* BROADWAY BACK on PBS This Week & Next!

* From BROADWAY to HONG KONG with RICK McKAY & CRYSTAL CRUISES!

* SPRING BREAK with BROADWAY in FORT LAUDERDALE!

* LAMB’S CLUB SALUTES RICK McKAY’S BROADWAY!

2/28 - 3/19: BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE is back on PBS
 
by Popular Demand This Week and Next!
 
With On-Air Special Guests ELIZABETH ASHLEY, BARBARA COOK, ANNE JACKSON, RICK MCKAY , JANE POWELL & ELI WALLACH.
 
 
 http://www.broadwaythemovie.com/pbs.htm
 

 3/11 - 29: Join Rick McKay on a Slow Boat to China!
 
On March 11th, Celebrity Guest Lecturer Rick McKay sails with Crystal Cruises from Los Angeles to Hawaii, arriving in Hong Kong on March 29th. Join Rick for stories of creating “Broadway: The Golden Age,” Adventures of working with Divas and Distributors, and Screenings and Q&A’s.
 
 
 http://crystalcruises.com/cruise_information.aspx?CID=7207

 4/10: Time for SPRING BREAK & BROADWAY in FORT LAUDERDALE!
 
On April 10th, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and the WLRN Film and Literary Club presents Rick McKay and “Broadway: The Golden Age” – for an Evening Screening with Q&A and never-before-seen new clips! And watch for new pledge drive breaks that Rick will film at WLR!
 
 
 More info soon at: http://www.fliff.com/schedule.asp

 
 5/14: America’s Oldest Acting Group Salutes Rick McKay’s Broadway!
 
On May 14th in New York City The Lamb’s Club, founded in the 1800’s, celebrates Rick McKay’s “Broadway: The Golden Age” and shows, for the first time in New York City, out-takes from the first film and sneak peeks at clips from the sequel-in-progress!
 

 More info soon at: http://www.broadwaythemovie.com/news.htm
 

 CLICK HERE to Support Rick McKay's BROADWAY TRILOGY!
 

"GOLDEN AGE" BACK ON PUBLIC TELEVISION!

NETC HONORS McKAY & OTHERS!

SPECIAL BWAY GIFTS!

ESCAPE THE WEATHER AND SAIL AWAY WITH RICK!

(Scroll Down for Complete Stories, Details and Links)

"Broadway: The Golden Age" Back on Public Television by Popular Demand!

Tune in or set your DVR, VCR or TIVO tonight at 11:30 PM in NYC <http://www.thirteen.org/watch/program_info.php?program_id=22510&episode_num=0> on WNET13 <http://www.thirteen.org/watch/program_info.php?program_id=22510&episode_num=0> and midnight in Washington for BGA with extra interviews from the studio with Elizabeth Ashley, Barbara Cook, Anne Jackson, Rick McKay and Eli Wallach. Check Local Listings for more dates this week or call your local Public Television station and request air dates!

THEATRE FOLK HONORED!

Rick McKay <http://rickmckay.com/> , Stephen Schwartz <http://stephenschwartz.com/> (Composer: Wicked, Pippin, Godspell), Joanna Gleason <http://joannagleason.com/> (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Into the Woods, Nick and Nora), Gregory Jbara <http://gregoryjbara.com/> (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Chicago) and Jamie McGonnigal <http://www.jamiemcg.com/> were honored with Special Awards at the NETC <http://www.NETConline.org/> ceremony in New Haven, CT.

Support
BROADWAY: BEYOND THE GOLDEN AGE

Get Autographed DVD's, Posters, Film Credit & 100% TAX DEDUCTION! http://broadwaythemovie.com/donate.html <http://broadwaythemovie.com/donate.html>

“Liza with a Z” - Rick McKay and Midge Woolsey co-host the PBS national pledge drive premiere – and watch for Rick’s brand new interviews with the great Liza live in the studio throughout the evening!  In NYC on WNET13 Sunday night, August 6th at 10:30 PM. In San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose on WQED9 on Tuesday, 8/8 at 7:30 PM and Saturday,  8/12 at 10 PM; and in Los Angeles on Saturday 8/12 at 9 PM. For complete list of cities view list below and check local PBS listings for updates!

“Broadway: The Golden Age” reprise in selected cities on PBS by popular demand!  See Broadway nationally in following cities in August. Check back often for new dates - and call your local PBS to request showings or to let them know that you like what we are doing. Thank you, Rick McKay, Director/Producer

"Broadway: The Golden Age" will be widely rebroadcast throughout the coming year, including many new cities and replays for June 2006 Pledge Drive on PBS. For now, here are some new add-on dates for April/May added by popular demand. Check back often for new dates!

