Kate's Reviews > Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater

For those of you who don’t know me, I love and I mean love anything and everything that relates to Broadway. Probably if I could, I would go and see a Broadway show every weekend. Money, distance and time prevents that from actually happening. I love going to theaters and learning the history and seeing pictures of all the famous actors and actresses who performed at that theater. Angela Lansbury, Chita Rivera, Carol Channing, Audra McDonald and Betty Buckley, Kristin Chenoweth are some of the actresses that Shapiro interviewed. Author Eddie Shapiro interviewed these wonderful ladies along with others and just got to know their successes and struggles in the industry. Three stars that I have always loved and enjoyed reading more about were Carol Channing, Chita Rivera and Betty Buckley.

Carol Channing, you hear the name and you automatic are drawn to the theater. This 5’9” of a woman with a deep and unique voice is Broadway. Starting from her first Broadway show of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1949) to her last show of Hello Dolly in 1995. In the book, she talks about her love of the theater and the environment of the theater. Diversity, is important to Carol and the theater, you have all walks of life on a stage. Channing also though does touch on issues like being in the theater world so much, she lost touch with her only son and was never the mom that was there for him. She mentions her one husband taking her money but someway, somehow she always seemed to manage. For a woman of 90 something, she has had her share of ups and downs, but the theater was always a place she could escape and forget about reality for awhile. I read her autobiography book titled Just Lucky I Guess, it was a hoot.

When it comes to being at the right place at the right time, Chita Rivera knows it all to well. In the book, she talks about her not really wanting to do theater but it just came to her. Her one love was dancing and that lead to tryouts, that lead to Broadway and that lead her to where she is today. Also, she gives a lot of credit to fellow performers who helped her along the way such as Bob Fosse, his wife Gwen Verdon (another great Broadway performer), Jerome Robbins Leonard Bernstein and so on. She mentions her disappoint of not being in the movie version of Bye, Bye Birdie but was thrilled to have been in the play (1960) with Dick Van Dyke and Paul Lynn ( both who went onto the movie version). A wonderful person who has an outstanding Resume of dancing and the theater.

Parents always want the best for their children and that was not exception in the case of Broadway star Betty Buckley. This Texan gal had parents who were on opposite ends to her career in theater. Her mother being a singer and dancer herself, encouraged her daughter’s dreams. Her father on the other hand, believe those who did showiness were seen as unclean and loose women. Her father eventually gave in and accepted his daughter’s profession. Being a huge fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber, I have a ton of Buckley’s cds. It’s hard to say who sings “Memory” from Cats better, her or Elaine Paige.

All and all a wonderful book for those of us who enjoy Broadway and learning more about the stars on the stage.