Show Business: The Road to Broadway

Dori Berenstein (Director and Producer), 2007.

Alan Cumming, Chris Boneau, Nancy Coyne, William Goldman, Rocco Landesman, Ben Brantley, Charles Isherwood, John Lahr, Patrick Pacheco, Michael Riedel, Jacques le Sourd, Linda Winer.
Jeanine Tesori (Music); Alan S. Deutsch (Photography); Richard Hankin, A.C.E. (Supervising Editor); Dori Berinstein & Richard Hankin (Writers).

This engaging documentary follows four major Broadway shows from conception to opening and the aftermath of the 2004 Tony Awards. As well as providing an obvious source of enjoyment for fans of "the roar of the greasepaint" etc., the film made me realise how many charlatans there are in show business and what a grind it must be to remain focused on the work while having to put up with them. The director of “Caroline or Change” is a case in point, though several other termagants fascinate with the horror of their egocentric self indulgence. Inevitably, behind-the-scenes thrills are provided by internecine conflict. Some of the collaborators HATED each other, and said so, but kept at it, loathing each other, right to the successful end.

Throughout the film, the reviewers of the New York press provide a Furies' chorus, seated at a large dinner table which they enjoy with evident appetite. Their frank exchange of opinions leaves little doubt that they believe their job is to make life as difficult as possible for anyone trying to put a play on Broadway. When some plays (such as "Wicked") succeed despite their condemation, they do not hide their self-righteous indignation, though the New York Post reviewer wastes no time regretting his misjudgements. After he condemns "Avenue Q" as a childish fantasy lacking a discernable audience, the play cleans out the 2004 Tony Awards and becomes one of the biggest Broadway successes ever; but this critic simply changes sides, saying he had liked it all along.

The most horrifying scene involves the critics' discussion of the demise of “Taboo.” Anyone who reads the New York Times will never forget the 2004 theatre critics’ press fracas over Rosi O’Donnell’s competence as a producer, which finished off the play before it had even opened. Although Ms O’Donnell certainly helped by being unable to keep her mouth shut, the critics appear to have desired little more than victory in a negative argument, irrespective of the production’s theatrical merits. Their vitriol, of course, had prematurely fatal consequences for “Taboo,” which they themselves admit with excruciating pomposity was “the play that should have been.”

At the end of the film one of the "Taboo" cast admits with the self-disciplined nonchalance of the professional actor that the failure of the play is hardly a tragedy, considering what else is going on in the world. But, he says, “it’s just that this was my entire life,” and starts to weep.

Watch the trailer of “Showbusiness; The Road to Broadway”