This juicy, jaunty book is about Broadway in the 1990s, a period of great change that paved the way for the industry’s recent artistic and financial prosperity. Singular Sensation offers less an explanation of present-day abundance, however, than a reminder of all that has been lost ... This is just the kind of stuff Riedel was born to write about. No one gets a quote like him, or an anecdote that speaks to the alternately vicious and thrilling nature of Broadway. Even when the provenance or accuracy of an observation is hazy, you’re still happy to see it included ... If Singular Sensation has a flaw, it is its reluctance to engage with these ideas; you long to see Riedel weigh the pros and cons of Broadway’s increasingly commercial culture ... Then again, that’s not Riedel’s beat. You read him for the broadsheet prose, for the swashbuckling verdicts, for the searing quotes ... To put it more simply: the book made me feel better.
Reading Riedel has long been mandatory for theater insiders. They may complain about his journalistic practices, his tendency to sensationalize and distort, his refusal to let a fair review of the facts get in the way of a good scoop, his speculative and often erroneous conclusions. But his copy is sinfully entertaining, full of dish and drama and delivered with the wicked wit Broadway pros can’t help but admire ... An equal opportunity offender, Riedel is in no one’s pocket. His contrary streak makes his reporting essential even if his proximity to the material hampers his storytelling.
Given 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.
... told with all the wit and style readers could wish for ... Theater fans longing to see a show during this sequestered time will enjoy this entertaining look at what happens before and after the curtain goes up.
Structurally, [Riedel] is comfortable: Again Riedel centers his chapters on shows, painting his pointillist picture of Broadway, this time in the booming 1990s. His gimlet eye for masterstrokes of marketing and producing is still there, enriching our understanding of the business, as is his ear for the sharp retort and the clash of egos ... once he’s finished with his account of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s fade from Broadway glory, the chapters evince a certain sameness ... Unfortunately, compared with his fascinated clarity about the flawed Schoenfeld and Jacobs, there’s little insight into the juggernaut personalities of Broadway’s latter days, even though — since they’re alive — he has more access. (It’s possible he’s actually protecting that access, since we rarely hear anything negative about the current crop of power brokers.) Singular Sensation, while undoubtedly valuable, thus has less swagger and muscle than his prior history — the ’90s didn’t conveniently follow a clear-cut story of bust and boom, but also Riedel’s vision sharpens as he looks farther away from his own experiences ... Still, at its best, Singular Sensation feels like a gossipy conversation, after a show, at a restaurant in the theater district ... His poignant introduction, written while on furlough from The Post, will itself be a document for future historians, as the unflagging theater yenta finds his perpetuum mobile stilled. And his enthusiasm for all aspects of show business is catching: His sources are producers, yes, but also designers and press agents and lawyers, the folks who don’t appear on the marquees. Had you never thought about the poster design for Chicago? Why not? Someone put passion into it, and that passion draws Riedel like honey. It’s not a sentimental book, not at all. But it reads like a love letter all the same.
Riedel certainly has a flare for drama, as evidenced by his chapter titles ... Riedel also includes bits about creative processes, as well as what one might call 'the sauce' for what makes successful Broadway shows. These moments, along with big personalities and the tremendous hurdle-jumping that it takes to get a show produced, make for some enjoyable page-turning. Unfortunately, the fun with Singular Sensation, not unlike Razzle Dazzle, is quickly spoiled ... The problem with Riedel’s works is that they are told through his own power, wealth, and whiteness and do not make an effort toward a critical history. Singular Sensation – ignoring the political implications thrust onto the reader through Riedel’s use of language – uses the pretense of scrumptious anecdotes to maneuver a very specific and political history of Broadway – one that is biased and reeks of the tenets of American conservatism. Riedel’s narrative upholds privilege, capitalism, and fraught notions of the American dream ... It would be a mistake to classify Riedel’s books as a history of anything, let alone Broadway ... Chapter upon chapter, the emotions and humanity of all those who kill themselves to make productions are reduced to how much money any one show makes. Every summation of a musical or play amounts to a line Riedel must have copied and pasted over and over – how long the show ran and how much it made. It is not a love letter to Broadway; it is a love letter to capitalism. Always giving money the last word, Reidel privileges it over the theater community, not giving enough attention to what a show did for the culture and non-profit theaters, and lacking insight into how a show changed or subverted Broadway and theatergoing. The Triumph of Broadway reads more like The Mess of Greed in an Industry of Privilege ... During this time, when the American experiment is failing in plain sight, Riedel’s narrative achieves sensational tone deafness. His history is so much in tow with the traditional American story that it is difficult not to interpret his theme of the American dream and his worship of the institution of Broadway as some sort of misplaced patriotism. The ending of the book is a gushing description of how Giuliani inserted himself after the tragedy of 9/11 to keep Broadway going. One must wonder, why must such a hate-filled figure be so highlighted in the history of Broadway? And if he must be in the story, shouldn’t there be a more critical look at what that means for Broadway’s legacy? Being a Broadway fan is great. But for some reason, Riedel feels that it is necessary to paint over Broadway’s history with stars and stripes. If you’re a fan of Broadway, by all means, read Singular Sensation and Razzle Dazzle, too. But don’t give Michael Riedel a dime. Check them out at the library.
... fun and gossipy ... is already passé even at the moment of publication. Still, it makes for a jolly read ... Without the focal point of the Shuberts, Singular Sensation lacks the unity and through-story of Razzle Dazzle, but it excels in giving the reader a fly-on-the-wall view of backstage infighting, struggles, and victories. As a longtime theater columnist, first for the New York Daily News and then for the New York Post, Mr. Riedel can spin a yarn with zest.
... brisk, insightful, and deliciously detailed ... For sure, the author serves up great dish ... But Riedel is after more than tales of outrageous antics. He chronicles the plays and musicals that brought great American theater back to a spiffed-up Times Square ... iedel, keenly knowledgeable of the business of show, rounds out his history covering the deals—and swindles—brought off by a colorful cast of producers ... An entertaining diversion for fans until the curtains rise again.
