THE UNTOLD STORIES OF BROADWAY (Vol 4) – Jennifer Ashley Tepper (Dress Circle Publishing)
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
What a fascinating book – one that I hadn’t heard of before and here we are in Volume 4! When the pennies start to come in again, I am certainly looking at purchasing volumes 1 through 3.
The Untold Stories of Broadway, Volume 4 commemorates the one-year anniversary of the 2020-2021 Broadway shutdown. This landmark multi-volume series tells the stories of all of the theatres on Broadway; the new addition includes the beloved houses the Imperial, Jacobs, Studio 54, Minskoff, Friedman, and Golden, as well as the five Broadway theatres that were destroyed in 1982, changing the course of New York City history.
Now, as you can tell from that piece of the press release, this focuses on New York theatres so you may think the demographic of readership would be mainly those in America. However, once you start to read the book you are transported into those houses, not simply in the physical sense but also getting an understanding of how they work(ed). The interviews are carried out with artists who have appeared in the theatre, the backstage staff, the house manager, ushers, writers, composers, etc. There is a breakdown of the genre of theatre that worked best in that house – its low points as well as its high points.
What I also love about the book is that it includes theatres that are no longer physically there but will remain in the hearts and memories of those who worked in them over the years. I have a huge fascination for lost theatres and this one brought back memories of when I was a regular visitor to New York and I remember The Edison, The Helen Hayes, The Bijou and the Morosco – now sadly no more.
Captivating and so interesting, this is one of those books that you start to read and simply cannot put down. Absolutely fascinating and one that I will treasure.
Nick Wakeham
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