Jack Viertel to Write THE SECRET LIFE OF THE BROADWAY MUSICAL Book

According to the New York Times, Jack Viertel will soon write a book on 'why some shows succeed and others falter.' The book which will be released by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in winter 2016, is tentatively titled "The Secret Life of the Broadway Musical: How Broadway Shows are Built."

He told NYT: "I found that people in their 20s and 30s didn't understand how classic musicals are built, because that golden age of musicals is so far away from us now. There was a real blueprint that 'Oklahoma!' laid down for people, that was then followed in a fairly rigorous way by composers and book writers, and that reflected an agreed-upon set of principles about America - that we were a can-do, optimistic nation."

He continued: "Then in the 1970s the Hal Prince-Stephen Sondheim shows - 'Company,' 'Follies,' several others - started changing that, because they were so daring and encouraged writers to think they didn't need the blueprint anymore. And the cultural ferment going on - related to Vietnam, Watergate - accelerated that change."

Click here to read the full article.

Viertel is the Artistic Director of Encores!. His recent credits include Doubt, The Producers, Jersey Boys, Sweeney Todd, Proof, Gem of the Ocean and The Wedding Singer.

He has helped shepherd five of August Wilson's plays to Broadway, worked on Angels in America, Into the Woods, and M. Butterfly, among others. He conceived and co-produced the long-running musical revue Smokey Joe's Cafe, served as dramaturg for The Wedding Singer and Hairspray, and is the coauthor of the musical Time and Again. He spent two years as dramaturg of the Mark Taper Forum in L.A., and began work in the theater as a critic for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.