Watching the history of the Broadway musical during World War II and seeing frequent blackouts is profound during a time when the stages are dark and actors are waiting for the lights to come back on. The depression, concerns over potential air raids, various strikes, national tragedies and a pandemic have put the theater on hold, but the musical theater history as we have learned is a lesson of the show will go on even though there may be times when that isn't entirely possible.
Part 4 of the series opens with another groundbreaking musical, "Oklahoma!", and we get footage from a revival that stars John Raitt. It's now the 1940's so the cameras are going inside the theater, and we get better glimpses of what was going on where only audiences through their memories could express what they had seen. Fortunately, souvenir programs had become popular treats for audiences, and fortunately, these are still available for purchase through collectors. "Oklahoma's" original program with the same cover (shown in the documentary) had about a dozen casts, both from Broadway and the national tour and a few returns to New York through a brief revival and several City Center productions. You get to see a glimpse of how choreography had a major change with this show, and the profile of Agnes DeMille gives us a glimpse into the creative mind and how something so seemingly frivolous could be serious in advancing a story. DeMille's insistence that this be a dream of terror change the ballet into something completely different, certainly not what Hammerstein had wanted with the circus ballet that had already been covered with a dream sequence in "Lady in the Dark". It should be also noted that the John Raitt revival shown through TV footage has an integrated cast.
More achievement in choreography is covered through the smash hit "On the Town" which has interviews with Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and one of the most exciting revivals I've seen in the past ten years. So in a period of a year you have soldiers going to a folksy show set in the past and in tears over knowing what they were fighting for to a present-day set musical that showed sailors on leave. A newsreel created for the military features original cast member Nancy Walker, and it shows how perceptions of women as musical comedy heroines had changed. The song "Some Other Time" is still profound today as it covers the emotions of separation during wartime.
There's more John Raitt TV footage as the documentary next covers "Carousel", containing probably Rodgers and Hammerstein's most haunting score, and it certainly seemed like there was going to be a new groundbreaking musical every year during this time. Sondheim reflects on how Oscar Hammerstein, his mentor, took him to the opening night and how it influenced his decision to go into composing and lyric writing. A very funny sketch with Jack Benny covers matinee and evening performances prices, and that brings us to other hits of the 40's, mainly "Annie Get Your Gun" which Rodgers and Hammerstein produced but Irving Berlin and Dorothy Fields wrote the songs for. After a string of hits with Cole Porter, Ethel Merman moved on to Berlin (having sung his songs in the movies), and this truly crowned her as the queen of the Broadway musical. TV footage of Merman singing makes you wish that the 1966 TV special was available.
The beautiful Patricia Morrison, who lived to be over 100, gives us a glimpse into Cole Porter's hit "Kiss Me Kate" which was his first hit in nearly 10 years. Discussions of the witty and often dirty lyrics can't hide how sophisticated it is, and having seen several revivals of this, I can attest that it's a show that really stands the test of time. Then we come to "South Pacific", Rodgers and Hammerstein's third hit, and certainly groundbreaking with its discussions of racism, something that could have backfired had the audience thought they were being lectured to which is discussed here by Richard Rodgers' daughter Mary. But Oscar Hammerstein's lyrics dealt sensitively with the subject, and we got our first glimpse of Mary Martin who had been around for over a decade. Footage of the televised London production featuring Martin is fascinating, and thankfully, the entire TV special has turned up. Along with singer William Tabbert, you get a profile on the song "You've got to be Taught" which Rogers and Hammerstein fought to keep in the show. "If you cut that song, you cut the whole musical" was the whole consensus and the song remained.
It's taking nearly 4 hours, and now the fourth part comes to the 1950's with the groundbreaking Frank Loesser musical "Guys and Dolls", and Michael Kidd discusses how he used his own knowledge of the stereotypical Broadway types to create the atmosphere. Even with all the other groundbreaking musicals we've seen, "Guys and Dolls" has been referred to as arguably the best musical comedy ever written, but it's a show that needs to be done right to claim that in each revival. The 1992 revival was probably the most acclaimed recreation of a Broadway hit, but a 2009 revival prove to be a complete disappointment. So we learned that it really takes complete magic of collaboration, something that the original "Guys and Dolls" did as we see with some footage of the original cast Sam Levene and Vivian Blaine.
By now we are officially in the television era, and narrator Julie Andrews takes us behind the scenes of the different TV shows, especially the Ed Sullivan Show which turned flops into hits, and it briefly goes into the future to give us a glimpse of Paul Lynde in "Bye Bye Birdie". Fortunately clips of even the most obscure musicals that appeared on Ed's show had become available to document the history of the Broadway musical, and we get a glimpse of our hostess, Julie Andrews, closing the show discussing "My Fair Lady". It's a bit of a jump because there's no discussion on The King and I" (only a glimpse of Gertrude Lawrence singing with Rodgers and Hammerstein and replacement Patricia Morrison in the finale) and other shows that created an impact in the six year gap. The show closes on "The Sound of Music" which has a rather sad finale with the death of Oscar Hammerstein, covering his profound last song "Edelweiss", truly a farewell from him to the audience and the profession that he loved.
