Lincoln Center Archives of Shows — Page 2

Seems you guys have had some interesting experiences there. I spend a LOT of time at that library doing research and know the librarians very well and I still need to be quite detailed on why I'm there and why I'm viewing a particular title. Also, your access card is the first thing they ask for when you walk in so them not even mentioning it to you seems quite odd to me.

Oh, and they do not have a video of "Carrie".

"...Sean I think I mentioned that the COmpany was a tour (with Stritch still though I think--not sure if Chikiris was the lead or not)..."

Joanne i played by Julie Wilson on the tape, and Bobby is played by Gary Krawford. Here's the rest of the cast as noted on the NYPL catalog entry:
Barbara Broughton, J. T. Cromwell, Tandy Cronyn, Rolly Fanton, Louisa Flaningam, Joy Franz, Del Hinkley, Jane A. Johnston, Gary Krawford, Bernie McInerney, Donna McKechnie, Mary Roche, and Julie Wilson.

Updated On: 1/1/07 at 01:24 PM

morosco, the "Dreamgirls" video does exist and is still at the archives. There are a number of shows that aren't listed that the library has.

There shouldnt be a problem. They generally hold the videos until the show has closed, then it's available for viewing.

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They have a video of "Carrie" that features excerpts: It has "In", "Carrie", "Open Your Heart", "Unsuspecting Hearts" and a couple of others. Sadly, no "Eve Was Weak" or "Pig Slaughter". And yes, it looks every bit as bad as legend has it. Lots of songs ending with actors slowly raising both hands from their hips to eye level.

The Lincoln Center Archive is a treasure. Sadly, I wish they had more off-broadway titles.

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1) They do have DREAMGIRLS, but it is not the original cast. It is the original Broadway production, but with a late replacement cast--the filming date is August 1985, so just before it closed. The cast is mediocre.

2) The one-time-only rule? Thank Gary Griffin. Currently best known for directing THE COLOR PURPLE, he mounted a production of THE MOST HAPPY FELLA at Drury Lane Oakbrook, a Equity theatre just outside of Chicago. For some reason, the staging was IDENTICAL to that of the B'way revival in the early nineties. Someone did some research and found that he had watched the Lincoln Center Archive video something like 7 or 8 times. I think a lawsuit ensued. Either way, he's the man to blame for the one time only rule.

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You need an appointment on Saturdays. And rightfully so...it is usually packed.

Also, for "A Chorus Line", you are able to view the OBC without permission, but to view the celebration performance (at the end of it's run) you need permission.

For Carrie really you can find decent video footage of this show--even on youtube it's rampant for many numbers--anyway.

I'd still kill to see that B&W original production of COmpany tape even if it was the tour near the end of its run (it's too bad Follies is only available in its original production in those home movie clips everyone's seen and even more frustrating--Little Night Music has virtually nothign from its original production to be seen ANYWHERE--I'd love to see thoise sliding plexiglass trees, etc, in action).

From Mandelbaum's Michael Bennett book's appendix about Bennett work on video [the pre Company stuff isn't included as TOFT collection didn't exist then)

Company: A complete performance with the original staging (minus the automatic elavators on the set) was taped at the end of the national tour on May 20, 1972 in DC. The B&W tape, featuring McKechnie in her original role, Gary Krawford as Robert, Julie WIlson as Joanne and Tandy Cronyn, Jane Johnston, Louisa Flaningham, Joy Franz, J Cromwell and others, preserves Bennett's electric opening sequence, the "side by Side" number and "Tick Tock" with McKechnie particularly thrilling in the latter. It can be seen at TOFT

Follies: One of the most legendary productions in history, there are only three short videotapes in existance that preserve portions of the original staging. The TOFTcollection has two half hours, one silent and one with sound shot in Los Angelas after the Broadway closing--these are also ccirculating in private collections. The sound tape was shot during a rehearsal while the silent tape is edited and combines footage shot from the wings and above the stage with footage shot from the orchestra. LA replacements Janet Blair and Ed Winter are in the silent half hour. There is also a fifteen minute compilation of sequences shot during the final New York perforamance. This tape is in private collections only. Alexis Smith performed "Lucy and Jessie" onthe 1975 Tony Awards but this version features barely one step of Bennett's original great choreography.

