As originally reported in Deadline Hollywood, "At the Post, a redesign of the features section now ghettoizes arts coverage to Fridays," which is described as "odd since Riedel is the Page Six of theater news, followed and love-hated by the most powerful people on the New York/Hollywood entertainment axis. (He will, however, get a full page to work with, I’m told.)"
Contacted for comment by Playbill.com, Riedel confirmed the change and said, "I'm getting a whole page on Friday, so I'm happy about the changes. It's all part of a redesign of the features pages. If there's any 'breaking news,' I'll get it on the website and in the paper the next day."
The change came just over a week before the publication of his new book on the modern history of Broadway, "Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway," due Oct. 6 from Simon & Schuster.
The move is apparently part of a trend at New York's two daily tabloids, the Post and the News, which have been reducing arts coverage in the past few weeks.
Riedel also co-hosts the PBS talk show "Theater Talk." "Razzle Dazzle," according to Amazon.com, is a "provocative, no-holds-barred narrative account of the people and the money and the power that re-invented an iconic quarter of New York City, turning its gritty back alleys and sex-shops into the glitzy, dazzling Great White Way—and bringing a crippled New York from the brink of bankruptcy to its glittering glory.
"In the mid-1970s Times Square was the seedy symbol of New York’s economic decline. Its once shining star, the renowned Shubert Organization, was losing theaters to make way for parking lots. Bernard Jacobs and Jerry Schoenfeld, two ambitious board members, saw the crumbling company was ripe for takeover and staged a coup amidst corporate intrigue, personal betrayals, and criminal investigations. Once Jacobs and Schoenfeld solidified their power, they turned a collapsed theater-owning holding company into one of the most successful entertainment empires in the world, ultimately backing many of Broadway’s biggest hits, including A Chorus Line, Cats, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Mamma Mia! They also sparked the revitalization of Broadway and the renewal of Times Square."
