History Hiding Around Broadway: Backstage Lore, Secrets, & Surprises from New York’s Famed Theater District

Tour guide Dvornik walks readers through the ins and outs of New York City’s theater district in her energetic and eclectic debut. Moving from the Nederlander Theatre on West 41st Street to the Vivian Beaumont on 65th, she highlights backstage lore, hidden architectural gems, and famous productions, noting, for example, that The Lion King opened at the New Amsterdam Theater in 1997, where Bert Williams, a popular vaudevillian performer, appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies nearly 90 years earlier. Dvornik covers the basics of Broadway, but also shares lesser-known trivia to pique the interest of knowledgeable theatergoers. For instance, she spotlights the small speakeasy bar built for Irving Berlin in the Music Box Theatre, as well as the Belasco’s “elephant room,” which was built in anticipation of Harry Houdini appearing there and so named because the basement underneath the stage was big enough to house the elephant in one of Houdini’s tricks. While some theater houses get shorter shrift than others, Dvornik’s enthusiasm for Broadway is infectious and her knowledge of its eccentricities vast. It’s a delightful love letter to the Great White Way. Illus. (Nov.)