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Title: Fascinating Follies
Review: What I like the most about this book is that although Follies is an over-the-top piece of musical theater, Chapin takes a journalistic "just the facts, Ma'm" approach. In other hands, the book could have been a scandal sheet of unsubstantiated gossip, screaming arguements, and backstage back-biting. Instead, Chapin gives a fair, neutral, even-handed version of his experience as someone who was there. The disparity of the Amazon reviews is not surprising, as Follies itself divides audiences, usally into camps (pun not intended) who adore the glitzy pastiche numbers and abhor the bad marriage blather, and those who try to accept the work as a whole. If you really love the history of musical theatre and appreciate the indelible influence of Prince, Bennett, and Sondheim, then this book is for you. If you are looking for dish, go elsewhere.
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