We were so excited to welcome Michael Riedel as the guest for our first 3T Saloon Salon event.  The event was held on February 21^st at The Writing Room in NYC (the home of the old Elaine’s).  Michael is the irreverent, slay a sacred cow Broadway columnist for the New York Post, the co-host of PBS Theater Talk, a regular guest on Imus and in the Morning, occasionally an actor (he played himself in the NBC show Smash) and he has just written a “smash” book on the history of Broadway, called Razzle Dazzle.  And he “razzle dazzled” all of his with his charm, wit, and great tales of Broadway.

Moderators Cheryl Benton and Beth Goehring talked to him about how he went from his dreams of being a lawyer to becoming a Broadway columnist.  His answer was that he was at Columbia law school but was hanging out with the theater majors and they were a lot more fun.

We also asked him about his relationship with Broadway. He’s been punched out by directors, broken the unwritten code of “No reviews of shows in previews”, like calling out Al Pacino for using teleprompters in China Doll – and putting Bernadette Peter’s face on a milk carton when she missed several performances of Gypsy.  Despite those antics, he’s actually embraced by the Broadway crowd.

We then talked about his fabulous book, Razzle Dazzle that is filled to the brim with fascinating stories about the amazing cast of characters behind the scenes of Broadway, how the Shuberts saved Broadway, and so much more.  Get the book.  It’s fascinating.

Michael Riedel, co-moderators, Beth Goehring, Cheryl Benton (aka the head tomato) and Carol Davis (The Thee Tomatoes)