Dori Bernstein’s Show
Business: The Road to Broadway officially comes with no space between the
first two names of its appellation, but quite frankly I just can’t bring myself
to commit to that typo, which no doubt has something to do with Warner Bros. or
Universal having snapped up the properly partitioned title rights for some
comfortably shingled producer. To which I say whatever.
the 2003-04 Broadway season, and the backstage drama leading up to the Tony
awards, by way of focusing on four very different high-profile debut
productions — Wicked, the box
office-bursting musical adaptation of the literary prequel to The Wizard of Oz; Taboo, the controversial collaboration between Rosie O’Donnell and
ambisexual, erstwhile pop icon Boy George; the quasi-operatic musical Caroline, or Change, a partnership
between Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori, who’s currently pulling duty on the
in-development Shrek stage musical; and
Avenue Q, an irreverent puppet
musical that would go on to become the sleeper commercial hit of the season.
The director — who cites William Goldman’s The Season, from 1968, as her
inspiration for the project — deftly cuts between the productions, and doesn’t
shy away from tension and acrimony, as when Avenue
Q composer/lyricist Jeff Marx (above center) confesses to clashing violently with writer
Jeff Whitty (above left). Bernstein additionally inserts a critics’ roundtable into the
proceedings, with wonkish theater writers from coasts both east and west serving
up ample-sized portions of opinion on the productions as they make their way
through rehearsals, into previews and actually opening. She also chose her focus
wisely: Wicked racked up a leading 10
Tony nominations, Avenue Q scored six
and Taboo picked up four. A thrilling
document for theater aficionados as well as those just seeking out another piece
of vicarious, behind-the-scenes entertainment, Show Business locates the commonality of its subjects’ human
experience (frustration, perseverance) while also proving that there really is
no business quite like show business, something I knew even from my middle
school’s production of Annie Get Your Gun.
Housed in a regular Amray case, Show Business is presented in anamorphic widescreen, and comes with
both a Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound and 2.0 Dolby stereo audio tracks.
Co-producer Alan Cumming — who also appears sparingly in the film — sits with
Bernstein and Avenue Q co-creator
Marx for an audio commentary track, and their rapport is warm and
inviting, if also a bit of a tip-off as to how things “end” (for those who may
not already know). A smattering of trailers, Tony Awards promotional spots and
around eight minutes of awards clips are also included, but far and away the
best supplemental feature is the hour’s-plus worth of deleted scenes, which include
Henry IV swordfight rehearsals with
Ethan Hawke and Michael
Hayden, a fascinating look at Wicked’s
set construction and much, much more. Another fun but surprising factoid: Marx can’t
actually read music, believe it or not. B+ (Movie) A- (Disc)