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Hold, Please: Stage Managing a Pandemic
A Broadway Stage Manager's Pandemic Memoir!
March 12, 2020
Last night, after weeks of downplaying and ridiculing the virus, we were finally told by our President, that it is, in fact, serious…
And so, it began. Broadway shut down. Instead of sitting in a darkened theatre every night watching Jersey Boys, Richard Hester, like many other people, found himself sitting on his sofa glued to the news, As the days that followed unfolded and turned into weeks and then into months, we all experienced a profound seismic shift. The virus spread, infecting millions. We lost friends and family. Our economies shut down. Our jobs either stopped or changed in radical ways. The senseless murder of George Floyd forced us to take a hard look at who we are and how we treat each other. The Presidential election, drove the country so far apart that it threatened to destroy Democracy, itself.
Hold, Please chronicles it all from the particular point of view of a career Broadway stage manager living in Manhattan. Part journal, part blog, these essays attempted to make sense of the crisis and what it was doing to us. By the end, everything had changed.
What follows is a journey through one of the most fascinating periods in both our cultural and our personal histories. Written with humor and compassion, Hold, Please provides a unique perspective on this time and delivers the most important lesson of all - Hope.
March 12, 2020
Last night, after weeks of downplaying and ridiculing the virus, we were finally told by our President, that it is, in fact, serious…
And so, it began. Broadway shut down. Instead of sitting in a darkened theatre every night watching Jersey Boys, Richard Hester, like many other people, found himself sitting on his sofa glued to the news, As the days that followed unfolded and turned into weeks and then into months, we all experienced a profound seismic shift. The virus spread, infecting millions. We lost friends and family. Our economies shut down. Our jobs either stopped or changed in radical ways. The senseless murder of George Floyd forced us to take a hard look at who we are and how we treat each other. The Presidential election, drove the country so far apart that it threatened to destroy Democracy, itself.
Hold, Please chronicles it all from the particular point of view of a career Broadway stage manager living in Manhattan. Part journal, part blog, these essays attempted to make sense of the crisis and what it was doing to us. By the end, everything had changed.
What follows is a journey through one of the most fascinating periods in both our cultural and our personal histories. Written with humor and compassion, Hold, Please provides a unique perspective on this time and delivers the most important lesson of all - Hope.
576 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2022
3 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 13, 2022
Uplifting, insightful, thoughtful and FUNNY!
Reading Richard Hester’s daily blog guided me through the pandemic. Every morning, it was the thing that I looked forward to reading the most before I started my day. I am so happy that he has now turned the best of his essays into a terrific book. 2020 seems like a lifetime ago, and reading this book now gives me so much more insight into what we were all living through at the time. We had no idea what was coming! He is a remarkably insightful writer and although this is his first book, I am certain it won’t be his last. Theatre people have a keen and thoughtful way of looking at the world. Richard Hester does just that and we are lucky that he has shared it with us.
P.S. I have since purchased the Hardcover as well...it's beautiful! It is also available in audio, with Mr. Hester reading to us himself.
Reading Richard Hester’s daily blog guided me through the pandemic. Every morning, it was the thing that I looked forward to reading the most before I started my day. I am so happy that he has now turned the best of his essays into a terrific book. 2020 seems like a lifetime ago, and reading this book now gives me so much more insight into what we were all living through at the time. We had no idea what was coming! He is a remarkably insightful writer and although this is his first book, I am certain it won’t be his last. Theatre people have a keen and thoughtful way of looking at the world. Richard Hester does just that and we are lucky that he has shared it with us.
P.S. I have since purchased the Hardcover as well...it's beautiful! It is also available in audio, with Mr. Hester reading to us himself.
August 30, 2022
Readers revisit the pandemic and forced quarantine caused by COVID-9 in this captivating read, Hold, Please by Richard Hester. The author starts the book in the spring of 2020 – more specifically in March – when the world was hit with the seriousness of the virus we now know as COVID-19. From then on, we get a day-by-day report on what is happening in the world, the U.S., New York city, and in the home, mind and heart of the author himself. Even though Hester states in the beginning, that this book is his own experience; “What follows is my year and mine, alone”, as a reader we can relate to him and can find a sense of familiarity in the events we lived through.
The book was meant to be read as the days passed to serve as a safety net, as it was originally a bundle of Hester’s blog posts meant to help cope with quarantine for both the author and reader. This is a compelling memoir that comes at a critical time as we slowly escape from the clutches of the worst of the COVID-19 lockdown and try to return to our new normal lives. We’re now left to reflect on our experiences in the past couple of years and this book does a fantastic job of capturing the emotions we had during those harsh times. This book will forever be a reminder of the challenges we faced such as the pandemic, the murder of George Flloyd and the circus of the presidential election.
The author’s writing is reassuring, and I enjoyed how each chapter read like a journal entry both to educate and console the reader. This is a long book, but we had a long year in quarantine so there was much to observe and discuss. This is a thought-provoking memoir that will pique the interest of readers looking for a slice of life book that takes place during a historic time.
Hold, Please: Stage Managing A Pandemic is observant and well-written. Readers looking for a thoughtful look back, or a riveting memoir about an interesting person and how they handle a challenging situation, will find plenty to enjoy in Richard Hester’s contemplative memoir.
The book was meant to be read as the days passed to serve as a safety net, as it was originally a bundle of Hester’s blog posts meant to help cope with quarantine for both the author and reader. This is a compelling memoir that comes at a critical time as we slowly escape from the clutches of the worst of the COVID-19 lockdown and try to return to our new normal lives. We’re now left to reflect on our experiences in the past couple of years and this book does a fantastic job of capturing the emotions we had during those harsh times. This book will forever be a reminder of the challenges we faced such as the pandemic, the murder of George Flloyd and the circus of the presidential election.
The author’s writing is reassuring, and I enjoyed how each chapter read like a journal entry both to educate and console the reader. This is a long book, but we had a long year in quarantine so there was much to observe and discuss. This is a thought-provoking memoir that will pique the interest of readers looking for a slice of life book that takes place during a historic time.
Hold, Please: Stage Managing A Pandemic is observant and well-written. Readers looking for a thoughtful look back, or a riveting memoir about an interesting person and how they handle a challenging situation, will find plenty to enjoy in Richard Hester’s contemplative memoir.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews