Little Did I Know

October 1, 2011

It's the summer of America's bicentennial (1976) and a time for living out dreams for a spunky group of friends. Sam August has spent his college career falling in love with theater and jumps at a chance to lease a summer playhouse in Plymouth, MA. Gathering up a motley crew of highly talented classmates is easy; dealing with the capricious theater owners is another matter. Between bizarre threats and attempted seductions, Sam and his friends leap over every obstacle, even while consuming prodigious amounts of alcohol. VERDICT Debut novelist Maxwell's credits as a Broadway producer include Blues in the Night and Dinner with Friends and revivals of Damn Yankees and Bells Are Ringing. This time he has produced a high-rolling romp from start to finish, in which you expect the characters to burst into song and dance at any moment. More of a lighthearted Anything Goes than a darker Company, it should appeal to readers seeking a little escape into worlds where dreams come true.--Jan Blodgett, Davidson, NC

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2011
In what appears to be a thinly fictionalized first novel, award-winning theater producer and director Maxwell traces the efforts of recent Tufts graduate Samuel August and friends to revive a dormant historic theater in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Long on ambition and short on funds, Sam must first finagle an appointment with the theater's owner and one of Plymouth's leading and richest citizens, cantankerous Anderson Barrows. After schmoozing his way past the Barrows family, he proceeds to hold auditions to find the most talented singers, dancers, and actors he can to put on a summer-long string of musicals. But everything that can go wrong does, and Sam must use all his wiles to cajole the cast, bribe the appropriate building inspectors, and win the affections of local beauty Veronica. Although Maxwell's novel lacks the polish of Edith Freud's Lucky Break (2011), which also follows the fortunes of an acting troupe, its great enthusiasm for all things musical theater is absolutely infectious. From the stirring auditions to the rousing productions, Maxwell conveys the transporting properties of musical theater with great gusto.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)