Product Description

Playwright/novelist/screenwriter Goldman analyzes Broadway from the perspective of the audiences, playwrights, critics, producers and actors. "Very nearly perfect... It is a loose-limbed, gossipy, insider, savvy, nuts-and-bolts report on the annual search for the winning numbers that is now big-time American commercial theatre." -Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121970 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Customer Reviews

How Now, William Goldman?
I read this book first in the 1980s, while I was actually working in the theater (and I had met a few of the people talked about in the book). What I like about it so much is that Goldman expresses his opinions, especially about the fare on Broadway at the time (not so good), the deficiencies of some of the actors and actresses and his sweeping view of the whole milieu. I don't always agree with him, but he's so incisive that you gain enormous respect for him, particularly when he's writing about Judy Garland, Sandy Dennis and Tom Stoppard. Students of theater history should turn to this book to find out what a bygone era (before huge corporations and nonprofits took over Broadway) was all about.

A wise look at Broadway
William Goldman is not only a great screenwriter, but a wonderful writer of prose/criticism, as evidenced by "The Season," probaby the smartest, if not funniest, book ever written about the (sorry) state of Broadway. Here he tells you all you would want to know about the making of a Broadway show--all the compromises, betrayals, fits of ego, and under-the-table deals that keep the "fabulous invalid" (a phrase, by the way, that makes Mr. Goldman want to vomit) alive for another season. As a lover of theater, you may become depressed at the cynical machinations that go on to get what is, after all, usually pretty mediocre material to the stage; however, Mr. Goldman's prose is so crisp and entertaining that your spirit is ultimately lifted by his keen analysis. Although the patient is very sick, here's a doctor who has a prescription to offer. And all through the book, he does offer suggestions on how Broadway can better serves us, the theatergoers. Alas, the advice wasn't followed then (the late 60s), and it's not being followed today.

Can't I add a sixth star???
This book is it. It's just it. If you have any inclination at all to work in the theatre in any capacity, this book is required reading. Do not move to New York without it. I did, and I barely barely survived the few days it took me to find a copy. Order it now while you still have time! I'm serious!