Susan Dormady Eisenberg’s new historical rom-com about Broadway’s original “Camelot.”
A Witty Rom-Com Depicting the Out-of-Town Travails of Lerner & Loewe’s Beloved Golden-Age Musical
— Stephanie Cowell, author
BALTIMORE, MD, UNITED STATES, April 11, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — Atmosphere Press announces the release of Susan Dormady Eisenberg’s “One More Seat at the Round Table,” A Novel of Broadway’s “Camelot.”
Set in 1960 in New York, Toronto, and Boston, Eisenberg’s book is part romantic comedy, part coming of age saga, and part theatrical history that follows the struggles of a feisty “Gal Friday,” Jane, and a gifted baritone, Bryce, who fall in love during the chaotic tryouts of Lerner and Loewe’s “Camelot.” Ironically, Jane and Bryce, not the show’s star-crossed lovers, Guenevere and Lancelot, become the story’s most conflicted couple.
Iconic actors Richard Burton as King Arthur and Julie Andrews as Guenevere are among the real-life personalities who enliven Eisenberg’s plot, along with Robert Goulet in his Broadway debut as Lancelot. The story also spotlights “Camelot’s” creators: the beleaguered librettist Alan Jay Lerner, who’s sidelined with ulcers in Toronto; the bemused composer Frederick “Fritz” Loewe; and the brilliant director Moss Hart, who suffers a coronary in Toronto and quits, leaving the sinking ship without a captain.
“Camelot was a train wreck on the road,” says Eisenberg. “While the score was gorgeous, Lerner was besieged by health and marital problems and couldn’t wrangle a smooth adaptation of T.H. White’s Arthurian saga, ‘The Once and Future King.’ Opening night in Toronto ran nearly four hours, with one wag calling it ‘Gotterdammerung without laughs.’ This was a shaky start, since the critics expected a gleaming successor to ‘My Fair Lady.’ As the show limped on to Boston without Moss Hart, Lerner and Loewe fell out over Lerner’s decision not to replace the director, and ‘Camelot’ became their Broadway swan song.”
Eisenberg feels the show’s out-of-town travails are the ideal backdrop for a rom-com as her protagonists, Jane and Bryce, try to juggle unending work and relationship woes. After the company heads back to Broadway for its premiere, bad reviews nearly derail “Camelot” until a show-biz “miracle” saves the musical. “Just about everything I wrote about ‘Camelot’ itself really happened,” Eisenberg adds.
Before turning to fiction, Eisenberg was a publicist and marketeer for Goodspeed Opera House, Syracuse Stage, and the Joffrey Ballet. She formed a promotional writing company in Washington, D.C., and published articles in Classical Singer, Huffington Post, and Opera News. A graduate of Michigan State University and longtime member of the Authors Guild, she published her first novel, “The Voice I Just Heard,” in 2012. Based in Baltimore, she’s now finishing her third novel about American markswoman Annie Oakley.
“One More Seat at the Round Table” is available now at Amazon. It has received glowing advance praise:
“A delightful discovery awaits all who are smart enough to purchase ‘One More Seat at the Round Table’ and succumb to its inherent pleasures. It’s a love story for all who are curious about the American musical form as it delves accurately into the intricate evolution from the rehearsal process to a series of opening nights ultimately landing on Broadway. And Eisenberg is a vivid storyteller.”
Joseph V. Melillo, executive producer emeritus, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)
“Five stars. Captivating historical fiction…that I recommend to anyone who enjoys a good love story, musical theater, and history.”
Literary Titan Reviews
“An utterly engrossing, hilarious, and often tender novel of how one hundred-plus creative people made Broadway’s legendary, much-loved ‘Camelot’ from scraps and sheer determination.”
Stephanie Cowell, author of “The Boy in the Rain” and “Claude & Camille”
One More Seat at the Round Table
Paperback: 358 pages
ISBN 9781639888023
US $17.99
Ebook:
ASIN B0C1M56V1J
US $7.99
Atmosphere Press is an independent, full-service publisher for excellent books in all genres and for all audiences. For information, visit www.atmospherepress.com.
Susan Eisenberg
Author
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Originally published at https://www.einpresswire.com/article/627147464/atmosphere-press-releases-one-more-seat-at-the-round-table-a-novel-of-broadway-s-camelot
