Unlike many of his peers, Michael Feinstein loved old songs, those of Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Cole Porter and so on. As a child, he collected all the old records and sheet music he could find. In 1977 he went to work for Ira Gershwin (a dream come true)! Nice Work If You Can Get It: My Life in Rhythm and Rhyme is a delightful read, but be sure to catch Michael Feinstein in concert, even if only on PBS. His love and enthusiasm for these wonderful old standards is catching! I loved the parts about lyrics (just as important as the melody), and about Harry Warren (composer and lyricist), who is little known these days but shouldn't be! He wrote, among many other songs, 'That's Amore', 'Chatanooga Choo-Choo', and a favorite of mine, 'Lullaby of Broadway' (from the first big musical show 42nd Street).

'Lullaby of Broadway' made me think of Jerry Orbach .... a few years ago a biography about him was published .... Jerry Orbach Prince of the City: His Way From The Fantasticks to Law & Order, by John Anthony Gilvey. The good and bad thing about a Broadway performance it is that when it's over, it's over ... fortunately there dvds that have captured a few of them so it is possible to see Jerry Orbach performing 'Lullaby'. His career included films, and tv (he was a winner on celebrity Jeopardy). He was the voice of Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, and, of course the jaded, street wise cop on Law & Order. For a glimpse of the man behind all these characters, as well as in his private life, this is the book to read.

Just who is Michael Patrick Dumbell-Smith? He was in the movie version of Hello, Dolly; the sadly overlooked movie Condorman (okay, okay, it is rather silly, but also fun!); a delightful stage musical in which he does all his own stunts that was (fortunately) filmed, called Barnum ... oh, yes, and he might be better known as the original phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. You know him as Michael Crawford! Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied With String. My Autobiography, is the story of his life (up to 1999 or so). Charming, witty, he tells of the good and the bad things in his life with style and humor, er, humour. :-) You'll have to read the book to learn about his name change, and the title.

Oscar Hammerstein built theaters and opera houses (late 1800's) in New York. His grandson, Oscar Hammerstein the Second wrote the lyrics for shows by Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers. After reading as much as I have on WWII recently, the lyrics for 'The Last Time I Saw Paris', written when Paris was occupied by Nazi troops, brought tears to my eyes. His grandson, Oscar Andrew Hammerstein (Oscar H. the Third) tells of them, and the generations in between in The Hammersteins: a Musical Theatre Family. They were a talented lot, to be sure! Lots of great pictures.

If a mistake is made on a tv show, or in a movie, it can be edited out but this cannot happen on the stage. Usually the actors are able to continue on, but not always, and these are the stories in Stop the Show!: A History of Insane Incidents and Absurd Accidents in the Theater, by Brad Schreiber. From flubbed lines, to falling scenery, fires, even folks wandering through an open door and onto the stage, not to mention obnoxious (or snoring) members of the audience, these are things that brought a show to a halt. A fun read. :-)

"They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway (on Broadway)" (George Benson)

Reading Hermit With Dog