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Is there a more comforting food than homemade chicken soup? If there is, I haven’t found it. My go-to Chicken […]
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If you live in the Northeastern United States, the Midwest, or Appalachia, it is ramp season—a season that can be […]
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Nowadays high-quality raised donuts are not difficult to find. However, I find that quality cake donuts are quite another matter—thus […]
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Back to the ’50s! The much derided Tuna-Noodle Casserole of that era can actually produce a quite delicious, easy-to-prepare, and […]
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If you’re looking for a quite easy first course or light luncheon dish that also makes a lovely presentation, you […]
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Zuccotto Fiorentino is an elaborate dessert of sponge cake and cream fillings that is popular in Florence. It is said […]
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Irish Soda Bread is a delicious and easy non-yeast bread to make—and, of course, perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. When […]
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There are all sorts of breakfast sausages—mostly in links—that are available in supermarkets. For a real taste treat, try these […]
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If you’re looking for an unusual and appealing vegetable dish—one that can be prepared well before serving time—look no further: […]
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Several years ago my spouse and I dined at an Italian restaurant in Nova Scotia. We had the most delicious […]
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I love the idea of the traditional recipe for Apple Strudel, which uses raw apple slices. However, in execution what […]
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Lamb Tagine is a spicy Moroccan or North African stew made in a special clay pot, which gives the dish […]
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Pear Butter is not something I ever planned to make. However, I’ve been unable to find it any supermarket or […]
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Italian Spinach Pie is one of my favorite luncheon dishes. It also makes a wonderful appetizer for any meal. Not […]
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This is a great, simple way to use up any leftover roasted pork. Pork shoulder and fresh ham (i.e., not […]
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Torta Caprese is a rich, flourless chocolate cake that was born in Capri—therefore the name Caprese. Its origin is uncertain, […]
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An unusual, but extremely toothsome, pasta dish is Linguine With Roasted Garlic and Preserved Lemon. Using preserved lemons is not […]
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These Chocolate Shortbread Cookies are so easy to make, and they never miss. They take a little time only because […]
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I believe that my favorite type of bean is the butter bean (also known as a lima bean) for its […]
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Sautéed Escarole is a favorite Italian vegetable dish—and particularly among Sicilians. Escarole looks much like lettuce (and is usually found […]
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One of my favorite recipes is Scallops with Caramelized Grapefruit-Lime-Rosemary Sauce. It’s unusual, delicious, not difficult to cook, and makes […]
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Some of your Thanksgiving guests may turn up their noses to pumpkin pie. Well, here’s a tart that reflects the […]
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I had my first taste of a Monte Cristo Sandwich in 1967 when I was touring with the Dorothy Lamour […]
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When I was in high school, our family traveled to San Francisco. My mother’s uncle, who lived there, took us […]
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Cold Swedish Fruit Soup is a wonderful fall or winter dish when you’re beginning to miss those fresh peaches, apricots, […]
Go to Books Tab for Information on My Autobiography
Critical Acclaim for The Wrong Side of the Room
“The book’s second half is fully stocked with accounts of stage shows galore—not to mention impressive name-dropping (Barbra Streisand, Betty Grable, Dorothy Lamour, Gene Kelly). These anecdotes from the theater’s social scene glide alongside vivid imagery from the author’s performances and other successes. The book also has a delightful, chatty sense of humor with moments of wry wit that make it exciting to read.
In the end, it effectively celebrates a life of artistic inspiration alongside the giddiness and glory of live theater.”
—Kirkus Review
Read the entire Kirkus Review here.
Readers’ Favorite Review
by Asher Syed
The Wrong Side of the Room: A Life in Music Theater by Norman Mathews is an autobiography chronicling the author’s life as he transitions from a confusing and often abusive childhood, born in a sleet of uncertainty (literally, as it turns out). Masked by imagination and written with a humor that most would not be able to apply to such situations, Mathews is able to harness this creativity and hitch it to his own ambitions as a rising star. When an injury threatens to derail an ascent that defies all odds, Mathews is forced to reinvent and reignite himself once more, and does so amid a whole host of personal and professional turmoil, scandal, and the kind of stories that are all the more shocking – and inspiring – because they are actually true.
Norman Mathews delivers a riveting memoir with The Wrong Side of the Room that opens with a contentious genesis and powerfully surges through to its finale. This is the ultimate tale of a man who is knocked down seven times and gets up eight, except in this case our tenacious narrator is struck to the ground far more than that. But he does continue to rise and appears to have carved out a genuine niche for himself until, “I woke up one morning with a strange pain in my back and running down my right leg. In a few days, it got much worse, and I began limping.” With the support of his partner Todd, he buys a Steinway, dives into formal education, and…well, at first that all implodes too. But Mathews is the consummate phoenix and, much like he displays in the writing of this book, skillfully maneuvers the trajectory of his life’s own narrative into a story that we are fortunate enough to have shared in The Wrong Side of the Room.
Impressively candid, exceptionally informative, deftly written, organized and presented, “The Wrong Side of the Room: A Life in Music Theater” is an extraordinary memoir that will have special and particular appeal for anyone with an interest in show business. . .very highly recommended for both community and academic library Contemporary American Biography collections.
—Midwest Book Review