Riverside Theatre’s Patron Producers were treated to a cocktail reception and intimate conversation Jan. 15 evening with Michael Riedel, New York Post theatre columnist and author of “Razzle Dazzle, The Battle for Broadway.”
Riedel’s book takes readers from Broadway’s near collapse in the early 1970s to its rebirth in the 1990s. He also briefly touched on his upcoming sequel, from the ensuing decades to today, where rapidly escalating ticket prices yield earnings of $3 million and more each week.
Riedel was in Vero Beach as the guest of Windsor resident Cynthia Bardes, author of the children’s book series about Pansy the Poodle. In the ‘small world’ of writers and the theater, Bardes was introduced to Riedel at a party hosted by author Francine Pascal, creator of the Sweet Valley High series and sister of the late Michael Stewart, Broadway playwright and librettist.
“We met and I wanted him to come to Vero and see our theater,” said Bardes. She approached Allen Cornell, Riverside’s CEO/Producing Artistic Director, who saw it as an opportunity to thank Patron Producers for their patronage. Having already read the book, he knew what a special treat it would be for these theater devotees, whose annual donations of $10,000 or more enable Riverside to produce such superb big-budget Broadway shows.
“It was fascinating to me, because a lot of the book pertained to my time in New York City, working in the theater,” said Cornell. “The Broadway that I knew back then is entirely different from what it is today and I think Michael’s book takes us on that journey.”
“As Allen said, this book is about a different time on Broadway,” agreed Riedel, noting that Broadway is now a multibillion-dollar global business. “But, it wasn’t always that way.”
An entertaining and engaging speaker who clearly enjoys his subject, Riedel related Broadway’s story of near ruin to rebound, beginning in the early 1970s, when Times Square was replete with peep shows, prostitutes and pimps. Between 1968 and 1972, Broadway had lost a full two-thirds of its audience. He attributes theater’s rescue to Schubert Organization board members Bernard Jacobs and Gerald Schoenfeld, who took a chance on a young choreographer, the late, great Michael Bennett.
Calling Bennett’s “A Chorus Line” the “‘Hamilton’ of its day,” Riedel said “it was the hottest show that Off-Broadway had ever seen; you could not get a ticket.” The show moved to Broadway’s Schubert Theatre three months later and ran for 15 years.
“From that one show, there was suddenly a musical that the world knew,” said Riedel. “As one of the Schuberts, who is still alive, told me, ‘Michael, before ‘A Chorus Line’ there was no money. After ‘A Chorus Line’ there was nothing but money.’”
Using the money from that one show, they were able to refurbish their theaters and invest in other mega-hit shows. Today the Schubert Organization is valued at roughly $50 billion.
“What ‘A Chorus Line’ did was, it planted the idea that you could salvage Times Square; that Broadway was worth fighting for,” said Riedel.
“Razzle Dazzle” is available at the Vero Beach Book Center.
Photos by: Mary Schenkel
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