UPCOMING APPEARANCES AND SCREENINGS

• NYC – 9/28: RICK MCKAY tells stories of making “Broadway: The Golden Age”

  THE MOTH presents THE SHOW MUST GO ON: Stories about the Biz told by Filmmaker RICK MCKAY and Electronic Muisic Legend MOBY, among others. Hosted by ANDY BOROWITZ of CNN, NPR, The New Yorker and The New York Times.
  WHERE: The Players 16 Gramercy Park South, NYC, NY
  WHEN: Wednesday, September 28th, 2005
  At :7:00 Cocktails - 8:00 Stories begin on stage
  Tickets: available at SmartTix -- www.SmartTix.com or 212 868-4444
  MORE INFO: http://themoth.org/calendar/

• NYC – 9/29: RICK MCKAY Interviews Hollywood Legend JANE POWELL at The Museum of Television & Radio

  WHEN: Thursday, September 29th, 2005
  AT: 6:00 PM special screening of lost film “Ruggles of Red Gap,” followed at 7:30 by on stage interview with Ruggles star Jane Powell, moderated by filmmaker Rick McKay (Broadway: The Golden Age).
  WHERE: Museum of Television & Radio - 25 West 52 Street, New York, NY 10019 | 212.621.6800
  TICKETS: are included in the general admission price and available on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the event
  MORE INFO: http://mtr.org/

• NEW YORK – 11/05: “Broadway:The Golden Age” plays The Cinema at The Red House in Syracuse, NY every weekend in November.
  MORE INFO SOON: http://www.theredhouse.org/cinema/index.htm

• TAHITI to NEW ZEALAND & AUSTRALIA – 2/06: RICK MCKAY on Crystal World Cruise as Distinguished Guest Lecturer on the subjects of Broadway Theatre and Independent Film.
  
  MORE INFO:
  http://crystalcruises.com/cruise_information.aspx?CID=6305

• In TV GUIDE: “Gilmore Girls” Star LAUREN GRAHAM loves “Broadway: The Golden Age” DVD and talks of how she especially likes watching the alternate endings! Only available on the RCA/BMG DVD. CLICK HERE to buy from Amazon.com.
  
  
• NOW PLAYING ON CANADIAN TV! Check out dates for “Broadway: The Golden Age” on THE MOVIE NETWORK – For more info click here:
  
  
• August 4th, 2005 at 9:30 AM – SAN FRANCISCO: Rick McKay is NBC film critic Jan Wahl’s guest live on San Francisco’s KRON-TV’s morning show on Channel 4.
  
  
• August 4th, 2005 from 6:00 – 7:00 PM - SAN FRANCISCO: Rick McKay is special lecturer at the San Francisco Apple Store at One Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108. For more info: (415) 392-0202 or www.apple.com/retail/sanfrancisco/week/20050731.html
  
  
• August 5th, 2005 at 8:00 PM – NAPA, CA : – Rick McKay does Q&A with audience and DVD signing after special screening of “Broadway: The Golden Age” at the Copia Museum in Napa, CA. For directions, tickets and more info: www.copia.org/pages/films.asp
  
  
• August 9th, 2005 at 8:00 PM – NY and Tri-State area: Rick McKay LIVE guest on WLIW-TV’s Channel 21’s Pledge Event showing of “Broadway’s Lost Treasures III: The Best of the Tony Awards” www.wliw.org
  
  
• September 3rd to 17th: Join Rick McKay on CRYSTAL CRUISES for the annual Film Festival Cruise which follows the Path of the Vikings starting in London and going to Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and ending up in New York City. Rick will show “Broadway: The Golden Age” and tell inside stories of making the film. For more info on the cruise click here:
  
  
• TOMMY TUNE and Rick McKay on WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show. CLICK HERE to hear the whole interview:
  (Scroll down on page to “Rick McKay” and click “Listen”, then click on the downloaded file, which only takes a few seconds)
  
  
• LIVE Australian Radio Interview with Rick McKay with Paul Harris of Australia’s Film Buff’s Forecast.
  Direct link: allmedia.com.au/fbfwmp/rickmckay.asx
  NOTE: If this direct link does not work go to www.filmbuffs.net/interviews.html and scroll down right INTERNATIONAL column for link to Rick’s interview.
  
  
• AUSTRALIA: “Broadway: The Golden Age” is a hit in Australia where it is entering it’s 4th month in theatres. Check local OZ listings for your local theatre!
  
