Film Review: On Broadway

                    On Broadway

Theater’s a tough business. For starters, you need the right play, the right cast and the right director. Then you’ve got costumes, sets, technology and a myriad other things to worry about.

And if you’re talking about hitting New York’s Broadway theaters – thought by many to be the best in the world – with a new play, the odds are already stacked against you: there’s a 75% chance that it’ll be a flop. 

But no one ever suspected that Broadway would be shut down in toto by something you can’t even see without a microscope – that disease called COVID-19, that started in China and quickly invaded every country in the world, forcing the closing of open markets, then closed ones, then restaurants, sporting events, bars – and theaters.

But Broadway has surmounted other problems before COVID, and even those theaters that have been in lockdown for the past extremely difficult 18 months are poised to reopen. 

Director Oren Jacoby’s film “On Broadway” offers a fascinating 82-minute documentary on how an old broken-down spot in New York City became the theatrical glamour capital of the world in the first place. Along the way you’ll hear comments from theater legends like Helen Mirren, Sir Ian McKellen, Christine Baranski, Alec Baldwin and Viola Davis. 

New York theater descended from a golden age in the 1940s and 1950s to all-time low attendance and near-bankruptcy in the 1960s, when Times Square became a “rathole” of brothels and strip clubs, with 5-6 reported crimes a day.

You’ll get to watch as three powerhouse theater owners (Shubert, Nederlander and Jujamcyn take a chance, invest in new musicals in the 1970s, and witness the rise of Stephen Sondheim, Bob Fosse and Michael Bennett (complete with excerpts from “Pippin,” “Chicago” and “A Chorus Line”).

Then in the 1980s, with the city’s 42nd Street Development plan, a new age of spectacle as theater is initiated, with shows like “Les Misérables,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “Miss Saigon.”

But “On Broadway” is not just painless history; it’s a great reminder of what (and who) it takes to make great theater.

The 1990s saw plays with sociopolitical messages, like August Wilson’s eight-play cycle about African American families. 

Then came the AIDS crisis, which brought “Angels in America” to Broadway. Disney rented a restored theater and brought “The Lion King,” which brought families into the theater district.

Jukebox musicals like “Mamma Mia” and “Jersey Boys” did well, but not as well as the juggernaut of them all – Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” which changed theater again. And each decade covered comes with excerpts.

If you’re jonesing for a loving look back at Broadway history (in preparation for those new plays about to open), take a look at “On Broadway.”

“On Broadway” opens Aug. 3 at Landmark’s Hillcrest Theatre.