Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

mark.waltz Recent musicals come and go with quick closings (the very original and outstanding "The Last Ship" and a wonderful revisal of "Side Show"), and it is in looking back at the more than 150 years of New York musical theater that reflects on its rocky road from the days of Longacre Square to today's tourist trap. This documentary focuses not on the earlier days of New York's musical theater (skipping over "The Black Crook", the first long running show) but pretty much starting with the years of the "Ziegfeld Follies" and focusing on early Broadway celeb's as George M. Cohan, Al Jolson, Marilyn Miller, Fanny Brice, and quite sadly, black icons like Bert Williams and Ethel Waters who made good in spite of prejudices and earlier tragedies.From there, the songwriters take over, Jerome Kern ("Sunny", "Show Boat", the first serious musical play), Rodgers and Hart with their complexly written words and music, George Gershwin taking us down into rhapsodies in blue, and Cole Porter with his wit and urbane sophistication. Political and issue themed shows like "The Cradle Will Rock" and "Porgy and Bess" (giving white audiences a chance to see what squalor free black Americans were forced to live in) and jazzy musicals with Ethel Merman pre-dated "Oklahoma!" which began the golden age, leading to a series of never to be forgotten Rodgers and Hammerstein shows and other groundbreaking musicals which lead to the Sondheim era and a string of Jerry Herman hits. Sondheim gets more attention here, with only passing mention of "Hello, Dolly!" and one brief shot of the groundbreaking "La Cage Aux Folles". But in only 6 hours, there's only so much you can cover.While the musical pretty much goes up to the early days of the triumph "Wicked", it does also cover such memorable Broadway figures as producer David Merrick, choreographer/directors Bob Fosse, Gower Champion and Michael Bennett, the legendary Harold Prince (and his collaboration with Sondheim) and features some rare footage from not only the Tony's and the Ed Sullivan show but from other rare kinescopes as well. Broadway certainly has gone farther in building back up audiences since where the story ends here and shows no signs of stopping. Political history mixed with music appreciation make this fascinating not only for musical theater fans but also as a study of sociology. So let's here it also for the missing shows from here, including "Kiss Me Kate", "Mame", "Follies", "Annie", "Grand Hotel", "Aida" and those made after-my favorites being "Monty Python's Spamelot", "The Color Purple", and "Kinky Boots".Now if we could only get a documentary on Broadway's flops and why they didn't succeed, that would be great as well!

Jay Harris Greetings from California:In your excellent review questioned why John Lahr did not mention is father Bert Lahr (Cowardly Lion in Wizard of Oz) In the 1950's I was friendly with John's brother and was told that only he was not overly close to his father, John was raised by his mother (not my friends Mother) & was a good deal younger than John, He hardly ever saw John & John hardly ever saw his father.A closely knit family this was not.John Lahr has written a book as well on his fathers life & times. I have forgotten the title, however.

didi-5 This in-depth mini-series (6 episodes) took the story of Broadway musicals from the vaudeville age and Mr Ziegfeld's spectaculars right up to the present day with Wicked! On the way, in the capable hands of presenter Julie Andrews, we remember Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Kander and Ebb, Jerry Herman, 42nd Street, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Hair!, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Rent, and La Cage Aux Folles.There are tantalising clips from rare TV broadcasts and films (perhaps a weakness of the series is that people TALK over the clips - who wants to hear someone remember a show when you can see John Raitt sing Soliloquy from Carousel?) which are well-worth seeing the series in themselves. Contemporary and archive interviews bring the likes of Jerome Robbins, Kitty Carlisle, Jerry Orbach, and Tommy Tune into the story.For my money, the best episodes were the first two, for the rare footage shown. But you'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by the toll of musical theatre back-room boys (and front-line artists) lost to AIDS.A fantastic trip along the Great White Way - thanks to PBS for putting it together, and to BBC4 for airing it in the UK.

Loring Ivanick I have just watched the first segment of Broadway: The American Musical on DVD. I just received the DVD today and right now it is one a.m., so I won't be watching any more tonight. Here I am, a Broadway musical fan watching it on my DVD player some 8,000 miles away from the Great White Way on November 29, 2004. According to the notes and the PBS website, this series ran on American TV just a few weeks ago. Whether the series meets every one of my expectations or not (though watching an, as always, perfectly-coifed over-90 Kitty Carlisle Hart remind herself of how irked she was about following a wet and messy seal act in vaudeville 70 or 75 years ago was worth the price of the DVD set in itself), the fact that PBS has chosen not to make us wait five or ten years, but barely a couple of weeks to be able to own this series and watch all or part of it any time we want deserves all my plaudits. Bravo. I look forward to the rest of the marvelous history, the marvelous singing, dancing, sets, and costumes in the segments that remain for me to view.