
Everything Was Possible (Updated Edition)
The Birth of the Musical Follies
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jonathan Groff
-
By:
-
Ted Chapin
About this listen
As the sole production assistant for Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, Ted Chapin had a front row seat for the creation of one of the most important American musicals of all time. He kept a detailed journal of his experiences, and his rich storehouse of memories forms the core of Everything Was Possible, which itself has become a modern classic of musical theater history. Chapin was there in the drama-filled rehearsal room, typed endless rewrites, ferried new songs around town, pampered the film and television stars in the cast, and traveled with the show to its Boston tryout and back to New York for the opening night on Broadway.
Combining the zeal of an enthusiast with a journalist’s narrative chops, Chapin takes the listener on a roller-coaster ride through the creation of an original Broadway musical.
Updated to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Follies, this edition includes a new afterword that brings the history of the show forward to today, diving into recent productions around the world, new recordings, the continued promise of a film version, and the legacy of the show in the wake of Stephen Sondheim’s death in 2021.
©2003 Ted Chapin (P)2022 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
My Name Is Barbra
- By: Barbra Streisand
- Narrated by: Barbra Streisand
- Length: 48 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career.
-
-
BARBRA IS LIKE BUTTAH!
- By JoeGato57 on 11-08-23
By: Barbra Streisand
-
Stephen Sondheim in His Own Words
- By: Stephen Sondheim
- Narrated by: Stephen Sondheim
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Sondheim was a multi-award-winning American composer whose works have garnered more than 60 Tony Awards, as well as an Oscar for Best Song and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive.
-
-
Insight into one of the greats!
- By Donald A. Harper on 08-31-22
By: Stephen Sondheim
-
Shy
- The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers
- By: Mary Rodgers, Jesse Green
- Narrated by: Christine Baranski, Jesse Green
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“What am I, bologna?” Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) often said. She was referring to being stuck in the middle of a talent sandwich: the daughter of one composer and the mother of another. And not just any composers. Her father was Richard Rodgers, perhaps the greatest American melodist; her son, Adam Guettel, a worthy successor. What that leaves out is Mary herself, also a composer, whose musical Once Upon a Mattress remains one of the rare revivable Broadway hits written by a woman. Shy is the story of how it all happened.
-
-
What a fun book!
- By Erik B. Rinderle on 09-17-23
By: Mary Rodgers, and others
-
Putting It Together
- How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park with George
- By: James Lapine
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper, Alyssa Bresnahan, Eva Kaminsky, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Putting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. Through conversations between Lapine and Sondheim, as well as most of the production team, and with a treasure trove of personal photographs, sketches, script notes, and sheet music, the two Broadway icons lift the curtain on their beloved musical. Putting It Together is a deeply personal remembrance of their collaboration and friendship and the highs and lows of that journey, one that resulted in the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning classic.
-
-
Revisiting a truly great theatrical experience
- By Robert Beuth on 08-10-21
By: James Lapine
-
Chita
- A Memoir
- By: Chita Rivera
- Narrated by: Chita Rivera
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The long-awaited and wildly entertaining memoir of the star of stage and screen, the legendary Chita Rivera—three-time Tony Award-winner, Kennedy Centers honoree, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
-
-
Chita
- By Just a customer on 05-05-23
By: Chita Rivera
-
Leading Lady
- A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy
- By: Charles Busch
- Narrated by: Charles Busch
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Tony Award-nominated writer of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and the long-running hit Off-Broadway play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, and a Sundance Festival award winner Charles Busch has created a unique place in the entertainment world as a playwright, LGBT icon, drag actor, director, and cabaret performer, with his extraordinary gift for both connecting with and channeling the leading ladies of show business.
-
-
A transporting memoir of a great talent.
- By dognique on 12-16-24
By: Charles Busch
-
My Name Is Barbra
- By: Barbra Streisand
- Narrated by: Barbra Streisand
- Length: 48 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career.
-
-
BARBRA IS LIKE BUTTAH!
- By JoeGato57 on 11-08-23
By: Barbra Streisand
-
Stephen Sondheim in His Own Words
- By: Stephen Sondheim
- Narrated by: Stephen Sondheim
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Sondheim was a multi-award-winning American composer whose works have garnered more than 60 Tony Awards, as well as an Oscar for Best Song and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive.
-
-
Insight into one of the greats!