  
• February 15th to March 4th, 2006: Join Rick McKay on CRYSTAL CRUISES or the “World Voyage III: Adventure Down Under” sailing from Tahiti to Rarotonga to New Zealand to Australia and see a sneak peek at the sequels and hear Rick’s stories of making them. For more info on the cruise click here:
  

  NOW PLAYING – AUSTRALIA

• Now Playing at the State Cinema in Hobart: www.statecinema.com.au/
  And at Brisbane’s Balmoral Cinema at 168 Oxford Street:
  www.optus.net/movies/cinemas/225119
  
  
• August 4th, 2005 – PERTH, AUSTRALIA – Broadway: The Golden Age opens at the Astor Cinema – PH: 9370-1770 - www.lunapalace.com.au/Astor.htm

Also:
Gold Coast Arts Centre – June 2
Trak Cinema Adelaide – July 7

Recent Australian reviews:

www.abc.net.au/tasmania/stories/s1399762.htm

smh.com.au/news/Reviews/Broadway-The-Golden-Age/2005/04/06/1112489556146.html?oneclick=true

www.ssonet.com.au/display.asp?ArticleID=4201

www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s1329344.htm

www.theage.com.au/news/Reviews/Broadway-the-golden-age/2005/04/01/1111862548033.html

Broadway: The Golden Age

Reviewed by Alexa Moses
Sydney Morning Herald - April 7, 2005

BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE, BY THE LEGENDS WHO WERE THERE
Written, directed and edited by Rick McKay
Rated PG
Dendy Opera Quays, Dendy Newtown

A glittering Times Square in the 1940s and 1950s and early 1960s is packed with theatres advertising stage shows.

The names on the marquees include Marlon Brando, John Raitt, Elizabeth Ashley, the shows include Cat On a Hot Tin Roof and Damn Yankees.

A theatre ticket is cheaper than a movie ticket, so almost everyone goes to see the new shows. This is the world filmmaker Rick McKay re-creates in his documentary about the peak of the Broadway stage show.

Broadway: The Golden Age is a nostalgia piece put together with warmth and care. As a kid, McKay was obsessed with Broadway shows such as Silk Stockings and Hello, Dolly!. The question he asks in his documentary is: did a Broadway golden age actually exist and, if so, what happened to it?

Considering we're about to watch two hours of Broadway actors rehashing the good ol' days, McKay's questions seem - and mostly are - rhetorical devices to glue the interviews together.

But it doesn't much matter. McKay spent five years with a digital camera, recording interviews with more than 90 ageing stars, and because of his obvious affection for his topic, the idea of a Broadway golden age takes root.

The bulk of the documentary is given over to the stars talking about their passion for the Broadway stage, which doesn't sound engrossing but is, because they're so passionate. It's a film that comprises the kind of talking heads you're happy to hear talk. Heads include Bea Arthur, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, Carol Burnett, Ann Miller, Chita Rivera, Patricia Neal, Stephen Sondheim and Shirley MacLaine.

Burnett remembers arriving in New York with a cardboard suitcase and nowhere to go. She went to a posh hotel she couldn't afford and started to cry. Later, she and three other aspiring actresses pitched in to buy a good dress, which they wore in turn to auditions.

Others remember how much they paid to get into Broadway shows - 55 cents, or $1.10, or $3, until it got outrageous in 1968, says Orbach, and rose to $15. All of the stars remember "second acting", in which a poor, ticketless actor snuck into a theatre for the second act of a play. The lucky ones found an empty seat and went unnoticed by the ushers. McKay also retells the story of how MacLaine got her start in the 1954 musical The Pajama Game by filling in for the injured Carol Haney.

Watching tantalising moments of Ethel Merman in Gypsy, hearing the voice of Brando in the stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire, and seeing Ben Gazzara in the original version of Cat On a Hot Tin Roof sent shivers up my spine.

This documentary is for a particular audience, but nonetheless Broadway: The Golden Age will draw more people into that audience. And note that McKay has only scratched the surface - he has not even started on the significant musicians, directors and playwrights of the era.

Sydney Morning Herald - April 8, 2005

Brando, Merman, MacLaine ... Broadway started the careers of many great actors. Bryce Hallett looks at a doco celebrating its golden age.

BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE
Director Rick McKay
Stars Angela Lansbury, Bea Arthur, Carol Burnett, Alec Baldwin, Marlon Brando (archive footage)
Rated PG
Screening Now at Dendy Opera Quays

It's a question writer-filmmaker Rick McKay asks in his encyclopedic and entertaining Broadway: The Golden Age. The low-budget documentary is crammed with interviews - he even manages to pin down the elusive Stephen Sondheim - and archival footage of such legendary shows as Carousel, The Pajama Game, Guys and Dolls, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, West Side Story, Hello, Dolly! and Mame.

McKay is part sleuth, part historian, but mainly an obsessed theatre buff whose passionate quest to unearth an influential cross-section of American theatre in the 1940s, '50s and '60s was prompted by his realization that the Broadway of his boyhood dreams has largely vanished.

Today's scene, he observes, is colourful and buoyant, but more inclined to rock musicals and British imports, a trend mirrored in Australia with its slim revivals and pop catalogue shows. Rarely is it about star-making shows or original dramas that have the capacity to influence audiences and exert change. Mel Brooks's musical comedy The Producers is a notable exception.

