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Alice in Theatreland
It’s summer 1976; London is languishing in the sultry heat. Beautiful and talented nineteen-year-old, Alice Abbott, arrives in the city with high hopes of one day seeing her name up in lights but first she must impress Richard, the producer of a new West End show, Theatreland. Alice is befriended at the audition by the more experienced Gina, who, although burdened by her own dark secrets, is determined to protect the newcomer from the sleaze behind the glamour. She also attracts attention from the male lead in the show, Peter, a former pop star struggling to escape his playboy reputation. Alice’s star seems to be rising as fast as the temperature until she naively accepts an impromptu dinner invitation from Richard. What happened that night And how far will Richard go to protect his guilty secret Fabulously wicked people who are easy to loathe, counterbalanced with an endearing heroine and friends we’d all love to have as our own. An authentic seventies setting with not one but two twists at the end.
340 pages, Paperback
Published June 27, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 4, 2017
I’m honestly not sure where to start with this review, I was desperately needing something a bit different to my usual crime thriller reads and I knew Alice in Theatreland would do the trick but what I didn’t realise was how the story would totally get under my skin and draw me in.
From the prologue I was totally hooked, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting but it totally had me intrigued and desperate to find out who and how that person came to be in that situation. We then meet 19 year old Alice as she’s leaving her home in Nottingham, she’s heading off to London to an audition for a new West End Show, her friend has given her the use of her flat while she’s away for 6 weeks and filled with determination, she dreams one day of seeing her name in lights.
I totally fell in love with Alice, she’s quite naïve and not quite as street wise as some but she’s very talented even though she doesn’t realise it or have the faith in herself. Alice is a character that has a heart of gold and I was desperately wanting Alice to succeed.
Another character I really liked was Gina, she befriends Alice at the first audition and gives Alice some much needed advice. Gina’s not had an easy life, she’s street wise, a dancer by day, a hostess by night and being older than Alice the two are totally different but a firm friendship begins and I was really backing Gina too, hoping she would succeed just like I hoped for Alice.
Julia Roberts really knows how to set a scene and draw the reader in, clearly having experience in the theatre audition process Roberts really makes the story come alive. It was like I was in 1976, I was so engrossed in the story I could feel the nerves and excitement, the fear and disappointment. I wont go into the plot, you really need to read this book to find out what happens, but there is one character that really got my heckles up and as I was sitting reading those scenes I really wanted to just scream at the book and punch the character.
Alice in Theatreland really is a page turner, so much so I didn’t want it to end, even though I was desperate to see how things panned out and see if Alice was going to get her dream. It’s a mixture of love, drama, suspense and excitement and I’d love to see this on the stage or even on TV, I think it would be brilliant. I definitely highly recommend Alice in Theatreland and would love to read more about Alice in the future.
From the prologue I was totally hooked, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting but it totally had me intrigued and desperate to find out who and how that person came to be in that situation. We then meet 19 year old Alice as she’s leaving her home in Nottingham, she’s heading off to London to an audition for a new West End Show, her friend has given her the use of her flat while she’s away for 6 weeks and filled with determination, she dreams one day of seeing her name in lights.
I totally fell in love with Alice, she’s quite naïve and not quite as street wise as some but she’s very talented even though she doesn’t realise it or have the faith in herself. Alice is a character that has a heart of gold and I was desperately wanting Alice to succeed.
Another character I really liked was Gina, she befriends Alice at the first audition and gives Alice some much needed advice. Gina’s not had an easy life, she’s street wise, a dancer by day, a hostess by night and being older than Alice the two are totally different but a firm friendship begins and I was really backing Gina too, hoping she would succeed just like I hoped for Alice.
Julia Roberts really knows how to set a scene and draw the reader in, clearly having experience in the theatre audition process Roberts really makes the story come alive. It was like I was in 1976, I was so engrossed in the story I could feel the nerves and excitement, the fear and disappointment. I wont go into the plot, you really need to read this book to find out what happens, but there is one character that really got my heckles up and as I was sitting reading those scenes I really wanted to just scream at the book and punch the character.
Alice in Theatreland really is a page turner, so much so I didn’t want it to end, even though I was desperate to see how things panned out and see if Alice was going to get her dream. It’s a mixture of love, drama, suspense and excitement and I’d love to see this on the stage or even on TV, I think it would be brilliant. I definitely highly recommend Alice in Theatreland and would love to read more about Alice in the future.
October 1, 2017
I already knew I’d like Julia Roberts’ writing – I very much enjoyed Time for a Short Story last year, and was keen to see how she handled a full length novel. Yes, everything I’d enjoyed was there – the settings, the well crafted characters, the deft touch with relationships – but this time I really enjoyed the wonderful story-telling, those moments of joy, sadness and edge-of-the-seat drama that made this book such a great read.
