Among the recent publications by and about the stage community are the memoir of a Tony-winning costume designer, a conductor’s comic book for children based on an iconic opera, a writer’s recollections of working with a Superstar, and a collection of personal short stories by a veteran playwright, producer, radio host, and Broadway press agent.
If the Song Doesn’t Work, Change the Dress – Tony-winning costume designer Patricia Zipprodt (1925-99), who worked on such legendary Broadway shows as Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, 1776, Pippin, Chicago, Sweet Charity, and many, many more, in addition to operas, ballets, and films, traces the ups and downs of her colorful personal journey from the Depression era in her native Illinois, to her move to NYC’s bohemian Greenwich Village in the 1950s, through her rise to prominence as one of the most acclaimed design artists of the 20th-century stage. Her significant contributions to the development of Off-Broadway theater, her distaste for Hollywood, the job interviews she suffered through, the industry giants she worked with (including Jerome Robbins, Hal Prince, and Bob Fosse), and the struggles and successes of her career are presented in twelve chapters of vivid autobiographical anecdotes written in her naturally engaging, open, and witty style.
The posthumous publication – with a preface, epilogue, afterword (on her experiences costuming Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Kathleen Turner, which Zipprodt did not include in her book), a list of the 128 productions to her credit, and other additions by theater historian Arnold Wengrow – contains 100 color illustrations of her sketches, finished costumes, production photos, and pictures with family, friends, and colleagues, all gleaned from her estate and her archives in the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. There is also a foreword by two of Zipprodt’s closest long-time friends, actor Joel Grey and costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, discussing the impact she had on them, both professionally and personally, in a beautiful tribute to “a true original.”
Patricia Zipprodt, with Arnold Wengrow, If the Song Doesn’t Work, Change the Dress (Bloomsbury Publishing, February 2025), hard cover, 216 pages, ISBN 9781350430655, $35.00, eBook, ISBN 9781350430679, $25.20.
The Magic Flute – For the premiere volume of the new Operabytes comic book series from Maestramagic!– a mixed-media children’s educational entertainment show, created and hosted by conductor Elizabeth Askren in the spring of 2020, during the early days of the COVID pandemic – Maestra Askren has written a kid-friendly adaptation of Mozart’s 1791 fairytale Singspiel opera about Prince Tamino’s enchanted journey through magic, monsters, and finding love and the courage to overcome obstacles. The abridged two-act story is told in current youthful lingo with humorous asides (“That’s a funny name!”) that make it amusing, relatable, and easy to follow, preceded by an introduction (or “Oh!verture”) giving the background of the work and the meaning of the operatic terms.
Askren’s clear text is brought to life by Daryna Kudenko’s bright childlike illustrations, audio QR codes interspersed throughout the book enhance the visuals with musical excerpts from the recording of the Rias Symphonie-Orchester’s 1955 performance, and a bonus section of games, puzzles, jokes, and line drawings to color follows, giving young readers an interactive and immersive experience.
Elizabeth Askren, The Magic Flute (Maestramagic!, December 2024), paperback, 45 pages, ISBN-13: 979-8301266577, $19.99.
Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn – In 1985, Missouri native and recent college grad Jeff Copeland moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in screenwriting, but a chance encounter with trans Superstar Holly Woodlawn – best known for her roles in Andy Warhol’s underground films Trash (1970) and Women in Revolt (1971), in Off-Off-Broadway plays by Jackie Curtis, in cabaret performances and revues at such notable New York venues as Reno Sweeney, The Limelight, Palladium, and Laurie Beechman Theatre, and as one of the inspirations (along with Curtis) for Lou Reed’s hit song “Walk on the Wild Side” – changed his life. They formed an unlikely friendship and collaborated on her bestselling 1991 autobiography A Low Life in High Heels, with Copeland serving as recorder, transcriber, and ghostwriter.
This current book about writing the book offers an inside first-person look at their backgrounds, the times they spent in LA and NYC, the setbacks they faced, the fun and successes they had together, the ill effects of her alcohol addiction that drove them apart, and the enduring love and remembrances he has of her. It’s an honest, hilarious, and deeply felt portrait of her audacious personality, the world she introduced him to, and the mayhem she often caused, before losing her battle with brain and liver cancer in 2015, at the age of 69. More than that, it’s a celebration of her unique indomitable spirit, which was also honored in the 88th Academy Awards’ In Memoriam segment. As someone who knew Holly and worked extensively with the Warhol Circle, it brought back cherished memories, made me laugh, and touched my heart.
Jeff Copeland, Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn (Feral House, February 2025), paperback, 310 pages, ISBN 978-1-62731-159-5304, $22.95.
Manhattan Mayhem – Now 91, David Rothenberg has had a diverse boundary-breaking career that includes his years in the theater as a producer, playwright, and director, and as a press agent for more than 250 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows (among them, Hair, Night Of The Iguana, The Birthday Party, Blue Man Group and Tony and Tina’s Wedding), and his decades of socio-political activism, resulting in his appointment to the NYC Commission of Human Rights, a Governor’s Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice, a Mayor’s Task Force on Child Abuse, and the American Bar Association Commission on Correction, in addition to his founding of The Fortune Society in 1967 (one of the nation’s leading advocacy and service organizations in criminal justice) and his 1985 run for Manhattan City Councilman to raise AIDS awareness as an openly gay candidate. He’s also been a guest columnist for several newspapers and continues to host a weekly radio program on WBAI, which he’s done for nearly 60 years.
The ever-prolific Rothenberg has now added another line to his long multifaceted résumé, as the author of a new memoir, in the format of a collection of eighteen short stories based on his experiences with family, friends, and associates, changing some of the well-known names and filling in some details in a mix of fact and fiction, to make for fully revealing and impactful first-person narratives and period-pieces of life in NYC in the 20th century. Among them are his reflections on familial squabbles and broken relationships, reunions and loss, episodes of homophobia, anti-semitism, and racism, connections across all lines, and the people, words, and deeds that stayed with him and taught him invaluable life lessons, in a book filled with humor, heartbreak, and purpose.
David Rothenberg, Manhattan Mayhem (Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, February 2025), paperback, 122 pages, ISBN 9798308918547, $25.00, Kindle, 159 pages, $9.99.