- By Donald A. Harper on 08-31-22
By: Stephen Sondheim
-
Shy
- The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers
- By: Mary Rodgers, Jesse Green
- Narrated by: Christine Baranski, Jesse Green
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“What am I, bologna?” Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) often said. She was referring to being stuck in the middle of a talent sandwich: the daughter of one composer and the mother of another. And not just any composers. Her father was Richard Rodgers, perhaps the greatest American melodist; her son, Adam Guettel, a worthy successor. What that leaves out is Mary herself, also a composer, whose musical Once Upon a Mattress remains one of the rare revivable Broadway hits written by a woman. Shy is the story of how it all happened.
-
-
What a fun book!
- By Erik B. Rinderle on 09-17-23
By: Mary Rodgers, and others
-
Putting It Together
- How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park with George
- By: James Lapine
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper, Alyssa Bresnahan, Eva Kaminsky, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Putting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. Through conversations between Lapine and Sondheim, as well as most of the production team, and with a treasure trove of personal photographs, sketches, script notes, and sheet music, the two Broadway icons lift the curtain on their beloved musical. Putting It Together is a deeply personal remembrance of their collaboration and friendship and the highs and lows of that journey, one that resulted in the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning classic.
-
-
Revisiting a truly great theatrical experience
- By Robert Beuth on 08-10-21
By: James Lapine
-
Chita
- A Memoir
- By: Chita Rivera
- Narrated by: Chita Rivera
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The long-awaited and wildly entertaining memoir of the star of stage and screen, the legendary Chita Rivera—three-time Tony Award-winner, Kennedy Centers honoree, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
-
-
Chita
- By Just a customer on 05-05-23
By: Chita Rivera
-
Leading Lady
- A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy
- By: Charles Busch
- Narrated by: Charles Busch
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Tony Award-nominated writer of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and the long-running hit Off-Broadway play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, and a Sundance Festival award winner Charles Busch has created a unique place in the entertainment world as a playwright, LGBT icon, drag actor, director, and cabaret performer, with his extraordinary gift for both connecting with and channeling the leading ladies of show business.
-
-
A transporting memoir of a great talent.
- By dognique on 12-16-24
By: Charles Busch
-
Lord Knows, At Least I Was There
- Working with Stephen Sondheim
- By: Paul Ford, Mandy Patinkin - foreword
- Narrated by: Paul Ford
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Atlanta-born Paul Ford first fell in love with the American musical theater at the age of five, he never imagined that his future skills as a "piano thumper" would lead him to a career on Broadway playing rehearsals or in the "pit" for classic Stephen Sondheim musicals and numerous concerts, birthday tributes, and television spectaculars. Now retired, the candid (and admittedly opinionated) author looks back on the performances and personalities that defined the American musical theater in the waning years of the 20th century.
-
-
Mostly Sondheim
- By Anonymous User on 11-24-23
By: Paul Ford, and others
-
Finale
- Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim
- By: D.T. Max
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove, Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2017, New Yorker staff writer D.T. Max began working on a major profile of Stephen Sondheim that would be timed to the eventual premiere of a new musical Sondheim was writing. Sadly , that process – and the years of conversation – was cut short by Sondheim’s own hesitations, then the global pandemic, and finally by the great artist’s death in November 2021.
-
-
That's happily ever after, Ever, ever, ever after For now
- By JoeGato57 on 11-02-24
By: D.T. Max
-
Singular Sensation
- The Triumph of Broadway
- By: Michael Riedel
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 1990s was a decade of profound change on Broadway. At the dawn of the '90s, the British invasion of Broadway was in full swing, as musical spectacles like Les Miserables, Cats, and The Phantom of the Opera dominated the box office. But Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard soon spelled the end of this era and ushered in a new wave of American musicals, beginning with the ascendance of an unlikely show by a struggling writer who reimagined Puccini’s opera La Bohème as the smash Broadway show Rent
-
-
Why Didn’t Michael Riedel Read This Himself?
- By Tallulah on 01-17-22
By: Michael Riedel
-
Something Wonderful
- Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway Revolution
- By: Todd S. Purdum
- Narrated by: Todd S. Purdum
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They stand at the apex of the great age of songwriting, the creators of the classic Broadway musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, whose songs have never lost their popularity or emotional power. Even before they joined forces, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written dozens of Broadway shows, but together they pioneered a new art form: the serious musical play.
