By Michael Buckley
26 Sep 2004

"I Got Plenty O' Nuttin': 1930-1942" and "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin': 1943-1960" are the third and fourth hours, which include scenes of how a Broadway song, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime," reflected the nation's mood during the Depression; profiles of Ethel Merman, Ethel Waters, Cole Porter and Fred Astaire; June Havoc recalling Pal Joey; a look at This is the Army (remembered by Irving Berlin's daughter, Mary Ellin Barrett) and Porgy and Bess (with comments by the original stars, Todd Duncan and Anne Brown, plus how Stephen Sondheim rates the show). Sondheim also reminisces about his reaction to the opening night of Carousel, and how (years later) his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein, inscribed a picture to him. There are numerous clips, including Oklahoma!, Carousel, On the Town, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, Bye Bye Birdie, My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music.

"Tradition: 1957-1979" and "Putting It Together: 1980-Present" are the final two hours. Included are clips of West Side Story, Funny Girl, Hello, Dolly!, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Hair, Company, A Chorus Line, Chicago, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Cats, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Sunday in the Park with George, La Cage aux Folles, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Rent, Hairspray and Wicked. There are remembrances of Bob Fosse, Michael Bennett and David Merrick; rehearsal footage of Ethel Merman in Gypsy; a profile of Cameron Mackintosh; the Disney invasion; home movies of Jonathan Larson; and the renaming of the Martin Beck Theatre for Al Hirschfeld.

As the final credits roll, Kantor chose to use a clip of Danny Kaye performing the patter song "Tschaikovsky," the number that brought him fame in the musical Lady in the Dark. "People wondered why," states Kantor. "The series is over, and as all the names are whizzing by on the screen, we have Danny Kaye rattling off all these Russian composers' names." I mention that Kaye ties in with host Julie Andrews. In 1947, when the comedian appeared at London's famed Palladium and reigned as the toast of Britain, Andrews (then 12-year-old Julia Wells) appeared on the bill.

***

In addition to the documentary, there's a Teacher's Guide (published by Robert A. Miller) going to 15,000 secondary schools across the country. "It's phenomenal," Kantor remarks. "I'm so proud of it. In the first episode, we have Irving Berlin's song, 'My New York.' I couldn't find a recording of it, and I had Chip Zien record it for us: 'Every nation, it seems,/ Sailed across with their dreams/ To my New York...' It goes into the ethnicities that settled in New York. On the educational guide, one of the things we're giving people [on a CD that contains six selections] is the song with the lyrics, and then just the melody, so [the student] can write about their city to an Irving Berlin melody."

There's also a companion book, which Kantor co-authored with Laurence Maslon (for Bulfinch Press; in stores Oct. 13). Says Kantor, "There's never been a Broadway book like it. People who know nothing about Broadway history can enjoy it, and so can people who want to read Stephen Sondheim's essay on what makes Jerome Kern a unique composer, or a [George] Gershwin essay on jazz."

Available Oct. 12 will be a three-tape VHS set, a three-disc DVD set (one of which contains five hours of bonus interviews and performances not seen on the TV series) from Paramount Home Entertainment and PBS Home Video, plus a 5-CD boxed set featuring over 100 recordings (on Columbia Broadway Masterworks and Decca Broadway). There's also a CD of 21 selections (in stores Oct. 5).

The series' aim, continues Kantor, "is not to just highlight famous performers and creators. We're placing things in historical and social contexts, and showing that Broadway has been a seminal part of American culture. As Yip Harburg says [in the series], 'Songs are the pulse of a nation's heart, the fever chart of its health.' We tried to use the songs and the stories and the biographies of Broadway to tell America's story." Concludes Michael Kantor, "I tried to make [the documentary] as entertaining as a Broadway musical."

***

Michael Buckley also writes for TheaterMania.com, and is the author of the book "Between Takes (Interviews with Hollywood Legends)," to be published in spring 2005.