"We didn't call it the 'golden age', of course, but now that I look back I do believe it was," says Angela Lansbury, who starred in the musical Mame in 1966.

Carol Burnett describes the era as "a dream come true". Jerry Orbach, the late Law and Order actor who was a Broadway star, says it was hard to believe that South Pacific, Mr Roberts, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Death of a Salesman were playing at the same time a few blocks apart.

McKay's film darts here, there and everywhere and concludes that there was a time in the '40s and '50s when Broadway influenced the world, when great talents emerged in the theatre and "everyone could afford it".

It was also a place where stars were born, including Ethel Merman, Karl Malden, Ben Gazzara, Shirley MacLaine, Brando, Bea Arthur, Robert Goulet and Alec Baldwin.

"It was a time when Hollywood came to Broadway looking for product, not the other way around," observes McKay at the end of the film he started shooting in 1998.

His quest led him to scores of actors, singers, dancers, composers, directors and producers, some of whom weren't eager to take part. It didn't help that McKay didn't have a crew and came wielding a digital camera as though he were nothing but a nosy journo. Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman and Julie Andrews declined his interview requests, but many luminaries took the bait. Brando turned down McKay, but lent his assistance behind the scenes.

"Brando became a champion of the film," McKay says. "He helped find the audio of his performance in the original production of A Streetcar Named Desire. He believed in what I was doing and trusted me. He also thought I was crazy."

McKay insists he never intended to make "a movie with 100 stars", but as the project grew he found the challenge seductive.

"It was like a detective story - one door would open, another would slam," he says.

"Bea Arthur threatened to toss me out of her house because I didn't have a crew, much less a lighting man. She said, 'What the f--- am I doing in hair and make-up if there's no crew? I think you're out of your mind!'

"But she calmed down when she realised I knew my subject and she became my lifesaver by putting me in touch with Angela Lansbury, Carol Burnett and Shirley MacLaine. Then the project took off, but if I'd known how mammoth and time-consuming it would become I wouldn't have done it."

Broadway: The Golden Age reveals the struggle, tribalism and chutzpah of a richly talented pool of artists. No one was on easy street. Before MacLaine made it big she could only afford to eat crackers and peanut butter, while Burnett shared digs with three other struggling performers.

"Four of us bought a dress," Burnett says. "One dress. We each put in $5, so it was a $20 dress at Bloomingdale's, which was expensive. Then if you had an audition you got first claim to it, you got to wear the dress, but then you were responsible for having it cleaned and put back in the closet for the next person."

The doco captures the romance of Times Square and places where rising stars hung out. There's a memorable scene of Leonard Bernstein thumping on the piano alongside Jerome Robbins, Sondheim and director Hal Prince as West Side Story is hatched in 1957.

McKay discovers that the most influential of stars was not Brando or Davis, but the actress Laurette Taylor. Her naturalness and ease were a source of inspiration to many of the greats.

"I saw The Glass Menagerie seven times - seven times," says lyricist Fred Ebb. "Taylor turned around and pulled down her girdle and I have never been that affected by a stage action in my whole life. It made me weep."

(PG) Cinema Nova
* * * 1/2 (out of four)

Broadway nostalgia is usually served with a dollop of cloying schmaltz (listened to Michael Feinstein lately?)

This documentary allows none of that as it relives the golden age of the American stage via the razor-sharp reminiscences of some of its greatest figures.

Director Rick McKay, by his own admission a devotee of the Broadway that was the stomping ground of Tennessee Williams, Elia Kazan, Ethel Waters and Cole Porter, has assembled here a dazzling array of actors, producers, composers and lyricists who, via McKay's brisk editing of interviews and raw, backstage footage, paint a vivid portrait of a bygone era.

The Broadway they recall was certainly a more adventurous, accessible (a theatre ticket cost less than a film ticket in the 1940s) and exciting place than it became with the advent of the musical blockbuster, which the film says started with the rock musical Hair in the late 1960s.

Refreshingly, though, McKay doesn't allow the film to slip into what could easily have been a trite lament for the past.

Nor does he purport to present an "official history".

The film is loosely arranged around broad themes, such as auditions (Carol Burnett recalls how she and three housemates chipped in to buy a dress), influences, scamming to get into the theatre for free, watering holes and that long-gone tradition of touring a show-in-the-making. But it's motivated by the irrepressible performers, who live up to expectations of what everyone once understood an old Broadway trooper to be.

Broadway: The Golden Age

By Tom Ryan
THE SUNDAY AGE - April 3, 2005

Broadway: the Golden Age
***1/2 (out of four)
(PG, 111 minutes)
At the Nova from Thursday

It would be a mistake to describe Rick McKay, the director, writer, cinematographer, editor, producer and narrator of Broadway: The Golden Age, as a one-man band. The credits at the end make this clear (or at least the ones that had rolled before the wretched projectionist at the preview switched them off). Nevertheless, five years in the making, the film is clearly McKay's baby, his labour of love.

