Camelton: the hilarious book of the musical of the musical ...

 

I don't often read theatre books. Non-fiction, that is. Which cuts out many a soi-disant biography or memoir.

 

Ninety percent of what comes out these days is poor stuff. Rehashed rehashes of old-style 'history' in the University or Wikipedia style. 'Biographies' of 'Famous Names I Have Dropped'. And so forth.

 

But ... happily, there is occasionally a 'but'.

 

I have just four American theatrical books (not counting reference works, which no one publishes any more) on my 'A' shelves. Four books which I have re-read, and will read again, purely for pleasure.

 

(1) Wesker, Arnold SHYLOCK and the DEATH OF ZERO MOSTEL. A classic and a masterpiece. It has even ousted from its place as Best Theatre Memoir Ever number (2)

(2) Hart, Moss ACT ONE which others before me have accoladed

(3) Dunn, Don THE MAKING OF NO, NO, NANETTE. A frothy bit of Broadway-backstab stuff which has the ring of truth to it ...

 

And today I am adding a fourth. It is entitled CAMELTON. No, not HAMILTON, though the parody is intentional. Like Wesker's tale, it is a playwright's retelling of how his piece came to the stage, through what vicissitudes, and in what shape. But whereas Wesker is serious and tragic, Stephen Cole of CAMELTON is hilarious. How could he not be?: the musical that this book deals with was staged in Qatar in the earliest decade of the century and, yes, anything you can imagine DID happen. But the story doesn't end there. Because Cole and his musical partner, David Krane, later turned the incredible history of the making of their Arab spectacular into ... a musical! Where, years ago, I got to know it ...  And now THE ROAD TO QATAR, as that piece was titled, has become a one-man-show and a memoir as CAMELTON.

 Well, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who gets much more enjoyment out of reading such as the vivacious and veracious theatre stories of Cole and Krane (with very few names dropped), fresh, different and original, than one more book of ten-times-told and dubious Broadway tales. I have read the whole 240pp of this one in one sitting .. and CAMELTON takes its place on my 'A' shelf.

 

Actually, if Stephen Cole keeps on turning out books like this, and his Broadway burlesque novella Mary, Ethel and Mikey Who, which I dubbed the Best Broadway Book of 2024 ... I may have to create a shelf A (a) ...

https://kurtofgerolstein.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-best-broadway-book-in-decades.html

Keep 'em coming Mr Cole!  You are the Best-Fun-Broadway-Writer in ages.