Broadway: The American Musical
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Actor: Brendan Gill, John Lahr, Julie Andrews, Philip Furia, Stephen SondheimBrand: Paramount
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 360 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-12
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS
DVD Reviews of Broadway: The American Musical
DVD Review: The B'Way Musical Never Dies
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're a Broadway musical fanatic as I am, you will be enthralled by "B'Way, Broadway, The American Musical." It's narrated by Julie Andrews and contains selections from the top musicals and commentary by many of the leading actors, producers, directors, writers, and Broadway luminaries. I've viewed it several times. It is six hours long with three hours of additional interviews and a special section on "Wicked."
It is divided into six one-hour episodes of chronological periods from 1893 to 2004. This time I concentrated on the last two eras: "Tradition" from 1957 to 1979, and "Putting It Together" from 1980 to 2004. In 1957 the great breakthrough musical was "West Side Story" with an inspired team of creative talents behind it. Broadway always has and always will keep breaking the mold. What keeps it alive is its great ability to change and evolve. Old timers who fail to see that will always say B'way is dead or dying, but it hasn't croaked yet and is making more money than ever.
As of September 2010 currently playing I counted these types: two rock, one semi-rap, four revivals, eleven original or adapted shows, and one psychological problem musical, "Next to Normal".
In 1964 came "Fiddler" which stressed the characters' "tradition" and was a great old-style musical. Over the years Broadway learned how to deal with serious subjects and tragedy. Some people saw "Fiddler" as the end of a golden age.
Through interviews with Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim we see how a creative friendship was formed and how they reimagined and restructured the American musical. The new casts in musicals had to learn to do three things well rather than just one as before. They had to sing, dance, and act.
In the sixties a seismic shift was going on in American society, and Broadway had to move with it. Plays like an edgy "Cabaret" and the first rock musical "Hair" shifted the ground under the feet of theatergoers. Broadway began to fall out of synch with popular culture. "Hair" was the real game changer. I remember welcoming the new stuff while still enjoying "Funny Girl", "Hello Dolly", and "Mame".
In 1970 Sondheim's "Company" showed urban alienation, "Chorus Line" brought the gypsies front and center in 1975 and ran for 15 years, in `75 Kander and Ebb's "Chicago" drew on cynicism and black humor, and in 1979 Sondheim topped them all with his vision of the dark side in "Sweeney Todd"
In 1980 to 2004 came Weber with his spectaculars. Disney arrived with a new brand of musicals, and "The Lion King" is still roaring. "Forty-second Street" was an old-fashioned show that ran for 8 years, and, of course, "Cats" took its litter box into the Winter Garden for 18 years. AIDS had a devastating effect on Broadway. In 1995 came "Rent" which again broke the mold and ran for 3000 performance. Nine-Eleven happened, and Broadway continued with blockbusters like "Hairspray" and "Wicked". The Broadway musical still lives, and we can be thankful for that.
Description of Broadway: The American Musical
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 09/23/2005Bestsellers in DVD
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