Showstoppers!: The Surprising Backstage Stories of Broadway's Most Remarkable Songs

I started out thinking this was absolutely the best book on Bway I'd ever read. I used to read a lot of them - David Ewen, Stanley Green, I think were a couple names. What made this one so good was the conversations with performers, writers, producers, directors, choreographers. I think Nachman's favorite musical is The Music Man. His first (seen at age 15) was Can-Can. The nicest person in the book was Dick Van Dyke. According to Nachman, the least vulgar was Ira Gershwin.I got through West Side Story and Gypsy. But Nachman quotes Sondheim like the Bible. I didn't finish the section on Company, or even start the one on Follies. (In NYC, I sat through Follies, walked out on Company.) The "esoteric genius" quoted so much said Merman was a "dog" and "stupid". Said it "makes his blood boil" to hear his songs aren't "hummable", that people only think so because "people don't listen". I got sick of hearing Sondheim and Nachman praise Sondheim's interior rhymes. Sondheim said his songs are "caviar for a general". Nachman said a Sondheim lyric would make Porter proud. And that Sondheim had the talent of Larry Hart. It was nauseous.Apart from this, it was a wonderful book. I bought it to read about backstage skullduggery, but was relieved to find there wasn't much. But the clash of egos was deafening!I see that I can, so I want to add that I wasn't going to finish this book when I started reading his section on Company. I was enraged and disgusted. I never did or will read the 3 sections on the Sondheim shows. But I did finish the book. It's a lot of fun and now one of my 2 favorite show books, the other being Moss Hart's Act One. The section on Chorus Line was so hopeless and terrible it left me feeling bleak and empty and hopeless myself. The book told some very unpleasant things about people I've admired and liked for years - ALW, Irving Berlin, Zero Mostel, Mel Brooks. And a writer who (starting with his S/M book Boys and Girls Together), I've loved and read and seen everything else by him I know of (nothing else S/M) - William Goldman. And finally, it was painfully clear that Nachman likes Sondheim VERY much and does not like ALW at all. (Evita and Cats are 2 of my all time favorite scores, shows.) Like Merman before me, I don't understand Sondheim's success.

The people carping on about errors in this book obviously haven't seen the myriad sources of information the author has referenced. Surely the odd error would creep in - either made by the author or carried over from the original source - but to let the odd glitch detract from enjoying the book is being petty. I loved it. Yes, there are old favourites missing, yes some of the songs are not showstoppers as we personally would term them, but it's still a pretty comprehensive, interesting, easy to read book for anyone who loves the old musicals. Well, easy to read in that - like another reviewer - I was singing the book more than I was reading it. I couldn't place some of the songs/lyrics until the tune popped into my head. Then of course I got earworms and couldn't get some of the songs out of my head! It's a fun book with a lot of insider gossip, but not so 'insider' that it's alienating for us normal, non-theatrical folks. Glad I bought it and had a really good time with it. I probably wouldn't reread it - it's not that kind of book - but it really spurred me on to find out more about some of the songwriters/producers/etc featured. This was one time I was really pleased to have the Kindle version as it was very convenient and quick to check Wikipedia entries for more details.

I read this book on Kindle Unlimited and then bought the book because it’s a good reference. It is good in how it disclosed the musical and insights into the people who made the musical. Its weakness is a bias for New York is still the main source of good musicals, as if Les Miserables was created on Broadway, and a bias against the movie versions. Still, overall it is one of the most insightful books I’ve read about Broadway musicals.

I can accept the author's rather unconventional definition of showstopper and some of the songs he included. BUT I could not accept the numeous errors and inconsistencies throughout the book. Where was the copy editor. It seemed that every few pages, I was finding errors. At one point he writes that Gwen Verdun played Velma in Chicago. It makes hard to accept that he has deep knowledge of the American musical and has opinions worth valuing.

except for black printer's ink powder (?) that fell out onto my clothing from inside the back cover. Strange that it was there, and not known about.

Very interesting but a little long-winded at times. Also I don't feel the author should have let his own bias into the script. It spoiled some of it for me.

You don't need to read the book in order (often a great advantage) and can skip to show you are more familiar with. I haven't read much but I did enjoy very much those selections I read.

So interesting and a great book for vacation. If one story bores you flip to another.

I had seen most of the modern shows with original cast. eg: 2nd performance of West Side Story. I’m also a lyricist and learned a lot about placement of songs. Many thanks.