Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books; annotated edition edition (January 5, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1557836310
ISBN-13: 978-1557836311
Product Dimensions: 7 x 1 x 10 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #94,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #18 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Reference #22 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Theater > Direction & Production #26 in Books > Arts & Photography > Performing Arts > Theater > History & Criticism
William Goldman in his watershed book about Broadway called The Season, wrote that every Broadway show is a series of "little battles to the death". Here in Mr Steven Suskin's book, we get lowdown on the skirmishes and the all-out battles that resulted in some of Broadway's most outrageous productions.It's actors vs. directors, directors vs. composers, and everybody vs. the producers as we are taken backstage to learn why a show like Jerry Lewis' Hellzapoppin turned into such a fiasco.This is not a newly written tome. Suskin has gathered a collection of contemporary articles from magazines, newspapers, autobiographies, and biographies. And that is why they are so accurate and timely. The writers were there - they talked to the participants. This is not second-hand gossip. As Edward R. Murrow used to say: "You are there." You are there when a composer/director finds his star/wife having an affair with her leading man. There when one star's part is reduced to five lines in the first act and six lines in the second act. There when a leading man is replaced with an 11-year-old boy. There when two people standing in line at the box office say they want their money back, only to hear the producer behind them say, "So do I."Among the shows covered are Kelly, Fade Out, Fade In, The Red Shoes, and....well you get the picture. Stars include Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters, Carol Burnett, Mary Tyler Moore...just to tap the distaff side.If you have heard a rumor about a show, it is probably discussed here and confirmed or laid to rest. Suskin helpfully includes his own comments at appropriate places in the articles. These serve to clarify and sometimes give us the end result of a particular action or person.
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