The Untold Stories of Broadway

by Jennifer Ashley Tepper

Do you wish you were in the audience during Barbra Streisand's final performance of Funny Girl on Broadway? Do you wonder how far Jonathan Groff was willing to go to score tickets to Thoroughly Modern Millie? And are you dying to know which beloved TV star and Tony Award winner was caught with his pants down in front of a movie legend? From opening nights to closing nights. From secret passageways to ghostly encounters. From Broadway debuts to landmark productions. Score a front row seat to hear hundreds of stories about the most important stages in the world, seen through the eyes of the producers, actors, stage hands, writers, musicians, company managers, dressers, designers, directors, ushers, and door men who bring The Great White Way to life each night. You'll never look at Broadway the same way again. This is the first book in a multi-volume series that will tell the stories of all of the Broadway houses. Volume 1 includes theWinter Garden, the Richard Rodgers, the Marriott Marquis, the Al Hirschfeld, the Neil Simon, the August Wilson, the Mark Hellinger, and the Lyceum: eight Broadway theaters that light up New York City."

Genres: Theatre, Nonfiction, History, Music

334 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2013

About the author

Jennifer Ashley Tepper is an acclaimed theatre historian, author, and producer. She has been the Creative and Programming Director at 54 Below for the past decade. She has curated or produced over 7000 shows in this position. Her leadership at the beloved venue has gained praise from publications including The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Buzzfeed, Playbill, Newsday, The New York Post, and more. Tepper's four volumes of The Untold Stories of Broadway book series have been called an "inspiring Must- Read" by NBC New York and occupied the #1 spot on Amazon.com's Best Sellers List in Broadway & Musicals. She is the producer of the musicals Be More Chill, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and Love In Hate Nation, recent projects that are part of a decade-long collaboration with the
group known as Joe Iconis & Family. On Broadway, Tepper has also worked on [title of show], The Performers, Godspell, Macbeth, and The Parisian Woman. She is the conceiver and director of The Jonathan Larson Project, historian consultant on the tick, tick... BOOM! movie (directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda for Netflix) and co-creator of the Bistro Award- winning concert series, If It Only Even Runs A Minute. Her work as a theatre historian also encompasses celebrated live talks and events, including at TEDxBroadway, BroadwayCon, The Museum of Broadway, Thespian Festivals, and more. Tepper received a 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. She was named one of the 10 professionals on Backstage Magazine's "1st Annual Broadway Future Power List" which stated: "Proving herself both a zeitgeist predictor and theatrical historian with her eclectic programming, Tepper is leading the conversation on contemporary musical theatre.”

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the biggest fan of the organization of the book, but loved the history exposed and stories told.

[Joe Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect book to read during this abysmal Broadway shutdown period we’re in.
The first of three volumes, the book examines Broadway through the great theaters where shows have been produced for over a hundred years.
We get fascinating oral history attached to places like the Richard Rodgers Theatre whose tenants have included ‘Chicago’ and ‘In The Heights’ (after publication the theater became the home of the mega-hit ‘Hamilton.’)
Wonderful stories are told by actors, directors, writers and the staff who work at the theaters.
The most recently built venue - the Marquis in the Marriott Hotel - was much hated when it opened 30 years ago because four theaters had been razed to make way for the mammoth hotel. But we learn that actors love the backstage spaciousness and the kind staff at the Marquis,including the doorman who tells us about Julie Andrews and others who have worked at the new-ish theater.
I can’t wait to read the subsequent volumes.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting topic let down by a poor format and probably a weak editor. The author has set themselves a goal of chronicling the history of every Broadway theatre, but the book consists almost entirely of disjointed snippets of interviews that amount to little more than personal anecdotes related to each theatre. There are lots of interesting or fun pieces of information but it never quite coalesces. All these interviews should have been used as primary sources to build a coherent narrative, and a good editor should have told the author that. The end result feels half finished, like you are reading notes for a book that will never be written. Maybe the author thought that sort of book had been done before and wanted to tell more of an oral history, but at times it comes off more of a vanity project, just an excuse to go around visiting theatres and interviewing people. This is most apparent when the books spends way too long talking about short running shows that author is personally obsessed with, Merrily We Roll Along and Title of Show. If you love those shows too it will be a joy, but if you don’t care about them it will be a slog. Even when you think the books is done it goes on for over an hour with just disconnected scraps of interviews. That said, I would still be interested in reading the other books in the series. I listened to the audiobook, and only the first volume is available. I don’t blame them for not recording the others because it is all a little tedious in audio form, it honestly might be better on the page where you can skim past what doesn’t interest you. It is nice that for the audiobook they got both a male and female reader but it would have been better to have more voices, because everything just blends together with just the two voices.

