Broadway: The Golden Age By The Legends Who Were There

I've been hearing phenomenal things about this one from those that have caught the recent screenings I was unfortunately unable to make. Can't wait to see it myself, looks fantastic.

This opened this weekend and play at the Angelika on Houston and on E57th Street at the Sutton.

Anyone seen it yet?

I remember hearing about this on TV. Probably PBS and I would really love to get the dvd.

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Saw it Friday night. Absolutely brilliant -- the interviews with over a hundred Broadway legends (too many to list here, but everybody from Sondheim to Channing to Lansbury to Chita to Stritch, Ann Miller, Gwen Verdon, Uta Hagen, Carol Burnett, Tommy Tune, Bea Arthur, Jerry Orbach, Barbara Cook, John Raitt and on and on and on) who tell amazing anecdotes of working on Broadway in the 40's, 50's and 60's. These are intercut with tons of incredibly rare archival footage -- Angela Lansbury on stage in Mame, a Laurette Taylor screen test, Ann Miller in the George White Scandals in 1939, Kim Stanley and Elaine Stritch on stage in "Bus Stop," Ben Gazzarra and Barbara Bel Geddes in "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof," Verdon and Fosse in (rehearsal?) footage of "Whatever Lola Wants," John Raitt nailing "Soliloquy" from a live 50's tv performance, and some brief grainy footage of Merman doing (no sound) "Rose's Turn" in Gypsy.

Afterwards the filmmaker Rick McKay held a Q&A session with the audience and talked expansively about this 5 year labor of love (and the DVD which will be coming out lots of extras culled from the hundreds of hours of material that went into this 2 hour documentary). He emphasized how important it is to tell our friends to come see the movie -- whether or not it gets distributed around the country depends on how well it does in NY.

I plan on seeing it again as soon as I can. Everyone on this board, anybody who cares about theatre and anyone curious about what life was like in NYC 50 years ago -- when a cheap seat to a Broadway show actually cost LESS than a movie ticket -- MUST go see this film immediately. It'll blow you away!

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Updated On: 6/14/04 at 12:20 AM

About 30 or so other performers were interviewed, but didn't make the cut. These were the crop of current performers - not "legends". Their material will be on the DVD as a seperate bonus feaure. Essentially, anyone under the age of 50 was cut from the main feature (the theatrical release).

Can't Wait! Looking forward to this one as much as I was the DVD of At Liberty....good stuff!

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I'm dying to know--in what respect are Sondheim's comments 'devastating?'

For those who have been to see it, how full has the theatre been?

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The 7:45 show at the Angelika was very close to sold out.

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Sondheim basically reiterates what he said in the NY TIMES Frank Rich profile from 2000...

"You have two kinds of shows on Broadway -- revivals and the same kind of musicals over and over again, all spectacles," says Sondheim. "You get your tickets for 'The Lion King' a year in advance, and essentially a family comes as if to a picnic, and they pass on to their children the idea that that's what the theater is -- a spectacular musical you see once a year, a stage version of a movie. It has nothing to do with theater at all. It has to do with seeing what is familiar. We live in a recycled culture."

Yes, that was fantastic when Chita said that! And seriously, a GOOD POINT.

Sounds wonderful!!!!!!

Was I included in any old film clips?

Miriam

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