Broadway - The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There

Rating:
Summary: Broadway: The Golden Years
Review: "Broadway: The Golden Years" is a true delight. Prior to receiving the CD as a gift, I had been unfamiliar with this film. Indeed, the goal of this commentary is to bring this splendid film to the attention of others. "Broadway: The Golden Years" is a wonderfully crafted film, crossing the bounderies of time to explore the bygone years of an American institution, Broadway. The cohesive historical perspective and extensive artist interviews make this film incredibly informative, yet, very entertaining. "Broadway: The Golden Years" is a film for the entire family. Don't miss this one!

Rating:
Summary: A groundbreaking film
Review: As a theatre major, I'm constantly looking for new reading/viewing material to supplement the live theatre I see and what I'm learning in class. Rick McKay's film is extraodinary. He has accomplished an enormous task, interviewing a hundred of the most influential and valuable performers/creators of the American Theatre. Every interview is fascinating, and you too will be grateful he got to these legends when he did to capture the first hand accounts of their experiences. McKay's attention to detail is remarkable, as he even went to great lengths to find and display a set of silverware from a restaurant a star fondly remembers.
The DVD includes the film, a fantastic audio commentary with filmmaker McKay, and great extra footage-including a nice portion from his next film. Highly highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: words fail me...
Review: BROADWAY THE GOLDEN AGE is a must-see for all serious admirers and fans of theatre. Rick McKay spent several years tracking down and interviewing almost every surviving Broadway star of the Golden Age to share their entertaining, gripping and often very emotional reminisces.

Virtually everybody is included, with highlights being the late great Gwen Verdon (SWEET CHARITY, REDHEAD, CHICAGO, CAN-CAN, DAMN YANKEES), Jerry Orbach (CARNIVAL!, PROMISES PROMISES, CHICAGO) and Uta Hagen (STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE).

The film is peppered with juicy bits of gossip and info, with Shirley MacLaine, John Raitt and Janis Paige all recounting MacLaine's rise to fame following her historic job of understudying Carol Haney in THE PAJAMA GAME. Angela Lansbury fighting tool and nail for the role of MAME and Lainie Kazan being replaced by one of her closest friends, Michele Lee, in SEESAW.

I almost fell out of my chair when rare filmed footage of Ethel Merman in GYPSY and Angela Lansbury in MAME flashed (all-too-briefly) across the screen, and howled with laughter at some of the jokes cracked by Elaine Stritch and Robert Morse.

This release should be a mandatory purchase for anyone who cares about theatre. I was so moved by the end that I was speechless....I'm still speechless. This is more than a documentary, it's a life-changing experience.



Rating:
Summary: FILM CRITICS AGREE: Broadway the Golden Age BEST OF 2004!
Review: FIRST OF ALL, LET ME SAY THAT I HAD NEVER HEARD OF RICK MCKAY OR THIS FILM UNTIL I HAPPENED TO SEE IT AT A FILM FESTIVAL!

Since then, I have seen it in 5 theaters in 3 cities, and each time the audience laughed, and the audience wept, and the audience did not want to leave the Q and A with the filmmaker...this is because THE FILM IS MAGIC AND MR. MCKAY IS CHARISMATIC!

So NOW you should buy the DVD...you can see the film, and then see it again with Mr. McKay's commentary...from his living room to yours!

I should know, I bought 24 of the DVD's for gifts!

But don't listen to me, listen to what the FILM CRITICS have to say:

New York Film Critics Online - Best Documentary of 2004
The Hollywood Reporter - Best Documentary of 2004
The Washington Times - Top Ten Films of 2004
The Washington Times - Top Ten Documentaries of 2004
Jeffrey Lyons/NBC - Top Ten Films of 2004
Houston Voice - Top Ten Films of 2004 (#1)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Top Ten Films of 2004 (#2)
Southern Voice - Top Ten Films of 2004 (#1)
IndieWire.com - Top Ten Films of 2004 (#2)
DVD Authority - Top Ten DVDs of 2004 (#3)
Moda Magazine - Top Ten Documentaries of 2004

All of these film critics and all of the audiences cannot be wrong. BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!! You will be SO GLAD YOU DID!!!

