Drama school graduate Jane Conroy is eager to get out of her steady-but-unsatisfying job and work in the theatre. With the help of a family connection, she gets work as a production assistant on a brand new Lerner and Loewe musical ... something about King Arthur, based on a book by T. H. White. She gets to not only see, but be a part of the process of shaping a major Broadway musical through out-of-town previews and daily changes to the script and the score while working alongside some relatively new faces who have just started making names for themselves, like Richard Burton and Julie Andrews and Roddy McDowall.

The tenacity of those involved at every level will be tested as the negative reviews come in, relationships develop and fizzle on the road, rehearsals of new material will occur during the day then there will a performance in the evening, and the legendary director, Moss Hart, will suffer a heart-attack and be forced to quit the show prior to the Broadway opening.

Among the cast is a rising performer, Bryce Christmas, and Jane and Bryce will take a shine to one another and begin dating while on tour. But Bryce, with only a minor speaking role and one short solo (in "Then You May Take Me to the Fair") gets an offer to star in another musical that is soon to start rehearsals. It's a tough choice - stay with a show with some star power but which is struggling, or go to the unknown, which has more to offer him personally. Could his relationship with Jane survive if they worked on different shows? And with her own ambitions within the theatre world (she's given encouragement to pursue directing despite it being a male-dominated field and she finds the idea of stage management thrilling) the pair may always be apart.

This book is pretty much tailor-made for a reader like myself. I've spent the majority of my career working in live theatre and I do love musicals. Camelot may be one of the first original cast recordings I ever bought (and of course listened to over and over again), in part because it's based on such a great fantasy story.

Author Susan Dormady Eisenberg does a really great job of mixing the historical, factual events with fiction and I did have to go back and look up some of the performers from the original production to see if they were indeed made up for the book.

The process of a putting on a new show, complete with rehearsals and performances is well researched and described. Perhaps life was different in 1960, but were the chorus kids not generally gay? With all the hookups described, none of them were same-sex, which I though unusual.

There's a literary term that I've really only referred to with fantasy novels called "Mary Sue." This is generally used to describe a female main character who is unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses and often seen as an idealized fantasy for a female author. The term definitely has negative connotations, and I don't mean to imply it negatively, but I couldn't help but see Jane Conroy as a theatrical "Mary Sue." She manages to find a chorus person (an old friend), rehearse the young boys performing as Tom of Warwick at the end of the play, solve the problem of the man who impregnates her friend but is engaged to someone else, assists the wives of the creative team, visits Moss Hart in the hospitable, etc etc etc.

But I didn't mind this Mary Sue-ness. Really, this was very well researched and enjoyable.

Looking for a good book? One More Seat at the Round Table by Susan Dormady Eisenberg is a lot of sweet, 1960's innocent fun with the backdrop of an iconic Broadway musical surrounding it.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Listen, I'm a simple woman who enjoys simple things....like backstage novels about classic Broadway musicals.

One More Seat at the Round Table is an immensely well-researched and fascinating look into the making of Camelot, a musical famous for its chaotic creative process. Eisenberg doesn't pull punches in navigating the roller coaster of emotions that the people in this novel go through; however, what remains so clear throughout is the deep love that these people had for the process of making art and their willingness to persevere against increasingly insurmountable odds.

I could have read so much more about the historical portion of this book's storyline. What threatened to take me out of the novel, however, was our two main characters through which we watch the process unfold. While attempts were certainly made to flesh out Bryce and Jane, they felt more like devices for storytelling than actual characters living in the world of the novel. Every time it was just the two of them on page, my interest level dipped dramatically; it almost made me wish that this had been a non-fiction book.

However, the strength of the Camelot storyline overshadowed most of the issues that I had with our protagonists and I ultimately had a very enjoyable time reading One More Seat at the Round Table.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atmosphere Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

Thanks @netgalley and Susan Dormady Eisenberg for providing this arc!

Okay, so when scanning this book, I originally thought this was going to be written in some kind of form of a play. But, it was not and that took some getting used to.

Well, the story is about a new musical on Broadway, inspired by the Arthurian legend of Camelot. The story is set backstage during the out-of-town chaos of this 1960 musical. It portrays the struggles and drama of Jane Conroy, who becomes a Gal Friday at this musical production. Besides that you also get to meet Bryce Christmas, a gifted but very insecure actor who is on the verge of his big break. When Jane and Bryce meet they decide to work together so nobody will harass them in any way and they can help each other out. But their relationship seems to evolve eventually and they fall helplessly in love. But working together, doesn’t always make it easy for them to have that relationship. Their relationship is tested multiple times and Jane has to deal with quite some intense situations at work and in her private life. But in these darker times Jane and Bryce also discover their hidden strengths and seem to find their own place each. They get to know theirselves better and ultimately each other. All this happens during the upcoming musical Camelot, which has had a lot of backlash duet to a lot of trouble the production team had to go through. So one of the more important questions here is if Camelot will become that wonderful hit everyone longs it to be?! This story is like a rollercoaster and it never seems to slow down. I loved how the characters developed and how everything got pieced together. It was also really nice to read someting about Broadway backstage, an original point of view in my opinion.

