Customer Reviews

Show Time: A Chronology of Broadway and the Theatre from Its Beginnings to the Present

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

 

 

Show Time is, quite simply, the most exhaustive repository of New York theatre information I have ever seen compiled in one volume. It contains facts great and small, well-known and forgotten. It's not a book to simply read, but rather to always keep nearby so you can pull it out and look up the answer to whatever Broadway question might just pop into your head. Shows, actors, directors, politics, scandals... It's all here. The one thing that isn't there, though, much to the book's credit, is a point of view. Show Time merely presents a timeline of major theatrical events, but does not comment on them. This book is a must-have for any theatre enthusiast's library.

"Show Time" is a theatre trivia fan's maddest dream come true! Where else can you find--all in one place--the amount of dry ice used in one performance of "Phantom of the Opera"; Al Jolson's salary in 1932; the name of the Broadway producer (and Boston Red Sox owner) who sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees; and some musings from Frank Rich on the legendary flop "Moose Murders"?

"Show Time"'s vast sea of fascinating show-biz facts, figures, faces, and foibles is invitingly laid out and blessedly easy to navigate (maybe too easy: it kept me up till 2 a.m.!). The book is arranged as a season-by-season chronology: Each season opens with a "Yearly Overview," followed by parallel sections devoted to "Personalities"; "Plays and Musicals"; "Business and Society"; and "Births, Deaths, and Marriages." For those who feel they need it, there's an excellent section up front on "How to Use This Book"; there's also a truly comprehensive index at the back. (Sarah Jessica Parker? Andrew Lloyd Webber? Minnie Maddern Fiske? Roddy Maude-Roxby? They're all there!)

I predict that "Show Time" is going to wind up being a permanent fixture on a lot of theatre lovers' coffee tables and nightstands, not just because it's a good-looking book (it is), but because it will quickly become as indispensible as (but a heck of a lot more fun than!) the phone book it's bound to displace.

I enjoy what I have read of this book so far. It seem to a very thought history of Broadway. It has great information that I did not know about many show that I have heard about. I have not read anything that would consider boring so far. I found the book very well written and well reseached by Mr. Brown. I was surprised that it when back all the way to 1826. I was a little disappointed that they was more about shows opening. I consider this book a bargin and well worth what I paid for it. The book was in excellent condition and arrive sooner then I expected to be here.

Gene Brown's "Show Time" displays the Great White Way as it's never, never been seen before. Theatre buffs will think they have died and gone to heaven.There is so much information and trivia about the hits, the flops, the scandals and the actors that it is mind boggling. Want to know how much dry ice is used by "Phantom of the Opera?"; Do you know how many cigarettes a day Tallulah Bankhead smoked?; Remember Judy Tyler, and up and coming Broadway actress in the '50's--want to know what happened to her? It's all here in this treasure trove.The pages are divided into sections: Plays and Musicals; Business; Actors; who married whom, who died.This is definitely a book I will reread many times through. There is so much fascinating information about every Broadway season that is impossible to digest in one sitting.It makes a great gift for the right person and a terrific reference book.

This book did nothing but tell uninteresting facts over and over. It wasn't really about the interesting things that were going on in theatre, but rather small ones. For example, it stated over and over what minimum wage was! Who cares? Do not get this book unless you enjoy being bored!