Customer Reviews

The New Amsterdam: The Biography of a Broadway Theater

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This is the most beautiful book I own. I had been to the New Amsterdam in its most painful days. At this time I saw Mondo Cane and would not sit down it was such a flea bag theatre. It was a historical sight...Ziegfeld Folies et al. I really felt sad as I stood there feeling the greatness that had passed; at the time I felt... forever. Disney has brought the theatre and the feeling back. I witnessed this with my viewing of LION KING. What I felt had been lost forever can be seen in this wonderful book. The pictures before and after make one feel that nothing is impossible. The beauty that had decayed and looked irreversable has been accomplished and this book, and this theatre stand as testaments to what can be accomplished. Anyone who has walked into a theatre and felt the past rekindle will love to read this inspiring book. This book shows the cycle of a wonderful theatre and all that it was and lost and then saved. It symbolizes the rise and fall of 42nd Street as well as one beautiful theatre. This book will for once and for all show what a thetare can be and fall to and rise above. This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in Theatres anywhere and what they should symbolize to all of us.

Do you know a theater buff who deserves the perfect gift this holiday season? Disney's Hyperion has just released the ideal book for anyone who loves the theater: The New Amsterdam: The Biography of a Broadway Theatre.

The book is as striking as New York's famed and recently refurbished New Amsterdam Theatre. Opening from the center to reveal the main stage framed by delicate murals and art nouveau decorations, the book is brimming with pictures. It begins with decades old photographs and sketches that depict the grace and splendor of the theater when it opened in 1903 and concludes with before-and-after pictures demonstrating the care and effort that went into the building's restoration.

This book does not simply tell the story of the rise, fall, and rebirth of the Broadway landmark, it recounts the history of American theater as it passed over the stage of the New Amsterdam. From the Ziegfeld Follies to Fred Astaire to Jack Benny to Disney's recent staging of King David, the New Amsterdam welcomed America's most famous and talented performers. The New Amsterdam: The Biography of a Broadway Theatre makes this history come alive with photos of movie posters, actors, sets, and costumes.

Disney is to be commended for committing their resources to the painstaking and comprehensive restoration project that has saved the New Amsterdam from its undeserved fate as a forgotten and abandoned relic from Broadway's' glamourous past. They can also be congratulated for offering this remarkable book that preserves and shares 94 years of America's artistic heritage.

This book offers an excellent overview of the New Amsterdam Theater from the beginning through the recent renovation with discussions of the architecture of the building, the decorative artwork and of course a history of shows that have played at the theater from the beginning.

My earliest ancestor landed in New Amsterdam in 1687. These theaters, among others, were built on some of his farm land.

This book is beautiful. It is so fun to see all of the before and after pictures, after seeing a show in this theater. It is a great reminder of our fun in New York, and my daughter loves learning the history of where we visited. The book on Amazon was HALF the price of the same one in the theater and we didn't have to carry the book home on the airplane!!!

The New Amsterdam Theatre is amazing. It has been given a new life. This book tells that story. It brings us back to Old New York when there used to be over fifty theatres!! It is a shame that we've let them be destroyed. But this book gives the story of a theatre and a peek into a past that deserves to be remembered.