re: I see someone has read
Last Edit: AlanScott 01:54 am EST 11/23/24
Posted by: AlanScott 01:43 am EST 11/23/24
In reply to: I see someone has read - sc2 09:41 pm EST 11/22/24

I have read it, but the first time I read it was in relatively recent years. I first read about the history of the show in an article in Playbill in 1971. I haven't looked at the book in several years, and I didn't consult it before posting here (meaning my post a bit lower down, in reply to EvFoDr). I did consult it just now (meaning just before I typed up this reply post), and I see no mention of the Australian production.

I find the book a fun read, but journalistically extremely suspect in many places. I'm sure some of it is accurate, but there is way too much hearsay, including recountings in detail of conversations that the author could not have been present at (and he didn't claim to be) and that I'm quite positive he was not told about by anyone who was there. He gives us direct quotes (or at least he presents them as direct quotes) of conversations he clearly was not present for. It's not clear exactly when he began sitting in on rehearsals, and I think he left it intentionally vague because if he had told us, we would know how much of the book was hearsay. There are things you would think he must have been there for, but he gets them wrong, even though as a journalist, he would have been taking notes as it went along, and so he clearly wasn't there at those times.

While it's a fun read, I think it's a piece of junk. After I first read it a few years ago, I looked up reviews from when it was published, and I was pleased to find that although it received some favorable reviews, there were other critics who had the exact same problems with it and questions about it that I had.
reply

Previous: I see someone has read - sc2 09:41 pm EST 11/22/24
Next: re: Longest Tryout Period For Musical? - EvFoDr 04:54 pm EST 11/21/24
Thread:


    Time to render: 0.012346 seconds.