Part 4 of the series opens with another groundbreaking musical, "Oklahoma!", and we get footage from a revival that stars John Raitt. It's now the 1940's so the cameras are going inside the theater, and we get better glimpses of what was going on where only audiences through their memories could express what they had seen. Fortunately, souvenir programs had become popular treats for audiences, and fortunately, these are still available for purchase through collectors. "Oklahoma's" original program with the same cover (shown in the documentary) had about a dozen casts, both from Broadway and the national tour and a few returns to New York through a brief revival and several City Center productions. You get to see a glimpse of how choreography had a major change with this show, and the profile of Agnes DeMille gives us a glimpse into the creative mind and how something so seemingly frivolous could be serious in advancing a story. DeMille's insistence that this be a dream of terror change the ballet into something completely different, certainly not what Hammerstein had wanted with the circus ballet that had already been covered with a dream sequence in "Lady in the Dark". It should be also noted that the John Raitt revival shown through TV footage has an integrated cast.
More achievement in choreography is covered through the smash hit "On the Town" which has interviews with Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and one of the most exciting revivals I've seen in the past ten years. So in a period of a year you have soldiers going to a folksy show set in the past and in tears over knowing what they were fighting for to a present-day set musical that showed sailors on leave. A newsreel created for the military features original cast member Nancy Walker, and it shows how perceptions of women as musical comedy heroines had changed. The song "Some Other Time" is still profound today as it covers the emotions of separation during wartime.
There's more John Raitt TV footage as the documentary next covers "Carousel", containing probably Rodgers and Hammerstein's most haunting score, and it certainly seemed like there was going to be a new groundbreaking musical every year during this time. Sondheim reflects on how Oscar Hammerstein, his mentor, took him to the opening night and how it influenced his decision to go into composing and lyric writing. A very funny sketch with Jack Benny covers matinee and evening performances prices, and that brings us to other hits of the 40's, mainly "Annie Get Your Gun" which Rodgers and Hammerstein produced but Irving Berlin and Dorothy Fields wrote the songs for. After a string of hits with Cole Porter, Ethel Merman moved on to Berlin (having sung his songs in the movies), and this truly crowned her as the queen of the Broadway musical. TV footage of Merman singing makes you wish that the 1966 TV special was available.
The beautiful Patricia Morrison, who lived to be over 100, gives us a glimpse into Cole Porter's hit "Kiss Me Kate" which was his first hit in nearly 10 years. Discussions of the witty and often dirty lyrics can't hide how sophisticated it is, and having seen several revivals of this, I can attest that it's a show that really stands the test of time. Then we come to "South Pacific", Rodgers and Hammerstein's third hit, and certainly groundbreaking with its discussions of racism, something that could have backfired had the audience thought they were being lectured to which is discussed here by Richard Rodgers' daughter Mary. But Oscar Hammerstein's lyrics dealt sensitively with the subject, and we got our first glimpse of Mary Martin who had been around for over a decade. Footage of the televised London production featuring Martin is fascinating, and thankfully, the entire TV special has turned up. Along with singer William Tabbert, you get a profile on the song "You've got to be Taught" which Rogers and Hammerstein fought to keep in the show. "If you cut that song, you cut the whole musical" was the whole consensus and the song remained.
It's taking nearly 4 hours, and now the fourth part comes to the 1950's with the groundbreaking Frank Loesser musical "Guys and Dolls", and Michael Kidd discusses how he used his own knowledge of the stereotypical Broadway types to create the atmosphere. Even with all the other groundbreaking musicals we've seen, "Guys and Dolls" has been referred to as arguably the best musical comedy ever written, but it's a show that needs to be done right to claim that in each revival. The 1992 revival was probably the most acclaimed recreation of a Broadway hit, but a 2009 revival prove to be a complete disappointment. So we learned that it really takes complete magic of collaboration, something that the original "Guys and Dolls" did as we see with some footage of the original cast Sam Levene and Vivian Blaine.
By now we are officially in the television era, and narrator Julie Andrews takes us behind the scenes of the different TV shows, especially the Ed Sullivan Show which turned flops into hits, and it briefly goes into the future to give us a glimpse of Paul Lynde in "Bye Bye Birdie". Fortunately clips of even the most obscure musicals that appeared on Ed's show had become available to document the history of the Broadway musical, and we get a glimpse of our hostess, Julie Andrews, closing the show discussing "My Fair Lady". It's a bit of a jump because there's no discussion on The King and I" (only a glimpse of Gertrude Lawrence singing with Rodgers and Hammerstein and replacement Patricia Morrison in the finale) and other shows that created an impact in the six year gap. The show closes on "The Sound of Music" which has a rather sad finale with the death of Oscar Hammerstein, covering his profound last song "Edelweiss", truly a farewell from him to the audience and the profession that he loved.