Alternately feared and loathed for their totalitarian business tactics, the surviving brothers, Lee and J. J., remained outsiders to their success. Reclusive in their habits and ambivalent about their marriages, they refused to speak to each other as they ran their empire from separate buildings. The Boys from Syracuse captures brilliantly and evocatively the Shuberts' unparalleled accomplishments in American show business, and the complex, often bizarre, lives of the men behind the curtain.