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soooo many interesting stories from names that I dearly love and names that are long before me.
I learned about the secrets of broadway, not only from the stars but also from people like Jen! who is a producer, also like a scenic designer, even the doorman is such a delightful story that proves that broadway is more than just actors on the stage!

It is a little frustrating for me because this book was written in 2013. In that time so many shows that I grew to love, and the whole reason why I'm in too deep with broadway now, is not yet discovered. Richard Rodgers theatre have not witnessed Hamilton yet. MY FRUSTRATION especially when they were talking about the Lyceum Theatre in the last few pages and I WISH Jenn would write that post-BMC and I think she would have so many different stories.

Jenn Ashley Tepper is living my dream being so closely involved in Broadway although technically she is not a performer, but she is the powerhouse behind those broadway projects that i love.

The formatting is a little confusing at first, they are going through every single theatre. But the more i go on, the more I feel like going through a time machine. Some of the comments were not so substantial either. I would give 5 stars if those could improve.

[Diane Thayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by a friend I met while taking a theatre class in NYC. It took awhile to understand the intent of this book and how it was laid out. After several false starts I finally grasped the concept and promptly fell in love with the book. As a self-proclaimed Broadway musical junkie, I learned so much about the theaters presented in the book as well as the history behind many Broadway musicals and the genre itself.

I thought the book would be a quick read. It's not; but it also doesn't have to be read straight through.
I look forward to reading the remaining volumes and would recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a behind the scenes look at Broadway musicals and the theaters they are performed in.

[Danielle Hays · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took such a long time for me to read, but I honestly adored every second of it. I love Broadway and it was fascinating to read stories and testimonies about different theaters. I had so much fun reading about theaters and then looking up what shows are playing there now. I got excited every time I recognized a name in the book. I even teared up a few times.

I’m so glad I already own the other two published volumes of this series! This is the perfect right-before-bed read; I just read a few pages every night. I can’t wait to get started on the next one.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book as a gift and I'm so excited to read the other books! I had seen Jennifer Ashley Tepper at the first BroadwayCon last year and was interested in reading her books. Background of the theatres has always interested me and Jennifer did a great job of collecting stories about all the theatres covered in this volume. The other volumes are high on my list of books to read! If you love the theatre, this is a must read!

[Steph L · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's tough to rate Non-Fiction because it's actual stories about real people. This book was impressive because there are things I didn't know, and I thought it was interesting. The book has stories from eight Broadway Theater and the shows that played there. The book has stories from everyone from actors, stagehands, writers, to doormen. Some people in this book talked about the theater they first saw a Broadway show in. I really had a great time reading these stories.

[Seth Jonas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost never write reviews but enjoyed this book so much. You really get an idea of all the work that is put in to make a great show. Jennifer interviewed so many Broadway professionals (and a nice surprise that I know one of the persons she interviewed) who all just love what they do. I love how each section is based on one theaters history. Looking forward to reading the other volumes.

[Eric Abel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting, especially for me who loves the theatre houses as much as the shows themselves. Anecdotes galore that gives a great insight into what happens or happened backstage. Back stories that will make you rethink of shows and either see then in a different light or highten your interest in them. Looking forward to reading volume 2!

[Scott Miller]

Amazing.

[Teresa Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable.

[liam donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy reading — it’s all the same, just a collection of stories with little commentary that doesn’t “go” anywhere analytically, but it’s well enough curated and all around entertaining.

