Michael Riedel's next book –– "Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway" –– out November 2020- Page 2

[perfectliar]

Posted: 11/11/20 at 7:32pm

Just jumping in to add my praises. I read an advance copy a couple months ago and enjoyed it. I didn't learn nearly as much as I did from Razzle Dazzle since it lived through and saw almost every show he wrote about here, but the backstage gossip is delightful and even the chapters on shows I was very familiar with were fun to read.

[morosco]

Posted: 11/11/20 at 8:16pm

I'm enjoying the book as well.

Regarding the SUNSET BOULEVARD / Faye Dunaway debacle I was surprised to read in the book that "somebody in the theater secretly videotaped the run-through. A few weeks later the video made the rounds of all the bigwigs in musical theatre".

I was under the impression that no recording of Dunaway existed. Maybe this will surface someday.

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/11/20 at 8:37pm

perfectliar said: "Just jumping in to add my praises. I read an advance copy a couple months ago and enjoyed it. I didn't learn nearly as much as I did from Razzle Dazzle since it lived through and saw almost every show he wrote about here, but the backstage gossip is delightful and even the chapters on shows I was very familiar with were fun to read."

I am enjoying the backstage gossip also, so far. The conversation about "BIG" was interesting.

 

[Bway&Disney2]

Posted: 11/12/20 at 10:06am

So I purchased this and finished it on my day off yesterday. Some thoughts. 

 

First having read "Razzle Dazzle", I was impressed with how human it made the entire creative process and history of Broadway feel. so often with mass media it seems to elevate the artists and creatives involved in some type of deity like figures, where everything naturally works out in the end.  This book too refreshingly humanizes the process and the artists.  it was a great behind the scenes look for the topics it covered. 

This leads to my second thought, the topics it covered. It was a wonderful survey of the the fade of british invasion musicals back to American Plays and musicals, however it seemed to have puttered after the Lion King Section/ the fall of that production company whose name is escaping me. It then hops around landing on the producers, a brief section on 9/11 and then a laundry list of shows from the 2000's. I feel like the book should be twice the length and should have explored the post producers broadway scene, the jutbox musical craze, Hairspray, Spamalot, Book of Mormon, and ended at Hamilton. The thesis that Broadway underwent a second golden age, seems like it was an after thought. 

I loved the book, but at the same time feel like it was half finished and really only covered a decade, whereas his last book covered 4 decades in pretty compelling detail. 

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/13/20 at 11:33am

Bway&Disney2, that production company was Livent. I am just near the end of this section of the book and it was really interesting. I remember when all of this hit the news. Out West, our local paper's arts section and tv entertainment reporter followed it a bit and gave a bit of history on the company. This book talks about it in depth and, for me, filled in some gaps. I saw both "Showboat" and "Ragtime" on tour. 

Just a bit of an aside, when Showboat was in, Cloris Leachman was in it. She drove the staff crazy because she refused to use the stage door and would show up in the lobby with her dog like 15 minutes before curtain. I stood one evening and watched her do it. The house manager would escort her backstage from the lobby.

 

Edit: Finished it last night.

I do agree that the end seemed to jump around. I thought he was setting things up for another book but he started giving snippets of info up to "Hamilton". It felt rushed. In talking about "Jersey Boys" and "Avenue Q" he mentions their long Broadway runs but fails to mention their continuations off-Broadway. That made my mind flash back to the 9/11 section (Which, to me, did not feel like a short section, where a comment was made about Off-Broadway and Not For Profits feeling left out. I found the 9/11 chapter quite interesting. 

Also enjoyed the chapters on "The Producers". 

A lot of great pictures at the end and I realized that I met Schumacher in Denver when "The Lion King" opened there.

A fun read. It never feels slow. Just wish it didn't feel rushed at the end. I do hope he does a third book and picks up after "The Producers" and covers the change in power at Jujamcyn. It is only mentioned here.

Updated On: 11/14/20 at 11:33 AM