Description
Product Description
Celebrating the 100 years of the American Theatre Wing, this book is a fascinating cornucopia of untold lore and never-before-seen photos as prismatic and unexpected as the theater itself.
In 1943, a wounded soldier aided by a cane limped into the Stage Door Canteen, the American Theatre Wing’s fabled New York club created to entertain the allied forces. Two hours later, he was said to have left with a spring in his step―and without the cane. This “miracle” is just one of many recounted in the lavish book The American Theatre Wing, an Oral History: 100 Years, 100 Voices, 100 Million Miracles.
The other miracles are more commonplace, if no less remarkable, told by the impassioned artists and theater advocates who created and sustained this preeminent theatrical organization, including Angela Lansbury, Rosie O’Donnell, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Harold Prince, Kenny Leon, Neil Patrick Harris, David Henry Hwang, Harvey Fierstein, and James Corden. These oral histories trace the American Theatre Wing’s dedication to supporting and fostering American theater and the burgeoning and veteran artists in their stories―from Broadway, Off Broadway, and regional theater.
Review
"Loaded with first person anecdotes and never-before-seen-photos, this book takes you from the Wing’s beginnings as a World War I charitable organization, to the establishment of the famed Stage Door Canteen during World War II, to the Wing of today that works tirelessly to support theatre on Broadway and all across the United States.",
Playbill
"O, happy day! Journalist Pacheco, chosen by the American Theatre Wing to steward the compilation of a celebratory text commemorating the centenary of the American theater’s most august organization, has delivered the loveliest valentine to the history of Broadway that any fan could hope for.",
Barry X. Miller, Austin Public Library, Library Journal, *STARRED REVIEW*
Featured in
People magazine's "Best Gift Books" December 2018.,
People
"A fascinating cornucopia of untold lore and never-before-seen photos as prismatic and unexpected as the theater itself.",
Broadway World
About the Author
Patrick Pacheco is a journalist and Emmy-winning commentator whose work has appeared in
The New York Times,
The Los Angeles Times,
The Wall Street Journal, and Esquire.com. Pacheco contributed to the 2005 Broadway musical
Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, and co-wrote with Maria Cassi the play
My Life with Men...and Other Animals. He also wrote the 2010 Disney documentary
Waking Sleeping Beauty. He appears on NY1’s On Stage and Public Television's Theater Talk.
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury is a British-American-Irish actress who has appeared in theater, television, and film, as well as a producer, voice actress, and singer. Her career has spanned seven decades, much of it in the United States, and her work has attracted international attention.
Roseann O'Donnell is an American comedian, actress, author, and television personality. She has been a magazine editor and continues to be a celebrity blogger, a lesbian rights activist, and a television producer.