A Year with the Producers: One Actor's Exhausting (But Worth It) Journey from Cats to Mel Brooks' Mega-Hit »

What's it like to work in the biggest hit Broadway has seen in years? In this delightful book based on his almost daily notes, Jeffry Denman tells the story of a year in one performer's life, from his job in the final days of Cats (now and forever, but finally closed) to a small but promising part in the Mel Brooks smash. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, Susan Stroman, Gary Beech, and Roger Bart are all here in Jeffry Denman's story. We follow The Producers from its first casting call to the Chicago tryouts; we watch numbers cut and roles reassigned; we are there at the record-breaking New York opening, and then at the Tony awards (where the show won more categories than any show in Tony history). What makes this book special is that we watch through Jeffry Denman's eyes--not the star's perspective but the view from the chorus. Denman takes on several small roles in the show--the Blind Musician; the Little Wooden Boy; FDR; a little old lady dancing with a walker; and Scott, resident choreographer to famed bad director Roger DeBris. We get to see director Susan Stroman coaching and Mel Brooks laughing (or not) at Denman's comic turns. What works? What doesn't? How does all that energy and talent translate into the show you still can't get tickets for? A Year with The Producers takes us up to Jeffry Denman's big break, when he goes on for Matthew Broderick in the role of Leo Bloom, the nerdy accountant who dreams of being a producer. It's a moment every young actor will read with terror and delight. A behind-the-scenes story with more than a touch of theatrical magic about it, A Year with The Producers is a book for actors and theater fans everywhere.

Michael Riedel

From the closing night of one smash, "Cats," to the opening night of another, "The Producers," Jeffrey Denman takes us on a delightful and insightful backstage tour of the Great White Way. His portraits of Mel Brooks and Susan Stroman are gems and add much to our understanding of how these towering creative talents work. How lucky for us that Mr. Denman is as fine a writer as he is a performer.