Hosted by Julie Andrews, Written by Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon, Directed by Michael Kantor.
Topics:
“The Producers” (2001): Mel Brooks brought his 1968 film to Broadway. Which gives the creative team on this program an opportunity to examine producers for an hour.
David Merrick: The Abominable Showman, producer of “Hello, Dolly”, “Oliver”, “Promises, Promises”, “I Do, I Do”, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, and more. In the interviews the great caricaturist Al Hirschfeld says he did what he considered a vicious drawing of Merrick holding a bell, book, and candle, and dressed like Santa Claus – and Merrick bought the drawing and used it on his Christmas cards that year. In 40 years Merrick produced dozens of shows, of which six were directed and choreographed by Gower Champion, including the “seismic” hit “Hello, Dolly”. In 1980 Merrick hired Champion to helm “42nd Street” starring Jerry Orbach. The show was one of the first Broadway versions of a film musical. As you know, the movement is usually in the opposite direction, and the cast was more than double that of most Broadway shows. And on opening night, just hours before curtain, Gower Champion died of a rare blood cancer. Stunning news, kept from reporters and delivered by Merrick after the curtain calls with the cast still on stage. The show ran for over 8 years on Broadway.
“Cats” followed “42nd Street” into the Winter Garden Theater and played for an amazing 18 years.. The producer was Cameron MacIntosh and during the ’80s he redefined the formula for success in musical theater. “Cats” was so totally unconventional that many theater people did not understand it, but audiences loved it. Here I become for a moment a critic rather than a chronicler and say that I have never liked anything about “Cats” except Betty Buckley’s big number “Memories”. And though this segment of the program is basically about MacIntosh, Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the music, Tim Rice wrote the lyrics, and Trevor Nunn directed. “Cats” was only the beginning for MacIntosh. It was followed by “Les Miserables”, “The Phantom of the Opera”, and “Miss Saigon”. In 2004, when this program was made, these four shows had grossed over eight billion dollars worldwide: more than “Star Wars”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Jurassic Park”, and “Titanic” combined.
“Merrily We Roll Along” was the sixth collaboration between director Hal Prince and song writer Stephen Sondheim. It was a flop and closed after 2 weeks, and the partnership that had revolutionized Broadway with “Company”, “Follies”, “A Little Night Music”, “Pacific Overtures”, and “Sweeney Todd” came to an end. Sondheim was contemplating retirement when director James Lapine told him that he thought they could come up with something p;popular. So Sondheim’s next show did not open on Broadway, but off-Broadway in a 150-seat theater called Playwright’s Horizons. That show was “Sunday in the Park with George”.
“La Cage aux Folles” starred George Hearn (from “Sweeney Todd”) and Gene Barry (from “Bat Masterson”) as what bookwriter Harvey Fierstein calls “a couple, a real loving couple, together for 27 years”. The director Arthur Laurents says, “The show began with a drag number, and the men who had been dragged there by their wives covered their faces. At the end of the show they were standing and cheering two men dancing off into the sunset. I thought that was quite an accomplishment.” Jerry Herman won the Tony for Best Score.
The AIDS Epidemic: Among those who died were Michael Bennett, Ron Field, Larry Kert, Edward Campbell, Michael Shawn, and Sam Stickler. Harvey Fierstein says, “We lost our children.” And Stephen Mo Hanan says, “So many people from the ranks. AIDS didn’t just get the generals; it got the privates, the guys in the trenches.” In response to the AIDS crisis the company of “La Cage aux Folles” and others from the Broadway community created “Broadway Cares: Equity Fights AIDS” which in 2004 had raised over 65 million dollars to help people suffering from the disease.
The Corporate Influence: Often attributed to the success of the Walt Disney Company, but before Broadway was resurrected by Disney, Disney was resurrected by the Broadway musical. After some lackluster years Disney had a string of animated musicals, most scored by Broadway veterans composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, but also by Menken and Howard Ashman, and Menken and Tim Rice after Schwartz’s death from AIDS. Michael Eisner, head of Disney in 2004, says that critic Frank Rich reviewed the movie “Beauty and the Beast” as the “best musical on Broadway”. The New Amsterdam Theater had been Ziegfeld’s crown jewel, but was now a wreck. Eisner wanted it, but first needed assurance from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani that the neighborhood (Broadway and Times Square) would be safe for families. Giuliani said, “They will be gone.” (referring to all the sleaze merchants). The New Amsterdam was magnificently restored, and for the first time in 75 years a major corporation was interested in the area. In the fall of 1997 “The Lion King” moved into the New Amsterdam. Julie Taymor, the show’s director, discussing the doubters who didn’t think the audience would know where to look (large puppet or operator, human face or face of smaller puppet), says that the audience in a live theater know they’re in a theater and finish your sentences for you. She also says that the musical is about “a future where there won’t be any racism at all.”
Jonathan Larson and “Rent”: Larson quit his job as a waiter (a 9 year gig) because an off-Broadway theater had committed to producing his rock opera “Rent”. During rehearsals Larson was admitted to the hospital twice. The night before the first preview he died of an undiagnosed heart problem. He was 35. Eventually “Rent” moved to Broadway where it played 3000 performances. Larson was awarded the Pulitzer, and his family used the profits from the show to fund a foundation for young artists.
9-11: Susan Strohman, director of “The Producers” (both play and film), says, “At first it seemed inappropriate to go to the theater, but in fact it became almost like medicine… A little relief from the grief.
Costs: “Hairspray” was the best of the 2002 crop, and like many others was based on a film. With musicals costing over 10 million to produce, it is a good example of producers going for fewer originals and more recognizable titles. Hal Prince says, “In 1954, my first show as a producer, “The Pajama Game”, had a budget of $250,000 and they only spent $169,000. By the time I did “Follies” – that was 1971 – it cost #800,000.”
“Wicked” was the biggest show of 2003, and was a 40 million dollar gamble, the second production backed by Universal Studios. During the eight weeks before the opening in San Francisco (which they called the “Preview Opening”) scenes were cut, new dialogue and songs were written, and four parts were recast, including the part of the Wizard of Oz, with Robert Morse out and Joel Grey in. On to New York and critics were divided, but it broke box office records. According to producers (remember, in 2004) the show will recoup its 40 million dollar investment in one and a half years – if each performance sells 1300 tickets.
Summary: In June of 2003 the world of Broadway gathered to honor Al Hirschfeld. For over 75 years he had captured the spirit of musicals, and this episode includes some of his wonderful drawings of various musicals and musical performers.
So this has been a pleasant way to learn some of the history of Broadway. Now from 2004 to the present day, I guess we’re on our own. Incidentally, there are scads of wonderful clips in this episode, but I just don’t have room to list them. Sorry!
Bickering Critics 