Rating: 
Summary: Endlessly fascinating look at Broadway's worst
Review: "Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops," by Ken Mandelbaum, is a fascinating look at its title subject. Mandelbaum breaks this vast collection of flops into a number of categories--star flops, flops based on movies, "missed opportunities," etc. One particularly intriguing section of the book is Chapter 5, "Don't Let This Happen to You"; here the author gives a list of rules to follow in order to avoid creating a flop. Example, rule #9: "Don't do sequels" (such as "Annie 2").Mandelbaum's prose is clear, authoritative, and often appropriately biting. Many accounts of flops stand out as particularly fascinating--Peter Allen's disastrous "Legs Allen," the aforementioned "Annie 2," etc. The book is full of black-and-white photographs--playbill covers, shots of the performers, promotional art. This gives the book great visual appeal. Some of the musicals described are almost too bizarre to be believed (such as "Into the Light," a show about the Shroud of Turin). Mandelbaum opens and closes the book with spellbinding in-depth sections on "Carrie" the musical, complete with photos. This helps give the book as a whole a satisfying structure. Indeed, "Not Since Carrie" ultimately reads like a vast multigenerational epic--at times funny, absurd, and/or tragic.
Rating:
Summary: I can never put it down!
Review: "Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops," by Ken Mandelbaum, is a fascinating look at its title subject. Mandelbaum breaks this vast collection of flops into a number of categories--star flops, flops based on movies, "missed opportunities," etc. One particularly intriguing section of the book is Chapter 5, "Don't Let This Happen to You"; here the author gives a list of rules to follow in order to avoid creating a flop. Example, rule #9: "Don't do sequels" (such as "Annie 2"). Mandelbaum's prose is clear, authoritative, and often appropriately biting. Many accounts of flops stand out as particularly fascinating--Peter Allen's disastrous "Legs Allen," the aforementioned "Annie 2," etc. The book is full of black-and-white photographs--playbill covers, shots of the performers, promotional art. This gives the book great visual appeal. Some of the musicals described are almost too bizarre to be believed (such as "Into the Light," a show about the Shroud of Turin). Mandelbaum opens and closes the book with spellbinding in-depth sections on "Carrie" the musical, complete with photos. This helps give the book as a whole a satisfying structure. Indeed, "Not Since Carrie" ultimately reads like a vast multigenerational epic--at times funny, absurd, and/or tragic.
Rating:
Summary: Endlessly fascinating look at Broadway's worst
Review: "Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops," by Ken Mandelbaum, is a fascinating look at its title subject. Mandelbaum breaks this vast collection of flops into a number of categories--star flops, flops based on movies, "missed opportunities," etc. One particularly intriguing section of the book is Chapter 5, "Don't Let This Happen to You"; here the author gives a list of rules to follow in order to avoid creating a flop. Example, rule #9: "Don't do sequels" (such as "Annie 2"). Mandelbaum's prose is clear, authoritative, and often appropriately biting. Many accounts of flops stand out as particularly fascinating--Peter Allen's disastrous "Legs Allen," the aforementioned "Annie 2," etc. The book is full of black-and-white photographs--playbill covers, shots of the performers, promotional art. This gives the book great visual appeal. Some of the musicals described are almost too bizarre to be believed (such as "Into the Light," a show about the Shroud of Turin). Mandelbaum opens and closes the book with spellbinding in-depth sections on "Carrie" the musical, complete with photos. This helps give the book as a whole a satisfying structure. Indeed, "Not Since Carrie" ultimately reads like a vast multigenerational epic--at times funny, absurd, and/or tragic.
Rating: 
Summary: Promising subject let down by bad journalism
Review: Although this book makes an amusing read, it is sadly spoiled by bad journalism. In researching the stories behind these Broadway flops, the author seems to have been happy to talk to one person involved and take their word for everything. This leads to some serious inaccuracies. Any researcher knows to get the story from a number of sides, but Mandelbaum reports gossip as truth, and fails to check up on the most simple of facts. As a result, the text is littered with inaccuracies, half-truths, and spurious statements. In the hands of a better journalist this might have been a great book, but it sadly cannot be relied upon for any accuracy.
Rating: 
Summary: Amusing but flawed
Review: An amusing but flawed book. It makes a good read but cannot be relied upon as being very factual -- too many chapters rely on gossip and are strongly one-sided. The author needed to interview more people involved with certain productions. This book is fun to read, but is often inaccurate.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely essential reading for any theatre fan.
Review: Essential reading for show fans. A better history of American theatre than you'll get from any "comprehensive" dissertation. Mandelbaum's writing is sharp, funny, and concise -- and I suspect his research is absolutely correct. This is one book that I own two copies of -- one for rereading, one for lending. I now understand why "Mack & Mabel" never worked.
Rating:
Summary: Great alternate Broadway history
Review: For Broadway musical buffs, music theater historians, or those of us who just want a good laugh, "Not Since Carrie" is, to put it simply, a trip. Whether the show was an undeserved flop ("Tenderloin" "Walking Happy"), a semi-deserved flop ("Goldilocks" "Mack and Mabel"), or an out-and-out stinkeroo ("Gantry" "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue"), Mandelbaum treats them all with respect, insight, and more than a touch of good humor. I've found myself going back to this book again and again over the years, and I've never been bored with it. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and fun!
Review: I am doing a project on Broadway Flops. I loved reading this. It was not a bit boring. Okay, maybe a little!
Rating:
Summary: I can never put it down!
Review: I have read NOT SINCE CARRIE from cover to cover several times. Ken Mendelbaum's writing is witty, entertaining, and informative. The first chapter, entitled "Catastrophes and Camp," is the most hilarious, conjuring up "ineffable mental pictures" (Mendelbaum's words) of such all-out Broadway fiascos as KELLY, LEGS DIAMOND, and PRINCE OF CENTRAL PARK. Later chapters, especially "Missed Opportunities" and "Heartbreakers and Cream," are both funny and fascinating, describing musicals that might have been hits but, for whatever reason, were not. The fifth chapter, "Don't Let This Happen To You," is the most interesting, explaining in depth the reasons WHY particular shows failed. Likewise, the book's epilogue examines the infamous CARRIE and finds that, after all, Stephen King's novel is not so bizarre a subject for a musical. Because Mendelbaum is such a knowledgable theatre historian and gifted writer, NOT SINCE CARRIE, riotously funny as it is, is also a valuable piece of musical theatre scholarship.
Rating:
Summary: I can never put it down!
Review: I have read NOT SINCE CARRIE from cover to cover several times. Ken Mendelbaum's writing is witty, entertaining, and informative. The first chapter, entitled "Catastrophes and Camp," is the most hilarious, conjuring up "ineffable mental pictures" (Mendelbaum's words) of such all-out Broadway fiascos as KELLY, LEGS DIAMOND, and PRINCE OF CENTRAL PARK. Later chapters, especially "Missed Opportunities" and "Heartbreakers and Cream," are both funny and fascinating, describing musicals that might have been hits but, for whatever reason, were not. The fifth chapter, "Don't Let This Happen To You," is the most interesting, explaining in depth the reasons WHY particular shows failed. Likewise, the book's epilogue examines the infamous CARRIE and finds that, after all, Stephen King's novel is not so bizarre a subject for a musical. Because Mendelbaum is such a knowledgable theatre historian and gifted writer, NOT SINCE CARRIE, riotously funny as it is, is also a valuable piece of musical theatre scholarship.
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