Broadway Bootlegs

GiantsInTheSky2 Profile Photo
GiantsInTheSky2
#50Rare Broadway Bootlegs
Posted: 8/31/21 at 7:05pm

FirstNighter2 said: "Still waiting on audio of Lansbury and Bea Arthur full performance to bubble up to the surface. This is my holy grail. The LA stop with Lansbury and Anne Francine is spectacular. I can only imagine Arthur taking it to the stratosphere. 1971FolliesFan, your magic, PLEASE?"

Not sure if an actual performance audio exists, but we do have the audio recording of the first cast rehearsal prior to opening. 


I am big. It’s the REVIVALS that got small.

justoldbill Profile Photo
justoldbill
#51Rare Broadway Bootlegs
Posted: 9/25/21 at 12:30pm

An interesting thing about the Mary Martin/Wilbur Evans SOUTH PACIFIC from London- it was never a bootleg.  It was a 16mm copy filmed by R&H themselves for archival purposes, then put on VHS tape for preservation- the best you could do at that time in the 1980's.  I worked there at the time but was not allowed to view it- a holy grail.  But one of the office's lawyers "borrowed" it for one night and by the end of the week, it was everywhere.  It was showing up at theatre conventions so much that the office threw in the towel.  There was nothing they could do. (I finally got my copy off youtube.)


Well-well-well-what-do-you-think-of-that-I-have-nothing-here-to-pay-my-train-fare-with-only-large-bills-fives-and-sevens....

Someday Profile Photo
Someday
#52Rare Broadway Bootlegs
Posted: 9/25/21 at 4:29pm

I lost the bandwidth to follow this hobby when my kids came along. But they’ve gotten a bit older now. So I have a more general question. Other than YouTube, is there a popular site for trading and sharing these days?

I recall an old website and forum called The Singing Stage, but it may have become defunct. Is there a subreddit now or some other venue? I’m very rusty, but I’d love to be pointed in the right direction (or to receive an invite, if needed?)

I know their validity in general is an age-old discussion topic on here, with adamant partisans on both sides. I’ve sometimes felt a bit conflicted, but mostly I’m with the OP. The historical and educational value outweighs the downsides. And then, of course, there’s entertainment value, which must mean something.

P.S. Mods, if you end up deleting some posts in this thread, I hope you can allow most of them. The discussion feels valuable, especially the mentions of the elusive Miles Krueger.

darquegk Profile Photo
darquegk
#53Rare Broadway Bootlegs
Posted: 9/25/21 at 9:00pm

There are subreddits, but the major work appears to happen by word of mouth and decentralized Google Documents, not on a public or private site. Until a year or so ago, it was still on Yahoo Groups.