{"product_id":"razzle-dazzle-the-battle-for-broadway-9781451672176","title":"Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway","description":"\"A vivid page-turner\" (NPR) detailing the rise, fall, and redemption of Broadway--its stars, its biggest shows, its producers, and all the drama, intrigue, and power plays that happened behind the scenes.\"A rich, lovely, debut history of New York theater in the 1970s and eighties\" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Razzle Dazzle is a narrative account of the people and the money and the power that turned New York's gritty back alleys and sex-shops into the glitzy, dazzling Great White Way. In the mid-1970s Times Square was the seedy symbol of New York's economic decline. Its once shining star, the renowned Shubert Organization, was losing theaters to make way for parking lots and losing money. Bernard Jacobs and Jerry Schoenfeld, two ambitious board members, saw the crumbling company was ripe for takeover and staged a coup and staved off corporate intrigue, personal betrayals and criminal investigations. Once Jacobs and Schoenfeld solidified their power, they turned a collapsed theater-owning holding company into one of the most successful entertainment empires in the world, spearheading the revitalization of Broadway and the renewal of Times Square. \"For those interested in the business behind the greasepaint, at a riveting time in Broadway's and New York's history, this is the ticket\" (USA TODAY). Michael Riedel tells the stories of the Shubert Organization and the shows that re-built a city in grand style--including Cats, A Chorus Line, and Mamma Mia!--revealing the backstage drama that often rivaled what transpired onstage, exposing bitter rivalries, unlikely alliances, and inside gossip. \"The trouble with Razzle Dazzle is...you can't put the damn thing down\" (Huffington Post).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRiedel, Michael:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Michael Riedel has been the theater columnist for the \u003ci\u003eNew York Post \u003c\/i\u003esince 1998. \u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c\/i\u003e magazine has called his column a \"must-read\" for the theater world. Michael began his radio career as regular on the \u003ci\u003eImus in the Morning\u003c\/i\u003e show in 2011. In 2017 WOR, New York's oldest and highest-rated station, asked him to cohost its morning show with well-known sportscaster Len Berman. The \u003ci\u003eLen Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning\u003c\/i\u003e show is the highest-rated morning radio program in the New York City area. Michael's book \u003ci\u003eRazzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway\u003c\/i\u003e won the Marfield Prize for arts writing in 2015 and is widely considered to be the successor to William Goldman's celebrated 1967 book about Broadway, \u003ci\u003eThe Season\u003c\/i\u003e. A graduate of Columbia University, Michael lives in the West Village.","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50676364443922,"sku":"9781451672176","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_40729652-515a-4876-af3a-7879caaacb91.jpg?v=1733878581","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/razzle-dazzle-the-battle-for-broadway-9781451672176","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}