Offstage Observations
eBook - ePub

Offstage Observations

Inside Tales of the Not-So-Legitimate Theatre

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Offstage Observations

Inside Tales of the Not-So-Legitimate Theatre

About this book

Broadway, once upon a time. A place where people buy tickets at the box office, with cash; where patrons dress for theatre, with no sneakers, no water bottles, and no backpacks; and the only text messages are the ones put there by the playwright. A place where iconic legends of stage and screen can be found in plain view, smiling politely or egotistically preening. Where three dollars will get you a balcony seat at the biggest hit—or the lowliest flop—in town. And a place where an innocent teenager from the suburbs can buy a ticket, slip through the stage door, and wander o'er the threshold into the magical world backstage.

Steven Suskin introduces Broadway, once upon a time, in Offstage Observations: Tales of the Not-So-Legitimate Theatre. The drama critic and noted chronicler of Broadway takes the reader through a decade's worth of adventures, working his way from a menial pencil sharpener for producer David Merrick toward a career as a full-fledged manager, producer, and drama critic. The book follows the author's progress from the wintry night after his sixteenth birthday, when he unexpectedly finds himself alone on the empty stage of a Broadway theatre, peering out at the silent, empty auditorium lit only by a solitary ghost light to the matinee eight summers later when he finds himself accidentally and uncomfortably acting in a Broadway musical, bombarded by roars of laughter from a houseful of playgoers.

A keen observer of the impertinent with an ear for amusing anecdotes, whimsical curiosities, and exaggerated tales of life upon the wicked stage, Suskin draws a portrait of a not-so-long-ago theatre world that has all but vanished.

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Yes, you can access Offstage Observations by Steven Suskin in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Theatre History & Criticism. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Foreword by Ted Chapin
  2. Prologue: Onstage
  3. Chapter 1: Through the Stage Door
  4. Chapter 2: Passport to Times Square
  5. Chapter 3: Candyland
  6. Chapter 4: Discovery
  7. Chapter 5: Waiting in the Wing
  8. Chapter 6: A Man Called Merrick
  9. Chapter 7: Lieutenants
  10. Chapter 8: Journeyman
  11. Chapter 9: Another Journeyman
  12. Chapter 10: Above the St. James
  13. Chapter 11: Merrick Parkway
  14. Chapter 12: Intermission
  15. Chapter 13: Enchantment
  16. Chapter 14: Fried Chicken and Shoe Polish
  17. Chapter 15: Up on Fifty-Seventh Street
  18. Chapter 16: Not Quite Classic
  19. Chapter 17: Offstage Left
  20. Chapter 18: Toiling in the Vineyards
  21. Chapter 19: Long Torturous Road
  22. Chapter 20: Out with the Old
  23. Chapter 21: The Best Decision
  24. Chapter 22: Moving On and Away
  25. Chapter 23: The View from Times Square
  26. Chapter 24: The Aging of Aquarius
  27. Chapter 25: Long Hot Summer
  28. Chapter 26: Cameo
  29. Epilogue: Onstage
  30. Acknowledgments