-
-
Fabulous book about Rodgers & Hammerstein!!!
- By BigWally on 06-27-18
By: Todd S. Purdum
-
Sondheim in Our Time and His
- By: W. Anthony Sheppard - editor
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer, Janet Metzger
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sondheim in Our Time and His offers a wide-ranging historical investigation of the landmark works and extraordinary career of Stephen Sondheim, a career which has spanned much of the history of American musical theater. Each author uncovers those aspects of biography, collaborative process, and contemporary context that impacted the creation and reception of Sondheim's musicals. In addition, several authors explore in detail how Sondheim's shows have been dramatically revised and adapted over time, bringing together his past with the present, thriving existence of his musicals.
-
-
Compulsory reading for any Sondheim-lover
- By Bklvr on 07-06-23
-
Sondheim & Me
- Revealing a Musical Genius
- By: Paul Salsini
- Narrated by: Dave Clark
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 10 years, they exchanged notes, letters, faxes, and phone calls. Stephen Sondheim would contact him, and Paul Salsini, the founder and editor of The Sondheim Review, would respond. And vice versa. Now, Salsini, a Milwaukee journalist, has described his unlikely long-distance relationship with the fabled composer/lyricist. Almost none of the book material has been seen by the general public. To thoroughly understand the great, revolutionary artistry of Stephen Sondheim, Sondheim & Me is indispensable.
By: Paul Salsini
-
Sondheim
- His Life, His Shows, His Legacy
- By: Stephen M. Silverman
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brimming with insights from a veritable Who's Who of Broadway Babies and complemented by more than two hundred color and black-and-white images, Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy offers a witty, multidimensional look at the musical genius behind Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, and the landmark West Side Story and Gypsy.
-
-
An enjoyable overview, but . . .
- By michael adams on 10-06-23
-
I Was Better Last Night
- A Memoir
- By: Harvey Fierstein
- Narrated by: Harvey Fierstein
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Harvey Fierstein’s legendary career has transported him from community theater in Brooklyn, to the lights of Broadway, to the absurd excesses of Hollywood and back. He’s received accolades and awards for acting in and/or writing an incredible string of hit plays, films, and TV shows.
-
-
Loved it
- By Mary Ellen Guadagno on 03-09-22
By: Harvey Fierstein
-
The Secret Life of the American Musical
- How Broadway Shows Are Built
- By: Jack Viertel
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in actors and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again. Americans love musicals. Americans invented musicals. Americans perfected musicals. But what, exactly, is a musical?
-
-
Great review lacked music
- By joseph f mcgovern on 10-14-18
By: Jack Viertel
-
The Untold Stories of Broadway
- Tales from the World's Most Famous Theaters, Volume 1
- By: Jennifer Ashley Tepper
- Narrated by: John David Farrell, Rebecca Surmont
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From Broadway debuts to landmark productions. Score a front row seat to hear hundreds of stories about the most important stages in the world, seen through the eyes of the producers, actors, stage hands, writers, musicians, company managers, dressers, designers, directors, ushers, and door men who bring The Great White Way to life each night. You'll never look at Broadway the same way again.
-
-
Great Broadway book!
- By NYreader on 09-23-14
-
Patti LuPone
- A Memoir
- By: Patti LuPone
- Narrated by: Patti LuPone
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The legendary Patti LuPone is one of the theatre’s most beloved leading ladies. Now she lays it all bare, sharing the intimate story of her life both onstage and off - through the dizzying highs and darkest lows - with the humor and outspokenness that have become her trademarks. From inspired costars and demanding directors to her distinct perspective on how she developed and honed her Tony Award - winning performances, Patti LuPone: A Memoir is as inspirational as it is entertaining.
-
-
LuPone's Memoir Hits The High Notes!
- By Vince on 09-26-10
By: Patti LuPone
-
Broadway Nights
- A Romp of Life, Love, and Musical Theatre
- By: Seth Rudetsky
- Narrated by: Seth Rudetsky, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrea Martin, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Sheerin was born to play on Broadway - or at least, under it. He's a musician, a conductor, and his dream is to music-direct a big Broadway musical. After years of toiling in the pit of some of the best-loved (and loathed) hits on the Great White Way, he's just been given his big break. Can life really be going that well? Of course not.
-
-
A *must-have* for any fan of Broadway or humor!
