Broadway Nights

A Romp of Life, Love, and Musical Theatre

By: Seth Rudetsky

Narrated by: Seth Rudetsky, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrea Martin, Ann Harada, Richard Kind, Jeff Bowen, Jonathan Groff

Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

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 - his family is driving him crazy, and his boyfriend can't seem to get rid of his other boyfriend. Add to that an alcoholic diva, the cheapest producing team on Broadway, and a comatose casting director, and you have some of the other characters buzzing around Stephen's Broadway break. Then there's Stephen himself - neurotic and bitchy - who realizes that maybe total happiness is overrated.

Narrated by Seth Rudetsky, from Sirus radio and Broadway's The Ritz; Kristin Chenoweth, Tony Award winner, star of Wicked and TV's Pushing Daisies; James Wesley from the Rosie O'Donnell cruise ship; Jonathan Groff, Tony Nominee from Broadway's Spring Awakening; Andrea Martin, Tony Award winner, from SCTV, and currently in Young Frankenstein; Jeff Bowen, Hunter Bell, and Susan Blackwell from [title of show]; Andrea Burns, from Broadway's Tony nominated In the Heights; Andy Karl, from Broadway's Legally Blonde and the upcoming 9 to 5; Anika Larsen, from off Broadway's Zanna, Don't and Broadway's Xanadu; Mary Birdsong (from TV's RENO 911); Billy Porter, from Broadway's Grease and winner of Star Search!; Richard Kind, from TV's Spin City and Broadway's The Producers. Jim Price, from Les Miserables and Off-Broadway's Bat Boy; Ann Harada from Avenue Q and the upcoming 9 to 5; Emily Skinner Tony nominee from Broadway's Side Show; Juli Wesley - Becky's First Grade Class at PS 98; and Sally Rudetsky (Seth's Mom).

©2007 Seth Rudetsky (P)2008 Audible

Critic reviews

"Pretty chorus boys flirt with the world, backstage liaisons complicate rehearsals, and old friends finally become happy lovers - this is a gay romance, after all. But the real fun of the fictional romp is the wealth of factual showbiz lore - much of it bitchy and most of it hilarious - that theater insider Rudetsky packs into his charmingly giddy plot." ( San Francisco Bay Times)
"I love Seth Rudetsky! He is Mr. Broadway! Seth's love for the Musical Theatre equals my own and his knowledge of all things Broadway is an obsession to be cherished. His chronicle of the journey of starstruck kid to Broadway pianist/conductor is a wonderful every-theatre-kid tale with wicked humor and New York City savvy, sass, and insight. I LOVE THIS BOOK!" (Betty Buckley, Tony Award-winning actress/singer)
"Even if Broadway isn't your thing, you'll still laugh at the comedy." ( AudioFile)

Love laughs and Broadway? This is your book!

I had never heard of Seth Rudetsky, but now I crave more of him. Coming from a family prone to burst into song at any moment (to the mortification of related teenagers) we love our Broadway musicals. This book provided lots of interesting behind the scenes details (I never gave a moment's thought to musicians or the allotment of dressing rooms or Broadway producers). The arcana is frosting on the delicious cake of Seth's cast of characters. The perenially depressed Stacy (a dead ringer for someone I've known 20 years). the annoyingly perky (and probably treacherous) francophile Francoise, and the world's cheapest Broadway producers, the sly and ancient Giesenschlags. Besides hilarity, there is romance, cunning and all-around enjoyment. I can't wait for Seth's next book.

So enjoyable!

So enjoyable! I couldn't stop listening. Great story telling and hilarious, relatable moments. I would highly recommend to anyone in or interested in the arts.

Fun Summer Read

Really fun, sweet, snarky listen. I enjoyed every minute, and the characterizations are all spot-on. The actors are all first rate. It reminds me of Armistead Maupin...Just like AM, he creates a world for us that I didn't want to leave.
Seth clearly knows his subject.

Keep writing, Seth.

Narrator a John Lovitz want-a-be

The story was cute and amusing but if Seth wanted John Lovitz to do the narration he should have hired him and not done the cheap imitation. Seth tried too hard using his voice to be funny and it ended up being irritating and grating on the ear after about 30 minutes. Worst of all it diminished the material.

Fun bit of fluff

For those days when you just don't feel like listening to anything serious. And if you love Broadway bonus points! A little bit too much name dropping for my tastes but what the heck.

A *must-have* for any fan of Broadway or humor!

If you've ever seen Seth Rudetsky in comedic action (and if you haven't, do yourself a favor and search for him on YouTube), then you know the kind of sassy and witty humor he brings to everything he does. When you *read* BROADWAY NIGHTS, you can already imagine hearing Seth's voice through the narrative. Well thanks to the gods of literature, we now have Seth himself--along with an uber-talented cast of other Broadway vets--reading his own book in this audible.com version.

You can already read an adequate plot summary in the book's description, so I won't bother to do that here. I *will* say that hearing Seth read his own work is an absolute riot--like David Sedaris reading his own work but with Seth's own unique brand of humor. In fact, most of the book sounds like Seth is just sitting next to you spontaneously telling a story, as opposed to reading from a book.

The only negative I can offer this particular audiobook is that the audio quality of even the highest quality download is too compressed--32kbps with a 22.050kHz sample rate and mono sound. It's not enough to ruin this audio book, but for anyone who is used to listening to books-on-CD it's a bit distracting at first.

Audio quality aside, this book is an absolute treat. The vocal casting is top-notch; the humor is pervasive; and the Broadway-insider stories are total treasures.

Love it!

I'm a big fan of Seth's from XM Broadway radio. This memoir was thoroughly entertaining - and insider's guide to the backstage and business aspects of Broadway theater. Hearing Seth read it himself with his hilarious asides is the only way to go. Plus, the support cast is "AMAZING"! Brava, Seth!

I LOVED this book

This book was so much fun, and gave a glimpse into the world of being on Broadway. I loved the characters and found it laugh-out-loud funny.
Favorite part was the children auditioning for Les Mis. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in the inner workings and stories of Broadway (only partly fictionalized).

Funny, Silly, and Bitch-tastic

I thought this book was a lot of fun. Yes, the narration is a tad over-the-top at times but it's authentic and necessary if you want to truly lose yourself in the world of backstage off (and on) Broadway. If they ever make a movie of it I might even venture out of my cave and actually go see it (which is saying a lot because I NEVER go to the movies unless I'm taking children to see cartoons).

Interesting listen

I purchased this because Kristin Chenoweth was a narrator, and because I would love to live in NYC!
It took two tries to listen to the book, but when I finally got into the book I found it enjoyable because of the multiple narrators, and because I wanted to find out how it concluded.