Storyline: A documentary composed of clips of
actors, actresses, directors, choreographers, dancers, directors, producers,
authors and even a cartoonist (Al Hirschfeld) relating stories of what it
was like to live and work in the theater community that was Broadway in its
golden age, principally the 1930s through the late 1960s.
The film won quite a few "best documentary" awards at
film festivals held at places on beaches (San Diego, Palm Beach, Santa
Barbara among others) but the real determiner of its reputation has been the
"buzz" among other theater mavens whenever they gather for a drink or share
views on the internet. The consensus seems to be the opinion that this
reviewer shares -- it is a good thing that McKay captured these interviews and
an even better thing that he is sharing them with the world. This two-hour
sampling is but a glimpse of the treasure he has created.
McKay throws in a few historic pieces of film (most
notably, Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon on an early television show demonstrating
the dance for "Whatever Lola Wants" from their new show, Damn Yankees)
and some footage of the scenes in the lobbies and on the street. For the
most part, however, he simply focuses his camera on his interviewees and
lets them talk.
And talk they do. They tell stories of how they got
started, where they found cheap rooms, shared audition outfits, snuck in to
the second acts of shows they couldn't afford to see all the way through
and, through it all, were witnesses to a marvelous period in the history of
the theater. Put it all together, as McKay has done, and it also makes a
marvelous single evening of reminiscences.
Directed by Rick McKay. Partial cast listing:
Bea Arthur, Kaye Ballard , Carol Burnett, Kitty Carlisle, Carol Channing,
Betty Comden, Barbara Cook, Hume Cronyn, Fred Ebb, Ben Gazzara, Robert
Goulet, Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Herman, Al Hirschfeld, Martin Landau, Frank
Langella, Angela Lansbury, Arthur Laurents, Carol Lawrence, Michele Lee, Hal
Linden, Cameron Mackintosh, Robert Morse, Jerry Orbach, Hal Prince, John
Raitt, Charles Nelson Reilly, Chita Rivera, Tony Roberts, Mary Rodgers,
Marian Seldes, Stephen Sondheim, Maureen Stapleton, Elaine Stritch, Gwen
Verdon, Eli Wallach, Karen Ziemba.
|