- By Michael on 07-08-08
By: Seth Rudetsky
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Secret Life of the American Musical
- How Broadway Shows Are Built
- By: Jack Viertel
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in actors and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again. Americans love musicals. Americans invented musicals. Americans perfected musicals. But what, exactly, is a musical?
-
-
Great review lacked music
- By joseph f mcgovern on 10-14-18
By: Jack Viertel
-
Singular Sensation
- The Triumph of Broadway
- By: Michael Riedel
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 1990s was a decade of profound change on Broadway. At the dawn of the '90s, the British invasion of Broadway was in full swing, as musical spectacles like Les Miserables, Cats, and The Phantom of the Opera dominated the box office. But Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard soon spelled the end of this era and ushered in a new wave of American musicals, beginning with the ascendance of an unlikely show by a struggling writer who reimagined Puccini’s opera La Bohème as the smash Broadway show Rent
-
-
Why Didn’t Michael Riedel Read This Himself?
- By Tallulah on 01-17-22
By: Michael Riedel
-
Stephen Sondheim in His Own Words
- By: Stephen Sondheim
- Narrated by: Stephen Sondheim
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Sondheim was a multi-award-winning American composer whose works have garnered more than 60 Tony Awards, as well as an Oscar for Best Song and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive.
-
-
Insight into one of the greats!
- By Donald A. Harper on 08-31-22
By: Stephen Sondheim
-
Leading Lady
- A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy
- By: Charles Busch
- Narrated by: Charles Busch
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Tony Award-nominated writer of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and the long-running hit Off-Broadway play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, and a Sundance Festival award winner Charles Busch has created a unique place in the entertainment world as a playwright, LGBT icon, drag actor, director, and cabaret performer, with his extraordinary gift for both connecting with and channeling the leading ladies of show business.
-
-
A transporting memoir of a great talent.
- By dognique on 12-16-24
By: Charles Busch
-
Shy
- The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers
- By: Mary Rodgers, Jesse Green
- Narrated by: Christine Baranski, Jesse Green
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“What am I, bologna?” Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) often said. She was referring to being stuck in the middle of a talent sandwich: the daughter of one composer and the mother of another. And not just any composers. Her father was Richard Rodgers, perhaps the greatest American melodist; her son, Adam Guettel, a worthy successor. What that leaves out is Mary herself, also a composer, whose musical Once Upon a Mattress remains one of the rare revivable Broadway hits written by a woman. Shy is the story of how it all happened.
-
-
What a fun book!
- By Erik B. Rinderle on 09-17-23
By: Mary Rodgers, and others
-
Sondheim
- His Life, His Shows, His Legacy
- By: Stephen M. Silverman
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brimming with insights from a veritable Who's Who of Broadway Babies and complemented by more than two hundred color and black-and-white images, Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy offers a witty, multidimensional look at the musical genius behind Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, and the landmark West Side Story and Gypsy.
-
-
An enjoyable overview, but . . .
- By michael adams on 10-06-23
-
The Secret Life of the American Musical
- How Broadway Shows Are Built
- By: Jack Viertel
- Narrated by: David Pittu
- Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For almost a century, Americans have been losing their hearts and losing their minds in an insatiable love affair with the American musical. It often begins in actors and reaches its passionate zenith when it comes time for love, marriage, and children, who will start the cycle all over again. Americans love musicals. Americans invented musicals. Americans perfected musicals. But what, exactly, is a musical?
-
-
Great review lacked music
- By joseph f mcgovern on 10-14-18
By: Jack Viertel
-
Singular Sensation
- The Triumph of Broadway
- By: Michael Riedel
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The 1990s was a decade of profound change on Broadway. At the dawn of the '90s, the British invasion of Broadway was in full swing, as musical spectacles like Les Miserables, Cats, and The Phantom of the Opera dominated the box office. But Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard soon spelled the end of this era and ushered in a new wave of American musicals, beginning with the ascendance of an unlikely show by a struggling writer who reimagined Puccini’s opera La Bohème as the smash Broadway show Rent
-
-
Why Didn’t Michael Riedel Read This Himself?
- By Tallulah on 01-17-22
By: Michael Riedel
-
Stephen Sondheim in His Own Words
- By: Stephen Sondheim
- Narrated by: Stephen Sondheim
- Length: 1 hr and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Sondheim was a multi-award-winning American composer whose works have garnered more than 60 Tony Awards, as well as an Oscar for Best Song and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Here he discusses his life and achievements in a series of interviews from the BBC radio and TV archive.
