Mister Abbott

by George Abbott

The uninhibited autobiography of the celebrated Broadway showman

Genres: Theatre

279 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

American theatrical producer and playwright George Abbott cowrote and directed many productions, including Fiorello! , which won a Pulitzer Prize of 1959.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_...

Reviews

[liam donovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though Abbott’s self-proclaimed obsession with structure may have allowed him to create engaging theatre, it made for an altogether disengaging autobiography.

In the theatre, if a character’s backstory is shown, it is automatically thematically and narratively linked by the audience to their current story. A play is short enough that everything can be held in consideration at once, and further philosophical elaboration by the playwright is neither necessary or appreciated. On the other hand, in a long autobiography, sweeping through so much material so “efficiently” makes it hard to figure out which parts are most significant. Far more detail is given to the different farm jobs Abbott worked as a child than any of the shows Abbott worked on as an adult, yet no reader would consider those childhood experiences more interesting than his theatrical collaborations, and, by the end, it is difficult to remember who Abbott even was a child, rendering those lengthy childhood sections ultimately unnecessary. The book has neither the objective clarity of a biography or the personable charm of a good autobiography.

That being said, there are enough useful anecdotes in here to make it worth reading. Abbott had one of the most beautiful impressive careers of any Broadway director, and his clear treatment of these Broadway shows as just “work” is pretty great to see.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up on a lark, knowing nothing about the man or his work. Found I really enjoyed his writing voice. Parts were dated, as you would expect, but overall, it was interesting and well written.