"Well, Merrick is not one of my favorite characters." So says cartoonist drawer Al Hirschfeld who drew a picture of producer David Merrick in a Santa outfit stealing Christmas (which Merrick used as a Christmas card), and that sets up a profile of "the abominable showman". Of course, this sets up publicity that he utilizes greatly on the opening night of "42nd Street" when Gower Champion passes away and he announces it at curtain call. It's obvious that Merrick would have cat scratch fever over the success of a musical from London that would run for decades, not produced by him. Cameron Mackintosh wasn't exactly a rival, but his first Broadway musical was a blockbuster and set up Broadway for shows like "Les Miserables", "Phantom of the Opera" and "Miss Saigon". These British blockbusters dominated the 1980's and '90s, creating a bit of resentment, but also a lot of mem'ry.
The ending of the Harold Prince/Steven Sondheim partnership leads to new efforts by Sondheim with new collaborators, creating "Sunday in the Park with George" and Into the Woods" and later "Passion". Profiles on these changes in the way the creative process was altering also show a changing where traditional musicals needed a twist ("La Cage Aux Folles") and new styles. We haven't had much of Jerry Herman up to this point, so there's a bit more of him when he wins the Tony for "La Cage", and the discussion of how the groundbreaking introduction of two gay characters as the leads of a show would forever change the theater.
It is a sad irony that the success of "La Cage" came around the time of the AIDS crisis, and survivors of that era discuss it openly and honestly and even with a little bit of a tear, surviving but never forgetting. Up to this point in the documentary, there's been little discussion of the presence of gay men in the business, but there is no hiding it here as we near the present day.
But as Broadway became more corporate, we got a slew of Disney movies that were adapted for the stage and that meant a change in the atmosphere that 42nd Street and the Times Square area had become. In a sense, it revitalized Broadway, but this also makes Broadway connoisseurs question the integrity of its creators. However, that does take us inside what was then the dilapidated New Amsterdam theater, and recreated it so "The Lion King" could move in. That meant that this sleaziness of the area had to go, another controversial decision that has had mixed reactions but ultimately brought musicals back to their glory since audiences were no longer afraid of going there.
As we wrap up the series, it takes us into the groundbreaking "Rent" and the smash hit of "Wicked" that showed us that Broadway just didn't need Disney to succeed. Stage versions of Disney movies were followed by stage versions of other musicals and non-musical films, and while there have been many failures, there have also been many successes. There are discussions of how difficult it is to break in to the world of Broadway, and the tragedy of Jonathan Larson, dying before his musical of "Rent" opened to create success. There are controversies over whether or not he succeeded in reinventing the musical, but there's no doubt that he presented new ideas that younger audiences embraced.
If the "I Love New York" campaign of the early 1980's helped revive Broadway during a difficult financial time, the "New York, New York" commercial after 9/11 had the same intention, encouraging audiences to return and share in the joy. That brings us to "Hairspray" and "Wicked", shows that really opened up the theater to younger audiences yet still had the typical Broadway audience going as well. The mixtures of generations truly showed that the musical had reinvented itself, and while the show ends here, the past decade and a half have given us more of the same. Some seasons are better than others, and some seasons face various crisis (as evidenced in the 2019/20 season being cut short with a year and a half closure), but Broadway always reinvent itself, pulls it up by its sequined tap shoes, and moves on. Hopefully one day we'll get the continuing story from where this ends, but this is a great visual history of more than 100 years of American show business.
The ending of the Harold Prince/Steven Sondheim partnership leads to new efforts by Sondheim with new collaborators, creating "Sunday in the Park with George" and Into the Woods" and later "Passion". Profiles on these changes in the way the creative process was altering also show a changing where traditional musicals needed a twist ("La Cage Aux Folles") and new styles. We haven't had much of Jerry Herman up to this point, so there's a bit more of him when he wins the Tony for "La Cage", and the discussion of how the groundbreaking introduction of two gay characters as the leads of a show would forever change the theater.
It is a sad irony that the success of "La Cage" came around the time of the AIDS crisis, and survivors of that era discuss it openly and honestly and even with a little bit of a tear, surviving but never forgetting. Up to this point in the documentary, there's been little discussion of the presence of gay men in the business, but there is no hiding it here as we near the present day.
But as Broadway became more corporate, we got a slew of Disney movies that were adapted for the stage and that meant a change in the atmosphere that 42nd Street and the Times Square area had become. In a sense, it revitalized Broadway, but this also makes Broadway connoisseurs question the integrity of its creators. However, that does take us inside what was then the dilapidated New Amsterdam theater, and recreated it so "The Lion King" could move in. That meant that this sleaziness of the area had to go, another controversial decision that has had mixed reactions but ultimately brought musicals back to their glory since audiences were no longer afraid of going there.
As we wrap up the series, it takes us into the groundbreaking "Rent" and the smash hit of "Wicked" that showed us that Broadway just didn't need Disney to succeed. Stage versions of Disney movies were followed by stage versions of other musicals and non-musical films, and while there have been many failures, there have also been many successes. There are discussions of how difficult it is to break in to the world of Broadway, and the tragedy of Jonathan Larson, dying before his musical of "Rent" opened to create success. There are controversies over whether or not he succeeded in reinventing the musical, but there's no doubt that he presented new ideas that younger audiences embraced.
If the "I Love New York" campaign of the early 1980's helped revive Broadway during a difficult financial time, the "New York, New York" commercial after 9/11 had the same intention, encouraging audiences to return and share in the joy. That brings us to "Hairspray" and "Wicked", shows that really opened up the theater to younger audiences yet still had the typical Broadway audience going as well. The mixtures of generations truly showed that the musical had reinvented itself, and while the show ends here, the past decade and a half have given us more of the same. Some seasons are better than others, and some seasons face various crisis (as evidenced in the 2019/20 season being cut short with a year and a half closure), but Broadway always reinvent itself, pulls it up by its sequined tap shoes, and moves on. Hopefully one day we'll get the continuing story from where this ends, but this is a great visual history of more than 100 years of American show business.