Alan Cumming of ShowBusiness_________
The only thing clunky about ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway is its title. The deliberate mash-up between the words 'show' and 'business' to emphasize the direct correlation of the two is nothing if not forced. We all know how much 'business' dictates 'show,' thanks to an inexhaustible entertainment media reporting figures on inflated budgets, grosses, salaries, etc. We also know the long-shot odds in launching a Broadway musical. So, yes, though director Dori Berinstein's documentary could have used a more original title, nothing else in her thrilling look at the mounting of four Broadway musicals during the 2003-2004 season suffers for it. As an avowed show-tune queen, I felt I was being fed mother's milk as I watched this fabulously entertaining film. You will, too.
Berinstein, a Tony award-winning Broadway producer, was inspired by writer William Goldman's legendary book The Season—which documents the 1967-68 Broadway season—to try and do the same on film. Though the geographical area of Broadway is just 12 blocks in Manhattan ( which we see lit up at night in a breathtaking opening shot ) , the difficulty of the task Berinstein set for herself ( in her debut as a feature director ) must have been daunting. How do you sum up a world that rises or fails on so many creative intangibles?
Goldman had the poetry of words and a reader's imagination on his side; Berinstein has about 90 minutes and the harsh immediacy of film to do the same. But luckily for Berinstein ( and us ) , the season she documents included a batch of new musicals—Wicked; Avenue Q; Caroline, or Change; and Taboo—that do just that. We do see glimpses of several of that season's plays but, in the Disneyfied Broadway world of today, musicals account for the majority of shows on the Great White Way, with the Tony being the equivalent of the Best Picture Oscar.
Berinstein captures everything about these four very different shows that run the budgetary and artistic gamuts as the people connected with the shows prepare for their productions' respective opening nights. Never before has anyone seemed to have this kind of access to so many shows at once. Moreover, these were also musicals that vividly demonstrated the power of marketing and gossip on their eventual outcome, and the movie has its share of juicy moments that are hard to resist. The movie also offers a feast of behind-the-scenes details—such as Idina Menzel, as Elphaba the wicked witch in Wicked, being painted green for the first time ( and overhear her counterpart Kristen Chenoweth as Glinda quip, 'I think I want to be green' ) ; Boy George in make-up for his role as performance artist Leigh Bowery and Rosie O'Donnell, the sole producer of Taboo, arriving for the press conference and denying rumors of trouble with the show; Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori sitting at a piano trying to solve a problem with a song in Caroline, or Change—and much, much more.
Interviews with cast members as well as the creative and marketing teams behind the shows are shown throughout the film. Berinstein has also added a series of catty vignettes of lunchtime gatherings of powerful New York critics predicting the outcomes of the shows we're getting glimpses of. In addition, Broadway veteran watchers ( including Goldman ) weigh in with their thoughts, with out performer Alan Cumming doing most of the opining. ( One quibble: Berinstein gives too much camera time to the annoying New York Post theater critic and his comments at the Tony Awards finally push him into the 'enough already' column. )
This being a document of Broadway musicals, naturally, the input of gay men and women in the process is enormous and Our People are everywhere throughout the movie. It's very gratifying to see that tacit recognition.
This and Berinstein's unfettered access adds to the giddy feeling of being the ultimate Broadway insider. Showbusiness: The Road to Broadway is a deeply entertaining movie that deserves a standing ovation. Opens this Friday at the Music Box Theatre; www.musicboxtheatre.com ( Also, see the interview on page 22. )
'Is it better than Ocean's Twelve?' a friend asked the other day after learning I'd just seen a screening of Ocean's Thirteen. I had to think. 'Twelve was the one where Andy Garcia, the casino owner who got taken in Eleven, got his revenge, right?' My friend couldn't remember. I couldn't remember either, though we both eventually decided that was the case and that it took place in Italy. Maybe. 'So, yeah, this one is better because they're back in Vegas where they belong' and, indeed, that's where George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, et al. really DO belong and where these impossibly confident, gorgeously tailored, impossibly handsome men resonate and ring-a-ding-ding-ding, baby.
I'm not sure how long that will hold true. By the time Ocean's Fourteen is release, I will probably have forgotten all the intricacies of the plot of this movie, which hinges on the group taking revenge in the name of Elliott Gould, who has been foolishly taken in by nefarious casino owner Al Pacino. Much of my memory of this film frittered away during the movie, but that doesn't impede this from being light, easy-going entertainment: perfect summer fare, perfect date fare and perfect favorite-waste-of-time fare. Director Steven Soderbergh and his modern day Rat Pack cast have again perfectly played off their Mr. Cool public personae, and there's a bounce in all their steps as they zip through the lavish, gigantic, tech-stuffed sets, chatting on their Bluetooths. The soundtrack includes the usual assortment of space-age bachelor-pad instrumentals that add to the playful mood; fittingly, a Sinatra tune is heard at the movie's climax.
Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com People can leave feedback at the latter Web site, where there is also find ordering information on my new book of collected film reviews, Knight at the Movies 2004-2006.