Brian Hieggelke

In "Show Business: The Road to Broadway" (out this week on DVD), filmmaker Dori Bernstein set out to track the fortunes of four Broadway musicals from development through their opening nights in the fall of 2003 and on to the Tony Awards the next spring—if they survived that long. The story has a particularly enduring resonance, since one of the subjects, "Wicked," has gone on to become the most successful new musicals of the decade. Even then, before its debut, it was a heavy favorite, with the most money behind it, a proven creative force in composer Steven Schwartz, who’d done the hits "Godspell" and "Pippin" and, well, of course the lore of the "Wizard of Oz" itself. "Taboo" seemed like a decent bet as well, a critical success in London—the story of the life of eighties pop star Boy George, featuring Boy George himself, had become the infatuation of Rosie O’Donnell, who put up $10 million to produce the show on Broadway. "Caroline, Or Change," with its unusually serious musical fare and a renowned creator in Tony Kushner, was the critical underdog that was clearly doomed from the start, unless it pulled out a miracle at the Tony Awards. And then there was "Avenue Q," the scrappy, bizarre adult puppet musical, created by a couple of guys, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who described themselves as just a couple of years away from being "an intern and a temp." There’s a lot of ground to cover here, and the filmmaker manages to keep the story moving while mixing in enough behind-the-scenes revelations and choice interviews to convey the emotional drama that a new Broadway musical embodies. When "Taboo" closes first, allegedly a victim of the tabloidization of the show due to the presence of O’Donnell, we see the pain this causes to its passionate fans, as well as to the lead actor himself. We see the poignant comeback story of Tonya Pinkins, the lead in "Caroline, Or Change," who’d given up her children and become virtually homeless after an earlier success on Broadway. And we get to fall in love with the goofy newcomers Lopez and Marx, who straddle the line between Broadway players and Broadway fans in a most charming way. Through it all, a roundtable of critics provides a sort of smug version of a Greek chorus. It all culminates with the Tony Awards, and some of the most emotional footage comes when the filmmakers shoot several creators, at home with family, when the nominations are announced live on television. We all know how it turns out—the goofy little musical "Avenue Q" upset the mighty "Wicked" at the awards. Of course, "Wicked" was the one musical that did not need the awards, already grossing a million dollars a week from its inception, and turning into one of the most successful theatrical franchises in history since.

(2007-10-19)

Also by Brian Hieggelke

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