A Standing Ovation

I can’t help but recommend Seth Rudetsky’s Broadway Nights. At first I thought I’d just recommend it to a select group (i.e., Jen), because it’s so focused on theater and Broadway inside jokes and references that I didn’t think the rest of you would like it much. That may still be true, but I ended up enjoying it so much that I simply can’t be that stingy with my recommendation.

Rudetsky is a minor B’way celeb himself. He hosts a show called Broadway Chatterbox on Thursday evenings (6:00 so there is still time to make an 8:00 curtain), and it’s hilarious. He interviews Broadway actors and actresses, makes them sing, entertains his audience, and generally rocks the shizzle (yeah, I said it). Jen and I went to the show twice about ten years ago and loved every minute. While I was in Chicago we hatched a plan that we’d be Thursday night regulars as soon as I moved back. Somehow, that plan failed utterly, and I’m still not sure why, but I digress.

The point is, Rudetsky’s humor translates completely to the written page. The book is fluff through and through (reading fluff is my M.O. Lately. It allows me to keep up with fun reading while not taxing my homework-taxed brain even further), but it’s also absolutely hilarious. Some of the humor is theater-specific, but much of it is not, and I throughout the course of my reading I became convinced that one need not be a Broadway hanger-on to enjoy this book.