Making of Cabaret - Any Good?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/2/11 at 4:58am

Cabaret is one of my fave musicals, and I also kinda love how in many ways it instigated the series of Hal Prince (often with Boris Aronson) concept musicals that continued with Zorba and then the major Sondheim shows. Anyway a new Making Of book came out. This guy has already written Making of Gypsy, West Side Story and Guys and Dolls books, none of which I've seen, but Amazon has given them all low ratings (mind you all due basically to the same one reviewer...)

So, while I prob know most of the major Cabaret history things, I'd love to have a book that lists all the changes from production to production, etc. Has anyone read it yet? Does it just rehash what most of us know, or have any interesting new info or pics? http://www.amazon.com/Making-Cabaret-Keith-Garebian/dp/0199732493#_

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/2/11 at 6:29am

With an $84 sale price on Amazon, I'm guessing nobody knows the answer to this.

Updated On: 6/2/11 at 06:29 AM

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 6/2/11 at 10:03am

Well there is the paperback edition for $20.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/2/11 at 5:39pm

Yeah and I found another bookseller selling the paperback for $8. I suppose I should just pick it up at that price and decide for myself. Ent Weekly of all random places (I've rarely seen them review theatre books, though they gave a blurb to Finishing the Hat) had a tiny review but gave it an A-. But I got the impression even from a few sentences the critic didn't know anything about the history of the show beforehand, so not sure that's worth much.

[morosco]

Posted: 6/2/11 at 5:51pm

I'm currently reading the $9.99 kindle edition and I'm enjoying it very much.

[jv92]

Posted: 6/2/11 at 6:11pm

Just finished reading it-- some good insights and new revelations (for me at least) about the rehearsal period and Boston tryout. Well worth the read.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 6/2/11 at 6:30pm

Is this a new book? Amazon list the release date as 2011, yet the one (moronic) review is dated twelve years ago. Also, $84 with a list price of $99?? Where do these prices come from?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/3/11 at 4:26am

It says second edition on the cover, though I never remember seeing an older edition. I'm glad people think it was worth it--maybe I should go back and check out his WSS and Gyposy ones too...

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/3/11 at 9:03am

I have the West Side and Gypsy books. They're good compendiums of the information that's out there from interviews with the creators, but there's no real reporting or insight.

They'd be worth normal prices but not these weird academic-press prices.

This is the kind of "niche publishing" (and we are a niche) that will move into e-book only in the future.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/3/11 at 1:50pm

I've had his MAKING OF... WEST SIDE STORY, CABARET and GYPSY for ages. Learned quite a bit from them. I wonder if this reissue of the one for CABARET is updated with info on the recent revivals: Broadway and London, etc?

[morosco]

Posted: 6/3/11 at 3:17pm

^ It does. It has sections about the London production, the movie, the 1987 Broadway revival, the 1998 Sam Mendes production, and the the 1987 and 2008 Stratford productions.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/3/11 at 9:08pm

Thanks everyone. Pal Joey, your point makes sense--you CAN find cheap copies on Amazon--I assume the paperbacks, for under ten dollars through the marketplace.

(At least the rather grumpy guy who reviewed most of these seems to have been exagerating their faults...)