![\"Fanny](\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/broadway\/files\/2012\/09\/broadway-fannybrice.jpg\")
<\/a>Fanny Brice. (Credit: Courtesy of Bettman\/Corbis)<\/p><\/div>Episode One:Give My Regards to Broadway (1893-1927)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n When Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. arrives New York in 1893, the intersection of Broadway and 42nd is nobody\u2019s idea of \u201cthe crossroads of the world.\u201d\u00a0 But by 1913, \u201cThe Ziegfeld Follies<\/em> really were an amalgamation of everything that was happening in America, in New York, at that time,\u201d says writer Philip Furia.\u00a0 \u201cFlo Ziegfeld was like the Broadway equivalent of the melting pot itself.\u201d\u00a0 Ziegfeld\u2019s story introduces many of the era\u2019s key figures:\u00a0 Irving Berlin, a Russian immigrant who becomes the voice of assimilated America; entertainers, like Jewish comedienne Fanny Brice and African American Bert Williams, who become America\u2019s first \u201ccrossover\u201d artists; and the brash Irish-American George M. Cohan, whose song-and-dance routines embody the energy of Broadway.\u00a0 This is also the story of the onset of a world war, and the Red Summer of 1919, when labor unrest sweeps the nation \u2013 and Broadway.\u00a0 Episode One culminates in Ziegfeld\u2019s 1927 production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II\u2019s far-sighted masterpiece, Show Boat<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cThe history of the American musical theater is divided quite simply into two eras: everything before Show Boat<\/em>, and everything after Show Boat<\/em>,\u201d says writer Miles Kreuger.<\/p>\n The episode features interviews with Irving Berlin\u2019s daughter Mary Ellen Barrett, Ziegfeld Follies <\/em>girls Doris Eaton and Dana O\u2019Connell, New Yorker<\/em> critic Brendan Gill, theater artist Al Hirschfeld, composer\/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and Ziegfeld daughter Patricia Z. Stephenson.\u00a0 Highlights include newly-restored color footage of The Ziegfeld Follies<\/em> and footage of Fanny Brice singing \u201cMy Man.\u201d<\/p>\n Jimmy Durante and Ethel Merman in Red Hot and Blue. (Credit: Courtesy of Photofest)<\/p><\/div>Episode Two:<\/strong> Syncopated City (1919-1933)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Gossip columnist Walter Winchell gives Broadway a nickname that becomes synonymous with all of New York:\u00a0 \u201cIt is the Big Apple, the goal of all ambitions, the pot of gold at the end of a drab and somewhat colorless rainbow\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 With the advent of Prohibition and the Jazz Age, America convulses with energy and change, and nowhere is the riotous mix of classes and cultures more dramatically on display than Broadway.\u00a0 \u201cThere was this period in which everybody was leaping across borders and boundaries,\u201d says director\/producer George C. Wolfe. \u201cThere was this incredible cross-fertilization, cultural appropriation.\u201d\u00a0 While brash American women flapped their way to newfound freedoms, heroines of Broadway like Marilyn Miller become a testament to pluck and luck.\u00a0 It\u2019s the age of \u201cWhoopee\u201d and the \u201cCharleston,\u201d Runnin\u2019 Wild<\/em> and the George White Scandals<\/em>.\u00a0 In 1921, a jazz show like no other arrives:\u00a0 Shuffle Along<\/em>, which features a rich, rousing score by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, reopening Broadway\u2019s doors to black talent.\u00a0 Unique talents like the Marx Brothers and Al Jolson \u00ad\u2013 a Jewish immigrant and Prohibition\u2019s biggest star \u2013 rocket to stardom.\u00a0 The Gershwin brothers, the minstrels of the Jazz Age, bring a \u201cFascinating Rhythm\u201d to an entire nation.\u00a0 Innovative songwriting teams like Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart ignite a new age of bright, clever lyrics with the massive hit \u201cManhattan.\u201d\u00a0 But as the Roaring Twenties come to a close, Broadway\u2019s Jazz Age suffers the one-two punch of the \u201ctalking picture\u201d and the stock market crash, triggering a massive talent exodus to Hollywood and putting an end to Broadway\u2019s feverish expansion.<\/p>\n The episode features interviews with actor Carol Channing, Gershwin sister Frances Gershwin Godowsky, Al Jolson & Co<\/em>. creator Stephen Mo Hanan, critic Margo Jefferson, writer Miles Krueger, New Yorker<\/em> theater critic John Lahr, radio host\/music critic Jonathan Schwartz, theater historians Max Wilk and Robert Kimball, and director\/producer George C.Wolfe.\u00a0 Highlights include rare performance footage of composer Eubie Blake and a specially animated sequence of Rodgers and Hart\u2019s 1927 hit \u201cThou Swell\u201d from A Connecticut Yankee<\/em>.<\/p>\n Ethel Merman in a scene from Anything Goes, 1934. (Credit: Courtesy of Photofest)<\/p><\/div>Episode Three:<\/strong> I Got Plenty O\u2019 Nuttin\u2019 (1930-1942)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Great Depression proves to be a dynamic period of creative growth on Broadway, and a dichotomy in the musical theater emerges.