#book71 #readingchallenge #Broadway #Camelot #KingArthur #legends #musical #books #drama #Guinevere #SirLancelot

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

One More Seat at the Round Table by Susan Dormady Eisenberg is a real treat for theater lovers and will especially resonate with fans of the classic Lerner and Loewe musical Camelot. This novel takes the reader backstage through the whole pre-production process and continues through the eventual triumph in New York.

The main protagonist is a stage-struck young woman, Jane Conroy, who pulls some friend-of-the-family strings to get a job as a gal-Friday, working for Alan Lerner’s production assistant. Her love interest is Bryce Christmas, a young actor with a voice made for Broadway. He is hired to play Sir Lionel, one of the supporting cast and understudy to Lancelot. Jane and Bryce navigate the dual challenges of a budding love affair and being a part of the launching of a new Broadway show.

The love story is sweet. There are bumps in the road but the conflict is pretty minimal because the two are so reasonable. This allows the reader to enjoy the romance while mainly concentrating on the play, because what really shines is the excitement of the theater experience. The novel is meticulously detailed, immersing the reader in the ride. The 1960 original was so fraught with troubles, from the scripting to initial off-Broadway poor reviews to illness of the writer and director, that the play might never even have made it to Broadway. The novel brings out the tension and doubts very well. At the same time, the camaraderie of the crew and their protectiveness of the play gave it a warm, fuzzy feeling.

I was fortunate to see the 1980 Broadway revival of Camelot and it has remained one of my favorite musicals. As I read, I could hear the old show tunes in my head and it brought a smile to my face, remembering. But even if you’ve never seen Camelot, this book is well worth reading.

One More Seat at the Round Table by Susan Dormady Eisenberg was a great historical fiction book .A lovely love story set in the 1960's
and the making of the great show Camelot that was in preproduction and on Broadway. It tells the story of the struggles of a feisty drama school grad called Jane Conroy, who lands a plum Gal Friday job, and Bryce Christmas, who is a gifted, but insecure, actor on the verge of his big break.
However, Jane and Bryce fall helplessly in love during Toronto tryouts, their relationship is tested by mistakes they make and endless work woes: Camelot’s four-hour length, poor reviews, the illness of librettist Alan Jay Lerner, and the near-fatal coronary of director Moss Hart who quits.
The show needs to carry on and make a name for itself.

This book is a good read especially if you are a theatre buff, this is a book for you.

Big thank you to Atmosphere Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC

Review in progress and to come.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review

I was intrigued when I read a description of One More Seat at the Round Table since I have a ticket for a future showing of Camelot on Broadway. I found this book to be interesting and informative when describing the process of preparing the show for Broadway and cutting its excessive length. However the backstage romances interfered with the story’s progress rather than move it along.

I enjoyed this glimpse into the backstage drama that surrounded the Broadway production of Camelot. I recommend this book to theater people and lovers of historical fiction.

I would like to thank Atmosphere Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. First things first things first, I am a total Theater Geek! I love musical comedies of the 60's and 70's. I was the one who memorized cast albums, and sang the songs night and day.Sadly, my voice is no great shakes, but I did know all the words! This is a book about the make of the musical Camelot. It is a work of fiction, and several of the characters are fictional , although some are based on real actors. The character of Bryce Christmas, for example played Sir Lionel, and went on to leave Camelot to join a new musical, The Happiest Girl. The actor Bruce Yarnell played Sir Lionel on Broadway and then left to join a new musical- The Happiest Girl:) This is my only criticism, that the lines are a bit blurred between the fictional and the real. That is minor, however and should not get in the way of anyone's enjoyment of the book. Jane Conroy wants to work in theater, not on stage , but behind the scenes. She is able to get a job as an assistant on the the upcoming Broadway play- Camelot.The backstage sage of the musical, and how it gets to Broadway , becomes a hit( and almost doesn't), is a riveting story in and of its. Susan Eisenberg adds backstage romances, interactions between friends and lovers, and Broadway trivia to this already enticing stew. It is fun and funny and happy and sad- well just like a good Broadway Show! I really enjoyed it!

This was a great book I loved it it was about the making of the theatre show Camelot . It had a lot about
T the workings of theatre at that time Thanks to the publisher and NETGALLEY for the chance to read an review this book