Documentary filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus (The War Room) took their cameras to Broadway in 1995/96 to go behind the scenes of the comedy Moon Over Buffalo, featuring Carol Burnett and Philip Bosco in the leading roles, which eventually opened in New York and ran 361 performances. As this first-rate documentary makes clear, however, the successful outcome was hardly a sure thing: from the first read-through to opening night on Broadway, the filmmakers chart the turbulent course of rehearsals, rewrites, dress rehearsals, rewrites, conflict, rewrites, malfunctioning winches, and more rewrites. Playwright Ken Ludwig, director Tom Moore, producers Rocco Landesman and Elizabeth Williams, and the cast members are all prominent players in this petit melodrama that truly captures the play within the play. The filmmakers show us the tortuous route a script must travel from the author's computer to the Broadway stage, as well as the peculiar pitfalls that attend a collaborative art form like theatre. Anyone who harbors the notion that life in the theatre is a walk in the park will come away from this viewing experience much the wiser. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Van Vleck)
Moon Over Broadway
(1998) 98 min. VHS: $24.95, DVD: $29.95. New Video. Color cover. Vol. 15, Issue 5
Moon Over Broadway
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