Eddie Shapiro will take part in a special cabaret-style evening with live music in partnership with Zeiders American Dream Theater and ROÚGE Theater Reinvented*Wednesday, December 4, 7:30 pm, Sandler Family Campus
Reviewed by Nili Belkin
In Here’s To The Ladies, Eddie Shapiro interviews 20 award-winning actresses. His style is open, honest, and gently invasive, allowing his interviewee to provide information that anyone else may have failed to access. Readers become privy to secrets, gossip, spats, and reminiscences, making them feel as if present and participating with him during the interview process.
Each interview begins with a short history detailing the actress’s education and rise to stardom. This is a diverse group, ranging from Charlotte d’Amboise, who grew up in the New York City Ballet, to Portsmouth native Adrienne Warren, who turned to musical theater after sustaining an injury that eliminated her basketball future. Mary Beth Peil transitions from opera to musical theater, and Stephanie J. Block gets her theatrical start playing roles in SoCal theme parks. Each shares insight into her hard work, self-doubt, and successes.
Shapiro begins the book with an interview with the now-deceased Barbara Cook. He joins her in her New York apartment, setting the tone of cozy reminiscing for the rest of the book. Shapiro and Cook discuss her rise in the theater to starring roles in classics Oklahoma!, Carousel, and The Music Man, as well as her transition to cabaret and concert performer later in life. She dishes on past work experiences: leaving the London production of Carrie, predicting “this is going to be a phenomenal failure.” But, later in the interview, stating that Betty Buckley (who replaced her) “was very good for it (the role).” Cook also relates a decline in prime roles because “I was too fat,” so, as with many of the women in this book, she changed her focus to continue her successful career.
Filled with tales of queens, princesses, cheerleaders, and rock stars, stories of friendship, loss, and grief are interwoven throughout the book. Kelli O’Hara cries when speaking of personal loss from the deaths of her friends and co-stars Marin Mazzie and Rebecca Luker. “They were strong, funny, sweet, good people. And they’re gone.” And Charlotte d’Amboise shares how terrifying it was in 1985 when many on Broadway were dying from AIDS. “Everybody was just terrified. You got it and you were dead. Fast.”
Humor and hard work are components of the success these women achieve. Faith Prince began her career in a church in Lynchburg, Va. About playing Ursala in The Little Mermaid, she says, “I enjoyed scaring children. Who knew?” Heather Headley, who offers a unique approach to the role of the witch in Into the Woods says, “I love The Witch, and she taught me a lot!” Grit is a requirement for achieving their success. Stephanie Block was cast as the first Elphaba in Wicked, working for two years in workshops and development until it was Broadway-bound, when she was replaced by a bigger named star and Block became the understudy.
The women are open with Shapiro about professional relationships, providing gossip and insight, such as that Leonard Bernstein was “so kind. And supportive…. Very sexy man.” Reports on Jerome Robbins stating, “we all felt burnt out.” Claims that Yul Brynner “had my back” and Robert Preston described as “Extraordinarily sexual.”
Cast and crew relationships are also included. Their dressers, for example, they say, “become your therapist, your lifesaver. They keep you from going on stage nude.”
Then there is the exhausting and exhilarating award season. The month-long award season increases demands on stars who are already doing eight shows a week. The tension and excitement grow knowing Tony judges may be in the audience at any time.
Shapiro clearly adores these women. His sheer love of music theater shines through the book as he presents a personal introduction to a group of incredible leading ladies from the Broadway stage. So, sit down with a glass of wine and enjoy this delightful collection of interviews. Reading Here’s To The Ladies is like attending the cast party of the year.
*The presentation is part of the Lee & Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival. $10 for JCC members; $14 for non-members.
Learn more and register at JewishVA.org/BookFest.