Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003)

Watching the documentary "Broadway: The Golden Age", I couldn't help thinking of Marie Dressler in the film "Dinner at Eight". She plays a faded, dowager stage actress, and young ingenues keep telling her how they saw her perform ... at their father's knees.The actors and actresses interviewed for this documentary are all well advanced in years. Some, in fact, are no longer with us -- as a poignant retrospective reminds us in the final reel. Some, like Nanette Fabray, are marvelously well preserved. Others, alas, have fallen prey to what Shakespeare's Hamlet called "the thousand ills that flesh is heir to". We see, in old film clips and black-and-white still photos, how they looked in their glory days. The contrast, in some cases, is heartrending.The documentary is full of nostalgic reminiscences of Broadway in the 1940s and 50s, and we are regaled with many a mirth-provoking anecdote. Gretchen Wyler, an actress I have never even heard of, had me in stitches with her All-about-Eve-style story of stepping in for an ailing leading lady -- and beating another understudy to the punch.We are also introduced to Laurette Taylor, who apparently had a profound impact and influence on virtually all of the actors and actresses interviewed for the film. The interviewees also speak in hushed and reverent tones about the thespian skills of Kim Stanley, who burned bright and burned out too soon. And, of course, Marlon Brando was nothing less than a god.The interviewees (and the director) mourn the passing of an era and an industry that fell victim to rising ticket prices and changing tastes. But, interestingly enough, no one suggests that perhaps live theatre was (and is) an elitist form of entertainment not available to the masses in the first place.Anyone can go to a local cinema to see stars light up the silver screen (and later the small screen through the medium of television). Indeed, most of the interviewees are known to us through their film and TV roles. But how many mortals can afford to go to New York City, and walk the Great White Way?

Rick McKay is an invaluable source when it comes to what theater is all about. His other documentary, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, was excellent. In this new work, instead of concentrating on a single performer, he explores the best years of Broadway and the commercial theater during the era when it was at its peak.The strength of the film is the intimacy one feels whenever the stars, being interviewed, speak directly to the camera, and thus to us. It's just as if these performers are telling us their secrets. There is an immediacy that no other documentary on the subject ever projected before.In a way it is a world that is no longer here. The fact is that not only it's almost prohibitive to go to the Broadway theater, but it's also about the quality of what's being shown these days. When ticket prices for musicals go over $100.00, producers can only bring to the stage only those shows that might prove to be money makers. Then, of course, there is no guarantee for commercial success.Sadly, most so called stars working in musicals these days have no voices to fill a theater. Since everything is amplified, it's as though one is listening to the cast album of the show, not to a live performance. These days producers will import a Hollywood star to do a musical for the name and possible revenue that will be generated, rather than for artistic merit.It was delightful to hear actors talking about their peers. How a Laurette Taylor, a Marlon Brando, a Kim Stanley, were admired for their talent as well as for the integrity they brought to each performance. Since theater happens whenever actors are on a stage, most of the last century's historical performances can't be appreciated because they weren't done in front of a camera.This film is a must see for theater enthusiasts.

I just saw this movie last week on the Floating Film Festival where top critics are all on a cruise ship and as we sail they present the films that they love to the audience. Roger Ebert, Richard Corliss (Time), etc. This one was presented by Kathleen Carrol from the New York Daily News and boy was she popular after she showed this film!The ship projectionist screwed up the film and when they first showed it they could only show 20 minutes and the projector broke. What a crazed audience! Everyone was dying to see what happened. Well, by the time they got it fixed and showed the full film later in the week the anticipation was impossibly high, what with the word of mouth and all! But, the film completely lived up to it!It was introduced as a documentary, but it was more like time travel where you see 100 different great stars (Shirley MacLaine, Angela Lansbury, Carol Burnett, Ben Gazzara, Stephen Sondheim, Martin Landau, Kaye Ballard and Alec Baldwin and a lot more) all talk about struggling and coming to New York City to follow a dream. Well, in fiction you would never believe a movie that had 100 people whose dreams all come true - but this one - reality - it did happen. It was really inspiring to me and to the rest of the audience!And the old footage of New York! Times Square in the 40's! It really was a trip back in time to a bygone time that I am too young to have ever lived through! And the performances! A woman I had never heard of named Loretta Taylor who almost everybody in the film said changed their lives. And then the filmmaker found footage of her that he got in the film. Just beautiful. The original stars of "West Side Story" singing live - not dubbed like in the movie. And Bob Fosse dancing - with his wife Gwen Verdon. Ohmigod. Carol Hanie in "Steam Heat" - Marlon Brando in "A STreetcar Named Desire" - on and on. I have never seen a really passionate story about following dreams, New York, time travel and great peformances all combined in one film. AS much as it made me sorry I had missed this era on Broadway (Cats?! Les Miserable?! NO thanks!) it made me really love film even more to realize that one guy (the director) could make this movie alone. The critic who introduced the film talked about him and it is amazing that he shot it and edited it and directed it all alone and if he hadn't we would never have this movie. PBS does nice documentaries (Baseball, Civil War, NYC, Jazz, etc.) but they are always scholarly and have an "educational" feel. THIS did not. It was intelligent and passionate and had a REAL PERSON narrating it, not a disembodied, stentorian voice, and you really felt like someone was guiding, or walking you through this trip back in time.Am I going on a bit? Yes I am! The most wonderful news is that we were told that the film is opening in movie theaters around the country this summer so everyone can see it. And also exciting is that the DVD has even MORE of this same. I can't wait. Everyone on the ship was asking for it all week. Bravo. Movies like this are why I love independent film!

Rick Mc Kay has given worldwide, movie audiences a glorious gift: "Broadway: The Golden Age". It's a Treasure of New York, The Theatre, Americana, Gypsies, Histories, and Dreams come true, by the dreamers who dreamed them, lived them, and vividly recount them, thanks to Mc Kay. "Broadway: The Golden Age" is a rich, reel legacy I wish everyone, everywhere could experience.