MAKING IT ON BROADWAY

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/9/04 at 8:33pm

I was at Books-A-Million today and I happened to come across the book, MAKING IT ON BROADWAY. I sat down and read a little of it and now I don't think I want to be on Broadway anymore. I mean, I still have the passion for it, but it scared me to death. People can't stay married, the pay is crap, stalkers, very nasty dressing rooms, massive sexual harrasment, if you are straight you do not get roles a lot of times if you are up against a gay person, etc. Seriously........reading just the little bit that I did made me question whether or not I really want to go through with this. Did anyone else have this reaction when reading it?

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/9/04 at 8:44pm

It's a good read, but I found the book rather skewed. I wrote a lengthy post about some issues I had with the book, which initiated a rather interesting thread (see link below).

Someone has commented that the book has a bias, which it then attempts to justify through oblique interview snippets and gently prodding the reader. It also doesn't help that Jodie Langel had a very short career on the Great White Way, and some readers have accused her of imposing her experiences onto her research (it's a valid argument, when you consider the unusual negative focus on Les Miz and Martin Guerre, but practically no word on Phantom, the biggest megamusical giant of them all). In any case, the primary research is tainted by this involvement of a Broadway performer.

It's good that you're now questioning a career in the performing arts (it isn't a walk in the park), and the book does make some very valid points, but also take the extremities of what the book says with some skeptism.
Making It On Broadway - thoughts

Updated On: 8/9/04 at 08:44 PM

[insomniak]

Posted: 8/9/04 at 8:48pm

Are there excerpts available online anywhere? Bookstores in Ohio are sorely lacking in theatre material.

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 8/9/04 at 8:51pm

I just found the official website. Haven't really surfed it, though.

http://www.makingitonbroadway.com

The entire book is made up of interview segments with actors who have been in a Broadway musical at least once; their quotations are organized into themed chapters. This gives it an air of journalistic accuracy, but again, if you look/read closely you'll find that everything's not quite what it seems....

[insomniak]

Posted: 8/9/04 at 8:53pm

Thank you very much, BW. *goes off to read*

edit- wait, there is nothing to read... too bad. Updated On: 8/9/04 at 08:53 PM