Customer Reviews

The Playbill Broadway Yearbook: June 1, 2004 - May 31, 2005

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My favorite part of this yearbook is the scrapbook pages from each show with fabulous stories written by cast members about backstage rituals, opening night gifts, favorite lines or moments in the show, celebrity visitors, and exciting photos of the opening night parties, clowning around backstage, actors putting on makeup, etc. Reading the pages makes you feel not just like you've seen the show, but that you've been backstage and been on stage with the cast. On the "42nd Street" page, David Elder, who played Billy Lawlor, wrote his favorite moment in that show is: "Hearing the audience reaction during "We're in the Money" when I would hold the handstand. Also the audience's excited applause when the opening curtain would rise to show what looked like hundreds of tapping feet." From "Wicked:" "Shoshana Bean, the Elphaba with the trucker mouth, walked off the stage and trumpted a curse that would make Joan Rivers blush. As soon as it came out of her mouth, she turned to see (backstage visitor) Garth (Brooks) in his big old cowboy hat and dear Ms. Trish Yearwood with her girls. Elphaba turned a nice shade of green-red and said, gracefully, "Uh...I have to get out of makeup now." And from "Spelling Bee" Jesse Tyler Ferguson's favorite moment: "After I get eliminated from the Bee I give handshakes to each of the actors on stage as I exit. Dan Fogler always says something different to me. On the night of the first preview he said, "Welcome back to Broadway." On a night when the audience was really dead, he said, "You're always the lucky one." Celia always whispers, "I love you." If you love theater like I do, you'll love this yearbook.

Very interesting compendium of the innards of a year's worth of PLAYBILLS, the little programs they distribute at plays and musicals on the Great White Way. It includes all data, with every credit and a ton of headshots, for every production, just like in the magazine, plus group pictures of the entire crew, and even the doormen. The only thing missing is the bios that are contained in the actual magazine.This is for completists, and those who are rabidly interested in theatre...and I am certainly one of those, on both counts.

This is Volume One of a series, initially sort of expensive, but now remaindered. I wouldn't want to pay thirty five bucks for one, but ten, or under, is a real steal. This is sort of a substitute for the John Willis THEATRE WORLD series, which has done the same thing in a compact form, since the mid forties. I have all of those, up to 2002. Lately, they have become very expensive ($75 or more, a pop) and extremely difficult to find, unless you live in NYC. And the newer ones never are remaindered. So, this is the best alternative, a complete record of a Bway season, attractively presented. It also has an obit page that lists theatre folk who died during the year, just a one-page roster with no specific data other than a name. Willis alway provided a litle paragraph of the careers. But his list was never this thorough, in scope.

Subsequent volumes are cool, but there's a lot of repetition, because it lists the current details for all shows. Therefore, things like PHANTOM and MOMMA MIA get representation, every year. I've been able to find the first four volumes (of six, so far,) remaindered, at places like Amazon and Half Price Books, in the past month or two. It's worth it, for me.

This was a great way to combine all the years performances into one book. I recommend adding the other two additions for a complete library.

This book is full of lots of information and great tidbits about last season on Broadway. The yearbook layout is fun and makes it easy to find what you're looking for. Good Times!