Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11999 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-10-12
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 360 minutes

Amazon.com
Like its fellow PBS series Ken Burns' Jazz, Broadway: The American Musical is an ambitious and absorbing exploration of a unique American art form that has always been best experienced in live performance. Hosted and narrated by Julie Andrews, the six-part, six-hour documentary traces the history of musical theater from its roots in vaudeville, operetta, and minstrel shows, to the dawn of what would become the modern American musical, Show Boat, and on through many changes that seemed to reflect those in American culture itself. Significant creators discussed include Florenz Ziegfeld, George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Bob Fosse, and David Merrick, and notable shows (Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Company, Cats, and recent hit Wicked, among others) are analyzed through performance clips and interviews with songwriters, stars, directors, producers, critics, and historians.

The series' most obvious weakness is its use of only brief excerpts of the performances--no song is heard in full. The sheer scope of the series no doubt played a part in that, as well as complicated rights issues, but the core problem is that musical theater has always been a live medium, rarely documented and even more rarely released to the general public. The documentary's producers make do with audio recordings, still photographs, and bits of footage, often in grainy black and white. Thankfully, they resist over-relying on feature-film musicals--which look much better and are sometimes excellent (but more often mediocre) translations--and when used such footage is clearly identified. That makes it all the more frustrating, however, that almost all of the other footage is not identified, because that is what fans are less familiar with and would be most interested in. The 1950s footage looks to be mostly from TV programs such as The Ed Sullivan Show; by the 1960s we have live footage from the Tony Awards (easily identifiable by the backdrops); and the newest shows might have been shot on stage. But early Ethel Merman and other random clips are mysteries, perhaps even to the producers themselves.

Because the series is designed to appeal to a general audience (again like Jazz), a lot of the information won't be new to diehard Broadway fans, but they should be especially pleased by the DVDs' bonus features, which include additional performances and about four more hours of interviews. Stephen Sondheim fans should be fascinated by footage of the composer-lyricist discussing "Someone in a Tree" at the piano, and then running through the song with original cast members of Pacific Overtures, as well as interviews of him talking about his own shows and songs (e.g., listing the songwriters he pastiched in Follies) and reminiscing about mentor Oscar Hammerstein II. Other bonus performances include vaudeville films from the Library of Congress, original-cast television performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "If I Loved You" (from Carousel, unfolding over 12 minutes) and "Some Enchanted Evening" (the reprise version from South Pacific), Rent's Jonathan Larson spoofing Sondheim, and two behind-the-scenes looks at Wicked. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

In love
So I saw the episodes on PBS and I haven't been able to afford the DVD collection yet, but I have the CD book which gives you the full songs to all the snippets in the series. It is an amazing story - engaging, factual, and fascinating. I recommend it for die hard Broadway fans and those just interested in how it all began.

Broadway DVD
The DVDS are from a PBS Special. It is a fantastic show worth the expense.

For the Broadway lover
One year for my birthday I received a trio of products based on Michael Kantor's documentary "Broadway: the American Musical." I received the book, the 5 CD set, and the DVD set as well.

I absolutely love them.

I've been doing theatre for over twenty years and I have both Bachelors and Masters degrees in theatre. I have a special love for the musical. This film goes into detail from the earliest days of Broadway, hitting the highlights from Ziegfeld and Cohen to Wicked. The story moves chronologically, but also finds themes: the commercialization of Broadway, the difficulty of mounting new productions, and the evolution of the artistic form.

Hosted by Julie Andrews, it shows a lot of archival footage, especially in the later chapters, juxtaposed with recent interviews. It's wonderful to see Jerry Orbach in the original Chicago and then hear his memories of the play in an interview taped before his death. There are very few films from those old days, but luckily so many numbers from musicals were featured on shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and are included here. It's also fun to see what Times Square looked like pre-Gulianni.

Extras include a behind the scenes look at Wicked and an early performance of Jonathan Larson's song "Sunday." Also included are additional interviews from many of Broadway's finest.

If I had one criticism it would be that it's not long enough to include all of my favorite shows, but I can live with that. It's really for the Broadway crowd, but if you're in the crowd you'll love it, and you'll want to pick up the book and CDs too.