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

Did You Know:

Stars Went To Great Lengths To Get Information On Stage Before The Internet?

Mike VanPraagh, Stagehand

My dad worked a lot at the Royale, which is where I now work. I remember being here as a kid when he did Cactus Flower in 1965 and The Man in the Glass Booth in 1968.

Earlier than that even, my dad worked on a show at the Shubert called I Can Get It for You Wholesale. It was around 1962, and it starred Elliott Gould and Barbra Streisand. I was eight years old.

One night, I was sitting in the wings at the Shubert, when Elliott Gould came running off and handed me this box. He yelled, "Here, kid! Hold this for me." It was an AM/FM radio with this little earphone. My father looked at me and laughed and said, "You see what he does with that?" I didn't understand.

And he said, "He listens to the basketball scores onstage, during the shows!" That was my start in theatre.

Did You Know:

Shubert Alley Has Been A Place For Show Folk To Gather For Over A Century?

Shubert Alley has been both gathering place and shortcut for theatre people for over a century.

These days, Shubert Alley is often utilized for annual charity events which the whole community participates in, including the Broadway Flea Market, where all Broadway shows sell their wares to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and Broadway Barks, which finds homes for dogs and cats in need of adoption. Stars in the Alley, also held there, is a free annual concert that celebrates each season's shows, often called a Broadway block party.

In 1925, the first Broadway block party was held in Shubert Alley, when the companies of seven current Shubert shows held a joint party following their performances, lasting until 3am. There was a Charleston contest and even Al Jolson was there. This year, when you get an autograph from Audra McDonald and eat a cupcake made by the cast of Wicked at the Broadway Flea Market, remember that you are celebrating Broadway where the casts of The Student Prince and Is Zat So? once did.

When the road between the Shubert and Booth Theatres and the Hotel Astor was first built, it was both a fire exit and a luxury for patrons. It was much narrower than the alley we know today. Hotel guests could peer out their fire escapes to watch actors depart the Shubert and Booth stage doors. In the 1930s, Shubert Alley became a bus terminal for commuters to New Jersey. A brick waiting room was installed on its eastern side, and show posters were put up on its western wall to attract the attention of travelers. The bus terminal lasted less than a decade, but the posters have been part of the alley ever since.

In 1967, the Hotel Astor was demolished and the Minskoff building-including the Broadway theater of the same name-was constructed in its place. Today, Shubert Alley counts as its eastern neighbors the family restaurant Junior's as well as the parking garage that is part of the Minskoff structure.

Did You Know:

A Chorus Line Turned Off The Air Conditioning Every Night?

Abe Jacob, Sound Designer

When A Chorus Line first started at the Shubert, it was the summer of 1975 and it was quite warm in New York. The air conditioning system at the Shubert kept things decently cool, but it was very noisy. It wasn't a problem until we got to the section of the show with Paul's monologue.

At that point in the show, the air conditioning made so much noise that Michael Bennett said he couldn't hear Sammy Williams in the back of the theater. Should we put a body mic on him for his big monologue?

I hesitated. I didn't want to do that, for fear it would change the realness of that moment in the show. I made a suggestion that during each performance, when "The Music and the Mirror", the number right before the monologue ended, we would turn off the air conditioning. Nobody would notice the motors shutting down during the loud applause that Donna McKechnie got each night. Thankfully, the Shubert Organization said yes and let us do it! The controls for the air conditioning systems were in the basement, and we had an intercom line set up between the stage manager and the engineer who turned off the air.

And so, every night of A Chorus Line, we would turn off the air conditioning during "Music and the Mirror". The Paul monologue was quiet and real and you could hear it with just the foot mic reinforcement on the stage. And after the Paul monologue, when the actors started to do the tap combination, we'd turn the air conditioning back on!

It was interesting because I think it also increased some of the tension in the theater. The audiences became a little uncomfortable because they got a little warmer. Then the monologue ended and it got cool again, and they never knew how carefully it was all orchestrated every night.

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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