Michael Riedel's New Book SINGULAR SENSATION: THE TRIUMPH OF BROADWAY Receives Early Praise

Michael Riedel's new book Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway, is set to be published on November 10, 2020. Singular Sensation is described as "A definitive and extraordinary account of recent Broadway history-spanning from the debut of Andrew Lloyd Weber's Sunset Boulevard to Disney's The Lion King-told by Broadway's most respected (and feared) commentator Michael Riedel. Singular Sensation portrays the people, money, and power that created the blockbuster shows and aesthetic spectacle that has dominated not only a couple of acres of real estate in the heart of Manhattan but has also captured the hearts and minds of millions of people around the world."

Singular sensation is receiving praise prior to the book's publication- check out the reviews below!

Kirkus:

Broadway stages a comeback.

As the 1990s began, the Broadway neighborhood hit the skids. Off to see London-imported hits such as The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, and Cats, New York theatergoers sidestepped crack vials and prostitutes. However, Broadway was ripe for a resurrection, which longtime New York Post theater columnist Riedel follows in his brisk, insightful, and deliciously detailed take on the decade. For sure, the author serves up great dish: For example, appearing in a hit revival of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance, Elaine Stritch, clad only in bra and panties, darts into the crowded theater lobby just before curtain time to check on her house seats. But Riedel is after more than tales of outrageous antics. He chronicles the plays and musicals that brought great American theater back to a spiffed-up Times Square. A poignant and suspenseful chapter follows Jonathan Larson, waiting tables in a lower Manhattan diner while determined to stage a modern-day La Bohème as transported to New York's Lower East Side and called Rent. The brilliant Larson died at 35 from a rare illness, just as his musical became a megahit that garnered the Pulitzer Prize. At the same time, Riedel chronicles an infamous rivalry on 42nd Street. Fresh from his failure as head of Cineplex Odeon, the brutally aggressive Garth Drabinsky restored a derelict theater to house the musical Ragtime. Across the street, Disney returned to grandeur the New Amsterdam, eventually to house The Lion King. Riedel's account of this show's artists at work, particularly director Julie Taymor, is fascinating. Later, playwright Tony Kushner's Angels in America became a landmark chronicle of the AIDS epidemic. Finally, Mel Brooks caps this vivid chronicle with his musical The Producers. Riedel, keenly knowledgeable of the business of show, rounds out his history covering the deals-and swindles-brought off by a colorful cast of producers.

An entertaining diversion for fans until the curtains rise again.

Publisher's Marketplace: Riedel, a theater critic and longtime Broadway columnist for the New York Post, follows his bestselling Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway, about Broadway in the 1970s and '80s, with a masterful history of the key moments of the '90s, "a decade of profound change" for the Great White Way. Riedel covers the decade's biggest hits and flops: Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1994 Sunset Boulevard, whose "abrupt collapse" signaled the end of the British invasion of plays including Webber's production of Cats (1982) and Phantom of the Opera (1988). What followed was Tony Kushner's Angels in America (which premiered on Broadway in 1993 and had resounding success throughout the decade), and the groundbreaking Rent, which first took the stage in 1996 in the East Village's New York Theatre Workshop. Riedel details how, thanks to the phenomenal success of culturally inclusive and innovative shows such as The Lion King, the decade's productions had "put Broadway at the center of American popular culture in a way it had not been since the 1950s." Riedel concludes with a strong argument that the successes of the 1990s paved the way for the current moment of "cultural phenomenon" musicals, and that Broadway "is in the midst of its new Golden Age." Broadway aficionados and pop culture geeks will be entertained by this fascinating survey.

Pre-order the book HERE!