Update: Stephen Wells has a review of the play in the New York Times ; Two Women, Rare Books: A Small, Literate Musical. He calls it a “promising new musical being given its first breath of life at the New Jersey Repertory Company.”
One of the unanswered questions in his mind with the play was the sexual orientation of Rostenberg and Stern. It was clear that they were soul mates but unclear if they were lovers.
“It is fine if they are not lovers, but that needs to be made clear, and then certain questions need to be answered. Are they asexual? Are they repressing their sexuality? Or are there no men who can live up to their standards? Without this clarification, and its integration into the characters’ evolution, their story cannot have the emotional completeness it deserves.”
That same unanswered question exists in the book world as well. There is no doubting their contribution to the trade, they are legends in the antiquarian book world, but I wonder if this uncertainty keeps their story from also having the “completeness it deserves.”
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The play is called “Bookends” and it is billed as a “hauntingly beautiful musical [that] will stay with you forever” and it is “based on the true story of two celebrated rare book dealers.”
The two are the legendary antiquarian booksellers Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern. Rostenberg was the first women President of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and Stern was responsible for putting on the first Antiquarian Book Fair. They pretty much broke the gender barrier in the book trade. More importantly; however, they were the premier chroniclers of the American Antiquarian book trade of their time and they were a team. They wrote numerous memoirs together and were friends and business partners for 50 years. They lived a life in books.
The play focuses on the early years. Both were from German Jewish families living in Manhattan in the 1930’s and both expected to follow the traditional gender roles of the day but instead of husbands and children they chose each other and the books.
The production is being performed so far off-Broadway that it’s in New Jersey (I was born and raised in New York, I just can’t help it). It also got canned in the Newark Star-Ledger by Peter Filichia in his piece Book gets hook:Tired script spoils new musical about bibliophile. Filichia says “Bookends might have been a modest off-Broadway hit in the early 1960s, when the idea of girls daring to choose careers over marriage would have been fresh. The irony is, though, that this musical about antiquarian book sellers fails because it tries to sell its audience a book that feels antiquated.” He did enjoy the acting and directing so it wasn’t a complete waste of time.
Now a play on their book careers…
Bookends
The book & lyrics are by Katharine Houghton with music
and lyrics by Dianne Adams & James McDowell
Performed by the New Jersey Repertory Company
Ends August 26th
Interview with Rostenberg and Stern from the late 1990’s that appeared on the New York PBS station, Channel 13.
Selected books of Rostenberg and Stern
More on Stern