With a minimal budget, several sequences of marvellous archival footage and a digital camera, he's been able to recapture something of the world of Broadway theatre between the 1940s and the 1960s. The quality of the image isn't perfect (the projectionist can't be held responsible this time), but it doesn't matter. What's important are the fascinating interviews with those who remember what it was like and the footage of some of the greats who walked the stages of a bygone era.

A star-studded parade passes by, giving testimony to the passion and the pain: Angela Lansbury looking back at her pursuit of the role in Mame; Julie Harris tearfully remembering first seeing black actress Ethel Waters in Mamba's Daughters ("It changed my life"); John Raitt explaining how "Figaro, Figaro, Figaro" laid the foundations for Carousel's Soliloquy (My Boy Bill); Gwen Verdon reflecting on her work with Bob Fosse.

McKay's film isn't exactly a history. Nor is it an examination of the changing face of theatre over the years. Rather, it's an unqualified celebration of what Broadway used to be like and a eulogy to its passing, which it suggests happened somewhere around the time of Hair and Oh, Calcutta!

By "Broadway", it means not just the plays and the performances, but the opening nights and the clubbing after the curtain comes down - at Sardi's in the '40s and '50s and Downey's in the '50s and '60s - the places where the actors used to hang out during the day, such as Ray's Drugstore and Walgreen's (forget "the drugstore thing", says Elaine Stritch, explaining that she always headed straight for the "saloon"). Curiously, there's nothing about the theatres themselves, aside from occasional shots of facades and marquees.

The result is an impression, a glimpse of a culture provided by those who were there. The old footage of places like Times Square adds colour, but it's in the excitement the interviewees bring to their recall that Broadway really comes alive. McKay uses chapter headings ("The journey begins", "Looking for Lancelot") to try to impose a kind of organisation on the material. But since he's not really doing anything more than reminiscing, they're all but useless.

Still, reminiscence can be very revealing and a genuine sense of community emerges from what his subjects have to say. There are anecdotes galore, including some great ones from Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Ashley, Shirley MacLaine and Robert Goulet. And a special highlight is the general assent in response to McKay's question about the greatest performance they've ever seen: Laurette Taylor in The Glass Menagerie.

The actress's name might not be familiar, perhaps because she never worked in film, although McKay has come up with a 1938 screen test she did (in vain) for David O. Selznick. But her peers remember her. "She changed acting . . . I think we've all been striving to be her, one way or the other," says Ben Gazzara. "Mesmerising." (Gena Rowlands). "The greatest performance I've ever seen." (Patricia Neal). "I can't get it out of my head." (Maureen Stapleton).

Whatever else it does, Broadway pays homage to the art of the theatre, to the immediacy of the performances, to the way "you have to do it there, on the spot". Frank Langella speaks for everyone in the film when he says, "You're a living, breathing thing. And you're irreplaceable."

Back story
One of the major hurdles Rick McKay faced in making Broadway: The Golden Age was gaining access to the people he wanted to interview. "I learned quickly that going through agents didn't work," he says. "I had to find a way to get to them directly." In some cases, this was made possible by acquiring the right contacts, actors such as Kaye Ballard and Angela Lansbury using their personal address books to help him out once they'd been convinced of his credentials. Persistence helped too, Stephen Sondheim agreeing to become involved only after McKay contrived a meeting at a party then flooded the composer with follow-up letters. Marlon Brando declined the invitation to appear, but agreed to be interviewed over the phone. However, others McKay wanted he never managed to contact, most shielded by their agents: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Julie Andrews, Bernadette Peters, Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand. "Since not one of the stars in the film got paid," McKay says with some bitterness, "most agents treated me as 10 per cent of a major waste of time for them". Perhaps he's had more luck with the forthcoming Broadway: The Next Generation, due for release this year in the US.

www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/04/01/1111862548033.html

Legends shine for one last curtain call on Broadway

Author: TIM HUNTER
Date: 04/04/2005
Publication: The Age
Section: Metro

Turning the spotlight the other way is illuminating, writes Tim Hunter.

THERE'S been countless films made about Broadway in the '30s, '40s and '50s - the thrill of the spotlights, the greasepaint, the roar of the crowds, all of that. But as obvious an idea for a film as it may seem, a documentary has never been made about Broadway. Until now.

US Broadway lover and filmmaker Rick McKay has spent six years interviewing more than 140 Broadway stars, ranging from Carol Channing to Shirley Maclaine, Farley Granger and Uta Hagen. Some of them have since died, making the final product, Broadway: The Golden Age, By The Legends Who Were There, all the more important.

