Film Broadway Bootlegs — Page 6

I don't own any bootlegs but I watch them on youtube a lot. I'm not too far away from NYC but I can't get there very often and it's nice to be able to watch some shows. I also just got interested in Broadway so I have been missing out on a lot of great shows!

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I agree with most of the posts. If it warent for bootlegs I wouldn't be able to see a preview of shows such as Wicked, Chicago etc which in the end I ended up seeing.

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My Oh My, that "Show Boat" footage is only one can from a huge collection of film taken in the 1930s,40s and 50s by one bootlegger who began filming with a small hand-held camera as a child and became so famous that stars often wave to him during the curtain calls. I have seen some of the footage - all of which is controlled by one collector - and it would knock your socks off.

In addition, recently, the only known footage of Fred Astaire performing live on stage during the New York run of "Gay Divorce" was discovered by a woman who has, apparently, donated it to Lincoln Center on the promise they don't show it to the public until she deems it necessary.

In both cases, it's a shame when such important footage is controlled by the "But if I show it to you, the magic is gone for me" crowd.

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Updated On: 7/10/10 at 02:05 AM

My Oh My, that "Show Boat" footage is only one can from a huge collection of film taken in the 1930s,40s and 50s by one bootlegger who began filming with a small hand-held camera as a child and became so famous that stars often wave to him during the curtain calls. I have seen some of the footage - all of which is controlled by one collector - and it would knock your socks off.

In addition, recently, the only known footage of Fred Astaire performing live on stage during the New York run of "Gay Divorce" was discovered by a woman who has, apparently, donated it to Lincoln Center on the promise they don't show it to the public until she deems it necessary.

In both cases, it's a shame when such important footage is controlled by the "But if I show it to you, the magic is gone for me" crowd.

Wow! When, if ever, does this individual plan to share??? Is he still around?

Isn't sharing the point of bootlegs? Who'd want to go through all that trouble to hold onto a taped show they got to see live?? NOTHING beats that!!

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Yeah that Astaire bitch really pisses me off. Almost ad much as Freddy, I mean Miles Kreuger.

I cannot possibly comment on how incredibly accurate your guess is, Jordan (a-it is-chew!!!!!).

As for the Astaire footage - the ONLY piece of footage in the world, period - the can of film was discovered by a woman who was being employed under a Government grant to archive the estate of Fred Stone, the Nathan Lane of his time, who played The Scarecrow in the original stage production of The Wizard of Oz with Dave Montgomery, his lifelong partner.

Stone's daughter, Dorothy, a world-class performer in her own right, replaces Clair Luce in "Gay Divorce" and Stone, who was a camera nut, went down to the Shubert Theater and filmed TWENTY MINUTES of the show, including "Night and Day." Wow.

The person who turned up the film, an expert on "eccentric dance" is apparently making a documentary and has embargoed the footage until her film comes out. That was several years ago. She showed the film at a Fred Astaire convention in Britain and that is, as far as I know, the only screening it has had.

Here is the opening frame, which is all that is available:

http://www.greatestdancer.org/gallery/pages/Baytos%20Gay%20Divorce%20marquee%20%28P.E.%20Tobias%29.htm

The one question that haunts me is: "Why the hell didn't somebody in that room BOOTLEG THE CONVENTION SCREENING?"

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Updated On: 7/11/10 at 08:08 PM

Her appearance WAS the main reason the conclave was held. The fact that they were going to screen the footage was announced in Great Britain. I heard about it the day it was held. You can be damn certain I would have flown from here in LA to London immediately, if I had been given 24 hours notice. Dang.

And now that I think about it, someone clearly bootlegged the footage because that frame is clearly a shot of the screen at the lecture. Now THAT person is keeping the footage for him/herself.

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Does anyone have a bootleg of the "Wicked" showing in San Francisco [I went to the 7/2 show].

Marcie Dodd (Elphaba), Cliffton Hall (Fiyero), Alli Mauzey (Galinda).

Or if anyone has a recording with this cast I would really appreciate it.

I went to see this show, but I wasn't very close to the stage, thus not being able to see their expressions very clearly, but I loved their voices.

If anyone has a recording, it would be greatly appreciated! I have been looking everywhere for it, and I'm guessing some of you all will know where I could possibly download it, or if you have the download links?

Thanks!

Updated On: 7/12/10 at 09:38 PM

I have mixed feelings I guess, and I am sort of backwards too. I don't live near NYC (10 hour drive...) we do get shows in Detroit, and I see them when I can. I do look for bootlegs on Youtube, but I don't know that I would ever "buy" one. I buy the soundtracks of shows I want to see, I will see the tour, if I am lucky and can afford it, I will try to get to NYC and see the show. Mostly though, the bootlegs I look for, are for shows I have already seen. Like I can't get enough so looking for more kind of thing. I do feel guilty even watching sometimes though...I however would love it if they would film shows, I would absolutely pay if the shows would release a DVD of the performance, and again I would probably mostly do it for shows I have already seen and loved!

Unfortunately, I don't have bootlegs of any musicals at all, and I'm not sure who or what was the original cast of West Side Story, I am a noob to the musical world.

My friends brought me to the Wicked show in SF as a gift, since they live in Nor Cal & I don't live there, but upon my travel to a relatives wedding they wanted to surprise me, & they took me to see Wicked.

Although I am new to the musical world, I have seen Phantom of the Opera once (for school) but I was also far away from the stage & thus could not see expressions, but I just loved Wicked (it was also their first time watching it) that I had to look for a bootleg & watch it again for their amazing performances.

I found this forum/thread accidently when I was searching for the musical.

I actually find it quite hard to look for them, or maybe I am looking for them in the wrong place?

Would it be possible for you to share it with me through PM? This would be for my own viewing purposes. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Updated On: 7/13/10 at 02:11 AM

"Sell DVD's of the performance you just saw in the lobby after the show, and get in the mail a week later. If they can manage to pull this off at the HIGH SCHOOL in my town, i'm sure they can do so on broadway."

Except that, unlike the high school in your town, the Broadway production wouldn't be stupid enough to blatantly break the law.

tropicalaqua, please don't take this the wrong way (and by the wrong way I mean nicely), but shut up.

For historical value I only like full recordings, so that one probably wouldn't do anything for me. Thanks, though.