Description
“Moss Hart's Act One is not only the best book ever written about the American theater, but one of the great American autobiographies, by turns gripping, hilarious and searing.” ― Frank Rich “Reading Act One is like going to a wonderful dinner party and being seated next to a man who is more charming, more interesting, smarter, and funnier than you ever knew men were capable of being. Moss Hart is alive in these pages, and I am in love with him.” ― Ann Patchett, author of This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage and Bel Canto “Is Act One for you? Only if you know that theater is spelled theat re , cast albums are not soundtracks, and intermission is twice as fun as halftime. In that case, not only is Act One for you--it is immediate and required reading.” ― Tim Federle, author of Better Nate Than Ever and Five, Six, Seven, Nate! “ Act One is legendary in the theater world for one simple reason: it speaks personally to those of us who have chosen a life on or around the stage.” ― James Lapine Born in New York City in 1904, Moss Hart began his career as a playwright in 1925 with The Hold-Up Man, yet achieved his first major success in the 1930 collaboration with George S. Kaufman, Once in a Lifetime . In addition to numerous Broadway productions, such as The Man Who Came to Dinne r and You Can't Take it With You , which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, Hart wrote screenplays for Gentleman's Agreement and A Star is Born . Moss Hart also gained universal recognition for his award-winning direction of My Fair Lady in 1956.
Features & Highlights
- Moss Hart's
- Act One
- , which Lincoln Center Theater presented in 2014 as a play written and directed by James Lapine, is one of the great American memoirs, a glorious memorial to a bygone age filled with all the wonder, drama, and heartbreak that surrounded Broadway in the early twentieth century. Hart's story inspired a generation of theatergoers, dramatists, and readers everywhere as he eloquently chronicled his impoverished childhood and his long, determined struggle to reach the opening night of his first Broadway hit.
- Act One
- is the quintessential American success story.
