Review of Just Off, Stage Right

[Chinaza Nnabuenyi]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Just Off, Stage Right" by John Bonanni.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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It is a battle against one's dreams and obsessions. Just Off, Stage Right is a memoir of John Bonanni, the author. He lost his parents between his teenagehood and adolescence. How would this affect his pursuit of success? He became a stage manager and began with a show under his first employer, David Merrick, then many other shows. This book tells the story of Johnny's life as a stage manager. It involved his struggles and infatuations. On this course, he meets Carol Marik, an actor, and dancer, who later becomes his life partner and wife. But in all, how would he survive on his own?

This book teaches the reward of perseverance. John never gave up, from stage managing one show to another. Once he was out of a job, he got on with another. This helped him achieve a lot of things in the industry. Johnny's perseverance is also evident in how he secured Carol's heart. At first, Carol was not interested even from the time on the bus, but somehow he gets acquainted with her and wins her heart.

Johnny's honesty and genuine innocence were inspiring, even though at some point it made him lose an ample opportunity. This is particularly what I love about his memoir. He was honest with his dealings with people. This made him earn the trust of many persons, especially the “foreign” people on that project with Alan. This also advanced him from a stage manager to an executive producer with Radio City. I didn't dislike any part of the book. I love motivational books, especially character-based books. They help readers to handle the situations around them in a relative way. Personally, John's approach in the face of challenges was a motivation for me.

This book deserves a 4 out of 4 stars without a dispute. It has a lot to offer in terms of patience, fatherhood, and work relationships. I totally enjoyed reading through these themes that kept resounding throughout the book. The character of John represented a lot of attributes that should be seen in husbands and fathers.

Dancers, directors, executive producers, and actors would have to read this book. They are the favorite group of readers who would enjoy this book. Hence, I recommend it to them. It would also suit those who appreciate success stories. It offers extensive detail on theater arts and how it works. I still found some errors in the book. But in my evaluation, it was professionally edited.

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Just Off, Stage Right
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[Ghuddie]

It will interesting to know how the loss of John's parents will affect his pursuit of success. Beautiful storyline. Great review.

[Umesh Bhatt]

Presenting the story of the struggle of a person in one's life and presenting it in an engrossing and impressive way requires a deep understanding of the great art of creative writing and from this review it reflects that the author was successful in that endeavour. A score of 4 out of 4 definitely invokes us to go through the book and I also reserve it for my reading maybe at a later time.

[T T 2]

I have never really come across an autobiography or even a story about stage manager. This book seems like an interesting read. Not many people know how much work goes behind the stage but through this book one will get to know about it. Thank you for a great review.

[Joshua Manzano]

I've never come across a stage manager's memoirs or even a story about one. This book appears to be an intriguing read. Many people are unaware of the amount of effort that goes on behind the scenes, but this book will educate them. Thank you for taking the time to write such a wonderful review.

[Aisha Yakub]

Sometimes, bad things happen to make our stories more colourful. It's great to know that John took control of his life. Thank you for your review

[Tassana Guthrie]

In the pursuit to greatness their are obsticles but john never let the burden of his life get hold him down, he kept pushing for greatness

[Hussein21]

Thanks for the review, it is difficult to imagine what a young boy would do after losing his parent. I am grateful that he didn't end up in the wrong direction thouvh