Episode Details

Host Patrick Pacheco interviews theater reporter Michael Riedel about his acclaimed new book "Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway", a sequel to his previous book, “Razzle Dazzle”. While that book examined the roots of Broadway’s 1970s resuscitation, this new history focuses on Broadway of the 1990s when such shows as “Rent,” “Angels in America,” “The Lion King,” and the spare revival of “Chicago” swept away the British invasion dominated by Andrew Lloyd Webber (“Cats,” “Phantom of the Opera”) and producer Cameron Mackintosh (“Miss Saigon”).  Riedel gives us a riveting and amusing insider’s look that includes: the tempestuous relationships between Lloyd Webber and  Patti LuPone, Faye Dunaway and Glenn Close; why the revival of “Chicago” went begging for investors; and how “The Lion King,” overcame nearly fatal skepticism among Disney’s executives when it was in workshop.  Riedel says, "Loyalty in show biz does not exist.  It's all about selling tickets. And if something doesn't work, you have to put the knife in the person you may have embarked on the original conversation with.” 
 
Patrick Pacheco says, “Who would have thought that devilish columnist Michael Riedel, could come up with two books likely to become as classic as  William Goldman’s 1969 tome, 'The Season’? Like that famous Broadway history, 'Singular Sensation,’ exemplifies the truism that 'nobody knows anything’ when it comes to figuring out popular taste in entertainment. And in our conversation, Riedel is even less inhibited than in his book, in telling just what fools we Broadway mortals be.”  

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