Razzle Dazzle - The Battle for Broadway

Zusatztext “ Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway byMichael Riedel! the New York Post 's flamboyantly mischievous Broadwaycolumnist! tells the thrilling history of the larger-than-life impresarios whohelped transform the Great White Way from cultural ugly duckling in the seedy1970s to the grand billion-dollar swan it is today.” – Los Angeles Times Informationen zum Autor Michael Riedel has been the theater columnist for the  New York Post  since 1998.  New York  magazine has called his column a “must-read” for the theater world. Michael began his radio career as regular on the Imus in the Morning show in 2011. In 2017 WOR, New York’s oldest and highest-rated station, asked him to cohost its morning show with well-known sportscaster Len Berman. The Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning  show is the highest-rated morning radio program in the New York City area. Michael’s book  Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway  won the Marfield Prize for arts writing in 2015 and is widely considered to be the successor to William Goldman’s celebrated 1967 book about Broadway,  The Season . A graduate of Columbia University, Michael lives in the West Village. Klappentext A vivid page-turner detailing the rise, fall, and redemption of Broadway. Leseprobe Razzle Dazzle CHAPTER ONE The Ice Age This is a very weird way to begin an investigation, David Clurman thought as he listened to the anonymous caller on the other end of the line. A special assistant to the powerful New York State attorney general, Louis J. Lefkowitz, Clurman knew nothing about the economics of the Broadway theater. His speciality was real estate and securities. At thirty-five, he’d already made a name for himself as a tough investigator of the city’s powerful real estate magnates, authoring the first law in New York state history regulating the sales of co-ops and condominiums. Important, to be sure; glamorous, hardly. But here he was, sitting in his office at 80 Centre Street in the spring of 1963, listening to a fast-talking, agitated, self-described “angel,” which, as the caller explained to Clurman, was showbiz slang for backers of Broadway shows. “I’m not going to give you my name,” the angel said. “But you should look into what goes on with the money on Broadway.” Clurman asked why the angel was concerned. “Well, I made an investment in a play, and the producer used the money to buy a lobster boat in Montauk.” “A lobster boat?” Clurman said. This was indeed a strange way to begin an investigation. But Clurman, who could smell flimflam down to the paperclips, was interested. He spent nearly an hour on the phone with the tipster, getting a crash course in the murky world of Broadway financing. Investors, it seemed, were in the dark about everything—production costs, weekly running costs, where the money they invested went, whether the shows were fully capitalized or not, how much they lost when they closed. Sometimes their money went into the productions they wanted to support; sometimes it wound up in shows they didn’t even know about. And sometimes it went to buy lobster boats in Montauk. Producers wanted to take an angel’s money, give him a hug on opening night, give him some money if the show worked, and if it didn’t, well, that’s Broadway—it’s a crap shoot. Move on to the next show, next season. It’s going to be a surefire hit. Stick with me, the producers seemed to say, because I have a script on my desk right now that’s a winner. “What about accountants?” Clurman asked. “Don’t you get a complete accounting of the production after it closes?” “Accountants?” the caller responded, laughing. They just accept whatever documents the producers give them. Led...

Product details

• Authors: Michael Riedel
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.10.2016
• EAN: 9781451672176
• ISBN: 978-1-4516-7217-6
• No. of pages: 464
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Theatre, ballet; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous