The Algonquin Kid

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What to expect

The true life story of Michael Elihu Colby and his childhood days at Manhattan’s Algonquin Hotel. His grandparents Mary and Ben B. Bodne had traded their southern oil fortune for the legendary but faded Algonquin and restored the hotel’s former glory. Their efforts led to a remarkable renaissance and attracted an overflow of celebrities from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Michael weaves a vivid tapestry of encounters with glittering Broadway and Hollywood celebrities in a kaleidoscopic memoir of illustrious figures—some on a meteoric rise, some in tragic decline—while he found his own place in the topsy turvy world of the Broadway theatre and musicals.

Critics Review

  • “Mr. Colby… spent much of his life living, working, and playing in the Algonquin, the elegant Midtown hotel. The Algonquin is renowned as the literary hangout of the Jazz Age. For Mr. Colby, it was simply home…[His grandmother] Mrs. Bodne would point out the big names to him…including Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Noël Coward, and Laurence Olivier, for whom she cooked chicken soup.”

    New York Times

  • “Aficionados of Broadway and New York history and researchers into the past of the Big Apple’s entertainment scene will find many nuggets to mine in this detailed retelling.”

    CabaretScenes.org

  • “The Algonquin Kid by Michael Colby is a fabulous and heartfelt reminder about the circle of life and the humbling journey in the ever weaving ‘round table’ world of the entertainment industry.”

    BroadwayWorld.com, praise for the play

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