When I was in college I do a final history thesis paper type thing on Broadway and I fell in love with reading about stuff on it. When I saw this book I knew I had to get my hands on it and read and review it. I love finding out behind the scenes things and stories about the shows and Broadway itself. I thought this book did a great job of it and I really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this recap of Broadway from the 80s to the 2000s! Riedel clearly has insider knowledge and has done a great deal of research - I look forward to picking up his other book, the prequel of sorts.

A history of Broadway from the late 1980s through 2001. It made me miss live theater more than I already do! A little niche, but for theater lovers, a real treat!

A comprehensive guide to Broadway during the 90s, "Singular Sensation" is the well-researched and journalistic approach to the history and context of the big hits, from Sunset Boulevard to The Producers and everything in between.

Scattered with quotes, the book is a thorough look into show business...and I mean business. The focus on marketing and money was certainly less razzle-dazzle than one might expect for such a vibrant and rousing topic and the book would have benefited from more description and story-telling elements.

Less than approachable for newbies not already familiar with the many shows and famous figures mentioned, the oversaturation of references and characters quickly becomes hard to keep track of. Rather, "Singular Sensation" is geared towards those with some background under their belt already who want to know more about the business, but who don't know so much that it won't add some insight, a narrow niche to fill.

I rated "Singular Sensation" 3 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Singular Sensation is the second book by Michael Riedel and covers the period up to 9/11 and Broadways response. It was an interesting look at the inner workings of how a show is conceived, produced, shopped around for a theater and eventually is either a hit or a flop. The book pays extra close attention to shows like Rent and The Producers - 2 shows I have been lucky to see in the touring company. And the book also spends time talking about plays, which is something that I think most people do not tend to equate Broadway with as much anymore. I learned a lot about how the system works, and would love a follow-up post 2001.

This was much more interesting than I expected it to be – a really great read, with a good balance of facts and figures – and gossip. It’s an often gripping account of the resurgence of Broadway after a few years in the doldrums with the advent of a whole raft of new productions, new producers, new theatres and a general new buzz in the 1990s. I loved all the behind-the-scenes portraits of how shows are conceived, developed, put on and marketed, and how so often success or failure remains completely unpredictable. I was so interested by the story of Rent that I even watched it online, a show that I doubt I would have gone to see in real life but which would have proved my loss. Its story is possibly one of the most interesting ones featured here. All in all, a must-read for lovers of Broadway, musicals, theatre and show-business – entertaining, insightful, generous and honest. Thoroughly enjoyable.

This is theatre critic Michael Riedel's latest book discussing a handful of well-known 90s Broadway shows. It concludes with a brief conversation about how Broadway brought New York City together following 9/11.

I was really looking forward to reading this because I had heard such great things about his previous book, Razzle Dazzle, and I also really like Broadway. I've never been to a Broadway show myself (too expensive for my blood), but I love watching recordings and movie adaptations. I was also in a few plays and musicals as a teenager. Suffice it to say I have an interest in the topic, but I'm not diehard fan.

That fact established, let's talk about why, even though I like the topic, I found that this book didn't work for me. There are too many shows discussed and the transitions between the sections are essentially nonexistent. You'll be reading about one show, then that part abruptly ends, and you're diving straight into a new show. It read like he was given a page limit and tried to cram in as much as possible.

The most damning attribute, though, was the lack of storytelling or personality given to these stories. I don't know if the author thought these stories and their characters were so larger-than-life that he could just recite the sequence of events without any attempt at making his own voice heard, but Wikipedia has more pizazz than this.

I'm having so much trouble believing that a theatre critic wrote something this stiff. I did enjoy learning more about these shows (particularly Rent, Chicago, The Lion King, and The Producers), but the book made me want to do what so many people did in within the book itself: insist that something's not working and ask for a rewrite.

3 stars. Was 2.5 stars, but extensive RENT content will always buy extra credit from me. I wanted to like this book - I’m a Broadway nerd, and many of the shows he discussed are ones I loved and saw a million times as a teen and young adult, but didn’t follow the back stories. So it was fun to learn some of that.

But this book needed a good editor. Sometimes vignettes spanned multiple chapters. Sometimes they transitioned within the chapter. Multiple times I’d be a few pages in to the chapter and think “but what is this chapter about? Same vignette? New vignette? If new, what are we focusing on?”

It was fine. A quick read. If you like Broadway you will be engaged and stick with it! I just wish I didn’t spend so much of it unfocused.

Highlights:
Some solid New York one-liners, such as: “I planned to end this book with Hamilton. But I soon realized its length would dangerously approach Robert Caro territory, and I’m no Robert Caro.” (For every New Yorker has added Caro’s book about Robert Moses to their “to read” list in Goodreads while silently acknowledging its highly unlikely they will actually read it.)

RENT! From the stories about how Idina Menzel and Jesse L. Martin almost lucked into getting discovered for their parts, to the background of its development, to the groundbreaking lottery it created, I could read these chapters all day. I discovered Rent during those emotional years in high school and have seen eleventy billion times since then - in NYC, Binghamton, multiple tours in DC. I even wrote my HS graduation speech about Jonathan Larson.

The only info that bummed me out was reading how the lottery was partially rigged, with some of the lottery tickets going to “brokers” (aka scalpers). I hope Lin-Manuel Miranda, who says in the book he’s seen Rent about 30 times, doesn’t do the same for Hamilton.

DC: My adopted hometown and the hometown industry I work for—politics—makes a fun appearance: “That same year President Barack Obama appointed Landesman chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Landesman put a memento from The Producers on his desk—a puppet pigeon with a swastika on its wing. It was the first thing his staff ‘cleared off my desk and put in storage,’ he said. ‘You can’t do that, they told me. Not here in D.C.’”

(Disclosure: I read an ARC/e-galley from Avid Reader Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

This was a fun book to read, especially the "gossipy" parts. It gives us hope that Broadway will have a new resurgence when this pandemic is over. I think I need to Razzle Dazzle now.

There’s nothing quite like Broadway drama. Between the divas who star in shows and the even bigger ones who write and produce them, there is never a dull moment behind the scenes of a Broadway show. This was especially true during the 1990s and early 2000s—the era of Broadway’s resurgence in American popular culture, which makes this time period the perfect topic for Michael Riedel, longtime theatre columnist for the New York Post, to write about. His latest book, "Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway," often reads like more of a gossip column than a historical account, but is a quick, devilishly entertaining read for all Broadway lovers.

If you’re looking for an in-depth dive into the creation of these shows, or Broadway during these decades, this book might not be for you. However, if you want a light and breezy overview of some of the most important Broadway shows of this era, and the real-world context that led to their creation, then look no further. Riedel’s experience with the New York Post makes him perfectly suited to emphasize the most attention-grabbing details of these productions and spin them into yarns that will have you eagerly turning page-after-page to learn more about them. If this sounds like an insult or a complaint, it’s not. There are any number of other books that will cover this time period with all the dry depth you might desire, but how many of them will detail the conflict between Patti LuPone and Glenn Close during the initial few productions of "Sunset Boulevard" the way that Riedel does?

That’s the special sauce of this book—it’s a fun read. Riedel writes in a fluid, easy-to-read style that allows the details of the stories he’s sharing to hog all of the spotlight—and there are some great stories in this book. Riedel covers the demise of the Big Spectacle West End imports and the return of the American musical’s dominance on Broadway. He also covers shows and topics like "Sunset Boulevard," "Rent," "Chicago," "Angels in America," Rosie O’Donnell, "The Lion King," "The Producers," the revitalization of Time’s Square and the dominance of Disney, and the aftermath of 9/11. As a collection of topics for a book like this to explore, they’re a great bunch. They deftly and clearly lay the groundwork for Broadway and the American musical’s resurgence into popular culture in the late 2000s and 2010s.

"Singular Sensation"’s biggest downfall, however, is the internet. So many of these stories are already well known and oft-discussed in theatre circles online, so they lack the element of surprise that the stories covered in Riedel’s first book, Razzle Dazzle, had. For hardcore fans of Broadway, especially those who may have grown up during these years, there may be little new here for them to learn. However, I still believe this is a book worth reading, even if you do know all of this information already. There is so much stuff packed into these pages that you’re bound to learn something new—I didn’t know about half of the things Riedel covers in this book, so I was thoroughly engaged on every page. And even if you don’t learn anything new, Riedel’s style is so captivating and easy-to-read that you’ll find yourself drawn into "Singular Sensation" anyway.

At the end of the day, if you like theatre and broadway, "Singular Sensation" is a great book to read—especially if you’re younger or unfamiliar with the topics covered. Riedel’s style is easy to understand and invites readers to immerse themselves in the drama and creativity of the Broadway community in the 1990s and early 2000s. Sure, I wish Riedel had gone deeper on certain subjects and focused a bit less on gossipy drama, but I can’t deny that "Singular Sensation" is an entertaining read. If you like Broadway, you’ll get something out of this book for sure.

As a fan of musical theater, I was immediately drawn to this book. It is a fun, gossipy review of how some of the most beloved shows of the nineties came together, the kind of shows I grew up seeing. I learned a lot of behind-the-scenes facts about some of my favorite shows, particularly the chapters on Rent. The writing is breezy and accessible and the footnotes at the end of each chapter was one my favorite aspects of this book, like stumbling upon hidden gems. Sometimes, I felt as though the chapter breaks occurred in odd places – as in mid-discussion of a particular show, only to continue with that same show in the next chapter. And, if you’re a finance person, there’s a lot of talk about the economics of Broadway which I was eager to move through and get back to the theater. This would make a great gift for any Broadway lover. Thank you to Avid Reader Press and NetGalley for the advanced review copy of this book.

My Broadway-loving heart devoured Singular Sensation in one weekend. This book was FUN — It’s an insiders’ look at the biggest Broadway shows of the 90’s, and I happen to be the exact type of nerd who will happily spend her free time reading about The Lion King’s costume design and the wild story behind Rent’s opening night. The book is as much about the business of how these shows came to life as the gossip surrounding their production (lots!), and it jolted life back into the part of me that has so desperately missed live theater during this pandemic.

i love Broadway and I really enjoyed the history of the book. The book was well-written and well researched.

As a Broadway geek I loved this book .Reading about Broadway starting in the 1990s all the behind scenes info the gossip .Reading about Rent the people involved the work to bring it to Broadway.If you love the theater find watching a Broadway Play delicious grab this book.#netgalley #avidpress

A very interesting look at Broadway and the behind the scenes world of writers and producers.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

This fun, gossipy chronicle of Broadway and American musical theatre in the 90s will please any former theatre kid whose formative years were spent belting Rent lyrics with their friends at any given opportunity. As that former theatre kid, it was fascinating to hear the inside baseball about shows I have loved since childhood. Familiar and unfamiliar names alike come alive on the page. The writing is friendly and inviting, and feels just like having drinks with the author. I always read the acknowledgements in books, and this one solidified how deeply researched this book is, and the lengths the author went to to get as many sides to each story as possible. This book continues the trend of books by former journalists topping my 2020 favorites list.

I had a great time with this. Michael Riedel is an engaging, easy-to-read writer, and the shows and time periods covered here were more accessible and memorable to me (at 30-something) than what was in Razzle Dazzle. Singular Sensation doesn't have the same focus as Riedel's previous book, but I thought it was more fun.

I especially loved how Riedel would drop fun little juicy moments out of nowhere into these stories (there are multiple laugh-out-loud, nearly glossed over Elaine Stritch stories here). Readers will likely be more familiar with the content here, particularly if they followed Broadway at all in the 90s (I did), so it may feel old hat to some to reread the story of Rent's creation and explosion... but for me, this hit a sweet spot, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

In Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway, journalist and theatre critic Michael Riedel takes readers into one of the most transformative decades in Broadway history -- the 1990s. In addition to British musicals like Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera staying fan favorites, musicals like Rent, The Lion King, and The Producers made their wildly popular debuts.

But lest you think everything was covered in roses in the '90s, Riedel also takes us behind-the-scenes of Broadway's total flops, shocking downfalls, and bitter disputes. He also goes beyond the '90s to September 11, 2001, sharing how New York mayor Rudy Giuliani asked Broadway to reopen just two days later to allow people to come together and boost morale.

The weakness of The Truimph of Broadway? Many fans probably know some of these stories already. However, whether you know them or not, The Triumph of Broadway is still an enjoyable walk down memory lane.

MY RATING - 3.5

This book chronicles Broadway from the 1990s to the early 2000s. This was a great in depth look at some of the shows, history, and people that aren’t talked about much and are forgotten. Even seasoned Broadway fans will find new and interesting tidbits. The one drawback of this book is that some parts are a bit dry, with almost full biographies of each of the key players included. Despite the drawbacks, it is a very interesting and eye opening read, especially for theater fans.

Singular Sensation by Michael Riedel will be best appreciated by total theater nerds who can't get enough about the beloved subject. In the preface, he notes the current 2020 situation in which Broadway has been shut down since March and may not reopen until 2021. While theatergoers such as myself bemoan our being deprived of our favorite form of entertainment, that pales in comparison with the loss of livelihood, stalling of careers, enormous economic setbacks. artistic death and actual death of performers to the pandemic.

Still, this book unlike many on the subject extensively covers the roles of the producers, theater owners, behind the scenes dramas. Going deep into the creative process behind Broadway's hits of the 1990's and the personalities involved made for great reading, with admittedly a lot of skimming when the financial shenanigans got too intricate.

Hopefully life will allow us to meet once again in the theater.