Broadway: The Golden Age By The Legends Who Were There

Posted: 6/10/04 at 9:35pm

This look terrific!

Check out bww.com's news item and click on the link to the film's website for a 2 1/2 minute trailer.




BWW.COM News: BROADWAY: The Golden Age By The Legends Who Were There Updated On: 6/10/04 at 09:35 PM

[Rob]

Posted: 6/10/04 at 9:47pm

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.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 6/11/04 at 2:30am

Well it's about time. We have been waiting forever for this release!

Posted: 6/13/04 at 11:34pm

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

Anyone seen it yet?

[Sheryl]

Posted: 6/13/04 at 11:47pm

I just saw it tonight. This is a MUST SEE for anyone who posts messages on this board. The snippets of Elaine Stritch are hilarious (of course!).

The creator/writer/cameraman/interviewer/editor, Rick McKay (yes, he did it ALL himself!), did a Q&A afterwards and told us about all the extras that the DVD will have (as if we needed any more incentive to buy it).

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 6/13/04 at 11:59pm

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

[Sheryl]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 12:01am

Oh yeah.....I forgot to add the celebrity sightings.

I saw Ann Hampton Callaway at the same screening I attended and Nathan Lane waiting in the lobby for the following screening.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 12:20am

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!

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

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 5:58am

Saw it on Friday. Just GO. Run. Essential viewing. Margo gave a perfect summing up.

Most fabulous interviewees: Carol Burnett, Stritch (I could happily see ALL the hours of raw, unedited footage of her), Gretchen Wyler, Elizabeth Ashley (Wild woman!) and Charles Nelson Reilly (Damn, he looks unchanged!). IMHO, there was not enough Carol or Chita. And Sondheim's comments are devestating.

Updated On: 6/14/04 at 05:58 AM

[Jon]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 10:35am

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).

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 11:01am

I saw the 5:10 showing on Friday at the Angelika. Wonderful. It really seems as if it'll play better in the comfort of a living room and on a television set (and how great would it have been if PBS had given it the week-long Ken Burns treatment? eeek!). Priceless footage, including the relevatory comments about Laurette Taylor (the greatest actress nobody knows?).
Also, just a little sidenote: I worked for one of the performers interviewed in the documentary. It was funny because said performer wasn't originally interviewed and demanded an interview in return for the release of some of the footage used in the documentary. I got a big kick out of that. Stars are ridiculous. :)

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 11:02am

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

[sabrelady]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 11:37am

Any way to find out if there are plans for a Canadian Run? Website or email?)(never mind found it!)

Speaking of Broadway Legends... Any one heard from Miriam lately? Updated On: 6/14/04 at 11:37 AM

[MusicMan]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 11:37am

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

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 11:45am

According to McKay, the only place other than New York that's booked to show the film is LA. Whether it is distributed beyond NY & LA (including Canada)depends entirely on the numbers that come out of the Angelika and the Sutton this week and next, which is why it's imperative for all of us theatre fans in NY to go NOW -- I'm sure those numbers also effect whether IFC or Sundance or PBS or wherever will pick it up to broadcast it nationally. McKay is confident the DVD will come out, regardless, but I'm sure decent box office numbers will effect how many outlets (aside from Footlight Records and the Drama Bookshop) will carry it.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 12:40pm

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

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 1:04pm

Sondheim has some very wry observations towards the end of the film, where several of the interviewees make comments on the present day state of Broadway. That's all I will say.

Saturday afternoon there were only a handful of people in the theater. But it WAS gorgeous out!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/14/04 at 1:23pm

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

Posted: 6/19/04 at 9:25pm

This film is exhilarating.

It creates a tremendous high and anyone who loves theatre will find this funny, sad, affecting, exciting, wonderous, magical, and all the things Broadway can be.

Last week is was the 2nd highest grossing independent film.

Ya gotta see it!

[cocoloco]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 11:12pm

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."

Posted: 6/19/04 at 11:23pm

Chita says is best when she says., and I paraphrase...any show (read CONTACT) that wins best musical but has no dialogue and recorded music is no musical. Amplification and recorded music is not live theatre. "It's not LIVE!"

Good for Chita to be frank!

[cocoloco]

Posted: 6/19/04 at 11:25pm

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

Posted: 6/19/04 at 11:51pm

Agreed totally.

Excellent film on straight and musical theatre.

The end credits were especially funny.

[onceadancer2]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 12:46pm

Sounds wonderful!!!!!!

Was I included in any old film clips?

Miriam

Posted: 6/20/04 at 1:15pm

Hi Miriam...

I don't recall seeing your name...

The earliest live on-stage clips shows were Ann Miller dancing in GEORGE WHITE'S SCANDALS, 1939, and Gene Kelly in PAL JOEY with dancing chorus.

Were you in the JOEY dancing chorus?

Something tells me you were.

I believe you will love this film.

Only known footage of Laurette Taylor (albeit a screen test)
and Ben Gazzara and Barbara Bel Geddes in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, among many other exciting clips.

This documentary produces such a giddy stimulating high that at its conclusion one feels as if the evening was spent watching and listening to exquisite live theatre.

You'll love it, Miriam!