The paperback is $45, with the hardback at $110? That's a bit much. I'll keep monitoring Amazon for when the price is lowered to something more reasonable.
Looks like a great read. I saw 6 of the shows listed. "Margaritaville" will always remain #1 for me - the worst show I ever saw. It was just so stupid. "Bullets" was fantastic! Loved it!
Can only say I've seen half of one. I saw Escape to Margaritaville at the Chicago tryout. Two hours before curtain, while waiting for my friend, I grabbed a table and a margarita pitcher for us at a restaurant. She showed up and immediately announced she was pregnant (and therefore, couldn't drink the margaritas.) I was never wasteful person, so I finished the pitcher and went to the show. I posted on instagram about having margaritas before the show, Broadway in Chicago commented on my instagram post, "Someone came prepared!"
Oh. Oh I need this. But I can wait at that price. It will hit Amazon eventually. I need this just to see what they say about Dance of the Vampires in the book because.... woof. I spoke about my experience seeing that over in the "Shows That Now Live In Infamy" topic. So all I will comment here only the one thing that I think sums it all up.... Penis. Sponge. Joke.
Hey there! It's Stephen Purdy here, the author of the book. I'm unbelievably flattered that this interests you guys. I just wanted to to say that I ALSO think the price is far too high and have been told that this price is just an initial price and that the price will come down once the book is released. Lets hope so. Also, there is bad info on Amazon and such about the length. It's much longer than 108 pages (it's around 220 I think.) Finally, the preface explains why the choices were what they were when choosing the shows to discuss. You're absolutely right, there could have been discussion about several of the Wildhorn shows, but expect to see those in future volumes (which we are planning!) Stay well, everyone and lets all pray we are back in the theatre SOON!
Thanks, Steven. Really looking forward to it. Yes, Amazon does lower their prices the closer the release date is. Anything that is pre-ordered, will automatically honor the lowest price when it ships out.
I thought "Honeymoon in Vegas" - like "Something Rotten" - had a great first 30mins and then it all went downhill from there. I'm surprised it hasn't shown up regionally anywhere as it is a well-known movie title.
I think the list is quite interesting given that a lot of them had a lot of potential but just didn't work. I'm in the minority but I loved a lot of "Rocky" - the staging was so cool, and the song "Raining" is just so gorgeous.
Was Thou Shalt Not non-profit or a commercial run? That one continues to fascinate me. With the source material and creatives involved it should have been a bigger success. Maybe that one will be covered in a later volume.
I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. I had a $10 Amazon gift card on account, which knocked the Kindle ebook down to around $20. This book is definitely worth the read - ten very thorough and interesting case studies full of facts and even some fun anecdotes. I really hope there are more editions to come!
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
Stephen Purdy here: Oh my gosh bwayphreak234 I'M SO glad you liked it. We authors sit in our little cubby with a Diet Coke and a computer and write and it isn't until we get feedback like this that is so important to us. Thank you for reading it--I am truly appreciative!!!! Be well and safe!
The price that comes up for me on both Barnes & Noble and Amazon is $150.00, and it says it is only 114 pages. What the hell????? I can get a good seat at an actual Broadway show for less than that. Someday. One day. Maybe.
No editor seems to have caught--on the first page of the first chapter--that the title of a famous magazine is The New Yorker, not New Yorker (hypothetically, you can say "As was stated in the/a New Yorker article..." but that isn't the sort of sentence structure in which the error appears).Read what I could on the Amazon preview. It seems to be rehashing what a Broadway aficionado would know from other sources, not just transient newspaper articles but other works in book form. Not seeing a lot of new information, nor any real analysis of the shows themselves. Instead it seems a recounting of their troubled production histories. Not sure I see the value in the book.
Also, as it's published by Routledge, an academic press, I don't expect the price to come down much, even in paperback.
Hey guys, Stephen here, author of the book. Thank you for the feedback--it's truly helpful as we ready future volumes. I agree 100 percent---the price is RIDICULOUS. I fought and fought, but I'm told by the publisher that when books first are released the price is higher with the intention of bringing it down later to "move copies." As for the length also correct---it stinks. Several chapters were pulled at the end in the interest of overall length and content, but yeah, I was also shocked and upset that only 108 some odd pages ended up in the final--although there's a lot of print crammed onto each page. Finally just to clear the air, the book wasn't meant to be a dishy tattle tale type with shocking insights and revelations and ideas about how the shows could have been saved (I point it out in the intro) but rather to just get the stories of the shows chronicled as they are truly fascinating. Also, I purposely avoided the Ken Mandelbaum model, as much as I enjoyed that book. Ken essentially wrote blurbs about most of the shows and didn't really dig into the stories of the show--it was more of a survey type book. In any case, thank you again for constructive feedback--we'd like to do two more books on the same topic writing in-depth about the shows rather than just touching on the fact that the show was a flop---but without commentary or opinions--but we will do the length AND THE PRICE and even the content differently next time-but I need your help. I'd love to hear anyone's feedback personally too--you can email me anytime--my email address is on my website StephenPurdy.com (I don't think I can leave it here?). Anyway, thank you again. I hope the book brings some reader-ly joy at least.