Recent musicals come and go with quick closings (the very original and outstanding "The Last Ship" and a wonderful revisal of "Side Show"), and it is in looking back at the more than 150 years of New York musical theater that reflects on its rocky road from the days of Longacre Square to today's tourist trap. This documentary focuses not on the earlier days of New York's musical theater (skipping over "The Black Crook", the first long running show) but pretty much starting with the years of the "Ziegfeld Follies" and focusing on early Broadway celeb's as George M. Cohan, Al Jolson, Marilyn Miller, Fanny Brice, and quite sadly, black icons like Bert Williams and Ethel Waters who made good in spite of prejudices and earlier tragedies.
From there, the songwriters take over, Jerome Kern ("Sunny", "Show Boat", the first serious musical play), Rodgers and Hart with their complexly written words and music, George Gershwin taking us down into rhapsodies in blue, and Cole Porter with his wit and urbane sophistication. Political and issue themed shows like "The Cradle Will Rock" and "Porgy and Bess" (giving white audiences a chance to see what squalor free black Americans were forced to live in) and jazzy musicals with Ethel Merman pre-dated "Oklahoma!" which began the golden age, leading to a series of never to be forgotten Rodgers and Hammerstein shows and other groundbreaking musicals which lead to the Sondheim era and a string of Jerry Herman hits. Sondheim gets more attention here, with only passing mention of "Hello, Dolly!" and one brief shot of the groundbreaking "La Cage Aux Folles". But in only 6 hours, there's only so much you can cover.
While the musical pretty much goes up to the early days of the triumph "Wicked", it does also cover such memorable Broadway figures as producer David Merrick, choreographer/directors Bob Fosse, Gower Champion and Michael Bennett, the legendary Harold Prince (and his collaboration with Sondheim) and features some rare footage from not only the Tony's and the Ed Sullivan show but from other rare kinescopes as well. Broadway certainly has gone farther in building back up audiences since where the story ends here and shows no signs of stopping. Political history mixed with music appreciation make this fascinating not only for musical theater fans but also as a study of sociology. So let's here it also for the missing shows from here, including "Kiss Me Kate", "Mame", "Follies", "Annie", "Grand Hotel", "Aida" and those made after-my favorites being "Monty Python's Spamelot", "The Color Purple", and "Kinky Boots".
Now if we could only get a documentary on Broadway's flops and why they didn't succeed, that would be great as well!
From there, the songwriters take over, Jerome Kern ("Sunny", "Show Boat", the first serious musical play), Rodgers and Hart with their complexly written words and music, George Gershwin taking us down into rhapsodies in blue, and Cole Porter with his wit and urbane sophistication. Political and issue themed shows like "The Cradle Will Rock" and "Porgy and Bess" (giving white audiences a chance to see what squalor free black Americans were forced to live in) and jazzy musicals with Ethel Merman pre-dated "Oklahoma!" which began the golden age, leading to a series of never to be forgotten Rodgers and Hammerstein shows and other groundbreaking musicals which lead to the Sondheim era and a string of Jerry Herman hits. Sondheim gets more attention here, with only passing mention of "Hello, Dolly!" and one brief shot of the groundbreaking "La Cage Aux Folles". But in only 6 hours, there's only so much you can cover.
While the musical pretty much goes up to the early days of the triumph "Wicked", it does also cover such memorable Broadway figures as producer David Merrick, choreographer/directors Bob Fosse, Gower Champion and Michael Bennett, the legendary Harold Prince (and his collaboration with Sondheim) and features some rare footage from not only the Tony's and the Ed Sullivan show but from other rare kinescopes as well. Broadway certainly has gone farther in building back up audiences since where the story ends here and shows no signs of stopping. Political history mixed with music appreciation make this fascinating not only for musical theater fans but also as a study of sociology. So let's here it also for the missing shows from here, including "Kiss Me Kate", "Mame", "Follies", "Annie", "Grand Hotel", "Aida" and those made after-my favorites being "Monty Python's Spamelot", "The Color Purple", and "Kinky Boots".
Now if we could only get a documentary on Broadway's flops and why they didn't succeed, that would be great as well!