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Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway Paperback – October 11, 2016

by Michael Riedel (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 637 ratings
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  1. Print length
    464 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    October 11, 2016
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.1 x 8.38 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1451672179
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1451672176
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (October 11, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1451672179
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1451672176
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.1 x 8.38 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 637 ratings

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Michael Riedel

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4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
637 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Thomas M. Sullivan
5.0 out of 5 stars An Aisle Seat for a Terrific Production
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2017
Verified Purchase
I first encountered Michael Riedel several years ago in his role as co-host of PBS’s “Theater Talk.” He struck me then and now as smart and possessed of a mordant wit that must come in handy in his “day job” of the New York Post’s theater critic. Thus, when he described his then-new book, “Razzle Dazzle,” I thought I’d give it a try. Though a hidebound “hard” History buff, it didn’t take much for me to rationalize that this is, after all, cultural History, and the reading experience proved to be as pleasurable as any I’ve enjoyed in the recent past.

I am not a theater maven, though my attendance record does reach back to an SRO viewing of the original production of “The Music Man” in, I believe, 1959. Over the ensuing years, I’ve completed the apparently obligatory triple-header viewing of “Phantom,” an “Oklahoma” revival, the original “Amadeus,” enough productions of “Cats” to put me on the fence about felines, and many others.

I cite this record only to suggest that if most New York theater goers are like me, they are usually pretty damned impressed when proffered a first-rate production of either a worthwhile drama or musical. Indeed, likely very few have the occasion to give a thought to the blood, sweat and tears (to say nothing of money) that go into these little miracles of retail entertainment.

Read this book and you won’t have to conjure the difficulties for Riedel does an absolutely superb job of elucidating them for us. A “biography” of the Shubert brothers is a de facto biography of Broadway because they literally gave shape to the modern “business” of theater show business. Though all died prematurely, their legacy was carried on and enhanced by their designated successors, their attorneys, Bernie Jacobs and Jerry Schoenfeld.

I know that sounds as if the book is a Harvard B-School case study, but that story is only the only the framework on which Riedel builds his engrossing account of the incredibly colorful and talented visionaries who fathered the modern Broadway musical, at least while its heyday lasted. From Merrick to Robbins to Bennett to Webber to Rice to Bernstein to Sondheim, there isn’t a dull character among them (though a reader might conclude that knowing some of them well wasn’t worth the price of familiarity).

More striking, and more entertaining, to me was Riedel’s descriptions of the almost invariably complex, convoluted and controversial genesis of the majority of our most treasured musical productions. One might conclude upon attendance that these gems sprang whole from the fertile brains of creative geniuses when, in fact, most were annealed on the unforgiving forge of bitter failures, infighting and unrelenting misgivings about eventual success. How close many came to never being at all is one of the most beguiling and piquant aspects of this fascinating work.

