BWW Exclusive: Counting Down to Jennifer Ashley Tepper's UNTOLD STORIES OF BROADWAY Book - The Al Hirschfeld Theatre!

To celebrate the publication of The Untold Stories of Broadway on November 12 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 Al Hirschfeld Theatre!

THE UNTOLD STORIES OF BROADWAY: Tales from the World's Most Famous Theaters, Volume 1 (Dress Circle Publishing. 350 pages, $19.99) by author and musical theater historian Jennifer Ashley Tepper is the first book to recount the backstage drama of Broadway's greatest shows at eight iconic theaters. To pre-order, click here.

Using firsthand accounts from some of the biggest names in Broadway history, the book provides a look behind the curtains of the Al Hirschfield, August Wilson, Lyceum, Mark Hellinger, Marquis, Neil Simon, Richard Rodgers, and Winter Garden Theaters.

This book is the first in a multi-volume series that will examine 40 legendary Broadway theaters in total. THE UNTOLD STORIES OF BROADWAY also includes an exclusive Broadway theater map designed by Broadway artist, Justin "Squigs" Robertson. A portion of the proceeds from the book will benefit Broadway Impact, an organization of theater artists and fans mobilized in support of marriage equality. It will be available on amazon.com and in select bookstores on November 12, in both hard copy and Kindle.

Did You Know:

Bye Bye Birdie was not a sure thing?

Charles Strouse, Writer

At first, there were no theaters open to us. We couldn't get any investors interested except for Goddard Lieberson. Still, we had to beg him. We went back and played Bye Bye Birdie for him numerous times, and he always had reactions like, "Let me know. There's still something I'm considering." But he was nice. We felt alive and kicking.

Nobody wanted the Martin Beck in 1960. The man who managed it, Louis A. Lotito, was very nice. He was the first person, aside from Goddard Lieberson, who even thought our show had any possibilities.

Finally, through much pleading, he gave us the Martin Beck, which was not considered a major coup as far as theaters. Then, to our absolute stunning surprise, our show became a hit.

I must have watched Bye Bye Birdie 100 times. To see my show there, on Broadway... it was really something.

Did You Know:

The Martin Beck is a footnote in the show Grey Gardens?

In the first act of Grey Gardens, Joseph Patrick Kennedy Jr. sings to the young would-be ingénue performer Little Edie: "I need a leading lady with me, neck in neck / To help me lobby for a campaign check," and she sings back to him, "The only lobby I know is the Martin Beck!"

In 1941, when this scene takes place, Little Edie might have been dreaming of a role in the theater's current show, a Lillian Hellman-penned war drama called Watch On The Rhine. Chances are, she wasn't dreaming of a role in either of the Beck's two previous tenants: Cabin In The Sky, the all-black musical, or Lady In Waiting, a play about a mother constantly upstaging her daughter!

Did You Know:

The sequel to Bye Bye Birdie, Bring Back Birdie, had quite an affect on a young Michael Mayer?

Michael Mayer, Director

The first time I ever got to spend time backstage at a Broadway theater was when my friend Julie Cohen was cast in Bring Back Birdie. It was at the Martin Beck, and I went to see it a lot! I loved watching Chita Rivera and Donald O'Connor walk by, and I became friends with some of the other people in the cast.

Bring Back Birdie was the first Broadway opening I ever went to, and it was at the Milford Plaza. I remember that Liza Minnelli was there, and I didn't have the guts to go over and talk to her! But when she left, I went over to where she'd been standing. She left her drink, and it had Liza Minnelli's lipstick on it. I took a swig from her drink! I thought: This is as close as I'm ever going to get to Liza, so I have to do it. I told her that story many years later.

I still remember some of the songs from the show! And Bring Back Birdie was the first time I ever saw TVs on stage. It's funny to think about how we used all those TVs years later in American Idiot. Early things that you see come back into your work like that. Equus was very influential when I saw it as well; I put the audience on stage in Spring Awakening just like I'd seen them do in Equus.

To pre-order, click here. Founded in 2011 by Brisa Trinchero and Roberta Pereira, Dress Circle Publishing is the only publisher dedicated solely to producing books with Broadway themes. Dress Circle Publishing is eager to discover and promote new literary voices among new or established authors who are actively working in show business. For more information on Dress Circle Publishing, click here.

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