-
-
Insight into one of the greats!
- By Donald A. Harper on 08-31-22
By: Stephen Sondheim
-
Leading Lady
- A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy
- By: Charles Busch
- Narrated by: Charles Busch
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Tony Award-nominated writer of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and the long-running hit Off-Broadway play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, and a Sundance Festival award winner Charles Busch has created a unique place in the entertainment world as a playwright, LGBT icon, drag actor, director, and cabaret performer, with his extraordinary gift for both connecting with and channeling the leading ladies of show business.
-
-
A transporting memoir of a great talent.
- By dognique on 12-16-24
By: Charles Busch
-
Shy
- The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers
- By: Mary Rodgers, Jesse Green
- Narrated by: Christine Baranski, Jesse Green
- Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“What am I, bologna?” Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) often said. She was referring to being stuck in the middle of a talent sandwich: the daughter of one composer and the mother of another. And not just any composers. Her father was Richard Rodgers, perhaps the greatest American melodist; her son, Adam Guettel, a worthy successor. What that leaves out is Mary herself, also a composer, whose musical Once Upon a Mattress remains one of the rare revivable Broadway hits written by a woman. Shy is the story of how it all happened.
-
-
What a fun book!
- By Erik B. Rinderle on 09-17-23
By: Mary Rodgers, and others
-
Sondheim
- His Life, His Shows, His Legacy
- By: Stephen M. Silverman
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin
- Length: 7 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brimming with insights from a veritable Who's Who of Broadway Babies and complemented by more than two hundred color and black-and-white images, Sondheim: His Life, His Shows, His Legacy offers a witty, multidimensional look at the musical genius behind Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, and the landmark West Side Story and Gypsy.
-
-
An enjoyable overview, but . . .
- By michael adams on 10-06-23
-
Putting It Together
- How Stephen Sondheim and I Created Sunday in the Park with George
- By: James Lapine
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper, Alyssa Bresnahan, Eva Kaminsky, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Putting It Together chronicles the two-year odyssey of creating the iconic Broadway musical Sunday in the Park with George. Through conversations between Lapine and Sondheim, as well as most of the production team, and with a treasure trove of personal photographs, sketches, script notes, and sheet music, the two Broadway icons lift the curtain on their beloved musical. Putting It Together is a deeply personal remembrance of their collaboration and friendship and the highs and lows of that journey, one that resulted in the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning classic.
-
-
Revisiting a truly great theatrical experience
- By Robert Beuth on 08-10-21
By: James Lapine
-
Finale
- Late Conversations with Stephen Sondheim
- By: D.T. Max
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove, Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2017, New Yorker staff writer D.T. Max began working on a major profile of Stephen Sondheim that would be timed to the eventual premiere of a new musical Sondheim was writing. Sadly , that process – and the years of conversation – was cut short by Sondheim’s own hesitations, then the global pandemic, and finally by the great artist’s death in November 2021.
-
-
That's happily ever after, Ever, ever, ever after For now
- By JoeGato57 on 11-02-24
By: D.T. Max
-
Still Here
- The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch
- By: Alexandra Jacobs
- Narrated by: Andréa Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Still Here is the first full telling of Elaine Stritch’s life. Rollicking but intimate, it tracks one of Broadway’s great personalities from her upbringing in Detroit during the Great Depression to her fateful move to New York City, where she studied alongside Marlon Brando, Bea Arthur, and Harry Belafonte. We accompany Elaine through her jagged rise to fame, to Hollywood and London, and across her later years, when she enjoyed a stunning renaissance, punctuated by a turn on the popular television show 30 Rock.
-
-
Phenomenal account of a Broadway Icon
- By Donna Deal on 12-30-19
By: Alexandra Jacobs
-
All That Jazz
- The Life and Times of the Musical Chicago
- By: Ethan Mordden
- Narrated by: Joel Froomkin
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As author Ethan Mordden looks back at Chicago's various moving parts - including the original 1926 play that started it all, a sexy silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, a talkie remake with Ginger Rogers, the musical itself, and at last the movie of the musical - we learn how the American theater serves as a kind of alternative news medium, a town crier warning the public about the racy, devious interior contradictions of American society. Opinionated, witty, and rich in backstage anecdotes, All That Jazz brings the American musical to life in all its artistry and excitement.