\u00a0 Productions like Cole Porter\u2019s Anything Goes<\/em> offer glamour and high times as an escape, while others \u00ad\u2013 such as Of Thee I Sing<\/em>, which satirizes the American political system, and the remarkable WPA production of The Cradle Will Rock<\/em>, about a steel strike \u00ad\u2013 deal directly with the era\u2019s social and political concerns.\u00a0 When Bing Crosby records \u201cBrother, Can You Spare a Dime,\u201d the doleful Broadway ballad takes the hit parade by surprise.\u00a0 \u201cThis song spoke to the hearts, and to the minds, and to the emotions and thoughts, of everybody who lived during that Depression,\u201d says lyricist Yip Harburg\u2019s son, Ernie.\u00a0 Rodgers and Hart return to New York to create a string of new shows, including the sexually frank Pal Joey<\/em>, a genuine departure that stars newcomer Gene Kelly.\u00a0 In the gloom of the Depression, Porter offers Broadway audiences such unforgettable songs as \u201cYou\u2019re the Top,\u201d which serves as an effervescent tonic to a weary nation.\u00a0 In 1935, George Gershwin creates his epic masterpiece, Porgy and Bess<\/em>, which becomes, in the words of one critic, \u201cthe most American opera that has yet been seen or heard.\u201d\u00a0 The onset of World War II galvanizes the country and America\u2019s troubadour, Irving Berlin, rallies the troops with This Is the Army<\/em>.<\/p>\n The episode features interviews with actor and original \u201cBess\u201d Anne Brown, playwright Jerome Chodorov, actor Carol Channing, film director Stanley Donen, actor and original \u201cPorgy\u201d Todd Duncan, writer Philip Furia, actor Kitty Carlisle Hart, actor June Havoc, actor\/producer John Houseman, actor\/director Tim Robbins, and composer\/lyricist Stephen Sondheim.\u00a0 Highlights include rarely seen home movies of the Gershwin brothers from the 1930s, and 1950s TV footage of the incomparable Ethel Waters singing Irving Berlin\u2019s \u201cSuppertime.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Platt and Katharine Sergava in a scene from Oklahoma, 1943. (Credit: Courtesy of Gjon Mili\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>Episode Four:<\/strong> Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin\u2019 (1943-1960)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The new partnership of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II changes the face of Broadway forever, beginning with the record-breaking Oklahoma!<\/em> in 1943, featuring a landmark ballet by Agnes De Mille.\u00a0 Carousel<\/em> and South Pacific<\/em> then set the standard for decades to come by pioneering a musical where story is all-important.\u00a0 For challenging the country to confront its deep-seated racial bigotry, South Pacific<\/em> wins the Pulitzer Prize.\u00a0 In On the Town<\/em>, an exuberant team of novices \u00ad\u2013 Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, and Jerome Robbins \u00ad\u2013 capture the energy, humor and pathos of New York City during World War II.\u00a0 Irving Berlin triumphs again with Annie Get Your Gun<\/em>, featuring Ethel Merman and the unofficial anthem of the American musical theater, \u201cThere\u2019s No Business Like Show Business.\u201d\u00a0 In shows like Guys and Dolls<\/em>, My Fair Lady<\/em> and Kiss Me, Kate<\/em>, sophisticated adaptations of literary material prevail.\u00a0 \u201cCole Porter led the way in writing adult songs about love and sex,\u201d says theater historian Robert Kimball. \u00a0\u201cHe defied the censors.\u00a0 He, probably more than any other songwriter in this century, made it possible for the openness that we have in all popular music.\u201d\u00a0 In 1956, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe triumph with My Fair Lady<\/em>, featuring a 20-year-old Julie Andrews.\u00a0 TV\u2019s The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em> becomes the most important showcase for Broadway musicals.\u00a0 Yet with the death of Oscar Hammerstein II soon after the premiere of The Sound of Music<\/em> in 1959, the curtain begins to lower on a golden age.<\/p>\n The episode features interviews with actor Julie Andrews, writer\/lyricist Betty Comden, choreographer Agnes De Mille, writer\/lyricist\u00a0 Adolph Green, Oscar Hammerstein\u2019s grandson Andy Hammerstein, choreographer Michael Kidd, author James Michener, theater historian Steve Nelson, musician John Raitt, choreographer Jerome Robbins, composer Mary Rodgers Guettel, and conductor Michael Tilson-Thomas.\u00a0 Highlights include never-before-broadcast footage of Jerome Robbins\u2019 choreography for On the Town<\/em>, 1960 TV footage of Rex Harrison re-enacting \u201cI\u2019m an Ordinary Man\u201d from My Fair Lady<\/em>, and the first American broadcast of 1950 footage of the original Guys and Dolls<\/em> cast performing in London.<\/p>\n Scene from the musical Hair, 1968. (Credit: Courtesy of Martha Swope)<\/p><\/div>Episode Five:<\/strong> Tradition (1957-1979)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n West Side Story<\/em> not only brings untraditional subject matter to the musical stage, it ushers in a new breed of director\/choreographer who insists on performers who can dance, sing and act.