Razzle and dazzle co12/18/2023 ![]() He spent nearly an hour on the phone with the tipster, getting a crash course in the murky world of Broadway financing. This was indeed a strange way to begin an investigation.īut Clurman, who could smell flimflam down to the paperclips, was interested. “Well, I made an investment in a play, and the producer used the money to buy a lobster boat in Montauk.” “But you should look into what goes on with the money on Broadway.”Ĭlurman asked why the angel was concerned. “I’m not going to give you my name,” the angel said. Important, to be sure glamorous, hardly.īut here he was, sitting in his office at 80 Centre Street in the spring of 1963, listening to a fast-talking, agitated, self-described “angel,” which, as the caller explained to Clurman, was showbiz slang for backers of Broadway shows. ![]() At thirty-five, he’d already made a name for himself as a tough investigator of the city’s powerful real estate magnates, authoring the first law in New York state history regulating the sales of co-ops and condominiums. His speciality was real estate and securities. Lefkowitz, Clurman knew nothing about the economics of the Broadway theater. This is a very weird way to begin an investigation, David Clurman thought as he listened to the anonymous caller on the other end of the line.Ī special assistant to the powerful New York State attorney general, Louis J. “The trouble with Razzle Dazzle is…you can’t put the damn thing down” ( Huffington Post). 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. “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). 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. ![]() 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. Its once shining star, the renowned Shubert Organization, was losing theaters to make way for parking lots and losing money. In the mid-1970s Times Square was the seedy symbol of New York’s economic decline. “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. “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. ![]()
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