Meanwhile, I cannot wait until I can BUY the sequels, BROADWAY THE GOLDEN AGE PART II, and BROADWAY: THE NEXT GENERATION.







Rating:
Summary: THOUSANDS OF FANS CAN'T BE WRONG!
Review: I love this movie! I rented it first from Netflix and then instantly came here to buy it for everyone I know. And I am not alone - over 1,000 different, registered Netflix renters have voted it approximately 4 **** out of 5 - amazingly high for Netflix!

It is so moving. As someone else already said, everytime I see it I see somehing new. It is so RICH with detail, history, humor, passion and great vintage pefromance. It is so inspiring. Kim Stanley, Laurette Taylor, Brando, Shirley MacLaine, Angela Lansbury, John Raitt - lost footage of all of them. What more could anyone want?

And I could not agree more with the reviewer below. Dismiss the guy who keeps posting negative reviews and changing his name. It is clearly the same (not very orginal) guy and I am sure his multiple postings with different aliases will be removed by Amazon.

All my friends love the film and the Broadway webistes, chatrooms and newsgroups are going nuts about it. One of them just listed the awards the film has won in the last week of 2004:

New York Film Critics Online - Best Documentary of 2004
The Hollywood Reporter/Robert Osborne - Best Documentary of 2004
The Washington Times - Top Ten Films of 2004
The Washington Times - Top Ten Documentaries of 2004 (only film to make both lists)
Jeffrey Lyons/NBC - Top Ten Films of 2004
Houston Voice - Top Ten Films of 2004 (#1)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Top Ten Films of 2004 (#2)
Southern Voice - Top Ten Films of 2004 (#1)
IndieWire.com - Brandon Judell's Top Ten Films of 2004 (#2)
DVD Authority - Top Ten DVDs of 2004 (#3)
Susan Granger - Moda Magazine - Top Ten Documentaries of 2004

As Rolling Stone Magazine said, this is one for the time capsule. I guess thousands of fans AND critics can't be wrong! Buy this movie before Amazon wises up and raises the price. At this low price it is a steal. Not to mention the 90 minutes of bonus material. You will watch it again and again. I have.

Rating:
Summary: Superb Documentary About a Lost Era in the American Theatre
Review: I think "Broadway: The Golden Age" is essential viewing for students of theatre and of the American arts in general, and certainly for any aspiring actor, director, designer or person who has found the theatre to be the source of inspiration, excitement, revelation, reflection, and consolation it can so often be.

I happened to watch "CBS Sunday Morning" today, on which there was a piece about the trend of musicals such as "Mamma Mia", "Movin' Out", and "Good Vibrations" which, though artful in themselves, amount to little more than thinly threaded
pastiches of music by one composer or performer/performers. The feature noted the passing of the traditional book musical. . . the kind which "Broadway: The Golden Age" includes in its chronicle of New York theatre in the '40's and '50's, which was, indeed, a golden age. As someone who makes his living in the theatre, and who arrived in New York just as that golden age was ending, I was touched and moved by Rick McKay's carefully wrought
recounting of the era through the words of the people who lived it. . . who created it. I was also particularly struck by the interviews with Jerry Ohrbach (also featured in "CBS Sunday Morning's" end of year tributes this morning), who recently passed away, and who was in the first live Broadway musical I saw: Neil Simon and Burt Bacharach's "Promises, Promises", which boasted a chorus of women that included Ann Reinking, Baayork Lee, and Donna McKechnie, each of whom has made her indelible mark on the theatre in the years since then.

In addition, the audtition/screen test footage of Laurette Taylor alone was worth every penny spent (though truth be told, my DVD was a recent opening night present - but one I'd be happy to have bought for myself and fully intend now to purchase for others): I now understand what it is people have always tried to recount about their experiences seeing Ms. Taylor live on stage. The footage included in the documentary is absolutely priceless.

