Show that have been recorded?

What Broadway shows have been recorded? I know Into The Woods, Sweeney Todd, RENT and Sunday In the Park With George. There have to be others right?

Oh, and Pippin, Jeckyll and (ack!) Hyde, Fosse, Camelot...

Pretty much every show has been recorded... Just not all of the are legal

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The revival of South Pacific, concert versions of Les Misérables, Acorn Antiques...

...The New York City Opera's production of A Little Night Music (which I adore)

There are others out there that I know about, but have never seen personally. They exist apocryphally.

* A Chorus Line was filmed in '76 ("for promotional reasons"). Filmed three different ways, and never edited together, from what I understand. The thinking was it was the only way to preserve the original cast on film for promotional reasons (commercials and talk shows). When Columbia was trying to put together the movie in '82, Michael Bennett wouldn't sell them the filmed material to reconstruct the show; as everyone will recall, he went further, allowing them to use the script and score but not the original choreography in their record-breaking $7.8 million deal. Fearing ACL would be screwed up on film, he wanted to ensure the stage version would never be compromised by film or anything else. The copy of this filmed material that is floating around was apparently a bootleg struck as a reference for those working on the movie by people who were more considerate than Bennett. It was allegedly used along with the book that transcribes the steps (a la Robbins) in reconstructing later productions.

* The OBC of Hairspray was filmed, at a time when they didn't think another movie would be made. John Waters has a few copies. Reportedly there are plans to release it at some point.

* An alternate version of Fosse from the commercially released version exists.

* The OBC of Sweeney was filmed, as was the OBC of Chicago; while we're on the latter, the revival was also filmed when Ann Reinking was in the cast.

* Godspell was recorded 12 different times, not including the one at the archives. Quality is apparently really good, but none released. One of them was a professional taping of the OBC at the Broadhurst in '76 for what is now Showtime, never broadcast.

* The recent (2000s) revivals of La Mancha and Fiddler were taped.

* Doyle's Sweeney was filmed in L.A.

* Bette Midler's Kiss My Brass and Liza's concert at that place on 72nd and Broadway were both filmed. Midler's film was held up release-wise because her Vegas contract prohibited anything new being released on video that could compete with her show, but that may have changed.

* This one is truly apocryphal, as no one has ever confirmed it except for one guy. Before the 2005 film release of Rent, it looked at one point at the start of the decade as if NBC was going to adapt Rent for television (presumably to hit back at Zadan/Meron and ABC). The Larsons eventually put the kibosh on this effort. Before they did so, however, NBC filmed a sort of "pilot" version on a large set at SilverCup. The run time was just over an hour; they either cut a lot (which is suggested by the fact that leads got a lot of ensemble material, i.e., Angel led the support group meeting and Collins got Gordon's lines) or only filmed what was absolutely necessary for test purposes. No audience, about three or four sets (looked very cartoonish at certain points, according to one account); the lot looked like the "Over the Moon" set in the movie, and several scenes took place in a bare warehouse-type set a la the one used in the final film for "Tango: Maureen." Also, "No Day But Today" was sung at some point by the cast on a rooftop. They didn't even take the trouble to do any real work, as reportedly the OBC cast recording was dubbed onto the film. There was a big party at SilverCup where they previewed it. Allegedly footage from it has been re-used in commercials for the show, but I don't know. Apparently there are quite a few copies floating around.

* Titanic: The Musical and My One and Only have also been filmed, and were apparently released overseas.

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Elisabeth, the first production behind the team of Michael Kunze and Slyvester Levay (with the upcoming Rebecca) was filmed in it's last revival.

A Tale of Two Cities was also apparently recorded in full on Broadway for potential release, but they got the PBS deal which is the show in performance-concert mix, as it is acted out with costumes and a few props, but still a concert form.

I would love to see the possible RENT pilot and ALL THE OTHERS!!

Yeah, I'm pretty certain the '75 Chicago wasn't filmed-- Ken Mandelbaum had an article on Fosse on video in Show Music magazine way back when I was a teen where he basically went through all the "live" films, etc, out there (much as he does for Bennett's work in his book on Michael Bennett) and the home movies are the only thing recorded on set he said - out of town like BrodyFosse said (with the quick bit of Loopin the Loop etc). I wish to God more existed, it's too bad that there's not even anything in the Lincoln Center Archives (partly as it wasn't standard practice to film shows yet, and partly because, somewhat oddly, Fosse had no real interest in preserving his shows on video).

Speaking of which, I wish they'd get their act together and release the uncut Pippin on DVD--as most on here know, about 25 mins were cut by the guy who produced the broadcast, who also made some different edits. Apparently he denies the "Fosse cut" exists--but I have a (not very good) copy.


However I had no idea the original cast of Sweeney Todd was filmed (except for some not great live audience films and the Archive's copy). Were they thinking of airing it? What a pity they released the good but not as good touring production instead...

darreyl--yes nearly all shows are filmed for the Archives now (as well as press kits, etc). But it's virtually impossible of course that any of those can get a commercial release.

I'm sorry to ask, but what exactly is "the archive"?

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. They have a mass collection of the majority of shows that have played since the early 1980s.

Unreleased pro shot videos that I have for have links to somewhere on this machine are Hedwig & The Angry Inch (Producer's Copy, the audio is a bit shaky and pretty much you need head phones, but the video is good), The Fosse Cut of Pippin, Evil Dead: The Musical (Taped during it's initial production in Canada before they got an actual budget), & Chicago Revival (Dance Captain's reel I believe, the one with time codes).

The OBCs of both SWEENEY and PACIFIC OVERTURES are on YouTube, as is the TV version of APPLAUSE.

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There is also a proshot video of 42nd Street on tour. It's Non-Equity, but it's still good. Stars Kyle Dean Massey as Billy & Mara Davi as Peggy.