The Back Stage Guide to
Broadway
by Robert Viagas |
Published 2004
200 Pages
Fold-out map of the Broadway Theatre District
Back Stage Books
Watson-Guptill Publications, NY
List price $12.95 |
Click here to buy the book
|
There probably are hundreds of people who know
the Broadway theater scene from the perspective of the theatergoer as well
as Robert Viagas knows it - but few are likely to spend the time and trouble
to let you know what they know. Viagas, on the other hand, has made a
profession of learning about and then reporting on the people of the theater
community, the shows, and the theaters themselves in that strange but
glorious area between Lincoln Center and the Port Authority Bus Terminal on
the island called Manhattan. If you go there often, this will be an
entertaining read with a few surprises - things you didn't know and places
you'll be tempted to try out. If you go on rare special occasions, this is
an invaluable introduction and guide. If you never go and have no plans to
do so - it is still packed full of things you might find intriguing. |
Contents: A theater industry insider
shares what you need to know to make a trip to "The Great White Way" as
successful as possible. Chapters are devoted to; Picking a Show, Buying
Tickets (Full Price), Buying Tickets (Discount), Seating, On- and
Off-Broadway, Getting Around, Restaurants, and Lodging.
The author founded Playbill Online as well as
Theatre.Com, acts as the host of Radio Playbill on Sirius Satellite
Radio, and wrote or edited such valuable volumes as Louis Botto's At This
Theatre and On the Line: The Creation of 'A Chorus Line'. He
knows his way around the Great White Way as well as anyone today and has
made a career out of sharing that knowledge. He is the classic theater
maven.
The book is packed with tips - large and
small. Viagas doesn't just describe the taxi situation in New York, he
offers the tip that you will pay less if you hail a cab on a one way street
headed in your direction. He also tells you that you will have better
success trying to hail one at the end of a show by walking to sixth or
eighth avenues for uptown trips. His discussion of how to find discount
tickets is comprehensive and he even gives a brief survey of the unique
nature of different theaters. There is even a lot of information on what to
do during the day while you wait for the evening so you can go to a show.
Naturally, his tourist-type information has a concentration on theater
related museums.
Viagas is a New York based maven, so he does
miss a few points important to the denizens of the Potomac Region when they
consider a Broadway visit. He doesn't drive up from here, so he neglects to
mention that driving up the New Jersey Turnpike you should take Exit 16 and
proceed to the Lincoln Tunnel. Nor does he include the "Park and Lock" at
the Port Authority Bus Terminal in his list of parking lots. With an
entrance adjacent to the exit from the Tunnel, you can park without having
to drive on the streets of New York. Nor does he mention that the train
isn't quite as good an option as it could be, since Amtrak's final departure
in the evening of a train that goes farther south than Philadelphia is well
before most shows let out. Still, if you are staying over, there isn't a
better and less hassling way to get from Capitol Hill to Times Square than
Amtrak. |
