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Backstage on Broadway: Musicals and Their Makers
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 12, 2015
I put a hold on this book at the library while knowing little about it, as I often do with theatre books. This time it ended up being rather magical.
See, what I didn't realize is that this book was a backstage look at all the musicals that were on Broadway during 1992. And what happened during that season? My favourite musical Falsettos was on Broadway.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There was an ENTIRE FREAKING CHAPTER on Falsettos. Also each chapter generally focused on one specific person involved with the production, usually one of the actors. And what person did the Falsettos chapter focus on? Stephen Bogardus who plays my favourite character, Whizzer! I very nearly had a meltdown. (A good kind of meltdown, obviously.)
Apart from that lovely happenstance, this book was one of the best theatre books I've read. The different topics and experiences it covered were fascinating. (Thanks to the chapter on City of Angels I've been listening to and loving its cast recording for the past week or so.)
See, what I didn't realize is that this book was a backstage look at all the musicals that were on Broadway during 1992. And what happened during that season? My favourite musical Falsettos was on Broadway.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There was an ENTIRE FREAKING CHAPTER on Falsettos. Also each chapter generally focused on one specific person involved with the production, usually one of the actors. And what person did the Falsettos chapter focus on? Stephen Bogardus who plays my favourite character, Whizzer! I very nearly had a meltdown. (A good kind of meltdown, obviously.)
Apart from that lovely happenstance, this book was one of the best theatre books I've read. The different topics and experiences it covered were fascinating. (Thanks to the chapter on City of Angels I've been listening to and loving its cast recording for the past week or so.)
July 18, 2020
Okay, I've been a fan of Broadway for, like, forever. When I found this book at a used bookstore, I had to have it. It outlines the 1992-93 Broadway season from every, and I mean EVERY, possible role and angle of Broadway, from producers to divas to children to writers to composers to...you get the picture. It's a well-written, easy, enjoyable read full of amazing backstage details.
September 30, 2017
Great stories. Well-told and well-written. Such a strong insider's viewpoint of Broadway and beyond!!!
May 29, 2016
It took me two tries to read this book, because the writing style is not very clear. It presumes some familiarity with the musicals themselves. (In one chapter, they "explain" the scene leading up to a big dance number as "the train got stuck in the desert so they couldn't do the show." What? It was set in the desert and the audience was only people on the train? What?) Some chapters have pages of verbatim quotes that really could have used more explanation and clarification. But the author seems like more of a producer than a writer, so I guess we can cut him some slack in that department, because he seems to know most of the people he's writing about.
I most enjoyed the parts talking about "Guys and Dolls", because I've both seen it onstage and been involved in a production of it. I knew about the character who is supposed to be fat, and what lines in the musical talk about him being fat, and so the angst of how to have a skinny guy play him made sense. (In our low-budget college production, we had a skinny actor with a pillow stuffed under his shirt playing him).
It was cool to read about what goes on behind the scenes in the theater. I learned that musicals can be workshopped for years before opening on Broadway, that many people train in acting/singing/dance but there are people who get hired and do well with almost no formal training, and that reviews matter much more to theater than they do to movies (because theater is so much more expensive that people won't take a chance on a production that was panned by critics, unlike with cheap movies). I learned that shows have previews so that they can work out the kinks before they are reviewed on opening night. (Though I am still somewhat mystified how a show can be workshopped and previewed and then open on Broadway and still be a flop ... if they have plenty of time to test drive it in front of audiences, wouldn't they know that audiences wouldn't like it?)
What really struck me was that there seemed to be a whole generation of men in theater who died of AIDS. Sure, I've seen Rent, and I know that there are lots of gay men in theater, but I never really made the connection until reading in this book that "he was working on it with so-and-so, but then so-and-so died of AIDS and so did these three other people, so the project changed." And that seemed to happen multiple times. It was chilling.
I most enjoyed the parts talking about "Guys and Dolls", because I've both seen it onstage and been involved in a production of it. I knew about the character who is supposed to be fat, and what lines in the musical talk about him being fat, and so the angst of how to have a skinny guy play him made sense. (In our low-budget college production, we had a skinny actor with a pillow stuffed under his shirt playing him).
It was cool to read about what goes on behind the scenes in the theater. I learned that musicals can be workshopped for years before opening on Broadway, that many people train in acting/singing/dance but there are people who get hired and do well with almost no formal training, and that reviews matter much more to theater than they do to movies (because theater is so much more expensive that people won't take a chance on a production that was panned by critics, unlike with cheap movies). I learned that shows have previews so that they can work out the kinks before they are reviewed on opening night. (Though I am still somewhat mystified how a show can be workshopped and previewed and then open on Broadway and still be a flop ... if they have plenty of time to test drive it in front of audiences, wouldn't they know that audiences wouldn't like it?)
What really struck me was that there seemed to be a whole generation of men in theater who died of AIDS. Sure, I've seen Rent, and I know that there are lots of gay men in theater, but I never really made the connection until reading in this book that "he was working on it with so-and-so, but then so-and-so died of AIDS and so did these three other people, so the project changed." And that seemed to happen multiple times. It was chilling.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews