BWW Exclusive: Counting Down to Jennifer Ashley Tepper's THE UNTOLD STORIES OF BROADWAY, VOLUME 2 - The Gershwin Theatre

To celebrate the publication of The Untold Stories of Broadway, Volume 2 on November 18 by Dress Circle Publishing, Jennifer Ashley Tepper will be sharing three short excerpts about each of the Broadway theaters featured in the book-countdown style! Today: The Gershwin Theatre!

The second book in a multivolume collection examines eight Broadway theaters and over 70 years of theatrical history through the voices of such Broadway greats as Jason Robert Brown, Joanna Gleason, Jonathan Groff,Jeremy Jordan, Laura Linney, Joe Mantello, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Robert Morse, Harold Prince, Charles Strouse, Alex Timbers, Julie Taymor, Robert Wankel, George C. Wolfe and more. The eight Broadway theaters featured in the second book are the Palace Theatre, the Barrymore Theatre, the Gershwin Theatre, the Circle in the Square, the Shubert Theatre, the Criterion Center Stage Right, the Vivian Beaumont Theatre and the Nederlander Theatre.

Have you ever wanted to sneak behind the curtain of some of Broadway's greatest hits, including Wicked, Rent, and A Chorus Line? Do you wonder what secret Tom Bosley told Robert Morse about Sardi's or what Patti LuPone revealed to Raúl Esparza about Broadway dressing rooms? Are you dying to know what Laura Linney learned as a young understudy, watching Stockard Channing on stage each night?

From opening nights to closing nights. From secret passageways to ghostly encounters. 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. The Untold Stories of Broadway, Volume 2 is the second book in a multi-volume series that will tell the stories of all of the Broadway houses.

The Gershwin Theatre

Did You Know:

A Lot Of In The Heights Was Written Backstage At Wicked?

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Writer/Actor

Alex Lacaimore and I wrote a lot of In the Heights backstage at the Gershwin, listening to Wicked and those orchestrations. Alex was conducting the show at the time.

My second date ever with my now-wife Vanessa was to Wicked. I used the one fancy hook-up I had at the time-Alex-to get us tickets. "Emergency house seats." I spent way more money than I had to spend.

Right before the show started, Alex turned around and pointed at us. Then he turned back to the orchestra, and started the-BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM-overture, and the show began. I'll never forget it.

Did You Know:

Michael Bennett Tried A Buddhist Chant To "Save" Seesaw?

Michon Peacock, Actor

When we did Seesaw in Detroit, the producers were not happy with how it was being received. They brought in Michael Bennett with a totally different concept, along with his entourage. The ensemble had to re-audition for Michael. Some of us were kept, but many were fired during the Detroit run. We rehearsed the new version during the day and performed the old show at night. Not a good situation... Grover Dale had been the choreographer, and I was the dance captain-but of course, that would change, too.

Once we were back in New York, Michael asked why I was standoffish with him. I told him the truth about how I felt he handled the situation in Detroit. He did try to explain but admitted he wasn't at his best. We did begin to build a better working relationship and would talk periodically. Though I really wasn't dance captain any more, I was happy to help him work with Ken Howard in teaching him how to waltz.

Then right after we opened, he asked me to come up to his office at the Uris. The Uris was huge! Incredible dressing rooms, wide hallways, rehearsal space and office space not to mention the massive stage and overwhelming number of seats!!!

Michael said he was pretty concerned that the show wasn't going to run, so he asked if I'd help him do something about it. "Like what?" I asked. He told me he had heard I practiced Buddhism! He said he chanted sometimes, too. I was kind of surprised. However, then he said, "There's one thing we haven't done: we haven't chanted about this. I think we should all chant together. Aren't there some other people in the show that are Buddhist? Could we do something like that at your apartment?" I said, "Yes, sure!" But I was a bit freaked out as I was still rather new to this myself.

I had this old, teeny apartment in the Village on West 4th Street. I asked a couple of members from my Buddhist group to support because I didn't know who would actually come and be able to chant for an hour. It was pretty amazing as Michael, Tommy Tune, Michel Stuart, Merel Poloway, and others were all there-sitting or kneeling on the floor chanting. They were great. Michael never left my side. There were eight to ten of us and we chanted for an hour.

Later, Michael motioned for me to come into the kitchen and said, "I just got a call that tomorrow night Mayor Lindsay is coming to the theater and he's going to stand in for Ken Howard in the opening number. Publicity!"

It was amazing. I have the front-page pictures from The Post and The Daily News of when the mayor stepped into "My City", our opening number. It was a huge publicity success and we ran! Some of the cast asked, "Is it because we chanted?" Well... the power of unity, determination and energy shouldn't be underestimated in any endeavor, right?

Did You Know:

Today's Greatest Producers Started Out As Interns?

Hal Luftig, Producer

I went to grad school at Columbia's theatre program. One of the great things about that program was that a whole chunk of its curriculum was internships and observerships, with the idea that the student would get first-hand experience. A lot of times it was unpaid, but it was valuable experience nonetheless-and I came to that program without any experience.

Columbia found me an internship with Mitch Leigh and Manny Kladitis. At the time, they were producing the first revival of Mame with Angela Lansbury, 17 years after the original.

I was pinching myself because I had seen Mame! Somehow, I sat in the very first row. I was ten years old and in the first row watching Angela Lansbury in Mame. It was phenomenal.

The first day of rehearsal, I was assigned to whatever was needed by the stage manager. After half the day, I got up the courage to go up to Angela and say, "Ms. Lansbury, I am so pleased to meet you and I saw the original when I was ten years old"-which thinking back on it now, was probably horrifying for her, because I was a 24-year-old, so she must have been like, Thanks a lot kid! I just gushed on and on and on.

I'll never forget that she was sweet as pie. She just smiled and smiled at me as I spoke to her. Then she leaned in and said, "Can I just tell you something?" I said, "Sure!" I had on a striped shirt, and she said, "I can't look at stripes. I have this visual thing where stripes make me dizzy. So it is lovely, lovely to meet you and I am so happy that you're on this production and I look forward to working with you, but sweetie could you not wear stripes?" And I was mortified! I almost burst into tears.

But it was really, truly wonderful. It was the first time I had ever seen a show put together. Yes, I got coffee and filed and made copies, but the stage managers were all wonderful to me. I think they saw a zeal in my eye and knew why I was there. I watched the whole show come to life and be constructed, and I was in heaven.

I used to stand in the wings once the show was up and running. They were so gracious to let me do that, and I learned so much about how a show runs backstage. It's something that I do to this day with any show I'm producing. I don't micromanage, but I think it's very helpful for a producer to see the show from backstage so he or she knows how everything works. It's part of my job, but it's also fascinating to watch everybody! Scenery being moved by stagehands, dressers stripping actors and putting new clothes on them...

One time at Mame, I was backstage watching that happen. Mame is on in every scene, and each time she has a new costume that's more fabulous than the one that came before. I'll never forget that I was standing in the wings, and Angie turned to me, in her underwear, while they were getting her dressed, and she said, "Are you having fun?" I said, "I'm having a great time!" She said, "Good." And she winked! I'll never forget that.

The Untold Stories of Broadway, Volume 2 can be pre-ordered by visiting Dress Circle Publishing and will officially release on November 18, 2014. For more information please visit www.dresscirclepublishing.com.

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