From Publishers Weekly
"This is the story of one week in my life. I was seventeen. It was the week I slept in Orson Welles's pajamas. It was the week I fell in love. It was the week I fell out of love." Thus does the precocious protagonist of Kaplow's first adult novel summarize his adventures as a bit-part player in the landmark 1937 Mercury Theater production of Julius Caesar that helped catapult the 22-year-old Welles to the top of the entertainment world. Kaplow wastes no time setting up his unlikely scenario; after an impromptu sidewalk audition, Richard Samuels, a New Jersey high school student, lands the part of Lucius, a minor character. The conceit forms a nice counterpoint to the coming-of-age material, as Kaplow alternates scenes about Samuels's high school and home life with a series of rehearsal passages that bring the brilliant but mercurial Welles to life. Samuels falls in love more than once: first with fellow high school actress Caroline, then with a lovely, flighty production assistant named Sonja who is also involved with Welles, and finally with Gretta, an aspiring writer. The climax features a colorful showdown between Samuels and Welles after the boy confronts the married Welles about his affair with Sonja. Kaplow doesn't quite capture the dark side of the enigmatic Welles, but his bright, enthusiastic writing about Samuels's introduction to the world of high-stakes theater makes this an entertaining offering.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
In 1937 the world was preparing for war, but Richard Samuels, a 17-year-old in suburban New Jersey, was preparing himself for the role of a lifetime. All his life he had wanted to be on the stage, and one day he wandered onto a set in the theater district, where a chance encounter changed his life forever. There Richard met the 22-year-old Orson Welles, who offered him a bit part in a bold new interpretation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. When Welles was not directing the play, he was busy being famous, womanizing, and boozing. The awestruck Richard saw this as his own chance to leap to fame, with Welles as his mentor. The theater, however, quickly jades even the youngest of participants, and when the megolomaniacal Welles casts his eye on the woman with whom Richard himself had fallen in love, all hell breaks loose. A delightful escape into a pre-war coming-of-age, and coming-of-stage, story--perfect for a quick and totally entertaining read. Michael Spinella
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