Riedel self-effacingly admits he was unsure whether his daily newspaper production quota of a few hundred words really equipped him to produce a full-length book. His doubts were misplaced. Broadway is, after all, just make believe, and Riedel does a surpassingly wonderful job of demonstrating just how much one has to “believe” in order to “make.” The book is a pure delight which I guarantee will interest any reader interested in our cultural history. Just buy it; you won’t be sorry.
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Russell J. Sanders
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read for a theater nut
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2015
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With Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway, theater columnist Michael Riedel has provided us theater nuts with a very satisfying look at the last six decades of Broadway, throwing in a bit of history from before the 1960s as well. His book focuses on the enormous influence the Shubert Organization has had on the American theater, starting with the three Shubert brothers and continuing to their successors, Gerald Schoenfeld and Bernard Jacobs, who took over the organization after J. J. Shubert’s death. We also see the contributions of the other legendary theater company, that of the Nederlanders, exploring the feud between the Shuberts and the Nederlanders and their eventual truce. Riedel tells so many wonderful tales in this book, not the least of which are stories of the wildly original Broadway character, producer David Merrick. Some of those Merrick stories I had read before; others were new to me. But all were immensely entertaining. What Riedel has given us is an account of how the Broadway theater was corrupt in the 1960s and how it has emerged as a big money business once again, and in a sense has saved New York City. It is a fascinating book. That being said, I found myself bothered by four “facts” in the book: twice Riedel mentions Broadway choreographer Onna White (The Music Man, 1776, Mame) yet he calls her Oona; in discussing the musical Annie, Riedel misnames the song “It’s a Hard Knock Life” as “It’s the Hard Knock Life”; at two different times, he mentions the show Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, but he calls it Your Arms Are Too Short to Box with God; and what bothered me the most, being a Houstonian, is that he says that the iconic performer and director Tommy Tune is from Wichita Falls, Texas (which is, indeed, where Tune was born,) but the implication is that Tune is a product of a tiny Texas town when, in fact, he grew up in Houston, attended Lamar High School (in the ultra-rich neighborhood River Oaks,) and studied dance with Patsy Swayze who trained such superstars as her son Patrick and the sisters Debbie Allen (Fame) and Phylicia Rashad ( TV and Broadway musical star.) I’m sure fact-checking of a 400 page book is a daunting task. I also agree that perhaps these four items are relatively insignificant. But when I see such easily checked errors, I question the bigger picture, which is “What else is incorrect in this book?” I hope the answer to that question is “nothing else,” for I thoroughly enjoyed Riedel’s book and learned quite a bit from it, increasing my knowledge of Broadway trivia.
9 people found this helpful
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Stacy Helton
5.0 out of 5 stars Any fan of Broadway will have a hard time putting RAZZLE DAZZLE down, with Riedel’s gossipy style on full display!
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2016
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The weasel of Broadway, Michael Riedel, who covers the Great White Way for the NEW YORK POST, has written an insightful, entertaining and illuminating book about the business of Broadway. Full confession, when Riedel and I are in agreement, there is no other fun read, but when he says something that irks me, I feel that he’s a pariah, a boil on Broadway, and vow never to read him again (a promise never kept). He has his fair share of detractors, but he’s obviously getting his gossip somewhere. Nowhere is that on a broader scale than RAZZLE DAZZLE: THE BATTLE FOR BROADWAY, which begins with the Shubert Brothers and ends with the deaths of Shubert stalwarts Bernie Jacobs and Gerald Schoenfeld, whose names adorn theatres side-by-side on W. 45th Street. Riedel’s history of the Shuberts, and a lesser stint with the Nederlanders, is a quick introduction to a bevy of Broadway characters and gossip, but the book truly takes off with the last brothers’ death in 1963, at which time lawyers Jacobs and Schoenfeld take over the Shubert Organization. Because so many players of the time agreed to be interviewed, the reader has a ring-side seat to the creation of so many Broadway classics, including 42ND STREET, CATS, A CHORUS LINE, NINE, DREAMGIRLS, LES MISERABLES, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, ANNIE, EQUUS and more, with a growing cast of characters, with Michael Bennett and David Merrick’s names popping up anytime the story seems to lag. Any fan of Broadway will have a hard time putting RAZZLE DAZZLE down, with Riedel’s gossipy style supported by the business acumen that makes Broadway a business. From the early days through the TAXI DRIVER era up to the “Disneyfication” of Broadway, Riedel misses nary a beat for, as Lauren Bacall sings in APPLAUSE, “the business we call show.”
6 people found this helpful
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Imperdível!
Reviewed in Brazil on November 28, 2020
Verified Purchase
Ainda estou lendo, mas até onde fui achei o livro incrível para quem gosta ou pesquisa a história da Broadway. Nesse caso, não tanto dos musicais, mas da "instituição" Broadway. O livro cobre um período de 50 anos e cobre melhor a crise dos anos 70 e 80 - da Broadway e de Nova York- e as transformações que aconteceram desde a década de 60 e que possibilitaram a a sobrevivência do teatro musical americano. Na minha opinião, uma obra de referência sobre o gênero.
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Jennifer Stewart
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read for the Broadway Lover!
Reviewed in Spain on April 8, 2021
Verified Purchase
I could not put this book down. If you love Broadway then this is a book that will tell you how it all began and how things got to the way they are now. It's not just historical. He has the inside scoop and recounts personal stories and anecdotes from Broadway producers and performers as well. A fascinating read! I'm excited to read the second book!
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William Ian Walker
5.0 out of 5 stars "Razzle Dazzle" is an great "summer read" in learning more info about the back story of the "Schubert Theatre Organization"
Reviewed in Canada on July 24, 2016
Verified Purchase
Want to read about the "back story" about the Schubert Theatre organization with lots of drama and at times an incite into the "Broadway Mafia"? Then you want to read this book! I am a history lover of the theatre and of Broadway and I can't put this book down! Michael Riedel (from "Theatre Talk" on PBS)...is a great writer and he definitely keeps your interest as you want to continue to read on. If you want to know the back story on the musicals such as "Jesus Christ Superstar, Phantom of the Opera, A Chorus Line or Dreamgirls"..read on! This is an awesome read for any theatre geek like me!
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars How Broadway Re-Invented Itself. Bravo!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 14, 2016
Verified Purchase
Can you imagine New York without Broadway? It’s unthinkable today, but by the mid 1970’s, Broadway was almost out for the count.

