Holiday picks: Gifts for your arts-loving friends

New coffee-table books, play collections, cast recordings of musicals, celebrity bios and treatises on Shakespeare are among the holiday-gift options for your stage-struck and film-freak friends and relations.

To make that easier, we've sorted through the stacks to share a few of our own faves. (Prices are list; you'll find discounts at retail outlets or online.)

"Puppetry: A World History," Eileen Blumenthal (Abrams, $65)

In her richly illustrated new book, respected theater critic and historian Eileen Blumenthal reckons that puppets have been actors on the world stage since prehistoric times.

From the Stone Age to the present, and around the globe, puppets have entertained and beguiled viewers, while representing "the intimate interior of a human psyche."

The spiritual and psychological essence of puppets and their endless diversity are well-documented in this pricey but splendid volume, packed with 350 photos and artworks.

Blumenthal's text is nearly as enlightening as the visuals, giving a historical overview of puppetry and examining it in relation to politics, violence, education and, yes, sex.

She also scans the craftsmanship of master puppeteers from ancient Japan to Julie Taymor, the genius behind the puppet-populated Broadway musical, "The Lion King."

"The Light in the Piazza," 2005 original Broadway cast (Nonesuch, $19.98)

When this musical had its world premiere at Seattle's Intiman Theatre in 2003, it wasn't fully realized.

But as retooled by composer Adam Guettel, writer Craig Lucas and director Bartlett Sher (Intiman's artistic head), the romantic tuner about an offbeat Italian-American romance ultimately blossomed into a radiant Broadway hit.

Guettel's rapturous, complex, Tony Award-honored score for "Piazza" is sumptuously aired in this popular, Broadway cast recording. Vocal standouts include Kelli O'Hara as naive, infatuated American girl Clara, and Victoria Clark, a worthy Tony-winner, as Clara's conflicted mother.

Also impressive are the lovely chamber-orchestral arrangements of the score by Guettel and Ted Sperling, deftly fine-tuned since the Seattle tryout.

"Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star" (Algonquin Books, $24.95)

Sure, '50s movie heartthrob Tab Hunter was no Marlon Brando. He made good films ("Damn Yankees") and lots of clinkers ("Operation Bikini"). And don't hold your breath waiting for a DVD reissue of TV's "Tab Hunter Show."

But Hunter's memoir (co-written with Eddie Muller) is a good read, gracious and wryly self-deprecating. And it gives an insider's view of gay stars in Hollywood, back when the idea of "two young men, both in the public eye, in a relationship" was simply "inconceivable."

Hunter amusingly recalls the peaks and valleys of his career — like co-starring with Tallulah Bankhead in a flop Tennessee Williams play. And clinching with drag actor Divine in John Waters' "Polyester."

And he candidly describes the charade he and others maintained to keep working — squiring starlets to film premieres, while keeping real-life romances (including Hunter's with actor Anthony Perkins) a guilty secret.

"Life Interrupted: The Unfinished Monologue," Spalding Gray (Crown, $19.95).

Nearing his 60th birthday in 2001, Spalding Gray was enjoying family life with his wife and two kids, and pondering the next step in his career as a touted solo-stage performer.

Then a horrific auto accident in Ireland changed everything for Gray. Severe injuries left him with chronic pain and plunged him into depression.

Yet he still tried to transform his experience into art, performing early drafts of his solo memoir of the crash, "Life Interrupted" at Seattle's 2001 Bumbershoot Festival, and later in New York.

This slim volume combines that last, unfinished script with short tributes to Gray (who, sadly, committed suicide in 2004) by novelist Francine Prose, actor Eric Bogosian and others.

For 20 years I knew, wrote about and admired Gray — who made yakking about himself onstage look easy, instead of the rigorous act of artistic alchemy it truly was.

For any Gray fan, however, this small volume is an homage to his unique gifts. And a reminder of the fragility and preciousness of life itself.

"1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare," James Shapiro (HarperCollins, $27.95)

"Henry V." "Julius Caesar." "As You Like It."

Not a bad year's work for a dramatist — who, arguably, may also have turned out a little tragedy titled "Hamlet" in the same time span.

In this erudite and inviting study, author James Shapiro offers a panoramic portrait of William Shakespeare and his world, in what the author contends was a pivotal year.

Much of Will's personal life remains shadowy, as Shapiro readily notes. But with skill and scholarship, the Columbia University prof weaves in new historical and literary research to place Shakespeare's achievements against a lively historical and political backdrop.

Whether tracing the web of intrigues in Queen Elizabeth I's court, or analyzing Prince Hamlet ("born at the crossroads of the death of chivalry and the birth of globalization"), Shapiro is a brilliantly informed guide, whose approach enriches one's appreciation of the playwright, and his plays.

"Best Plays Theatre Yearbook 2003-2004" Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, editor (Limelight, $49.95)

Speaking of plays, what's hopping on the contemporary scene? Rummaging through this 85th annual yearbook of American theater activity is one good way to find out.

Synopses and excerpts of 10 leading recent plays (chosen by a blue-ribbon panel of critics) are coupled here with essays.

Included are works recently staged in Seattle ("Anna in the Tropics," "Frozen," "Intimate Apparel"), and others we can hope to see here in the future (the Tony Kushner-Jeanine Tesori musical, "Caroline, or Change" and Lisa Kron's "Well").

The yearbook also offers a well-organized compendium of data about the overall 2003-04 season on Broadway, Off-Broadway and at major regional theaters, complete with facts, figures and photographs.

"Hollywood At Home," Architectural Digest (Abrams, $40)

We can't all be rich movie kingpins. But we can all gape and drool over photos of their luxurious digs.

The ultra-slick magazine Architectural Digest offers monthly photo spreads on the abodes of the rich and famous, and has also produced this pictorial ode to domestic conspicuous consumption.

The book invites you into the lavish pads of current film royalty such as John Travolta (he has a private airport in his back yard), and director Martin Scorsese (whose displayed treasures include rare Italian film posters and the Stratoscaster guitar played by Robbie Robertson in "The Last Waltz.")

But the best sections of the book let you gaze at the living quarters of screen idols of yesteryear. Greta Garbo's deluxe, art-filled Manhattan apartment is just as you'd imagine.

However, nothing can beat Jayne Mansfield's "pink palace" on Sunset Boulevard. With that pink heart-shaped bathtub, those purple velvet couches and an office upholstered from ceiling to floor in red leather, it makes Graceland look like a Motel 6.

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com