Seesaw: Sadly nothing in full costume or choreography from this Bennett show exists--Michele Lee performed I'm Way Ahead at the 1974 Tony Awards after closing and a year later "Nobody DOes it Like Me" on the Dinah Shore show.

A Chorus Line: Thhe original New York Shakespeare Festival off Broadway production was taped at the Newman Theater in 1975. This black and white tape is of very mediocre quality but is of course an invaluable document. It is in the TOFTcollection as well as most private collections. [I love how he calls bootleg collections "private"] The original cast can best be seen on the 1976 Tony Awards in a slightly cut openign sequence and the very end of the finale. The TOFTCollection also has a one hour dialogue on tape from 1977, with Bennett and Avian which covers the genesis of the project. Also in the collection is a tape of the #3,389th Gala Performance. The finale of that was also telecast on the NBC program Live and in Person. McKechnie recreated only parts of her original choreography when doing Music and the Mirror on the 1980 HBO program Showstoppers.

Ballroom: Sadly, while this show opened after TOFT had decided to start preserving most major productions, Ballroomw as never recorded. Loudon performed "Fifty Percent" on the 1979 Tony Awards

Dreamgirls: A complete performance of the show taped near the end of the original Broadway run in August 1985 is in the TOFTCollection. This performance is interesting as by then they had incorporated Bennett's revisions he added tot he tour in LA including the elaborate new Act II opening with the boys and song medleys which Bennett called his "Jack Cole truibute to Monroe updated". The original Act I finale, with minor cuts was performed on the 1982 Tony Awards.

Hope that helps--i wish there was similar info for other major Broadway talents and what film exists

So if I were to write a paper on Eva Peron, I might be able to watch a screening of Evita? That is so cool.

"So if I were to write a paper on Eva Peron, I might be able to watch a screening of Evita?"

It should be more like "I'm writing a paper on Harold Prince's use of Brecht techniques and want to view how it was done in Evita".

"Why is it deemed too expensive to release these shows on DVD?"

Because there really isn't the audience base to return a profit. A movie is released in thousands of theaters across the country and millions of people see it and then it goes to DVD and thousands buy it. Broadway Cast Albums almost never return a profit and so producers don't see the need to create a DVD.

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"The once in your lifetime rule, if it does infact exist, seems a little silly."

I would think this rule might also be to restrict a massive amount of "viewings", since, wouldn't that deteriorate the videos? Makes sense to me. Also, I might agree with the fact that some might try to infringe on copying certain aspects of the past shows.
It is also significant to point out that these tapes are basically there to have a worthy record of shows (such as "A Tale of Two Cities", now) which have had limited run (so a small amount of people got to witness them). IMHO, I think it is a great and worthy idea to preserve Theater work this way. As best put by DougieZero1982:
..."Broadway can be so disposable, you can only see it once and then it's gone... your memory, cast recording, maybe some still photographs and a playbill."

I feel Broadway should be given a place, like the archives, for a lasting legacy. Imagine what thrill it would be if we had a window to all those bygone shows, which are now ascribed to a few surviving theatergoers' memories, some shows to none, by now.

"It is also significant to point out that these tapes are basically there to have a worthy record of shows (such as "A Tale of Two Cities", now) which have had limited run (so a small amount of people got to witness them). IMHO, I think it is a great and worthy idea to preserve Theater work this way"

Actually, there is a problem with shows with limited and shortened runs. There are massive amounts of coordination and scheduling that go into making these archival tapes, as well as expense, so shows that don't have long runs often go unpreserved.

I've heard it depends too on who you contact--a lot of the people working there will let you in for viewing with any excuse--my friend had heard so many horror stories and he3 said there was no prob (he went to view one of their older tapes--the Company OBCR tour with Stritch, McKechnie and George Chakiris--which was taped in B&W. It's one I'd love to see too)

Though I know certain shows are harder--they have the Follies bootleg footage there, that msot of us have seen now anyway, and I know James Goldman's infamous widow made it very hard for peopel to view ir ot other Follies stuff.

Updated On: 11/23/08 at 09:56 PM