[Caitlin Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

A light, come-and-go read filled with conversations that feels intimate, paired alongside great history of Broadway and its artists.

[Jake Van Hoorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for Broadway fans

[David Brimer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the kind of book you can pop in and out of and get new bits each time. Awesome snippets of Broadway history await!

[Jowy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. It's a history of Broadway, as told through the different Broadway theaters in NYC. Having never been to NYC, I can't say for sure that the descriptions match the essence of these theaters, but that's really not what interested me about the book.

Ms. Tepper has collected many interviews from all kinds of people who work on Broadways, from the biggest stars and producers to the lowly stagehands and doormen. All of them have very interesting stories to tell about their experiences, and I was fascinated.

I do wish the stories were a bit more juicy, but alas, it's a love letter to Broadway, not a full behind-the-curtain look. And since most of the people told about in these stories are still alive, it's probably not kosher to air their dirty laundry.

One thing I didn't like was that there were some shows that were written about ad nauseam, while others, who I'm sure have interesting stories, were glossed over quickly, or even outright ignored. I could have lived without half the pages about Merrily We Roll Along and [title of show], both musicals that were flops, and both of which the author is in love with.

I also didn't care for the author's personal anecdotes. Though she is now making a name for herself as a producer, she really has nothing to say personally about Broadway history, so I wish she wouldn't have. She's only been in NYC for 10 years or so, and only been involved in the community for 5 years, and hasn't contributed anything significant to it. Most of her personal anecdotes just came off as fangirly, and some of it came off as bragging. I will admit some things she said were interesting, but she needed to cut those parts down.

I do wish it would have gone into more detail about the earlier shows in these theaters, but since it was put together with collected interviews, I'll let that slide since I'm sure most people from that era are now gone.

Overall, a good book. I will definitely be checking out the other volumes.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd duck of a book; I reserved it from the library think it would read more like a usual book, but it was mostly an encyclopedic reference guide of interviews sorted by what theatre the anecdotes are about. I didn't find this the most conducive for pleasure reading, but if I had been writing a paper, it would've been useful. There is a nice cross-section of interviewees here, but I wish the author had branched out to more theatre-goers for the earlier years, as the accounts pretty much all start in the late fifties, but there are surely people alive who remember earlier theatre-going memories, and these are probably the most important to preserve. I also wish the author had more of an editor's eye, quite a few of the anecdotes amount to little more than 'the theatre has a beautiful lobby', which is a shame because I thoroughly enjoyed the author's personal insertions after some interviews. Overall, I think this is an important collection that could be really intriguing reading if tweaked slightly.

[Ann]

The minute I started reading I was hooked. The stories are organized by theater with brief details about architects and changes over the years. Did you know there are forty Broadway theaters? And all kinds of theater folks tell the stories from press agents to producers to performers and more. Can't wait to get back to reading!

[Kayleigh Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! I'm a giant theatre history nerd, so to read these stories was a treat. It made me realize how tight-knit this community is, and how interwoven each theatre is with the others and the people who inhabit them. My only complaint is that the editing is a tad confusing at times. Otherwise, a must-read for any theatre lover. On to volume 2!

[Mike McAdam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I think I am the exact target audience for this sort of book - a real Broadway nerd. I loved most of the stories (99% were great - there were a couple of stories that I thought, "Ok this doesn't interest even me") and read this book in record time. Great idea to split it up by theater. This first book just scratches the surface. Can't wait to read the other volumes!

[Raina Murdock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book - if you are a theater geek you will enjoy this book. So interesting to hear the different perspectives on the various theaters - actors, stagehands, doormen, ushers, directors, producers. Fun little slices of time.

[Wagrobanite · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book and stories from musical theater people I've grown up admiring. The one tiny thing I thought was interesting was there was no mention of a certain theater historian. But overall, it was good. It was a tad dry; I was expecting a little more funny anecdotes

[Sarah Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have read period. Very interesting and kept me reading late into the night!

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good. The author inserted herself and her own experiences way way WAY too much. But overall it's entertaining if you are a fan of Broadway!