Ron Fassler and Joanna Gleason are UP IN THE CHEAP SEATS at Drama Book Shop

The Drama Book Shop is pleased to welcome actor-writer Ron Fassler for the launching of his new book Up in the Cheap Seats: A Historical Memoir of Broadway, February 27th at 5:00pm. The event is free to the public and will be followed by a signing. He will be joined by Tony Award winner Joanna Gleason (Into the Woods) for a discussion. Copies of the book, published by Griffith Moon Publishing, will be available for purchase ($29.95).

In his touching and often hilarious theatrical memoir, Ron Fassler tells the real-life stories of how he saw over 200 Broadway plays and musicals between the ages of 12-16 for as little as $2 a ticket, self-funded by the profits from his Long Island paper route. In the days when 50-60 shows came to Broadway every season, Fassler sat in the last row of the balcony, then headed home to write reviews which he reveals for the first time so many decades later. Ron's eyewitness account to some of the greatest shows and stars of the 1960s and 70s (with visits backstage to many of them), is furthered by conversing over the past four years with legendary actors, writers, producers, directors, and composers who were part of this remarkable time. Threading his own personal stories with theirs, the book features memories and insights from Jane Alexander, Sheldon Harnick, James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach, Nathan Lane, Hal Linden, John Lithgow, Bette Midler, Austin Pendleton, Harold Prince, Doris Roberts, Stephen Sondheim, and Mike Nichols among many others.

"Theatre is a transient art, here and then gone, but in his enormously entertaining book UP IN THE CHEAP SEATS, Ron Fassler has made it a little more permanent. Both a moving coming of age memoir and a compulsively readable memoir of Broadway itself, UP IN THE CHEAP SEATS pays homage to the men and women who devote their lives to making great theatre." - John Logan, Tony Award-winning playwright (Red)

"Ron Fassler's UP IN THE CHEAP SEATS reminds me why I am WHO I am. The introduction to live theatre, the spark that lit the creative flame inside me that has become the foundation of my life's work on this planet. Everyday artists/warriors in the trenches transforming lives one person at a time. - Billy Porter, Tony Award winner (Kinky Boots)

The Drama Book Shop, a Tony Award honoree for Excellence in Theatre (2011), is located at 250 West 40th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues. For more information on this and other events, please visit www.dramabookshop.com.