The theatrical backdrop is just perfectly done, drawing on the author’s insider knowledge – the audition process, the understudies and their involvement, the backstage interactions, the whims and prejudices of directors and producers. Alice draws the eye from her first appearance – I loved her relationship with her family (and who, in the seventies, would have travelled without cheese and pickle sandwiches, eh?), and her total joy at finding that the leading man had long been on a poster on her bedroom wall. She’s such a wonderful character, and I loved watching her growing friendship with Gina, her brushes with Ruby, and her changing relationship with Peter. The seventies setting is done just right too – the music, the clothes, and all those little touches of unobtrusive detail that will chime with anyone who lived through those years.
And then there were the different moral standards of the time, and that’s the point when the story turns a little darker, and people turn out not to be bathed in quite the rosy glow that you (and Alice) rather hope they are. The tension filled climax is so well handled, perfectly (and very fast) paced, with the deft interweaving of a few expert false leads and red herrings – I just couldn’t put the book down until I’d read the very last page. In so many ways this book is light and easy to read: in other ways – after it acquires its rather darker edge, and has a more serious theme – it sometimes isn’t. But it’s always so thoroughly enjoyable – very different, and such an excellent read.
The theatrical backdrop is just perfectly done, drawing on the author’s insider knowledge – the audition process, the understudies and their involvement, the backstage interactions, the whims and prejudices of directors and producers. Alice draws the eye from her first appearance – I loved her relationship with her family (and who, in the seventies, would have travelled without cheese and pickle sandwiches, eh?), and her total joy at finding that the leading man had long been on a poster on her bedroom wall. She’s such a wonderful character, and I loved watching her growing friendship with Gina, her brushes with Ruby, and her changing relationship with Peter. The seventies setting is done just right too – the music, the clothes, and all those little touches of unobtrusive detail that will chime with anyone who lived through those years.
And then there were the different moral standards of the time, and that’s the point when the story turns a little darker, and people turn out not to be bathed in quite the rosy glow that you (and Alice) rather hope they are. The tension filled climax is so well handled, perfectly (and very fast) paced, with the deft interweaving of a few expert false leads and red herrings – I just couldn’t put the book down until I’d read the very last page. In so many ways this book is light and easy to read: in other ways – after it acquires its rather darker edge, and has a more serious theme – it sometimes isn’t. But it’s always so thoroughly enjoyable – very different, and such an excellent read.
June 25, 2017
In Alice In Theatreland Ms Roberts introduces us to Alice, a nineteen year old dancer who, armed with her trusty equity card, leaves the relative safety of her Nottingham home to try her luck in the big city. She has an audition for a new West End Show, a place to stay and a whole lot of talent. What can possibly go wrong? Ask that again after she falls foul of the producer for being overweight and after making a fool of herself with the star of the show, heart-throb Peter Flint.
If there is one thing you can say about Alice it’s that she knows how to make an impression. I have to be honest. I really did like the character of Alice. God lord, was the girl a naive as they come, totally green about the perils of the big city, but rather than being too saccharin or perhaps unbelievable, Julia Roberts manages to create a totally charming and engaging young heroine who you really want to see succeed. Yes, she makes some very bad choices but then the book is set in the seventies when perhaps girls weren’t always as street smart as they like to think they are today. And this totally works with Alice’s story. She is from a small city in relative terms and a close knit family unit, and the dishonesty and bitchiness that are rife within the theatre world are not things she is used to. She is almost too nice to succeed but it is refreshing to have a heroine who is believable and honest and not world weary.
Speaking of world weary, Alice’s best friend in this story is the polar opposite of our young heroine. Gina is a dancer by day and ‘hostess’, amongst other things, by night. She takes Alice under her wing from the first audition and, although they make an unlikely pairing, they really do work. Alice offer’s Gina a touch of innocence she hasn’t had in her life for a while, and perhaps even a sense of purpose in looking after the fledgling actress. Again, Gina is a character you can really get behind. A lot more brash and confident than Alice, she has a hard back story, one which doesn’t elicit pity but does give understanding and perhaps even empathy. And she was funny and kind and depressingly described as old despite being ten years younger than I am. Sooooo glad I don’t work in entertainment. I have enough paranoid complexes already…
As for the men in this story, again we have polar opposites. First up you have Peter who is fighting against a bit of a reputation to try and convince Alice that he is a truly nice guy that she might want to take a chance on. And he did come across as such in an entirely honest way. It is easy to fall into cliche when dealing with the misunderstood hot guy, but it never felt like this at all. Next up we have Larry, Gina’s best friend. I don’t know why (well actually I do – it’s the name) but every time I read about him I kept thinking of the choreographer Larry in ‘A Chorus Line’ and couldn’t help picturing him as Terence Mann. In fact there are probably strong parallels here in terms of Larry ensuring Gina has a place in the show, much as Larry (film) helped Cassie get her rightful place in the chorus line.
And then there is Richard, a man so loathsome I could feel my skin crawl almost every time he was mentioned. Sadly there were (possibly are still) far too many people like Richard in the industry back then and again Ms Roberts has captured his blend of arrogance, sense of entitlement and complete disdain for others perfectly. He really is one of those characters you want to punch, or worse,and I longed to see his comeuppance. Ugh. Vile, vile character with no redeeming qualities at all.
