"Making of a Broadway show"?

[Lorelai]

Posted: 10/8/03 at 2:16am

Someone I know recently brought up the idea of a tv show that focuses on how a show is made, kind of like "Making the Video", only it traces a Broadway show instead of a video. Maybe I'm biased, but I think it's an interesting idea and I'd watch something like that. What do you guys think?

[WOSQ]

Posted: 10/8/03 at 10:17am

Its a great idea but (and there's always a 'but'), sometimes shows take a decade from conception to opening and sometimes they don't happen at all even after a decade.

(The Night They Raided Minsky's as a musical was first announced in about 1970. It is still being bandied about and still with Charles Strouse as composer.)

Hairspray "only" took two years or so from idea to opening and these days that's real quick. Then again, where do you start? From conception, the writing, the money-raising, commencement of production (casting, design, advertizing), rehearsals, or somewhere in between?

Plus what if the show is neither good nor bad, but simply dull? Nothing is worse than a dull evening. A dull show about a dull show? Ugh.

There a load of books and articles on "Making of..." shows. The latest is the current one on Follies called "Everything Was Possible". If you can find the book on No No Nanette, it is by far the dishiest.

[Victoria Grant]

Posted: 10/8/03 at 10:34am

I wouldn't mind watching something like that. There are so many more reality shows that have their flaws like "The Resturaunt" thats why they call it real t.v. it would be a learning experience, but would take a long time I'm sure to get funding.

[Jaynrand]

Posted: 10/8/03 at 10:39am

Bronte - there is a video/DVD called "Moon Over Broadway" that follows Ken Ludwig's comedy "Moon Over Buffalo" during its out of town rehearsals and tryouts.

Interesting - and nobody really comes out ahead (performers or staff), but it's fun to watch. It's by D B Pennebraker (sp) who also did the film on the making of the "Company" Broadway Cast Album in 1970.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 10/8/03 at 11:14am

love that MOON OVER BROADWAY. My favorite part is that the joke line that serves as kind of a running metaphor (the hard-of-hearing payoff line for the grandmother character) never does get fixed. It still exists in the play script now. And nice to see such successful people behaving with such insecurity. Makes us all feel a bit better about our anxiety-fraught lives.