"An utterly engrossing, hilarious, and often tender novel of how one hundred-plus creative people made Broadway's legendary, much-loved musical
Camelot
from scraps and sheer determination." -- Stephanie Cowell, award winning author of
Marrying Mozart
,
Claude & Camille
, and
The Boy in the Rain
---- What if the most conflicted lovers in Broadway's
aren't Lancelot and Guenevere? Set backstage during the out-of-town chaos of Lerner and Loewe's now-classic 1960 musical,
One More Seat at the Round Table
portrays the struggles of feisty drama school grad Jane Conroy, who lands a plum Gal Friday job, and Bryce Christmas, a gifted, if insecure, actor on the verge of his big break. When Jane and Bryce fall helplessly in love during Toronto tryouts, their relationship is tested by mistakes they make and endless work woes:
's four-hour length, poor reviews, the illness of librettist Alan Jay Lerner, and the near-fatal coronary of director Moss Hart who quits. As Lerner, composer Loewe, and their stars, Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, trudge on to Boston, doubts besiege Jane who hopes to buck convention and skip marriage and Bryce who wants a wife. They also discover hidden strengths as Jane gains agency backstage and Bryce takes charge of his talent. But will Jane's commitment phobia derail their future? Will
become a glittering hit? These questions create a tense roller-coaster ride to the end of Susan Dormady Eisenberg's wise and witty novel, a story about the transformative power of love and the luminous pull of Broadway as it casts its spell on performers and fans alike.