MARK AUERBACH
Live: Michael Riedel Shares The Razzle Dazzle Story
Michael Riedel, the controversial Broadway gossip columnist, is a theatre fan’s guilty pleasure. He champions Broadway underdogs and skewers the powerful buffoons who try to control Broadway without heart. He’s either adored or abhorred, but people read his columns faithfully, whether when he was editor at TheaterWeek Magazine, the Broadway gossip columnist at the New York Daily News or now at The New York Post. He also co-hosts the public television show “Theater Talk”. No matter whether he praises or pans a Broadway moment, he’s the subject of endless dramatic debate on the theatre chats from All That Chat to Datalounge.
Michael Riedel. (Photo by Anne Wermeil)
Riedel’s newest book, “Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway” was just released, and the author will discuss his book with Connecticut theatre writer Frank Rizzo on November 4, at the Mark Twain House iand Museum in Hartford, as part of its Book Mark series.
In Razzle Dazzle, Riedel tells the story of Broadway, from its Golden Age (Rodgers and Hammerstein, Berlin, Porter) and its power brokers, the Brothers Shubert, David Merrick, and Neil Simon through the decline of Times Square and almost certain death, to its renaissance today. The shocking backstage drama, intrigue, power plays and histrionics rivaled anything in front of the curtain, and Riedel’s book (which I couldn’t wait to get my hands on and read in one night) is fascinating.
In the mid-1970s Times Square was the seedy symbol of New York’s economic decline. Its once shining star, the renowned Shubert Organization, was losing theaters to make way for parking lots. Bernard Jacobs and Jerry Schoenfeld, two ambitious board members, saw the crumbling company was ripe for takeover and staged a coup amidst corporate intrigue, personal betrayals, and criminal investigations. Once Jacobs and Schoenfeld solidified their power, they turned a collapsed theater-owning holding company into one of the most successful entertainment empires in the world, ultimately backing many of Broadway’s biggest hits, including A Chorus Line, Cats, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Mamma Mia! They also sparked the revitalization of Broadway and the renewal of Times Square.
Riedel tells the stories of the Shubert Organization and the shows that re-built a city in grand style, revealing the backstage drama that often rivaled what transpired onstage, exposing bitter rivalries, unlikely alliances, and, of course, scintillating gossip. This is a great story, told with wit and passion.
Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway is published by Simon and Schuster.
For details: 860-247-0998 or www.marktwainhouse.org.
Keep in Mind
Mamma Mia, that big long-running Broadway blockbuster, may have closed in The Big Apple last month, but a tour visits The Bushnell in Hartford on October 30-November 1. So, if you like a fun show with lots of ABBA music, Mamma Mia’s for you. For details. 860-9897-5900 or www.bushnell.org
Thomas Bergeron
Thomas Bergeron, principal trumpet player with the Springfield Symphony and a South Hadley native, plays Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E Flat in his first solo performance with the Orchestra (November 7 at Symphony Hall). Maestro Kevin Rhodes conducts, and also gives a pre-performance talk. The program includes Handel’s Royal Fireworks Music, Copland’s Quiet City and Mozart’s Symphony No. 39. For details: 413-733-2291 or www.springfieldsymphony.org
Our Voices Rise For Autism Speaks, a benefit for Austism Speaks, will be held at West Springfield’s Majestic Theater on November 10. Hosted by Dave Madsen of Western Mass News, the concert will feature Morgan Moriarty with Dan Kane and Friends. Guest singers include Ray Guillemette Jr., Emery Henderson, Sue Dziura, Scott Kosior and Emmerson White. For details: 413-747-7797.or www.majestictheater.com.
Natalie MacMaster brings her Visions from Cape Breton and Beyond: A Celtic Family Celebration to Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre on November 7, under the auspices of The Berkshire Theatre Group. For details: 413-997-4444 or www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org.
The Fabulous Lipitones, the musical comedy by John Markus and Mark. St. Germaine, plays The Majestic Theater in West Springfield though December 2. When a barbershop quartet’s lead singer dies before a major contest, the group searches for a replacement and finds one unlikely candidate. For details: 413-747-7797 0r www.majestictheater.com.
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio.