It started as a modestly short program for television, but McKay found it hard to sell the idea. "When I brought it to PBS, they said, 'No one's interested in old people; you've got to put young people in the cast'," he explains. "About two days later, Gwen Verdon, Bob Fosse's wife, died, and her last interview was in my film. And I thought, 'It's becoming a responsibility for me to do these interviews, because these people who are older will never get a chance to tell their story again'. I was in the right place right time."

McKay was more than lucky on a number of occasions with the interviewees he managed to secure, and collected many anecdotes about these interviews. "When I finished the interview with Angela Lansbury, she said, 'If I'd seen this in a theatre and I hadn't been included, it would have broken my heart'.

"I told her I couldn't have made the film without her, and she said, 'I'm ashamed of myself, I have to apologise, I turned this film down once'. I said, 'No, Ms Lansbury, you turned it down four times'."

What comes out loud and clear through the film is the passion and love that everyone had for the early years of Broadway.

"There are two audiences: the older audience who nod their heads all the way through; and the young one who shake their heads and their jaws drop. If this film lights a fire under their ass and they want to work in theatre, and do something important, then that's great!"

So, what is it about Broadway that lights McKay's fire? "When you walk into a theatre, you don't have any idea of what's going to happen. It may be a great audience or a bad audience, and that's going to affect the performance that night. It's the interactive nature of theatre that I like, and as an audience member, I'm responsible."

BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE

WHERE Cinema Nova, Carlton

WHEN Opens Thursday

HOW MUCH $13.50/11/9

DETAILS Tel: 9347 5331, 9349 5201; www.cinemanova.com.au,

www.broadwaythemovie.com

ABC NEWS RADIO AUSTRALIA

Broadway: The Golden Age
Review by David Stratton

Did the Golden Age of Broadway really exist? Finding the answer became a magnificent obsession, and more of an adventure than Filmmaker Rick McKay ever imagined.

Margaret: **** (out of 5) David: **** (out of 5)

Another documentary in limited release around the country from tomorrow is ‘Broadway: The Golden Age’, it’s maker, Rick McKay, was fascinated by the richness of the New York theatre scene of the past and set out to discover more about it.

Although he notes, ruefully, that the only surviving Barrymore is Drew, McKay still manages to assemble an extraordinary cast of actors who appeared on the New York stage in the 40s, 50s and 60s.

These immensely talented veterans reminisce about their early experiences in New York, how they lived, how they worked.

Many of them talk about the legendary actress Laurette Taylor, who was by all accounts memorable in Tennessee Williams' ‘The Glass Menagerie’.

Taylor had been in silent films but, sadly, never made a sound film, but clearly she was not forgotten by anyone who saw her.

Anyone who loves the theatre will appreciate Rick McKay's labour of love. It's wonderful to see so many veterans of the stage, several of whom have passed away since McKay interviewed them, talking about their passion for the theatre.

The stories told by Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Elizabeth Ashley, Betsy Blair, Ben Gazzara, Janis Paige, Gena Rowlands and all the rest are endlessly fascinating.

Shirley MacLaine reminds us that she is the living proof of the truth of the legend of the stand-in who takes over from the star the night a big producer, Hal Prince, is in the audience.

We see black and white footage of John Raitt in ‘Carousel’, and of Ben Gazzara and Barbara Bel Geddes in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’. And Angela Lansbury's stories about ‘Mame’ are endlessly fascinating.

Like the American cinema, the American theatre is today a pale shadow of what it used to be; this film is a reminder of what we're missing.
Further comments

DAVID: Margaret?

MARGARET: It was so interesting, wasn't it?

DAVID: Isn't it, yeah.

MARGARET: The other great thing is they've got a sound recording of Brando in 'Streetcar' so you just hear him and it's, God, it's fabulous.

DAVID: At least with Brando in 'Streetcar' we do have the 1951 film. It doesn't have Jessica Tandy. But at least we have a record of that.

MARGARET: But, you know, this is when he made a name for himself on the stage. And apparently, along with Laurette Taylor, Marlon Brando was the next thing that made everybody's head turn.

DAVID: The electrifying actor, yeah.

MARGARET: The realism of the performance.

DAVID: Yeah

MARGARET: I loved all the stories about the girls sharing dresses and sharing digs and how they all, It sounded like a real community. You know, a club of out-of-work actors.

DAVID: They met at the same drug store.

MARGARET: And they're really, really charming. But, listen, he spent five years making this.

DAVID: Yeah.

MARGARET: So..

DAVID: Much better effect than making 'DIG!' I must say.

MARGARET: Oh...!

DAVID: So what are you giving it?

MARGARET: 4 stars.

DAVID: Yeah. Me, 4 stars too.

FILM

In with Broadway legends
By Jeanti St Clair

Sydney Star Observer
Issue 759

Published 4/07/2005

RICK MCKAY SPOKE TO 94 SHOWBIZ LEGENDS FROM THE 1930S TO THE 1960S FOR HIS EPIC OPUS

When Ethel Merman sang There’s No Business Like Show Business, film-maker Rick McKay could only agree.