\u00a0 But by the time Jerome Robbins\u2019 last original musical, Fiddler on the Roof<\/em>, closes after a record run of 3,242 performances in 1972, the world of Broadway has changed forever.\u00a0 Rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, civil rights and Vietnam usher in new talents, many trained by the retiring masters, taking musical theater in daring new directions with innovative productions like Hair<\/em>, the first Broadway musical with an entire score of rock music.\u00a0 The non-linear narrative of George Furth and Stephen Sondheim\u2019s Company <\/em>plunges the musical into a new era.\u00a0 Hal Prince\u2019s conceptual staging showcases John Kander and Fred Ebb\u2019s dynamic score for Cabaret<\/em>.\u00a0 Bob Fosse captures a sexuality and cynicism ahead of its time with Chicago<\/em>, but it is director\/choreographer Michael Bennett who spearheads the biggest blockbuster of all \u2013 A Chorus Line<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cIt totally changed the musical theater,\u201d says Shubert Organization chairman Gerald Schoenfeld.\u00a0 \u201cIt was a catalyst for the improvement of this area, and of course this area is now the most desirable area in New York.\u201d\u00a0 With Sondheim\u2019s Sweeney Todd<\/em>, the Broadway musical reaches unexpected new heights in style and material with a tale of slaughter and cannibalism set in 19th<\/sup>-century London.\u00a0 By the end of the 1970s, Broadway becomes the centerpiece of a remarkably successful public relations campaign that will lure tourists to New York for years to come.<\/p>\n The episode features interviews with actor Joel Grey, composer Marvin Hamlisch, actor Jerry Orbach, producer Hal Prince, writer Frank Rich, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, director Julie Taymor, and actor Ben Vereen.\u00a0 Highlights include rare footage of Ethel Merman rehearsing for Gypsy<\/em> and home movies from the original stage production of Chicago<\/em>.<\/p>\n Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in The Phantom of the Opera, 1988. (Credit: Courtesy of Photofest)<\/p><\/div>Episode Six:<\/strong> Putting It Together (1980-Present)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Legendary as the \u201cAbominable Showman,\u201d notorious producer David Merrick re-conquers Broadway in 1980 with a smash adaptation of the movie musical 42nd<\/sup> Street<\/em>.\u00a0 But soon the biggest hits are arriving from an unexpected source \u2013 London.\u00a0 Producer Cameron Mackintosh redefines the business of show business as Cats<\/em>, Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>, The Phantom of the Opera<\/em>, and Miss Saigon <\/em>become international blockbusters.\u00a0 James Lapine lures Stephen Sondheim off-Broadway to develop Sunday in the Park With George<\/em>, while Jerry Herman\u2019s crowd-pleasing La Cage aux Folles <\/em>has two men sing a love song to each other for the first time on Broadway.\u00a0 The AIDS crisis decimates Broadway.\u00a0 With Julie Taymor\u2019s triumphant re-imagining of The Lion King<\/em>, Disney leads an astonishing resurrection of 42nd<\/sup> Street.\u00a0 Composer Jonathan Larson scores a bittersweet victory with the rock-flavored Rent<\/em>, and the old-style musical is reborn in Mel Brooks\u2019 The Producers<\/em>, which becomes the first must-see musical comedy in decades, fetching a ticket price of $480 for each VIP seat.\u00a0 After 9\/11, Broadway \u2013 like the rest of America \u2013 emerges from the darkness.\u00a0 Broadway\u2019s corporate dominance continues to grow, as evidenced by new shows such as Wicked<\/em>, the biggest hit of the 2003-04 season. \u00a0\u201cOh, I\u2019ve been hearing about Broadway disappearing ever since I put on long pants,\u201d says the illustrator Al Hirschfeld.\u00a0 \u201cI mean, it\u2019s been the fabulous invalid.\u00a0 You know, but it survives, it survives.\u201d<\/p>\n The episode features interviews with writer\/producer Mel Brooks, actor Kristin Chenoweth, Walt Disney Corporation CEO Michael Eisner, actor\/bookwriter Harvey Fierstein, composer\/lyricist Jerry Herman, actor Nathan Lane, playwright\/director James Lapine, producer Rocco Landesman, director Arthur Laurents, actor Idina Menzel, Nederlander Theaters chairman James Nederlander Sr., director Susan Stroman, and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.\u00a0 Highlights include home movies of Jonathan Larson working as a waiter before leaving his job to create Rent<\/em>, and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of Wicked <\/em>in rehearsal and opening on Broadway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Episode One:Give My Regards to Broadway (1893-1927) When Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. arrives New York in 1893, the intersection of Broadway and 42nd is nobody\u2019s idea of \u201cthe crossroads of the world.\u201d\u00a0 But by 1913, \u201cThe Ziegfeld Follies really were an … Continue reading