Monday, January 16, 2006
Review: Broadway, the Golden Age DVD
This weekend I gave a good friend a belated Christmas present: Broadway - The Goden Age, by the Legends Who Were There.
He was so thrilled that we decided that instead of dinner and movie we would go to dinner then come back and watch the DVD.
Now that was a schedule change that was well worth it. This documentary is a fabulous look back at Broadway , pretty much pre-1968 or so. And the people that documentarian Rick McKay got to speak to him! Carol Channing, Ann Miller, Jerry Orbach, John Raitt...and lesser knowns too with fantastic stories to tell, Gretchen Wyler among others.
Many of these folks are now dead, he caught them in the last few years of their lives, but their passion and energy is still there when they talk about old Broadway.
They make me wish I had seen Laurette Taylor in Glass Menagerie, and John Raitt in Carousel, and so many others. And it's a blessing that they now record most Broadway shows for archival purposes, because it's a damn shame there's nothing left of some of the performances.
It was a great gift for someone who loves Broadway (and even classic movie musicals, since there's a lot of crossover.)
And I just found out (after I bought the gift I must say) that our own Kristopher McDowell is involved with the documentary, so you'll be helping out a Moonie to when you buy this DVD!
He was so thrilled that we decided that instead of dinner and movie we would go to dinner then come back and watch the DVD.
Now that was a schedule change that was well worth it. This documentary is a fabulous look back at Broadway , pretty much pre-1968 or so. And the people that documentarian Rick McKay got to speak to him! Carol Channing, Ann Miller, Jerry Orbach, John Raitt...and lesser knowns too with fantastic stories to tell, Gretchen Wyler among others.
Many of these folks are now dead, he caught them in the last few years of their lives, but their passion and energy is still there when they talk about old Broadway.
They make me wish I had seen Laurette Taylor in Glass Menagerie, and John Raitt in Carousel, and so many others. And it's a blessing that they now record most Broadway shows for archival purposes, because it's a damn shame there's nothing left of some of the performances.
It was a great gift for someone who loves Broadway (and even classic movie musicals, since there's a lot of crossover.)
And I just found out (after I bought the gift I must say) that our own Kristopher McDowell is involved with the documentary, so you'll be helping out a Moonie to when you buy this DVD!