A Wonderful Guy: Conversations with the Great Men of Musical Theater

by Eddie Shapiro (Editor)

Fascinating, never-before-published interviews with Broadway's leading men offer behind-the-scenes looks at the careers of some of the most beloved perfomers today. In A Wonderful Guy, a follow up to Nothing Like a Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater, theatre journalist Eddie Shapiro sits down for intimate, career-encompassing conversations with nineteen of Broadway's most prolific and fascinating leading men. Full of detailed stories and reflections, his conversations with such luminaries as Joel Grey, Ben Vereen, Norm Lewis, Gavin Creel, Cheyenne Jackson, Jonathan Groff and a host of others dig deep into each actor's career; together, these chapters tell the story of what it means to be a leading man on Broadway over the past fifty years. Alan Cumming described Nothing Like a Dame, as "an encyclopedia of modern musical theatre via a series of tender meetings between a diehard fan and his idols. Because of Eddie Shapiro's utter guilelessness, these women open up and reveal more than they ever have before, and we get to be the third guest at each encounter." A Wonderful Guy brings more fly-on-the-wall opportunities for fans to savour, students to study, and even the unindoctrinated to understand the life of the performing artist.

Genres: Theatre

367 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 3, 2021

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book of interviews with the musical male stars of Broadway. I’m a theater fan so I was familiar with most of them. These interviews weren’t pro forma. I could really see the particular aspects of each mans personality come through, and that was very interesting. What is clear, is these are a group of very bright and talented men. And so is the Author.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the author / interviewer really got the personalities of these performers to show. Which is some cases, meant I did not care for the person. But they were all very interesting and it was a range of ages, which was neat. I liked seeing a shift from the older men to the younger ones not only in terms of who they worked with but what was going on in the Broadway world at various times. I liked the questions asked - they were informative and led to good anecdotes while staying mostly on topic (musical theater). I especially liked reading the interviews with people I have seen perform on stage (Raul Esparza, Jonathan Groff, etc.). If you like musical theater, I recommend the book.

[Rusty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read - perhaps not as interesting as Nothing Like a Dame or Here's to the Ladies, but the men of theater had lots of stories to tell, and it was interesting to hear how many of them suffered injuries during shows, and how it feels for performers to be doing a show that they know isn't working. Some classic performers like Len Cariou and John Cullum and my boyfriend Brian Stokes Mitchell along with "newcomers" like Johnathan Groff (who I saw in Merrily We Roll Along just before reading the chapter on him - he was terrific.)