced: | Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York | 2000 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Lee Green gave Diana the idea of doing something about landmines & Andy Warhol saw her pile of soup cans and she seduces the allergist's wife | |||||
Theodora, She-Bitch Of Byzantium |
| 1st Produced: | Limbo Lounge, New York | 1984 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | in "Three Plays", Fireside Theatre, New York, 1992 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | One act | Parts: | Male | 6 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | The Empress Theodora is in a loveless marriage with the Emperor Justinian as he prefers boys. A friend gives her a love potion to give to her husband but the Empress accidentally takes it herself and instantly falls in love with Andreas a revolutionary intent of murdering the Emperor | |||||
Third Story, The |
| 1st Produced: | Sep 2008 | |||||
| Company: | MCC Theater | |||||
| 1st Published: | ISBN/ASIN | 978-0-573-69730-2 | ||||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | Play/Drama | Parts: | Male | 4 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
 | A mother and son screenwriting team hunker down in Omaha after fleeing Commie-obsessed 1940s Hollywood. A romantically-inclined but socially-inept princess makes a deal with an ancient witch. And tommy guns meet test tubes as a way-too-well-dressed first lady of the mob forms a desperate alliance with a cloning scientist whose experiments have had, um, less-than-consistent results. Gangster flicks, fairy tales and B-movie sci-fi collide in this epic comic fable from the sick and silly imagination of Charles Busch. - press release | |||||
Times Square Angel |
| 1st Produced: | New York | 1984 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, 1986 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | Christmas Fantsy | - | Parts: | Male | 7 | Female | 4 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | From An Idea by Charles Busch and Andy Halliday | |||||
| Synopsis: | a pantomime dame lifts herself out of the slums and into a career as a night-club singer, finally becoming so decadent that only a guardian angel can save her from herself | |||||
Vampire Lesbians Of Sodom |
| 1st Produced: | New York | 1984 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, 1986 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | - | Farce | Parts: | Male | 6 | Female | 2 |
| Parts Other: | doubling | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, written by Charles Busch, is a fantastic send-up of vampiric tales and actress's vanity. The story begins in Sodom, transports us to 1920s Hollywood, and drops us on a modern stage. The rivalry begins in Sodom where a guard is lamenting his social life and a succubus is awaiting a sacrificial virgin. The virgin is turned into a succubus and a 2,000-year battle of feminine wiles, toothy marks, and blackmail ensues. It is a hilarious love-hate relationship that sustains them both | |||||
You Should Be So Lucky |
| 1st Produced: | Primary Stages, New York | 1994 | ||||
| Company: | - | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, 1995 | ISBN/ASIN | - | |||
| To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
| Genre: | Screwball Comedy | Comedy | Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 3 |
| Parts Other: | - | |||||
| Notes: | - | |||||
| Synopsis: | battle over ten million dollar inheritance leads to confrontation on Oprah Winfrey style show replete with the deceased's ghost | |||||