Still excellent, it must have been difficult for the producers, writers and editors to figure out what to put in and what to leave out. We start with "West Side Story" and "The Music Man" and end with "Sweeney Todd" and "Evita". In between, we have Dolly, Tevya, Mame, Charity, anti-war hippies, Pippin, a bunch of Broadway chorus people, two merry murderesses, and a red-headed orphan that won America's heart. There's a lot more footage of Broadway rather than film clips thanks to the Ed Sullivan Show, the Tony Awards and other TV specials, and a lot of newsreel footage of what was going on around the world in a very turbulent time.
Discussions of how Broadway didn't reflect the changing times in many cases are intertwined with shows that did like "Cabaret" and "Hair". Harold Prince talks about his experience in war over in Germany and how he was influenced in creating the emcee for "Cabaret". For "West Side Story", you get a glimpse of the artistic side of the many men involved: Bernstein, Sondheim, Robbins, Laurents and Prince, but you don't yet the darkness of certain individuals involved that has been documented in autobiographies and other sources.
There's just passing coverage of "Gypsy", "Fiddler", "Dolly" and "Funny Girl", so it's rushed up to "Cabaret" and Prince really expresses his passion for important material. Pictures of some of the disruptions of society show how the world of the '60s in many places was equivalent to pre-Nazi Germany. Certainly, "Hair" deserves the attention it gets, and the footage of what was going on in the Vietnam War shows what led to the protest and creators of controversial shows like this. The creation of the public theater is discussed by a profile on Joseph Papp,v and you even get a glimpse of the show what looks like an early TV commercial which wasn't a regular thing for Broadway musicals until "Pippin". The serious look on the young performers reflects the passion of youthful protest even today, but there is an irony of the people they are singing to in the audience, some of them looking truly uncomfortable.
You'll have chills as "Another Hundred People" pops up, showing footage of Manhattan's crowded streets in the early 70's, which gives us a profile on Sondheim, starting mainly with "Company", and finally we get a glimpse of Elaine Stritch who had been hoofing her away around Broadway musicals and plays since the mid 1940's. It's another groundbreaking show that has had numerous revivals, and continues to be altered as society changes. Beth Howland of "Alice" fame is seeing performing a bit of "Not Getting Married Today", and Sondheim discusses how the absence of a genuine plot aided in this show and gave viewers an indication of real life rather than musical comedy fantasy.
The recession of the mid-70s pops up next, skipping shows like "Follies", two shows about Jesus Christ and "The Wiz" (among others), and we end up in the world of Michael Bennett's chorus people doing what they did for love. Early footage of Michael Bennett and Donna McKechnie on a TV dance show aides in her flamboyant but ageless presence. "A Chorus Line" gives us another groundbreaking show, giving us a touching commercial. Certainly, traditional Broadway audiences by this time were perplexed by the types of shows that were difficult to get tickets to, and when they got around to seeing it didn't understand it. But Broadway was not being written necessarily for the "No No Nanette" revival type audiences even though those shows did very well. It truly became Broadway's first big blockbuster in many years.
A flash to the past briefly gives us a glimpse into the rise of Bob Fosse to become the most inventive choreographer Broadway had seen in years, probably since Agnes DeMille. There's been no mention of Gwen verdon up to this point, but we do discover that she had a series of hits that he choreographed, and of course, this leads to a profile of the original "Chicago" featuring an interview with Chita Rivera as well as lyricist Fred Ebb and composer John Kander. It's another groundbreaking show because of how it slams our culture and integrity, something that didn't win the original production any awards but by the time of the 1996 revival, certain real life events helped audiences appreciate it all the more.
Certainly "Pacific Overtures" is not going to be for all tastes, but it leads us to cover the Harold Prince / Stephen Sondheim collaboration with brief glimpses of the shows they skipped and moving on to "Sweeney Todd", and on interview with Sondheim at the time of the show's premiere really takes you behind the scenes with his intentions. Another ground breaking moment for the long time collaborators, and sadly their last hit together. It's funny that people who came to see Angela Lansbury, expecting Mame, ended up with the psychotic Mrs. Lovett.
