Book Review
Applause: New York's Guide to the Performing Arts by Ruth Leon
Published by: Applause ISBN: 1 55783 096 7 Price: $15.95
Ruth Leon has cast her net across the whole city of New York to gather information for this indispensable guide to performance arts, listing as it does over 1000 companies and performance spaces.
From the outset it should be noted that although appearing in great numbers in bookstores throughout the city, the book was actually published in 1991, and presumably compiled sometime before then. There is no indication that this is in any way a revised edition, so some of the information will be out of date, but that was always likely to be the case, even on publication day.
Of chief interest to anyone interested in cabaret performance will be the section of 58 pages devoted to Jazz and Cabaret. Described in detail are cabaret haunts that will be familiar to many. Information regarding seating capacity and performance schedules is included as well as Leon’s reflection on the location and the facilities it has to offer to contribute to the general enjoyment (or otherwise) of an evening spent there. It is in these reflections that the book really scores. Leon’s style is punchy, witty and an entertainment in itself. Whereas this kind of guide book in the past may have had the tendency for rather bland reading material in this incarnation it truly leaps off the page, often giving a real sense of the location, even if you’ve never been there! Advice is also given on best seating locations for several of the venues listed.
Other sections include an exhaustive list of Broadway theatres (complete with well produced and clear seating plans) Music, Dance, Opera, Children, Environmental and Performance Art, along with Festivals and Seasonal Events. Travel directions, Box Office details and parking facilities are also included.
It is always dangerous to throw around the phrase ‘definitive’ in connection with anything, indeed this point is addressed in the author’s introduction, where she states that in order for the book to be ‘definitive’ it would have to contain a further 500 entries! However until such time as that one is published, this lively, informative and thoroughly entertaining volume is likely to reign supreme.
The book can be ordered direct from Applause Books via their web site