But "Broadway: The Golden Age" is filled with such gems -- and is a masterpiece of compilation and editing. One suspects some sort of sequel would be entirely possibe, and I, for one, am hopeful there will be one. I was riveted from first to last.

Thanks to the producers of "Broadway: The Golden Age". It is a valuable addition to the annals of our cultural history and heritage.

Rating:
Summary: NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT !
Review: If you ever sat in a Broadway theater and witnessed a perfect performance in a perfect production, then you are well aware that there is nothing on this planet that even comes close to that experience.

I am in no way associated with this film or the theater. I am an average New Yorker. I can't believe anything negative said about this film. Dismiss the few miserable reviews written by miserable reviewers. This film is a delight. The film is like nothing else I have ever seen - and I've seen many films regarding Broadway. I never heard of Kim Stanley or Laurette Taylor before seeing this film. This film made me buy Bus Stop with Marilyn Monroe - of whom I am no fan. This film made me appreciate the early careers of so many legendary performers. This film inspired me to learn more about the New York theater's golden age.

I hope Rick McKay becomes a billionaire from this film - so he will be inspired to retrieve even more archival footage, conduct even more in-depth interviews, and produce many more of these types of films. My disappointments about the film... I wish Marlon Brando would have consented to a taped interview before his death. I wish that Mr. McKay would have scheduled his interview with Kim Stanley two weeks before her death and not two weeks after. I wish the film would have been much, much longer - the PBS American Musical documentary with Julie Andrews is 6 hours long. This film should have been at least 6 hours long - perhaps Mr. McKay will produce a "director's cut." Hurry up with the sequel, Mr. McKay.

Buy this film. It's inexpensive and there is nothing else like it.

Rating:
Summary: A must see!!!!
Review: The DVD Broadway - The Golden Age was given to me as a Secret Santa gift. I'm an actor currently working in the Las Vegas Production of Mamma Mia. I've been working in the Theatre for almost 30 years. This film has encouraged me to continue in my profession. I have been so inspired by hearing the stories of those that have come before me. That have paved the way for me as a performer. I believe every actor, student & teacher of the arts should see this film and further more I think it should be shown in every High School and University's Theatre Dept. in America! IT'S IMPORTANT TO THE LIFE OF THEATRE IN AMERICA!
Rick Pessagno


Rating:
Summary: AN EXTRAORDINARY FILM!!!
Review: This is an extraordinary film. If you have even a passing interest in theatre-BUY IT NOW!

Unlike film, the theatre is an ephemeral art: there for an instant and then, in the blink of an eye, gone forever. Rick McKay has documented an oral history of those so bold to have graced the Broadway boards, even with the knowledge that time can ravage their creations to the realm of the forgotten. He has committed to film a glimpse of one of the most vital and vibrant moments in the American Theatre, allowing us to not only compare it to our own, but to more importantly garner inspiration, hope, and Life from the stories of the past. I have to say, I cried four times watching this film...not in sadness, but because I was so awe-struck, so inspired.

Thank you Rick for your commitment and dedication to this project!

As for the inexplicable negative reviews on this site, let me say this: It seems that every single negative review shares a common tone and voice. The complaints issued in these postings seem to me to be the same complaint, thinly re-veiled and barely re-packaged behind a new sign-in name emanating from some new town...however obscure-for-authenticity's-sake said town may be!

Beware buyers of the possible inexplicable vendetta of one person! This film is an amazing breath of fresh air!


Rating:
Summary: An Unforgettable Experience-What a Film!
Review: When I first heard about this film I thought it sounded interesting. I was totally unprepared for how strong an impact this film would have on me. It is amazing. Anyone who enjoys theatre at any level will have an unforgettable experience watching this film. It is obvious how much love Rick McKay has for his subject. The interviews are personal and filled with emotion. This DVD is one I will watch again and again. I learned so much about stars with whom I was not previously familiar. I loved hearing about the star Laurette Taylor. She had such an impact on many better known Broadway legends. Footage of Laurette Taylor and Kim Stanley is unbelievable. I understand why they both are revered by so many actors. Three
cheers to Rick McKay for preserving such an important part of our history.