Razzle Dazzle

Long winded and recitation of facts and figures rather than real storytelling style. The narrator operated at the same pitch- a kind of whispered urgent delivery that would be fine for certain instances but as a whole book was really difficult to listen to. There were so many theater owners ,producers ,operators that I couldn’t keep them apart and was overall extremely disappointed and I love Broadway!!

Michael Riedel puts his undergraduate History background & insiders knowledge of Broadway & it\’s movers & shakers to showstopping good use in \”Razzle Dazzle\”. Part Theater History, how Broadway was developed, part personality history of influential producers & creatives — directors, composers, playwrights & performers and the back stories on Broadway\’s most successful shows & painful flops, this book covers it all. It makes you want to listen to those shows & find your old Playbills. It will join the ranks of Goldman\’s \”The Season\” if you love & want to fully appreciate Broadway.

The book is almost three separate stories. The beginning recounts the story of the large theater owning families. The middle is about some of the iconic producers. The third part is about some of the most popular productions of the past 40 years; Cats, A Chorus Line, etc.

A nice history of Broadway as seen through the lens of the Shubert organization. Best listened to at 1.5x speed.

I love the book and the stories here, but the narrator is awful. He makes everything feel so smarmy and sleazy. Even when the people aren\’t.

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