Research Catalog

Title

[Interview with Steve Nelson : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]

Publication

New York, 2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Nelson, Stephen, 1952-
• Kantor, Michael, 1961-
• Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor.
• Thirteen/WNET, donor.

Description

2 videocassettes (VHS) (62 min.) : sd., col. SP; 1/2 in.

Summary

• Raw interview footage used for the documentary Broadway, the American musical. Author and historian Stephen Nelson discusses the Jazz Age culture of the 1920s, which infused America, as well as Broadway, with a new excitement, energy and music; the cultural explosion in New York and its theater world, which gave rise to artists such as Louis Armstrong, and to popular dance, all of which had an impact on the theater; the effect of jazz on the way people moved, danced and socialized, and on the stage musical; Al Jolson, a "larger than life" performer who Nelson feels embodied the future of Broadway; the public's taste for all-American feminine innocence as embodied in such performers as Marilyn Miller, a taste producer Florenz Ziegfeld capitalized on in his series of revues known as the Follies; dance as the driving force in the theater of the 1920s, as featured in the series of revues called the Scandals, staged by producer George White, in which performers like Ann Pennington transmitted the popular syncopated dances of the period such as the Black Bottom and the Charleston; the preeminence of Ziegfeld's Follies, which emphasized beautiful imagery; the competition between the producers Ziegfeld, White and Earl Carroll, who worked under the constant threat of their material being appropriated by each other, and the defection of their stars to rival camps; composer George Gershwin's role in bringing the new jazz sounds of the 1920s into the theater; newspaper and radio commentator Walter Winchell, who communicated the culture and language of jazz, dance and the Broadway theater of the 1920s to the public; Ziegfeld's role in bringing together the various elements that made the Broadway musical what it is today; Ziegfeld's 1927 production of the hit musical Show boat, a departure from his previous work, which he initially feared would be a flop; the role of choreographer Busby Berkeley in translating the Broadway musical to the movies; Rodgers & Hammerstein, who changed the musical by deepening its narrative and emotional content; the ability of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin to accommodate their songwriting to the Rodgers & Hammerstein era; lyricist Dorothy Field's idea for the musical Annie get your gun, based on the story of Annie Oakley, and Irving Berlin's writing of its music, including the song There's no business like show business; the sources of inspiration for the musical Guys and dolls in Rodgers & Hammerstein's show South Pacific.
• Interview resumes on videocassette two with producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin, who had the idea for the musical Guys and dolls, based on the short stories of Damon Runyon. Feuer and Martin hired book writers Jo Swerling, and then Abe Burrows, who was assisted by George S. Kaufman, songwriter Frank Loesser, and choreographer Michael Kidd. The collaboration was a success, Nelson feels, because all the creators came from a similar background in Brooklyn, and they shared an indentification with Runyon's characters, their speech and their culture. Nelson goes on to discuss Loesser's development and success as a songwriter, who was mentored by Irving Berlin, and who triumphed in his writing of the music and lyrics for Guys and dolls; songwriters Buddy DeSilva, Lew Brown & Ray Henderson, who composed sophisticated, engaging songs that captured the mood and energy of the 1920s; the youth oriented, fun-loving atmosphere of the era, which songwriters like Gershwin and DeSilva, Brown & Henderson expressed in their music; composer Stephen Sondheim's place in the American musical canon, and his role in reconnecting the musical with its intellectual and romantic roots in the work of Rodgers & Hammerstein; the musical as a distinctly American art form that serves as a platform for the expression of the American dream; the musical's dual role as a business and an art form; his view that the songs of the musical express Americans' own mythology; the myth of Broadway as a place that makes dreams reality; and lastly, what Broadway signifies to him.

Alternative Title

• Broadway, the American musical
• Broadway: the American musical : Steve Nelson

Subject

• Nelson, Stephen, 1952- > Interviews
• Kern, Jerome, 1885-1945
• Loesser, Frank, 1910-1969
• Theater > New York (State) > New York
• Musical theater > New York (State) > New York
• Musical theater > Production and direction
• Theatrical producers and directors
• Composers
• Lyricists
• Dancers
• Jazz in art
• Broadway (New York, N.Y.)

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.

Performer (note)

• Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Steve Nelson.

Event (note)

• Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on April 18, 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 2196

OCLC

162542068

Title

[Interview with Steve Nelson : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]

Imprint

New York, 2003.

Performer

Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Steve Nelson.

Event

Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on April 18, 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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Added Author

Nelson, Stephen, 1952- interviewee.

Kantor, Michael, 1961- interviewer.

Kantor, Michael, 1961- director.

Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor.

Thirteen/WNET, donor.

Research Call Number

NCOX 2196