Broadway Tails by William (Bill) Berloni (792.028): Click here to reserve/hold.
As a 19-year-old in 1976, Bill Berloni was living his theater dream. A theater major, Berloni was spending his second summer in a row working for a small regional theater where many future Broadway shows got their start. One day he was given an impossible assignment: find and train a dog for an upcoming show without spending any money. Like any good trouper in the theater he got busy and in a very short time trained the dog who would eventually go on to play Sandy in Annie. Berloni had found his calling and spent the next 30 years training every conceivable animal for some of Broadway’s greatest achievements and not a few flops. Broadway Tails tells his thoroughly enjoyable story from his first dog pound visit to the present in a manner that can only be called heart warming. Any person interested in animals, especially rescue animals where Berloni gets nearly all of his actors, will love this book. Those interested in the backstage aspects of Broadway productions will also enjoy the behind-the-scenes look he gives us. Though written for an adult audience, I read large parts of it to my pet-obsessed ten-year-old daughter, who demanded frequent rereadings of the best parts.–Chris
