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[Interview with Susan Stroman : raw footage]

Title: [Interview with Susan Stroman : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]
Publication: New York, 2003.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Moving image	Restricted use	NCOX 2179	Performing Arts Research Collections - TOFT

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Description

1 videocassette (VHS) (65 min.) : sd., col. SP; 1/2 in.

Summary

Raw interview footage used for the documentary Broadway, the American musical. Broadway choreographer and director Susan Stroman discusses the hit Broadway musical comedy The producers. The show, which Stroman choreographed and directed, was adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks' 1968 film of the same name. As in the film, the story concerns two theatrical producers who scheme to get rich by overselling shares in a Broadway flop. Stroman speaks about the show's appeal to audiences, and why she believes people identified so greatly with its main characters Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom; the Broadway producer of today, in comparison with a few decades earlier when impressarios like David Merrick singlehandedly put on shows; producer Cameron Mackintosh, whose creative as well as financial talents resulted in artistically groundbreaking hits; the taste for epic, operatic shows during the 1980s in contrast with the current taste for musical comedy; the hit Broadway musical Cats, which was daring in its use of actors who portrayed animals, and who danced; what she perceives as the "emotional hook" of The producers; Brooks' love of Broadway shows as reflected in his films; how she got involved in the project, and her year-and-a-half long collaboration with Brooks and Meehan in writing the show; the workshop process, and finding producers; the importance of the opening number for a musical, and how she conducts research for her choreography. Discussion ends on videocassette one and resumes on videocassette two.
Stroman discusses the show's opening number, and the function of the opening number in a musical; opening night on Broadway; reasons for producing a show; the importance of the story in a musical theater production, and in its choreography; the trend of turning movies into musicals; the importance of collaboration in producing a show; the differences between the movie and the musical version of The producers; the success of the show in relation to current events, including the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; the resurgence of dance on Broadway, beginning with the 1991 show Crazy for you; the impact of Disney Company productions on Broadway and its audience; what she likes about the musical Chicago, written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, with choreography by Bob Fosse; the inspiration she finds in the work of choreographer Jerome Robbins, who was able to convey character and story via dance; the significance of the musical West Side story; the necessity of "breaking rules" as an artist, as she did in her show Contact; the groundbreaking aspects of the 1927 musical Show boat, and her choreography of its revival in 1994; the production of musicals by corporations; revivals on Broadway, and her choreography of the revivals of Oklahoma! and The music man; the ability of the musical to affect one deeply, and to leave a lasting impression.

Alternative Title

Broadway, the American musical
Broadway: the American musical

Subjects

Genre/Form

Documentaries and factual works.
Musicals.
Unedited footage.

Note

This interview is one of a group of interviews with 90 individuals used in making the documentary Broadway, the American musical. The completed production is available on NCOX 2058.
Credits for completed production from pbs.org: A film by Michael Kantor ; produced by Jeff Dupre, Michael Kantor and Sally Rosenthal ; written by Marc Fields, Michael Kantor, Laurence Maslon, and JoAnne Young ; directed by Michael Kantor.
Time code on frame.
Contains various takes, at occasional brief intervals, audio continues without sound.

Credits (note)

Cameraman: Buddy Squires.

Performer (note)

Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Susan Stroman.

Event (note)

Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on September 30, 2003.

Biography (note)

Broadway, the American musical, which aired on PBS in October 2004, is a documentary chronicling the entire history of a unique American art form, the Broadway musical. Each of its six episodes covers a different era in American theater history, and features the Broadway shows and songs which defined the period. The series draws on feature films, television broadcasts, archival news footage, original cast recordings, still photos, diaries, journals, first-person accounts, and on-camera interviews with many of the principals involved in the development of the genre.

Call Number

NCOX 2179

OCLC

156847192

Title

[Interview with Susan Stroman : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]

Imprint

New York, 2003.

Credits

Cameraman: Buddy Squires.

Performer

Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Susan Stroman.

Event

Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on September 30, 2003.

Biography

Broadway, the American musical, which aired on PBS in October 2004, is a documentary chronicling the entire history of a unique American art form, the Broadway musical. Each of its six episodes covers a different era in American theater history, and features the Broadway shows and songs which defined the period. The series draws on feature films, television broadcasts, archival news footage, original cast recordings, still photos, diaries, journals, first-person accounts, and on-camera interviews with many of the principals involved in the development of the genre.

Local Note

Gift of Broadway Film Project, Inc. and Thirteen/WNET, 2005.

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Request Access to Theatre on Film and Tape Archive Special Collections material

Added Author

Stroman, Susan, interviewee.

Kantor, Michael, 1961- interviewer.

Kantor, Michael, 1961- director.

Squires, Buddy, cameraman.

Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor.

Thirteen/WNET, donor.

Research Call Number

NCOX 2179

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