We Danced All Night: My Life Behind the Scenes with Alan Jay Lerner

Shapiro, Lerner's assistant for 14 years, writes of her devotion to the popular lyricist, co-creator, with Frederick Loewe, of My Fair Lady and other musical classics. She gives spirited accounts of Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, director Moss Hart and other luminaries associated with the glittering productions, but two figures dominate the book: Lerner, effortlessly charming even when discarding eight wives, lovers and collaborator Loewe; and Max Jacobsen, the nefarious Dr. Feelgood. Along with Lerner, Shapiro relied on the physician's ``magic'' shots for the energy to keep functioning despite little rest. She shows that her bedazzlement with her boss and the theater was akin to his obsession with creating stage masterpieces, and suggests that Jacobsen, although dangerously misguided, was well-meaning. An affecting nostalgia for the glory days of Camelot informs the memoir but perception that the tale is mythology is absent. Author tour. (Feb.)