
Everything Was Possible (Updated Edition)
The Birth of the Musical Follies
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Groff
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By:
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Ted Chapin
About this listen
As the sole production assistant for Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, Ted Chapin had a front row seat for the creation of one of the most important American musicals of all time. He kept a detailed journal of his experiences, and his rich storehouse of memories forms the core of Everything Was Possible, which itself has become a modern classic of musical theater history. Chapin was there in the drama-filled rehearsal room, typed endless rewrites, ferried new songs around town, pampered the film and television stars in the cast, and traveled with the show to its Boston tryout and back to New York for the opening night on Broadway.
Combining the zeal of an enthusiast with a journalist’s narrative chops, Chapin takes the listener on a roller-coaster ride through the creation of an original Broadway musical.
Updated to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Follies, this edition includes a new afterword that brings the history of the show forward to today, diving into recent productions around the world, new recordings, the continued promise of a film version, and the legacy of the show in the wake of Stephen Sondheim’s death in 2021.
©2003 Ted Chapin (P)2022 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
From Broadway debuts to landmark productions. Score a front row seat to hear hundreds of stories about the most important stages in the world, seen through the eyes of the producers, actors, stage hands, writers, musicians, company managers, dressers, designers, directors, ushers, and door men who bring The Great White Way to life each night. You'll never look at Broadway the same way again.
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Great Broadway book!
- By NYreader on 09-23-14
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Razzle Dazzle
- The Battle for Broadway
- By: Michael Riedel
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 16 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Razzle Dazzle is a provocative, no-holds-barred narrative account of the people, money, and power that reinvented an iconic quarter of New York City, turning its gritty back alleys and sex shops into the glitzy, dazzling Great White Way - and bringing a crippled New York from the brink of bankruptcy to its glittering glory.
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Too long and boring in spite of a vibrant subject
- By harry rohme on 03-04-18
By: Michael Riedel
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Leading Lady
- A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy
- By: Charles Busch
- Narrated by: Charles Busch
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The Tony Award-nominated writer of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and the long-running hit Off-Broadway play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, and a Sundance Festival award winner Charles Busch has created a unique place in the entertainment world as a playwright, LGBT icon, drag actor, director, and cabaret performer, with his extraordinary gift for both connecting with and channeling the leading ladies of show business.
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A transporting memoir of a great talent.
- By dognique on 12-16-24
By: Charles Busch
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All About "All About Eve"
- The Complete Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Bitchiest Film Ever Made
- By: Sam Staggs
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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To millions of fans, All About Eve represents all that’s witty and wonderful in classic Hollywood movies. Its old-fashioned, larger-than-life stars - including Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, and Celeste Holm - found their best roles in this movie, and its sophisticated dialogue has entered the lexicon. But there’s much more to know about All About Eve. Sam Staggs has written the definitive account of the making of this fascinating movie and its enormous influence on both film and popular culture.
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Entertaining but problematic
- By Cynthia Pogue on 01-19-22
By: Sam Staggs
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Sense of Occasion
- By: Harold Prince
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1974, director/producer Harold Prince released his first book, Contradictions: Notes on Twenty-Six Years in the Theatre. Although Contradictions has since attained cult status among producers, directors, and actors alike, Prince, in hindsight, believes he wasn't ready to publish such a tome at that point in his career. Although he doesn't regret that effort, he is at last prepared to conclude it. In Sense of Occasion, Prince returns to this seminal text, invigorating it with fresh insights cultivated through four decades of additional practice.
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Loved It!
- By Henry1 on 09-20-24
By: Harold Prince
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Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical
- By: Laurie Winer
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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You know his work—Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Carousel, The King and I. But you don't really know Oscar Hammerstein II, the man who, more than anyone else, invented the American musical. Among the most commercially successful artists of his time, he was a fighter for social justice who constantly prodded his audiences to be better than they were.