I think with this book, Julia Roberts manages to capture a brilliant blend of romance and drama. There is no doubting the authenticity which comes from her own experiences and knowledge of the audition process and the desires of those wanting to make it in the theatre. I could feel the frustrations and the upset of those who failed to make the cut, even the bitchiness and cliquishness of those who were not quite in Alice’s league. As I said before, for me this was a page turner of a book. It wasn’t necessarily driven by fast pacing or action, although that said the opening of the book left me completely intrigued and I needed to know who was being talked about, plus there were moments of great peril and tension dotted throughout. But the truth is, in spite of my curiosity, once I had got to know Alice, I just wanted to read more, wanted to see her come good and overcome her battles. I wanted to see her take on ‘Theatreland’ and win. Did she succeed in that? Well… You’ll have to read it to find out won’t you.
If there is one thing you can say about Alice it’s that she knows how to make an impression. I have to be honest. I really did like the character of Alice. God lord, was the girl a naive as they come, totally green about the perils of the big city, but rather than being too saccharin or perhaps unbelievable, Julia Roberts manages to create a totally charming and engaging young heroine who you really want to see succeed. Yes, she makes some very bad choices but then the book is set in the seventies when perhaps girls weren’t always as street smart as they like to think they are today. And this totally works with Alice’s story. She is from a small city in relative terms and a close knit family unit, and the dishonesty and bitchiness that are rife within the theatre world are not things she is used to. She is almost too nice to succeed but it is refreshing to have a heroine who is believable and honest and not world weary.
Speaking of world weary, Alice’s best friend in this story is the polar opposite of our young heroine. Gina is a dancer by day and ‘hostess’, amongst other things, by night. She takes Alice under her wing from the first audition and, although they make an unlikely pairing, they really do work. Alice offer’s Gina a touch of innocence she hasn’t had in her life for a while, and perhaps even a sense of purpose in looking after the fledgling actress. Again, Gina is a character you can really get behind. A lot more brash and confident than Alice, she has a hard back story, one which doesn’t elicit pity but does give understanding and perhaps even empathy. And she was funny and kind and depressingly described as old despite being ten years younger than I am. Sooooo glad I don’t work in entertainment. I have enough paranoid complexes already…
As for the men in this story, again we have polar opposites. First up you have Peter who is fighting against a bit of a reputation to try and convince Alice that he is a truly nice guy that she might want to take a chance on. And he did come across as such in an entirely honest way. It is easy to fall into cliche when dealing with the misunderstood hot guy, but it never felt like this at all. Next up we have Larry, Gina’s best friend. I don’t know why (well actually I do – it’s the name) but every time I read about him I kept thinking of the choreographer Larry in ‘A Chorus Line’ and couldn’t help picturing him as Terence Mann. In fact there are probably strong parallels here in terms of Larry ensuring Gina has a place in the show, much as Larry (film) helped Cassie get her rightful place in the chorus line.
And then there is Richard, a man so loathsome I could feel my skin crawl almost every time he was mentioned. Sadly there were (possibly are still) far too many people like Richard in the industry back then and again Ms Roberts has captured his blend of arrogance, sense of entitlement and complete disdain for others perfectly. He really is one of those characters you want to punch, or worse,and I longed to see his comeuppance. Ugh. Vile, vile character with no redeeming qualities at all.
I think with this book, Julia Roberts manages to capture a brilliant blend of romance and drama. There is no doubting the authenticity which comes from her own experiences and knowledge of the audition process and the desires of those wanting to make it in the theatre. I could feel the frustrations and the upset of those who failed to make the cut, even the bitchiness and cliquishness of those who were not quite in Alice’s league. As I said before, for me this was a page turner of a book. It wasn’t necessarily driven by fast pacing or action, although that said the opening of the book left me completely intrigued and I needed to know who was being talked about, plus there were moments of great peril and tension dotted throughout. But the truth is, in spite of my curiosity, once I had got to know Alice, I just wanted to read more, wanted to see her come good and overcome her battles. I wanted to see her take on ‘Theatreland’ and win. Did she succeed in that? Well… You’ll have to read it to find out won’t you.
January 10, 2018
To be honest I thought it was amateurish and full of anachronistic holes. I bought it because it had decent reviews and I thought it might be a bit of fun but it was so obvious. Of course Aluce has "star quality", of course she is chosen to be the lead understudy, of course the lead falls off the wagon and of course the pop star male lead falls in love with her.
Julia Roberts must be too young to remember 1976 but she could have done some research, especially into the fashions of the time.
Julia Roberts must be too young to remember 1976 but she could have done some research, especially into the fashions of the time.
August 29, 2024
Alice is such a believable character & we all know that the casting couch is a real thing.
A proper page turner about love, hard work and commitment. Enjoyed every second of this tale. Julia Roberts at her best.
A proper page turner about love, hard work and commitment. Enjoyed every second of this tale. Julia Roberts at her best.
July 13, 2023
Trigger warning. The story has date rape and is clumsily written. So much of the book is clumsy. Whole thing felt very dated. I had too regularly remind myself that it was written by a woman.
August 13, 2023
LOVED IT! 👍❤️
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews