RaveLibrary JournalReaders will know they’re in for a rollicking, fun, and vertigo-inducing wild ride of a memoir when by page seven, the author at age eighteen is getting punched out by Errol Flynn for attempting to steal one of his girlfriends ... Long-awaited ... Blackwell wends his way chronologically through his colorful story devoting separate decade chapters from the fifties through the nineties ... An obligatory purchase for all self-respecting rock and pop culture collections.
Alan Cumming
RaveLibrary JournalCumming’s memoir includes many delicious theater and Hollywood stories—featuring the likes of Liza Minnelli, Gore Vidal, Walter Cronkite, Parker Posey, and Jessica Lange—juxtaposed with insight into a wildly diverse spectrum of theater, television, and film projects. There are especially fun details of Cumming’s Tony Award–winning performance as the androgynous emcee in the late ’90s Cabaret revival ... Cumming is an exceedingly talented, witty, brave soul; his poignant book is a testament to his willingness to wrestle with demons and move forward ... This second act is sure to be another hit in Cumming’s career; readers will be left hoping for a third memoir.
Michael Riedel
RaveLibrary JournalGiven his longtime standing as a New York theater doyen, Riedel has unique access to the vast cast of players he surveys, which yields an embarrassment of anecdotal riches ... Readers of this breezy, fun, and informative work are the beneficiaries of the rarefied theatrical air of Broadway inhabited by Riedel. An obligatory purchase for all theater collections.
James Kaplan
RaveLibrary JournalKaplan has written an extensively researched, entertaining, and nuanced account that contextualizes Berlin’s story and achievements within the scope of Jewish immigrant New York and modern American popular culture ... An excellent addition to the Berlin biographical bookshelf and a mandatory acquisition for all American music and popular culture collections.
Alexandra Jacobs
RaveLibrary JournalStories and anecdotes abound from the cornucopia of professional colleagues and artists interviewed to illuminate her work with, among many others, Sondheim, Noel Coward, and Tennessee Williams ... An excellent biography of a true American theater original. For all performing arts collections.
Peter Rader
PositiveLibrary JournalTMZ meets theater history gravitas in this deliciously entertaining and informative dual biography ... Archetypal prima donnas Miss Thing 1 and Miss Thing 2, the French Bernhardt and Italian Duse tread the boards again in Rader\'s text. This is up any thespian\'s proverbial Alley Theatre, but general readers interested in the development and curse of modern celebrity will also be jazzed.
