Razzle Dazzle

December 14, 2015
Drawing richly on interviews, reviews, memoirs, and archival materials, New York Post theater columnist Riedel crisply tells the tale of the men whose contentious battle for the Broadway theater district turned 1970s Times Square into today's mecca for theatergoers and tourists. In fast-paced prose, he chronicles the financial intrigues and rapacious feuds that set the stage for Broadway's decline and comeback. After J.J. Schubert died in 1963, he willed his 17 theaters to the Sam S. Schubert Foundation. J.J. Schubert's cousin, Larry, ineffectively tried to resuscitate his father's dying empire, only to be thwarted and challenged by Gerald Schoenfeld, chairman of the Schubert Foundation, who eventually brought the Schubert empire back to its glory days with the production of A Chorus Line in 1975. The battle for Broadway heated up when Schoenfeld and Jacobs's archrival, Jimmy Nederlander, opened Annie in 1977, beginning what the New York Times called "the Great Duel." With the prurient appeal of a gossip column and the rapid-fire and detailed chronicle of the fall and rise of cultural powerhouses, Riedel's fascinating tale gives readers a glimpse of how Broadway grew into the glittering spectacle it is today.

September 15, 2015

Booking agents and producers star in Riedel's (PBS Theater Talk) history of the Broadway theater through the prism of the Shubert Organization. Among the issues considered are the gentrification of Times Square, the rise of the spectacle-reliant modern Broadway musical, and the decimation of a generation of artists by the AIDS epidemic. The rocky road from out-of-town production to Times Square smash is depicted with more than a little delightfully black humor. However, firmly taking center stage in this volume are the businesspeople. The resilient Shuberts, who grew their concern from small regional theaters in upstate New York and shepherded it through the advent of talking pictures and the Great Depression, function as the true heroes of the piece. Much space is also given to the bleaker side of the business; the institutional larceny known as "ice," in which the profits from the resale of prime tickets dwarf the profits of producing a show. VERDICT While not functioning as an introduction or a detailed history of the American commercial theater, this book articulates neglected but historically essential point of view.--John Frank, Los Angeles P.L.

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