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A good Oscar Hammerstein biography
- By Karen Creeden on 02-14-24
By: Laurie Winer
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The Neil Simon Collection
- By: Neil Simon
- Narrated by: Dan Castellaneta, Nathan Lane, Richard Dreyfuss, and others
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
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Ten essential plays by Neil Simon, one of the world’s most celebrated, translated, and widely performed playwrights, including Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and more.
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Good, but missing something
- By Michael on 12-28-12
By: Neil Simon
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Lord Knows, At Least I Was There
- Working with Stephen Sondheim
- By: Paul Ford, Mandy Patinkin - foreword
- Narrated by: Paul Ford
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Atlanta-born Paul Ford first fell in love with the American musical theater at the age of five, he never imagined that his future skills as a "piano thumper" would lead him to a career on Broadway playing rehearsals or in the "pit" for classic Stephen Sondheim musicals and numerous concerts, birthday tributes, and television spectaculars. Now retired, the candid (and admittedly opinionated) author looks back on the performances and personalities that defined the American musical theater in the waning years of the 20th century.
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Mostly Sondheim
- By Anonymous User on 11-24-23
By: Paul Ford, and others
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Sondheim
- His Life, His Shows, His Legacy
- By: Stephen M. Silverman
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Brimming with insights from a veritable Who's Who of Broadway Babies and complemented by more than two hundred color and black-and-white images, Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy offers a witty, multidimensional look at the musical genius behind Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, and the landmark West Side Story and Gypsy.
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An enjoyable overview, but . . .
- By michael adams on 10-06-23
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All That Jazz
- The Life and Times of the Musical Chicago
- By: Ethan Mordden
- Narrated by: Joel Froomkin
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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As author Ethan Mordden looks back at Chicago's various moving parts - including the original 1926 play that started it all, a sexy silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, a talkie remake with Ginger Rogers, the musical itself, and at last the movie of the musical - we learn how the American theater serves as a kind of alternative news medium, a town crier warning the public about the racy, devious interior contradictions of American society. Opinionated, witty, and rich in backstage anecdotes, All That Jazz brings the American musical to life in all its artistry and excitement.
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Not I expected
- By Daniel Garcia on 03-22-23
By: Ethan Mordden
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Broadway Nights
- A Romp of Life, Love, and Musical Theatre
- By: Seth Rudetsky
- Narrated by: Seth Rudetsky, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrea Martin, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Stephen Sheerin was born to play on Broadway - or at least, under it. He's a musician, a conductor, and his dream is to music-direct a big Broadway musical. After years of toiling in the pit of some of the best-loved (and loathed) hits on the Great White Way, he's just been given his big break. Can life really be going that well? Of course not.
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A *must-have* for any fan of Broadway or humor!
- By Michael on 07-08-08
By: Seth Rudetsky
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Still Here
- The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch
- By: Alexandra Jacobs
- Narrated by: Andréa Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Still Here is the first full telling of Elaine Stritch’s life. Rollicking but intimate, it tracks one of Broadway’s great personalities from her upbringing in Detroit during the Great Depression to her fateful move to New York City, where she studied alongside Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, and Harry Belafonte. We accompany Elaine through her jagged rise to fame, to Hollywood and London, and across her later years, when she enjoyed a stunning renaissance, punctuated by a turn on the popular television show 30 Rock.
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Phenomenal account of a Broadway Icon
- By Donna Deal on 12-30-19
By: Alexandra Jacobs
An inside look
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remarkable
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A true standout in theater books!
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Beyond outstanding
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Simply wonderful!
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It’s absolutely everything
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Everything Was Possible:The Revival
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I agree with another listener review which questions Jonathan Groff’s mispronouncing Ethel Shutta (should be pronounced "shoo-TAY") and Yvonne deCarlo’s first name (Yee Von?). Otherwise, Jonathan is just the right voice for this book.
Excellent, Unique Look at Follies
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Fascinating!
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