Michael Riedel’s stunning new book Razzle Dazzle charts the rise of Broadway and introduces the key players in The Shuberts and The Nederlanders, who today remain the dominant forces in the Broadway theatre community.

It charts Broadway’s history through to the 1970’s when due to the vice on the streets of New York and the poor financial health of the city, the Broadway theatre district very nearly became extinct, and the artistic and managerial forces of a few extraordinary individuals who stepped in, and through extra-ordinary measures ensured that Broadway was restored and developed into what we know and treasure today.

Riedel’s book is exceptionally well researched and pulls no punches in his assessments of some of the major players in this century long saga. As a fan of Gerald Schoenfeld’s memoir Mr Broadway, it was interesting to see Schoenfeld and Bernie Jacobs of the Shubert Organisation presented with perhaps a few more foibles, but with ultimate admiration for their efforts in restoring Broadway.

Razzle Dazzle gives the reader a warts and all feeling for not only the major players, but the major scandals and the behind the scenes machinations of Broadway including the “Ice” scandal that very nearly saw a lot of Broadway theatre staff and management indicted on corruption charges.

It was Schoenfeld and Jacobs, the lawyers for the Shuberts who following a board room coup, set about trying to put Broadway back together. With theatres being bulldozed for car parks and the 17 Shubert Broadway houses being valued at less than $1million (unthinkable now), they worked with the likes of Michael Bennett, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh in the monumental task of re-establishling Broadway.
Through the auspices of the Shubert Organisation, they encouraged producers and writers, helped to engineer new urban policies for New York and were instrumental in the clean up of the Times Square area, turning it from a dangerous neighbourhood, to (with the introduction of Disney), a family friendly destination.

It’s incredible to think that following all of these events Broadway is now stronger than ever, with shows queuing up to play in Broadway theatres.

It’s obvious that Riedel holds a supreme love for his subject and respect and admiration for many of the people who play parts in the latter part of his book – those who helped save Broadway.

Michael Riedel is to be congratulated on this great history of Broadway. It’s a riveting read for any fan of musical theatre on the Great White Way. It brings all of the players in the great Broadway drama to life and regales the readers with those fabulous anecdotes and memories that true fans of Broadway die for. For musical theatre fans, the chapters on Michael Bennett and the British invasion of Broadway are irresistible.

Razzle Dazzle would be a perfect gift for any friends who eat, sleep and breathe Broadway. I know that I’ll be having my third read of it over the Christmas break. (Published in BritishTheatre.com)
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars A great read!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 21, 2016
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As a lover of broadway theatre I loved every minute of this amazing book. A great read which I couldn't put down ....
2 people found this helpful
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