Stop the Show! is the first book to assemble humorous, frightening and bizarre anecdotes about the history of all that went wrong during live theatrical productions in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. It is the publishing equivalent of TV bloopers for the legitimate stage. This book includes stories from top directors, actors, playwrights and technicians from New York, Los Angeles, and points in between, to the United Kingdom, from the 19th century to today. There are stories about missed entrances and exits, onstage unscripted fights between performers, improvised lines, accidental pratfalls, falling scenery, and costume, lighting and makeup screwups. The backstage provides sordid tales of practical jokes, treachery, misplaced props, wild arguments, and generally the kinds of things Michael Frayn created for his farce about a theatrical disaster, Noises Off. This book doesn't leave out the theatergoers either, who snore, fight with each other, talk back to the performers, search for their seats, become suddenly ill, eat, drink, make merry, and are yelled at by the performers — all of which sometimes prompts the show to stop, even though we've always been told it must go on.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
...[Schreiber], a theatre professional and columnist for the LA [weekly] Entertainment Today, has a fun idea that doesn't quite hit its mark. A collection of theater anecdotes meant to be both bizarre and funny, the execution suffers from an overload of voices and inside jokes. At over 250 pages, the short tales-most less than a page each-tend to blend together. And while the better anecdotes feature stars such as Katherine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier, [Schreiber] has relied on far too many stories from and about virtual unknowns [...] whose gossipy stories may play well at parties but fall flat on the page. [Schreiber]'s biggest misstep, however, is his own faltering humor; too often, he uses glib irony to pad out or wrap up tales: after an actor forgets all her lines, another goes to the hospital at intermission, and another falls down a flight of steps on-stage, [Schreiber] quips, "But other than that, opening night was an utter success." Though it frustrates, theater lovers will get a few chuckles from this book, and perhaps some stories to pass along over cocktails.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Brad Schreiber attended San Francisco State University, majoring in English/Creative Writing. He studied with Kay Boyle and Leonard Wolf and co-founded two theatre-comedy troupes, performing TV, stage, radio and clubs throughout the Bay Area. He co-founded the San Francisco Playwrights Center in 1980, won a residency grant from the Edward Albee Foundation and has had his work produced in Los Angeles, Dallas, New York and San Francisco. At the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, as a playwright, he workshopped with Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin. His radio work includes winning an award from the National Audio Theatre Festivals in Missouri for his adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s The One Who Waits. He also adapted Philip K. Dick’s Sales Pitch and Lewis Padgett’s The Proud Robot, the latter for the Nebula Award winning series 2000X. All aired on NPR. Upon moving to Los Angeles, Schreiber co-founded the New One Act Theatre Ensemble, worked as an executive, writer and producer at PBS affiliate KCET and began his careers as journalist and author. Schreiber is in his 11th year as columnist for L.A.’s oldest weekly newspaper, Entertainment Today and writes theatre criticism for Back Stage West. Schreiber is also author of the best-selling parody of the Guinness Book of World Records, Weird Wonders and Bizarre Blunders (Simon and Schuster) and the humor writing how-to, What Are You Laughing At? (Michael Wiese) He is currently Vice President of Storytech Literary Consulting, founded by Chris Vogler (The Writer’s Journey) and is Supervising Producer on the Court TV series North Mission Road, inspired by his book on the L.A. Coroner’s office, Death in Paradise (Four Walls Eight Windows). His most recent theatre credit was Multimedia Consultant on the world premiere production of What I Heard About Iraq at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood.
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More About the Author
Brad Schreiber has written not only books but also journalism, film, television, radio and theatre. He has also served as a producer, actor, director, literary consultant and instructor. Born in New York City, Schreiber grew up in Rockland County, NY, Santa Monica, CA and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, where he attended San Francisco State University and studied with, among others, Leonard Wolf and Kay Boyle. Schreiber was Vice President of Storytech Literary Consulting for 12 years, for Christopher Vogler, author of THE WRITER'S JOURNEY, where Schreiber analyzed prose and screenwriting for clients all over the world, including Jim Henson's Creature Shop in London and film director-producer Timur Bekmambetov. He has received awards and fellowships from the National Press Foundation, Los Angeles Press Club, National Audio Theatre Festivals, Edward Albee Foundation and California Writers Club, among others.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
See Eric Bogosian rave ....,
By a reader (New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Stop the Show! A History of Insane Incidents and Absurd Accidents in the Theater (Paperback)
The first collection of theater's greatest blunders, from the West End and Broadway to the lowliest amateur theater, Stop the Show! revels in ruined lines, dangerous scenery, rude theatergoers, performers sabotaging each other and more.
Among the outrageous and mind-boggling events during live performances: Richard Burton, after an afternoon of drinking with his brothers, accidentally urinates through his tights while swordfighting Michael Redgrave at Stratford-upon-Avon. The Second City Toronto member who took LSD for the first time feels its effects hours later...in the middle of a comedy sketch, posing as a taxi cab driver. A homeless woman climbs onstage during a production of Cats on Broadway, rubs up against stunned, costumed performers and begins singing off-key. In London's intimate Bush Theatre, an actor finds himself onstage with a petrified burglar who sneaked inside the building to rob it, not knowing it was a theatre. An April Fool's Day announcement in a Broadway theatre, claiming that Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfus and Gene Hackman all have understudies going on for them creates a mass exodus from the theatre before the audience can learn it's a joke. "Mr. Schreiber's book of anecdotes should be deposited in every dressing room both on and off Broadway." -Eric Bogosian
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not Recommended,
By BillB "WB" (North Babylon, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Stop the Show! A History of Insane Incidents and Absurd Accidents in the Theater (Paperback)
The concept sounded great....funny stoties about productions, like film outtakes. We get the stories, but not the funny. The author blandly recites the details, with no real humor - I could count on one hand the ones that made me chuckle. Very disappointing...
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must for theater buffs and anyone who likes to laugh,
By
This review is from: Stop the Show! A History of Insane Incidents and Absurd Accidents in the Theater (Paperback)
A flavorful potpourri of anecdotes about real-life stage bloopers.
It's a smooth and delightful read that makes you wish you'd been there to witness the often hilarious situations described.
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