BLURB:
After four years in Manhattan, slaving away as the under-appreciated apprentice to the brilliant but ruthless “King of Broadway,” Scarlett Savoy is finally on her way to becoming a Broadway producer in her own right. A chance meeting with an influential gossip columnist sparks romance – but can he be trusted? A shocking suicide turns Broadway on its head and Scarlett finds herself at the center of the storm as everything she thought she knew about the business of Broadway begins to unravel.
EXCERPT: Scarlett squeezed into the small elevator and steeled herself for what might be waiting at the office. On her way into the cramped, two-room space that characterized even the most successful Broadway producing offices, she bumped into the Actress coming out of Margolies’ private office. It is going to be one of those nights, she thought.
Scarlett had taken to calling her boss’s revolving door of Broadway hopefuls simply the Actress, since it was impossible to keep up with all of them. Not that she minded, or judged. It was all part of the Broadway “ego” system.
The best part about the Actresses was that they kept Mr. Margolies’ hands off Scarlett. Despite having proven to him that she held her coveted position as associate Broadway producer based on her brains, wit, and talent, she still had to waste precious energy dealing gracefully with his advances. It was a small price to pay to be where she was. And if she had anything to do with it, his office would be hers someday—without him in it.
Though Scarlett knew Mr. Margolies to be ruthless and calculatingly chilly—he did have the best track record of Broadway hit shows in the industry. Tonight as he came out of the office, smoothing his silver hair and adjusting his tailored shirt, he actually looked unnerved. Scarlett was surprised that news of the famed New York Banner theater critics suicide would get to him. As a producer of the highest order, he had nerves of steel. And yet, he even skipped his usual lascivious leer. He was rattled.
“You heard.”
“Of course,” Scarlett responded, taking off her zebra coat—which did garner the expected glance at her breasts. I guess he isn’t that rattled, she thought.
“You need to send our condolences, flowers or whatever.”
Scarlett was about to make a quip about how unlikely it was that such a nasty critic had any loved ones to send flowers to, but she bit her tongue. She supposed she could send the flowers to the New York Banner office. If anyone missed him, it would be them. He’d certainly sold his fair share of papers with his incendiary reviews.
“The man’s dead.” Mr. Margolies snapped. “ Artistic justice, maybe, but no excuse not to be professional.”
Sure, she thought. None of the prominent producers would dare to appear as if they were enjoying his demise, though she could practically hear glasses of scotch clinking in schadenfreude behind closed doors all over Broadway tonight. You could probably count on one hand the people who hadn’t wished Kanter dead at one time or another.
Here at the highest levels of show business, the best acting occurs off stage.
Margolies’ cell phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and squinted at the display, too vain to don his reading glasses.
“Take care of the flowers and go home,” he said, walking into his office and slamming the door behind him.
Finding a florist open in the evening as well as finding a place to send the flowers wasn’t so simple, but in the scheme of things, it was one of her easier assignments. As she shut down her laptop and collected her things, she heard Margolies’ fist hit his desk, a telltale sign of his infamous temper. Never one to miss a cue, she slipped out the door and headed to the subway stop, barely registering the glittering lights of Times Square, whose siren song had lured her to that concrete jungle in the first place.
REVIEW RATING: 4.5 LIGHTNING BOLTS
REVIEW: You've watched the musicals, you've possibly seen the shows....you've heard of the Broadway life. Now, in Show Biz, you get a glimpse inside the world of Broadway. While the story is fictional, the author, who produces on Broadway, has an exciting and wild ride view of what it's like. The fashion, the glamour, the drama....everything. Show Biz is exciting and compelling, a novel that I'm glad to have found. In the story, readers follow Scarlett, This is the time of her life where things begin to change for her. She's a producer looking to make it, and her story keeps readers on their toes. I devoured this, loving how well this story was written. The characters, the dialogue, the narrative. Ruby Preston pens a book that won't easily be forgotten.. I'm hoping for more from this great writer.
Ruby Preston is an up and coming Broadway producer currently working on several new musicals on the Great White Way. She couldn’t be more thrilled to be living her dreams in the Times Square trenches of Manhattan. Ruby loves hearing from readers and Broadway fans so feel free to drop her note via email ruby (@) rubypreston (dot) com or twitter @Broadwayruby.
Connect with Ruby!
My website: www.rubypreston.com
My publisher Dress Circle Publishing: www.dresscirclepublishing.com
Twitter @BroadwayRuby
Barnes & Noble Nook
No comments:
Post a Comment