Second Act Trouble: Behind the Scenes at Broadway's Big Musical Bombs
by Steven Suskin
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Description
"If Broadway's triumphant musical hits are exhilarating, the backstage tales of Broadway failures are tantalizing soap operas in miniature. Behind every fabled flop is a set of claims, countercharges, and recriminations from some of the biggest egos in the public eye, struggling to save face. Second Act Trouble puts you with the creators in the rehearsal halls, at out-of-town tryouts, in late-night, hotel-room production meetings, and at after-the-fact recriminatory gripe fests." "Steven show more Suskin has compiled and annotated long-forgotten, first-person accounts of 25 Broadway musicals from the 1930s to the 1990s that stubbornly went awry. Contributions come from such respected writers as Patricia Bosworth, Mel Gussow, Lehman Engel, William Gibson, Lewis H. Lapham, and John Gruen. No mere vanity productions, these; you can't have a big blockbuster of a failure, it seems, without the participation of Broadway's biggest talents. Caught in the stranglehold of tryout turmoil are Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, Jerry Herman, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, John Kander, Mel Brooks, and even Edward Albee." "These cautionary tales are provocative, highly instructive, occasionally brutal, and, from a safe distance, downright hilarious, making Second Act Trouble the perfect Broadway bedtime reader - unless you are prone to nightmares."--BOOK JACKET. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Rather a cut and paste book collecting stories written at the time when these shows were in rehearsal and in preview and hoping to be the next big hit.
So some stories and long and in detail and some are little quick notes like from the ArtsBeat section of the Times.
As a theatre geek who has been on the wrong side of the footlights more than once I enjoyed the inside baseball details and the stories of very talented people working hard and sometimes producing - a mess.
So some stories and long and in detail and some are little quick notes like from the ArtsBeat section of the Times.
As a theatre geek who has been on the wrong side of the footlights more than once I enjoyed the inside baseball details and the stories of very talented people working hard and sometimes producing - a mess.
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Author Information
16 Works 375 Members
Steven Suskin is a longtime theatrical producer and manager
Classifications
- Genres
- Music, Nonfiction, History, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 792.6 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Theater: Plays, Ballet, Opera Musical plays; ballad operas, musicals, revues
- LCC
- ML2054 .S96 — Music Literature on music Literature on music History and criticism Vocal music
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 67
- Popularity
- 464,517
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.78)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
- UPCs
- 1
