Every Little Step on DVD (musical DVDs in general): Wasted Opportunity — Page 3

Yep, it was Michael Paternostro. So pretty. And David Baum was the understudy I saw. Thank you, ghostlight2.

No, that was not played to the camera - the creative team's reaction to Jason's audition. He nailed it, and it moved them. Bottom line.

Nicholas Dante as the gay-as-victim thing, was the times. It was the 70's and the character of Paul was a victim in his own family. Being called a sissy by family members and hiding his real self from his family. Still happens to this very day, unfortunately.

Mr Hook said:

"To answer the original question, I would imagine that they didn't include original cast TV promos & such because it had nothing to do with the film itself. The documentary EVERY LITTLE STEP was about casting a revival of a well-known show. It was not about A CHORUS LINE (although it included information about it). It was not about Michael Bennet (although it included information about him). It was a film about casting a show.

Now if there were ever a documentary about A CHORUS LINE, how the show was created, how it was received, how it became historic and a longest-running show, etc. -- then you'd bet it would be on there (if the Estate permits)!

There isn't a large enough audience that would buy such DVDs. Educational & Public Television is the best bet. The ARTS channel produced their own documentary on Hal Prince which aired two months ago. Why not a doc about a show? Or Michael Bennett? It's not far-fetched."

I totally get your point but somewhat disagree. The Step docu had TONS of stuff (including many of those taped interviews) pertaining to the creation of the original musical and showed some brief clips--IMHO it would make complete sense to then have as bonuses these clips including the Tony clip in full. it's not unheard of to do in such documentaries. And, as you say, it's prob the closest we will get to a Chorus Line documentary, so why not include them on it (well we know why not, as this thread says, but...)

Seeing how the estate is I'd worry they would allow such clips, or pay for their use even on a docu on the musical itself.

Maybe American Masters and/or Dance in America on PBS would do a Bennett documentary? Together they did the pretty good Jerome Robbins one last year (though the DVD of that doesn't include any bonuses like the full Ed Sullivan Cool/WSS clip they show parts of, etc ).

"No, that was not played to the camera - the creative team's reaction to Jason's audition. He nailed it, and it moved them. Bottom line".

"Bottom line"? Is that the new "Case closed", nealb ? You have your opinion, I have mine, neither is invalid. People are cast or not cast for all kinds of reasons.
Some of this documentary has been verified as having been recreated. If you know anything at all about this creative team, you would know that most of them have something to gain from ELS, and it is not at all below them to be playing to the cameras - and as far as I'm concerned, in that respect, and to borrow the phrase you've used in this thread three times, they "nailed it". In my humble opinion. And while I doubt as well that the producers (there was, btw, only one producer, Breglio) told Jason to play it up, I also don't think that's what Eric meant, though he'll correct me if I'm wrong, I hope.

Sadly, I of course have to agree with you that shame does still exist within some families.

"Seeing how the estate is I'd worry they would allow such clips, or pay for their use even on a docu on the musical itself."

Just in case this isn't crystal-clear, Bennett's estate is tightly controlled solely by his former lawyer and associate, John Breglio. He was the executive producer of ELS and the sole producer of the ACL revival. He personally recouped within months of the revival. Anything he wants to have happen, happens. He is very tight with a dollar and has shown himself to be unwilling to spend a penny more than he has to, to the point of letting some of the original revival cast members walk when their contract was up rather than negotiate a slightly higher salary.

That, along with the fact that Bennett isn't the iconic figure that Fosse and Robbins are, make it extremely unlikely that any kind of definitive PBS documentary will ever happen - because Breglio doesn't stand to benefit from it.

Updated On: 11/11/09 at 03:45 PM