MARY & ETHEL and Mikey Who?
Author and musical theatre librettist Stephen Cole has taken his real-life friendships with Ethel Merman and Mary Martin, the two undisputed queens of Broadway, tossed them into a blender and come up with a fantasy about a nerdy super-fan in the early 1980s who, while visiting his dying idol Ethel Merman, stumbles into a time portal in her closet and exits on the other side in Sophie Tucker's star dressing room at the Imperial Theatre in 1939. Mikey Marvin Minkus gets to know his idols in their prime as he time travels through the decades with them, influencing their lives and careers, while helping to foster their legendary rivalry. Only visiting times when Merman and Martin's fates crossed, Mikey becomes a vital part of their lives, all the while interacting with such celebrated theatrical figures as Cole Porter, Jerome Robbins, Josh Logan, Dorothy Fields, Larry Hagman, Irving Berlin, Sophie Tucker, Leland Hayward, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and a newcomer named Jane Fonda.
Book Details
- Publisher: Moreclacke Publishing
- Publish Date: Jan 16th, 2024
- Pages: 216
- Language: English
- Dimensions: 9.00in - 6.00in - 0.75in - 0.99lb
- EAN: 9798985934458
- Categories: • Performing Arts - Dance, Theater & Musicals• Fantasy - Contemporary
About the Author
Cole, Stephen: - Stephen Cole is an award-winning musical theatre writer whose shows have been produced from New York City to London to the Middle East and Australia. His off-Broadway musical with Matthew Ward, AFTER THE FAIR, was nominated for the Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Musical and was subsequently produced in London to great acclaim.THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER won the prestigious Edward Kleban Award and was produced in New York City, Dallas, and San Francisco, where it was nominated for several Bay Area Theatre Awards. The award-winning 1998 concept CD features Ron Raines, Sally Mayes, and Dorothy Loudon. SATURDAY NIGHT AT GROSSINGER'S has had successful runs in Texas (starring Gavin MacLeod), Los Angeles, and Florida. Broadway legend Chita Rivera toured in CASPER, and Hal Linden and Dee Hoty starred in the world premiere of his musical adaptation of DODSWORTH.In 2005, Stephen was commissioned to write ASPIRE, the first American musical to premiere in the Middle East. This experience resulted in another musical about the creation of that show entitled THE ROAD TO QATAR!, produced to rave reviews and awards Off-Broadway, in London, and at the Edinburgh Festival, garnering a Best Musical nomination. Among his other produced shows are ROCK ODYSSEY, which played to hundreds of thousands of kids for ten seasons of productions at the Adrienne Arscht Center in Miami, and MERMAN'S APPRENTICE, presented in concert at Birdland in New York City, followed by an all-star cast album on Jay Records, and an acclaimed premiere production in Sonoma, CA in 2019. Stephen's latest critically acclaimed musical is GOIN' HOLLYWOOD.Stephen's published books include That Book About That Girl and I Could Have Sung All Night, the Marni Nixon story, currently in development as a feature film from Amazon. Stephen has also written several published stories and his real-life friendships with Ethel Merman and Mary Martin resulted in this, his first novel. Visit www.stephencolewriter.org.
Praise for this book
Stephen Cole has written a most disarming and fantastical dream of a story! Having worked with these two great stars and admired them both immensely, I was delighted that this novel gave them life again. Did I say I loved it? I loved it!- Donna McKechnie, Tony(R)-winning star of A Chorus Line
The time-traveler that all of us would like to be. The attention to historical detail is only ONE of the remarkable achievements of this terrific novel. Now excuse me as I start to reread it once again.- Peter Filichia, author of Brainteasers for Broadway Geniuses
A wild, funny, and touching fantasy involving two of Broadway's most famous legends and their completely besotted fan!- John Kander, celebrated composer of Cabaret and Chicago
Both poignant and fiendishly funny, the author melds the stories of the legendary Ethel Merman and Mary Martin with that of his dazed but adoring fictional protagonist. Behind all of the funhouse mirrors, we are always firmly guided by the sure hand of a first-rate theater/film historian.- Charles Busch, actor, playwright, cabaret performer, and drag legend
A hysterical, historical, Broadway romp, written by someone who knew both of the leading ladies in real life and lived to make up a tale.- Chris Darling, producer of Perry Mason, HBO
You will not find a more authoritative guide to Ethel Merman and Mary Martin than Stephen Cole. Beyond that, though, this novel reminds the reader that, for many of us, Broadway musicals are not merely entertainments but a form of life-redeeming salvation.- William V. Madison, author of Madeline Kahn: Being the Music. A Life
The time-traveler that all of us would like to be. The attention to historical detail is only ONE of the remarkable achievements of this terrific novel. Now excuse me as I start to reread it once again.- Peter Filichia, author of Brainteasers for Broadway Geniuses
A wild, funny, and touching fantasy involving two of Broadway's most famous legends and their completely besotted fan!- John Kander, celebrated composer of Cabaret and Chicago
Both poignant and fiendishly funny, the author melds the stories of the legendary Ethel Merman and Mary Martin with that of his dazed but adoring fictional protagonist. Behind all of the funhouse mirrors, we are always firmly guided by the sure hand of a first-rate theater/film historian.- Charles Busch, actor, playwright, cabaret performer, and drag legend
A hysterical, historical, Broadway romp, written by someone who knew both of the leading ladies in real life and lived to make up a tale.- Chris Darling, producer of Perry Mason, HBO
You will not find a more authoritative guide to Ethel Merman and Mary Martin than Stephen Cole. Beyond that, though, this novel reminds the reader that, for many of us, Broadway musicals are not merely entertainments but a form of life-redeeming salvation.- William V. Madison, author of Madeline Kahn: Being the Music. A Life
Inventive, imaginative, and quite emotional. A terrific piece of writing. I loved it!
- Judy Kaye, two-time Tony(R)-winning star of