The absence of some of the biggest hits from this era is rather jarring when you think back on it, but I guess you can't cover every show. So what they have to choose ends up being choice, and you really feel like you've gotten an intimate glimpse of where the musical was heading. You'll feel a chill as this ends, with the "I love New York", showing glimpses of "Grease", "Evita", Yul Brynnur in yet another revival of "The King and I" and the guilty pleasure that is "Cats". Still, there's a sense of sadness as you know that the end is near and nothing glorious will top what has already been done.
Discussions of how Broadway didn't reflect the changing times in many cases are intertwined with shows that did like "Cabaret" and "Hair". Harold Prince talks about his experience in war over in Germany and how he was influenced in creating the emcee for "Cabaret". For "West Side Story", you get a glimpse of the artistic side of the many men involved: Bernstein, Sondheim, Robbins, Laurents and Prince, but you don't yet the darkness of certain individuals involved that has been documented in autobiographies and other sources.
There's just passing coverage of "Gypsy", "Fiddler", "Dolly" and "Funny Girl", so it's rushed up to "Cabaret" and Prince really expresses his passion for important material. Pictures of some of the disruptions of society show how the world of the '60s in many places was equivalent to pre-Nazi Germany. Certainly, "Hair" deserves the attention it gets, and the footage of what was going on in the Vietnam War shows what led to the protest and creators of controversial shows like this. The creation of the public theater is discussed by a profile on Joseph Papp,v and you even get a glimpse of the show what looks like an early TV commercial which wasn't a regular thing for Broadway musicals until "Pippin". The serious look on the young performers reflects the passion of youthful protest even today, but there is an irony of the people they are singing to in the audience, some of them looking truly uncomfortable.
You'll have chills as "Another Hundred People" pops up, showing footage of Manhattan's crowded streets in the early 70's, which gives us a profile on Sondheim, starting mainly with "Company", and finally we get a glimpse of Elaine Stritch who had been hoofing her away around Broadway musicals and plays since the mid 1940's. It's another groundbreaking show that has had numerous revivals, and continues to be altered as society changes. Beth Howland of "Alice" fame is seeing performing a bit of "Not Getting Married Today", and Sondheim discusses how the absence of a genuine plot aided in this show and gave viewers an indication of real life rather than musical comedy fantasy.
The recession of the mid-70s pops up next, skipping shows like "Follies", two shows about Jesus Christ and "The Wiz" (among others), and we end up in the world of Michael Bennett's chorus people doing what they did for love. Early footage of Michael Bennett and Donna McKechnie on a TV dance show aides in her flamboyant but ageless presence. "A Chorus Line" gives us another groundbreaking show, giving us a touching commercial. Certainly, traditional Broadway audiences by this time were perplexed by the types of shows that were difficult to get tickets to, and when they got around to seeing it didn't understand it. But Broadway was not being written necessarily for the "No No Nanette" revival type audiences even though those shows did very well. It truly became Broadway's first big blockbuster in many years.
A flash to the past briefly gives us a glimpse into the rise of Bob Fosse to become the most inventive choreographer Broadway had seen in years, probably since Agnes DeMille. There's been no mention of Gwen verdon up to this point, but we do discover that she had a series of hits that he choreographed, and of course, this leads to a profile of the original "Chicago" featuring an interview with Chita Rivera as well as lyricist Fred Ebb and composer John Kander. It's another groundbreaking show because of how it slams our culture and integrity, something that didn't win the original production any awards but by the time of the 1996 revival, certain real life events helped audiences appreciate it all the more.
Certainly "Pacific Overtures" is not going to be for all tastes, but it leads us to cover the Harold Prince / Stephen Sondheim collaboration with brief glimpses of the shows they skipped and moving on to "Sweeney Todd", and on interview with Sondheim at the time of the show's premiere really takes you behind the scenes with his intentions. Another ground breaking moment for the long time collaborators, and sadly their last hit together. It's funny that people who came to see Angela Lansbury, expecting Mame, ended up with the psychotic Mrs. Lovett.
The absence of some of the biggest hits from this era is rather jarring when you think back on it, but I guess you can't cover every show. So what they have to choose ends up being choice, and you really feel like you've gotten an intimate glimpse of where the musical was heading. You'll feel a chill as this ends, with the "I love New York", showing glimpses of "Grease", "Evita", Yul Brynnur in yet another revival of "The King and I" and the guilty pleasure that is "Cats". Still, there's a sense of sadness as you know that the end is near and nothing glorious will top what has already been done.
