While working as a theater critic for Manhattan's New York Press in 1996, novelist Sarah Schulman reviewed the original off-Broadway production of the eventual worldwide hit Rent. She did not particularly like the show and resented what she saw as its easy and simple-minded appropriation of the East Village's gay and alternative cultures. It was only later, when a friend pointed it out to her, that she began to see that the writer and composer of Rent, Jonathan Larson, had "borrowed" a good chunk of his play's plot and detail from Schulman's own 1987 novel People in Trouble. This shock of recognition was transformative, and it ultimately led to the writing of Stagestruck. Schulman begins with an unhappy account of having her novel ripped off by Larson, but uses this as a springboard to discuss the broader and more complex issues of how gay themes--particularly AIDS--are used and distorted in mainstream culture, focusing her discussion on a wide range of entertainments including the film Philadelphia, Jon Robin Baitz's play A Fair Country, performances by Diamanda Galas, and POZ magazine. As in her best novels, Schulman's observations on culture and politics are astute and startlingly original. Stagestruck is an incisive and important work of social criticism. --Michael Bronski
Review
“Sarah Schulman is one of this country’s best cultural critics and novelists, and what she has to say in this book needs to be heard.”—Alexander Doty, author of Making Things Perfectly Queer: Interpreting Mass Culture
“Sarah Schulman writes from a highly-scorned community whose members are generally cast as anonymous freaks in someone else’s play. As Stagestruck makes clear, the titillating history and ideas of these ‘freaks’ are consistently stolen and then corrupted by uptown ‘art’ marketeers out to make a quick buck. But you cannot change the story without changing the moral of the story. ‘Soul stealing’ is punishable in older societies. It is time we caught up.”—Diamanda Galás, performer and composer
“Utterly engrossing. . . startling and scary. . . . I have never read a more persuasive account—a wonderfully written one too—of the commodification that has overtaken us, and the disparity of power between the haves and the have-nots. . . . Stagestruck establishes beyond cavil the gross colonization by yuppie straight America of all that is special about gay life. Sarah Schulman remains what she has been: a rare, fearless teller of unpleasant truths.”—Martin Duberman, author of In White America and Stonewall
“Stagestruck showcases Schulman’s persuasive voice in all its energy and eloquence. . . . Schulman is persuasive and passionate as she guides the reader to her final indictment of our entire consumer culture, one that has reduced the gay community to a marketing niche.”―Girlfriends
“If Schulman was unable to rescue her rights from the underworld of corporate entertainment, she has not returned from that inferno empty-handed. Stagestruck is a stunning act of courage and political truth-telling.”―Lambda Book Report
“Take the stardust out of your eyes and clear the deck for Stagestruck. . . . Finally, an inside account of how the original novel People in Trouble, written by Schulman, was misappropriated for the musical Rent. More importantly, Schulman uses her ensuing struggle for acknowledgment of that fact as the basis for analyzing the subterfuge of erasing or stereotyping lesbian and gay identity in the larger context of mass media response and perception. It raises the question of how recent visibility is being manipulated and sold short all at the cost of searching for a wider, more accepting audience not only in theaters but in magazines, movies, and style.”―Peter Cramer, Lesbian and Gay New York
“What Schulman asks is simple: Must we continue sacrificing the memories of those who have died in this epidemic to hawk another album, a T-shirt, and a bottle of Absolut? Her answer in this powerful, provocative work is equally direct: Don’t lie about our lives.”―Village Voice
“Whether you are familiar with People in Trouble, Rent, or recent gay and AIDS plays on Broadway, Stagestruck is worth reading. The politics are progressive, the jokes give chuckles, and Schulman’s creative spirit flourishes throughout.”―Bay Area Reporter
From the Back Cover
"Sarah Schulman is one of this country's best cultural critics and novelists, and what she has to say in this book needs to be heard."--Alexander Doty, author of "Making Things Perfectly Queer: Interpreting Mass Culture"
About the Author
Sarah Schulman is an award-winning playwright, novelist, and non-fiction writer. She is the author of seven novels, including After Delores, People in Trouble, Rat Bohemia, and, most recently, Shimmer, and the nonfiction work My American History: Lesbian and Gay Life during the Reagan/Bush Years. A longtime activist, Schulman was one of the first members of ACT UP in New York and a co-founder of the Lesbian Avengers. Over the past twenty years she has contributed to numerous publications, including the Village Voice, the Nation, the New York Times, Gay Community News, and Interview. A recipient of the 1997 Stonewall Award, Schulman lives in New York City.
