The Broadway producer and historian Jennifer Ashley Tepper discusses her new book The Untold Stories of Broadway: Volume 4 (Dress Circle Publishing, 2021), with Joseph Planta.

The Untold Stories of Broadway: Volume 4 by Jennifer Ashley Tepper (Dress Circle Publishing, 2021). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Untold Stories of Broadway

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Jennifer Ashley Tepper joins me again. The Broadway producer and historian has just published The Untold Stories of Broadway: Volume 4. In this new book, she takes us into Manhattan’s Imperial, Bernard B. Jacobs, Minskoff, Samuel J. Friedman, and Golden theatres and Studio 54, by revealing their storied histories, the shows they housed, and the performers who trod the boards therein. She also tells us of the so-called Fallen Five: the Morosco, Bijou, the original Helen Hayes, Gaiety, and Astor theatres, all felled by the wrecking ball in 1982 to be replaced by the Marriot Marquis hotel, and the Marquis Theatre within the 49-storey complex. What Ms. Tepper has done in these books is reveal what it’s like to work and watch in these theatres. She interviews a who’s who of Broadway, front of house, backstage, and of course, those memorable performers and creators who are recognisable the world over. We see in the book what it takes to make a hit, and a flop, and just how magical, and sometimes miraculous a theatre itself can be for those on and off stage. I’ll get Ms. Tepper to tell us about how she views her relationship with the theatre, the actual buildings themselves, and the idea of Broadway. Jennifer Ashley Tepper was first on the program in 2019 on the release of the cast album of The Jonathan Larson Project, which she produced. She is producer of musicals Be More Chill, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and Love in the Hate Nation. She is also creative and programming director at Feinstein’s/54 Below, and other than the history she has collected and showcased in this new book and its three previous volumes (not to mention the two forthcoming), she is historian consultant on the upcoming film version of tick, tick…BOOM! In 2020, she received the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. Visit her website at www.jenniferashleytepper.com. This new book is from Dress Circle Publishing. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Jenn Tepper; Ms. Tepper, good morning.

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