Movie Review: 'Show Business'

ShowBusiness presents an insider's look at four musicals, all of which opened on the Great White Way during the 2003-2004 theatre season; and follows shows from their early gestation process through their opening nights, to the awarding of the industry's ultimate Holy Grail: the Tony Award for Best Musical.

The shows covered are a story about puppets and humans all searching for their place in the world; Wicked, a sort of prequel to the Wizard of Oz, telling the "true" story of The Wicked Witch of the West; Caroline or Change, about an African-American maid working for a Jewish family in 1963 Louisiana; and Taboo, about the London club scene in the 1980s, featuring the music of Boy George.

The Marquee for the Tony Awards goes up on Radio City Music Hall in ShowBusiness (Regent Releases)

Ideally, the documentary should allow theater aficionados to revel in various minute details, while also helping to bring an understanding of the Broadway experience to an audience not all that familiar with the legitimate stage world. Unfortunately, ShowBusiness doesn't go deep enough to please a theater purist, and it's too disjointed to attract the interest of someone not all that familiar with this form of entertainment.

We hear from an actor talking about creating a role, or see a composer working on a score, (as well getting comments from other members of the various creative teams), but the narrative keeps jumping from one show to the next, never revealing enough information about any of them to make it interesting.

The songs used from the four productions are nice to hear, but taken out of context as they are, they're almost devoid of any emotional impact. A notable exception to this is a number from Caroline or Change sung by Tonya Pinkins.

Another misstep was the use of a "round table" of sorts, with a group of theater reviewers and columnists sitting around talking about the state of the theater season. But while their words may be good on the printed page, (New York Post's columnist Michael Riedel's coverage of the goings-on at Taboo made for fascinating reading), on the screen their scenes looked like so many talking heads.

The Gypsy Robe competition in ShowBusiness (Regent Releasing)

Despite the missteps, there are still many pieces of theatrical tidbits to pique one's interest. Such as the gypsy robe—a theatrical tradition honoring cast members who work in the chorus of Broadway musicals; and the story of how actress/talk show host Rosie O'Donnell saw Taboo in London and was determined to bring it to Broadway.

Each of these subjects could merit a documentary by itself. Indeed, it might have been better if the producers had expanded ShowBusiness into perhaps a four-part series, with each of the productions covered getting its own segment.