Author and musical theater librettist Stephen Cole has taken his real-life friendships with Ethel Merman and Mary Martin to write the theatrical-historical-time travel-Broadway novel MARY & ETHEL…and Mikey Who? The by-invitation-only book launch party was held
on the second floor of Sardi’s on both Ethel Merman’s 116 birthday and the 60th Anniversary of Hello, Dolly!
Hardcover, Kindle and an audio (performed by Anita Gillette) versions of the novel has been released by Moreclacke Publishers and is available from booksellers on line and in-stores.
The plot is a fantasy about a nerdy super-fan, Mikey Marvin Minkus, in the early 1980s who, while visiting his dying idol Ethel Merman, stumbles into a time portal in her closet and exits on the other side in Sophie Tucker’s star-dressing room at the Imperial Theatre in 1939. Mikey gets to know his idols in their prime as he time travels through the decades with them, influencing their lives and careers, while helping to foster their legendary rivalry. Along the way, Mikey interacts with such celebrated theatrical figures as Cole Porter, Jerome Robbins, Josh Logan, Dorothy Fields, Larry Hagman, Irving Berlin, Leland Hayward, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and a newcomer named Stephen Cole.
Here’s a photo gallery of the launch event by Maryann Lopinto.