To him, the heart and soul of show business lived under the bright lights of New York’s Broadway.

A former singer and actor, McKay spent his small-town childhood glued to the TV set watching old movies.

He dreamt of making it to Broadway.

When he first saw a live show, it was Lauren Bacall in Applause – the stage musical version of All About Eve – and he was bowled over.

But when he finally moved to New York in 1981 he found Broadway had all but disappeared.

Rock musicals had muscled their way in and the days of 42nd Street and Sweeney Todd were slipping away.

Today, McKay is chirpy on the line from his beloved New York – this is his fourth interview today and there are two more to go.

He obviously loves talking about Broadway: The Golden Age, the “magnificent obsession” that swallowed 10 years of his life.

“I have 350 hours of raw interviews and two sequels coming. After that I’m never going to another Broadway show again,” McKay said.

He laughed but there’s a hint he could be serious.

McKay’s treasure chest of 140 interviews with performers, critics, composers, lyricists, producers and directors is arguably the most comprehensive Broadway archive now in existence.

Ninety-four of these interviews made their way into the first film of his Broadway trilogy.

It’s remarkable the breadth of talent he coaxed into the interview chair, from Bea Arthur to Stephen Sondheim and Hal Prince, Robert Goulet, Hume Cronyn, Angela Lansbury, Shirley MacLaine and Gwen Verdon.

Lovingly subtitled “By the legends who were there”, McKay’s tribute traces Broadway from the 1930s to the 1960s.

It’s packed with million-dollar anecdotes of onstage drama and backstage gossip from those who chose the rawness (and poverty) of the stage over the glamour of the big screen.

The frankness of some of the interviewees was undoubtedly due to the unobtrusive nature of McKay’s filming technique – a small digital camera, a couple of lights and Rick McKay beaming across at his idols.

“Bea Arthur said to me, ‘I only told you those things because I didn’t think you’d pull it off,’” McKay laughed, adding that Arthur became “a great advocate” for the project.

McKay also hunted down some rare film and audio recordings including a silent home movie of Angela Lansbury performing in Mame and the only screen test of Laurette Taylor, an actor much nominated by McKay’s cast as the performer who most inspired them, a woman whose performance was so natural that she seemed not to be acting.

“It was so much fun to discover all that footage. I begged people, I looked on the internet, I asked people’s relatives,” McKay said.

“It came from everywhere.”

Everywhere including from Marlon Brando who, McKay said, at first refused to appear.

But when he saw a rough cut of the film Brando rang McKay and they “became phone buddies”.

It was Brando who helped McKay find the audio of Brando and Jessica Tandy in the original stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

McKay said, “I really wanted the world to remember him as a great actor – not as the movie star who got fat.”

McKay’s project is timely: many of the people he interviewed are nearing the end of their season.

Several have died – Brando, Fay Wray, Jerry Orbach, Karl Malden, Hume Cronyn, Uta Hagen and Gwen Verdon, who died two weeks after Rick McKay interviewed her.

Not long after, McKay was pitching the documentary to a distributor.

“They said to get Julia Roberts to walk through Times Square because no one was interested in these old people,” he recalled.

“And then I remembered when Gwen [Verdon] came to my place for her interview, I didn’t have the money for car services. When her interview ended, I felt guilty.

“I said, ‘Miss Verdon, can I take you downstairs and get you a taxi cab?’ And she said, ‘No, no one knows who I am any more. Forty years ago, I couldn’t walk down a New York City street without being mobbed, and now if anyone recognises me it’s as one of the old ladies in the Cocoon movies.’

“When these people sit at your feet and just talk, you want to do them justice. They chose live theatre and not Hollywood. They’ve got the highest skill and craft and the price they paid is that nothing is recorded. They can be forgotten so much faster.”

Broadway: The Golden Age is screening at Dendy Cinemas.

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"Broadway: The Golden Age" RECENT REVIEWS:

"ONE OF THE MOVIE-GOING DELIGHTS OF THE YEAR is now on DVD . . . People are calling this the year of the documentary; if so, THE ONE THAT MAY BEAT ALL THE OTHERS FOR FLAT OUT ENTERTAINMENT VALUE is Rick McKay’s Broadway: The Golden Age.” Unlike PBS’ recent Broadway series, this film is much more personal, less a history of the Great White Way than a series of impressions and memories shared by more than one hundred stars, composers, playwrights, and directors, from Angela Lansbury and Carol Channing to Stephen Sondheim. Interspersed with rare and precious film clips, the cumulative effect is EXHILARATING AND DEEPLY MOVING to anyone who cares about the theater. I LOVE THIS FILM, and the DVD offers additional footage, plus a 35-minute preview of McKay’s next documentary Broadway: The Next Generation. It’s now available from RCA Victor/BMG, and it would also make A GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT FOR ANYONE WHO LOVES BROADWAY SHOWS.” LEONARD MALTIN’S VIDEO VIEW

