Broadway Documentary

[zainmax]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 8:35am

Im so excited!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/marchershberg/2019/10/14/rbg-producer-to-shine-spotlight-on--broadway-in-new-documentary/

Updated On: 10/14/19 at 08:35 AM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 9:57am

Thanks for this. I’m surprised this evaded my radar as I’m aware of everything. I’ll definitely be seeing it at the IFC Center. Sadly it’s not listed yet on their website so I couldn’t buy my tickets now.

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 10:12am

I don't go to movies here but I will go to see this! Thanks for posting.

[morosco]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 1:56pm

Is this the old Times Square that people today reminisce about?

"...in 1984, there were 2,300 crimes committedon 42nd Street between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue. About 20 percent of the crimes were serious felonies, such as murder and rape.

“Going to the theater meant putting your life at risk,” Schoenfeld stated. “Things were so desperate that we moved the start of evening performances from eight thirty p.m. to seven thirty p.m. so that theatergoers could leave the neighborhood an hour earlier,” and, “[w]hen the shows ended, patrons fled, and the district became a wasteland, except for people looking for sex, paying for sex, or exhibiting sex,” he described.

[Robert16]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 5:17pm

Tickets available on docnyc.net

[zainmax]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 6:09pm

I think that they're probably reminiscing about the Times Square after it was clean-up but before the pedestrian plaza?

[zainmax]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 6:09pm

Robert16 said: "Tickets available on docnyc.net
"

Do you think that it will sell out?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 6:22pm

Thanks for the heads up. I just bought tickets for the Nov 12 showing at 12:40pm. The premiere on Nov 11 is sold-out.

Rush and get your tickets quick, kids.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 7:17pm

Awful review in The Wrap makes me want to wait for Netflix or PBS:  "A promotional video writ large, “On Broadway” feels like the kind of hotel programming a tourist might find playing on a loop at the Times Square Marriott Marquis. ...this earnest but oddly superficial documentary zips through decades of artistic impact without taking enough time to create its own memorable impression."

According to IMDB, three of the producers are Broadway people: Atty. John Breglio (who controls A Chorus Line/Bennett estate), Gerald Schoenfeld's widow Patricia, and producer Stephanie P. McClelland.

A lot of bold-faced names participated, but I'll be much more interested to see if they got the decision-makers/creators of that era on the record –– Prince, Sondheim, Kander, Schwartz, Stoppard, Mamet, Guare, Galt MacDermot, Manny Azenberg, Phil Smith, Bernie Gersten, Nelle Nugent & Liz McCann, Cameron Mackintosh, Rice & Webber, etc. And Michael Riedel to regurgitate his book.

Updated On: 10/14/19 at 07:17 PM

[zainmax]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 8:46pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Awful review in The Wrap makes me want to wait for Netflix or PBS:"A promotional video writ large, “On Broadway” feels like the kind of hotel programming a tourist might find playing on a loop at the Times Square Marriott Marquis. ...this earnest but oddly superficial documentary zips through decades of artistic impact without taking enough time to create its own memorable impression."

According to IMDB, three of the producers are Broadway people: Atty. John Breglio (who controlsA Chorus Line/Bennett estate), Gerald Schoenfeld's widowPatricia, and producer Stephanie P. McClelland.

A lot of bold-faced names participated, but I'll be much more interested to see if they got the decision-makers/creators of that era on the record –– Prince, Sondheim, Kander, Schwartz, Stoppard, Mamet, Guare, Galt MacDermot, Manny Azenberg, Phil Smith, Bernie Gersten,Nelle Nugent & Liz McCann, Cameron Mackintosh, Rice & Webber,etc. And Michael Riedel to regurgitate his book."

I'm guessing that it's a Shubert puff piece because of Schoenfeld's involvement?

[jv92]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 10:40pm

Oh great. More about the greed and egomania of Gerry Schoenfeld, Bernie Jacobs, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Macintosh, and yes, even Michael Bennett. More about how they aided in abetted sucking the risk and creativity out of the Broadway theatre, and their pointlessness of their obsession with the Tony Awards, self-inflicted rivalries and British mega schlock. 

They may have made the area safer, but by delousing it, they opened the door for sterile, boring, corporate-minded musicals and the occasional snob-hit play from London. 

Schoenfeld and Jacobs weren't producers. They were lawyers. And it showed. 

 

 

[HogansHero]

Posted: 10/14/19 at 10:49pm

oy

[zainmax]

Posted: 10/15/19 at 11:19am

jv92 said: "Oh great. More about the greed and egomania of Gerry Schoenfeld, Bernie Jacobs, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Macintosh,and yes, even Michael Bennett. More about how they aided in abetted sucking the risk and creativity out of the Broadway theatre, and their pointlessness of their obsession with the Tony Awards, self-inflicted rivalriesand British mega schlock.

They may have made the area safer, but by delousing it, they opened the door for sterile, boring, corporate-minded musicals and the occasional snob-hit play from London.

Schoenfeld and Jacobs weren't producers. They were lawyers. And it showed.



" What are your thoughts on Hal Prince???

Also, who do you like?

 

[jv92]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 8:59am

I have nothing but admiration for Hal Prince-- a creative producer who took serious risks. He's perhaps THE most important figure in the history of the American musical in the second half of the 20th Century. 

I can tell you one person I don't like though, and their username starts with a "z." 

[zainmax]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 11:42am

jv92 said: "I have nothing but admiration for Hal Prince-- a creative producer who took serious risks. He's perhaps THE most important figure in the history of the American musical in the second half of the 20th Century.

I can tell you one person I don't like though, and their username starts with a "z.""

So, you think Cameron sucked creativity out of the theatre, but you like Prince. What are your thoughts on Phantom?

[zainmax]

Posted: 12/2/19 at 2:09pm

Btw, did anyone see this?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 12/2/19 at 3:56pm

I did. It is literally the BEST documentary about “Broadway” and how it dealt with the financial and cultural climate from the late 60s to the present. It wasn’t about the history of Broadway musicals or plays but how NYC and Broadway attendance was affected in the late 60s/70s due to crime ridden Times Square (it was dangerous even leaving a show at 10pm), the 42nd Street midtown area overflowing with prostitutes, porn palaces, crime, etc. And learning how, why and when the whole city and theatre district started cleaning up, etc. Now, they do use certain shows to see how their impact helped bring audiences sporadically back into theatres like COMPANY in 1970, the global hit of A CHORUS LINE in 1975 and ANNIE in 1977 to why those extravagant British imports flooded Broadway in the 1980s. The footage of the theater district during those gritty 1970s is mindblowing as is the footage and coverage of the time the Morosco and the Helen Hayes theatres were about to be demolished to make room for the Marriott Marquis, which helped in restoring Broadway and the NYC economy. This is one documentary that explains everything that has nothing to do with the creation process of a show. We already have plenty of those.

[zainmax]

Posted: 12/2/19 at 5:53pm

Now I really want to see this!!! I hope that it is shown someplace else soon.