It Happened on Broadway: An Oral History of the Great White Way »

Myrna Katz Frommer and Harvey Frommer are a husband-and-wife team specializing in oral history. The authors of such notable books as It Happened in the Catskills, It Happened in Brooklyn, New York City Baseball, and Growing Up Jewish in America, they live in Lyme, New Hampshire, and both teach at Dartmouth College in Hanover.

Oral historians Myrna and Harvey Frommer (both Dartmouth College) tell the story of more than half a century of Broadway theater as recalled by the people who created it. The volume opens with "breaking in to the business" stories by Carol Channing, Al Hirshfeld, and others. Other topics include, for example, the formation of the Theater Guild, the impact of A Raisin in the Sun, and the view from the orchestra pit. Illustrated throughout with b&w photographs. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Peter Lathan

It Happened on Broadway is a collection of interviews with 107 Broadway luminaries, including Carol Channing, Betty Buckley, Joel Grey, John Kander, Fred Ebbs, James Hammerstein (son of Oscar), Mary Rodgers (daughter of Richard) and Kitty Carlisle Hart (widow of Moss). It tells the story of Broadway from the point of view of those who were deeply involved in its development as the centre of American theatre. It takes us behind the public faces and into the private thoughts and feelings of the stars, writers, composers, directors, producers, designers, press agents, playwrights, and even the restauranteurs (Vincent Sardi Jr. is there, too). It tells about the great successes (and some of the spectacular flops). It reveals much about the great writers - Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Moss Hart, Irving Berlin, Cy Coleman - and the performers - the portrait of Carol Channing in her own words is stunning. And we see the great directors and choreographers - my own favourite, Bob Fosse, is talked about at length - through the eyes of those who worked with them.
I thoroughly enjoyed it. It taught me an awful lot - and not just about Broadway, for that wouldn't be difficult: with typical Brit insularity, I've never really had that much of an interest in American theatre. No, what this book shows very clearly is the deep love of theatre, of live performance, which these Broadway luminaries share with the rest of us. In their words I could hear echoes of myself and all of my theatre friends.--britishtheatre.guide/Peter Lathan