-
-
Not I expected
- By Daniel Garcia on 03-22-23
By: Ethan Mordden
-
How Sondheim Can Change Your Life
- By: Richard Schoch
- Narrated by: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Sondheim died on November 26, 2021, but for countless fans around the world, he is “still here,” to quote one of his lyrics. With acclaimed revivals of his landmark shows occurring around the world and introducing new generations to the man who transformed American musical theater, Sondheim’s legacy has only grown. What is it about such classic songs as “Rose’s Turn” from Gypsy, “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music, and “Children Will Listen” from Into the Woods that speaks to us so intimately and profoundly?
-
-
Putting It Together
- By 0 Stars on 12-06-24
By: Richard Schoch
-
Confidential Confidential
- The Inside Story of Hollywood's Notorious Scandal Magazine
- By: Samantha Barbas
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1950s, Confidential magazine, America's first celebrity scandal magazine, revealed Hollywood stars' secrets, misdeeds, and transgressions in gritty, unvarnished detail. Deploying a vast network of tipsters to root out stars' sexual affairs, drug use, and sexuality, publisher Robert Harrison destroyed celebrities' carefully constructed images and built a media empire. Confidential became the best-selling magazine on American newsstands in the 1950s, surpassing Time, Life, and the Saturday Evening Post. Confidential's spectacular rise was followed by an equally spectacular fall.
-
-
Fascinating! Painstaking Research & Documentation
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 05-22-19
By: Samantha Barbas
What listeners say about Everything Was Possible (Updated Edition)
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lauren S Powell
- 12-03-23
An inside look
An opportunity to re-live the magic one more time through the author's eyes and the narrator's voice. Thank you! What a treat! 🙂
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- herbie1492
- 09-22-23
remarkable
never wanted it to end. what a testament to time, place, and the vitality of the american musical at its zenith.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ben Muller
- 01-16-25
A true standout in theater books!
I loved this book from the first note to the last. A divinely intimate and detailed account of what it took to get this show up and running all the way to opening night on Broadway. Superbly narrated by Jonathan Groff who conveys the youthful innocence and enthusiasm of the young ( at the time) author. One of the very best theater memoirs I have read ( or listened to!)
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gene Franklin Smith
- 02-23-25
Beyond outstanding
This is obviously THE book for Follies fans. A true insider’s take on how this audacious show was built from ground up. Chaplin tells it all truthfully with no maliciousness towards anyone, and you really get a sense of being there. Brilliant choice having the wonderful Jonathan Groff read. It’s an absolute pleasure listening to him.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Madison Buyer
- 07-13-23
Simply wonderful!
A detailed behind the scenes account of the making of a Broadway musical beautifully read by Jonathan Groff. Possibly the best narration ever - conversational in a smooth, soothing tone rich with anecdotes. Highly recommended!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Pennypie
- 01-03-24
It’s absolutely everything
The book has a perfect author (and pretty modest about himself - great job, Ted) and a perfect narrator and the most compelling story. I really can’t quite believe I didn’t read it before. My loss - but I’ve read it now!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Eclectic Guy
- 09-27-22
Everything Was Possible:The Revival
With Jonathan Groff’s warm and inviting narration, listening to Ted Chapin’s invaluable 2003 chronicle of the original “Follies” has the feel of a first-rate revival. Almost 20 years later, the book feels fresh, and is as fascinating and insightful as ever. Groff’s charming narration is marred only by his bizarre pronunciations of Yvonne De Carlo’s first name and Ethel Shutta’s last. Do authors ever listen to their own audiobooks before they’re released?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- celia castevens
- 05-21-23
Excellent, Unique Look at Follies
Ted Chapin’s unique perspective as a young production assistant for the Broadway musical Follies is essential for anyone with a love for the theatre. I highly recommend.
I agree with another listener review which questions Jonathan Groff’s mispronouncing Ethel Shutta (should be pronounced "shoo-TAY") and Yvonne deCarlo’s first name (Yee Von?). Otherwise, Jonathan is just the right voice for this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bklvr
- 07-09-23
Fascinating!
An miracle of a book! An incredible play by play of the creation of Follies by someone who was “in the room where it happened.” Wonderfully read by Jonathan Groff.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!