“IF YOU LOVE BROADWAY PICK UP THE NEW DVD "Broadway: The Golden Age." This is RICK MCKAY’S ACCLAIMED FEATURE FILM on our unique American art form. You'll see legends such as Carol Channing, Chita Rivera, Barbara Cook, the late Fred Ebb, Jerry Herman, Bea Arthur, Kaye Ballard and, Carol Burnett tell their tales of life upon the wicked stage. A MUST-HAVE!” LIZ SMITH - NEW YORK POST

“One of the TEN BEST MOVIES OF 2004 … and one of the FINEST documentaries I have ever seen! SUPERB!” JEFFREY LYONS – NBC

"It's like having 100 aunts and uncles sit and tell you GREAT STORIES about a long-gone time and place that you just know you would have loved being a part of... who haven't lost a shred of their CLASS and STYLE in 40 or 50 years. BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE is a FINE collection of moments that are on the verge of being lost forever by those who saw them first-hand. Consider it a mini NATIONAL TREASURE!" AINT IT COOL NEWS.COM

“"Broadway: The Golden Age" is so much more than a talking-head talkfest of 100 STERLING LEGENDS reminiscing about those 24-karat decades ... McKay intercuts memories with music, rare archival footage, home movies, newsreels, videotapes and film clips and theatrical trailers ... I gasped when viewing Laurette Taylor … I cried while watching Bob Fosse assisting his then-wife Gwen Verdon … Ben Gazzara as Brick in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" mesmerized me … The stories told are passionate and priceless. Some will break your heart. Some will make you weep. The actors talk about first jobs, missed roles, big breaks, empty stomachs and emptier pockets, disappointment and despair, being hired and fired, hope and honor, famous co-stars (and sometimes bedmates), out-of-town try-outs and the days when performers didn’t need microphones. They talk from their hearts and souls as only show folk do!” ALAN PETRUCELLI – THE BARNSTABLE PATRIOT

"FASCINATING ... AND WHAT A TALE! The only way to see more stars is to head to a planetarium! McKay's film should be mandatory viewing for casual theatergoers, high-school drama clubs and working thespians everywhere! "
MISHA DAVENPORT - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

"MAGIC . . . McKay pushed his stars to remember things in ASTONISHING detail. Sandwiched between archival stills and rare stage footage, these stars reveal themselves, their art and their lives, all with so much love and appreciation that, for a while, you wish you could have been a part of something as bonding, fulfilling and special as Broadway's theater community . . . 'Broadway: The Golden Age' finally evolves into an INDISPENSIBLE history of the hopes, fears, trials, defeats and victories of those brave enough to step into the limelight of a Broadway stage and make it their home." DANN GIRE - CHICAGO DAILY HERALD

"THE HOTTEST TICKET IN TOWN! 'Broadway: The Golden Age' is both GREAT theater AND a GREAT MOVIE!" RICHARD KNIGHT - WINDY CITY TIMES

“... McKay got together an ASTONISHING bunch, some of them now departed: Channing, Lansbury, Harold Prince, Stephen Sondheim, Carol Burnett, Julie Harris, Carol Lawrence, Gwen Verdon, Nanette Fabray, Elaine Stritch, Marian Seldes, Uta Hagen, Ben Gazzara, Robert Morse, Chita Rivera, Jerry Orbach and Betty Comden and Adolph Green, among others ... their memories are CHOICE AND PRICELESS, their PEDIGREE UNQUESTIONED ...This is a documentary about people who understand Broadway's GREATNESS, who endured its cheesy and heartless side and who still love everything about it.” SID SMITH – CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"RICK MCKAY'S 'BROADWAY THE GOLDEN AGE' HAS NO PEER! THE MOST ENTHRALLING DOCUMENTARY IN YEARS!" **** (out of four) ED BLANK, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

"IT'S JUST SO DARN MUCH FUN I WISH IT HAD LASTED FOUR HOURS INSTEAD OF TWO!" STEPHEN HUNTER, WASHINGTON POST

“Carol Channing, Ben Gazzara, Robert Goulet, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, Shirley MacLaine, John Raitt and Elaine Stritch are ingeniously commingled with heart-stopppingly rare performance footage. The result is an irresistibly nostalgic portrait of a lost era. The editing alone deserves an Oscar! ... You’ll weep — I did — to hear them share their fond memories ... But ‘Broadway: The Golden Age,’ like the performers to whom it pays unforgettably eloquent tribute, deserves to be seen in a theater - - even one that sells popcorn!” TERRY TEACHOUT – WALL STREET JOURNAL

“You MUST see this WONDERFUL film ... The result is almost indescribably POWERFUL and MOVING! RUN DON’T WALK!” LEONARD MALTIN – ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT

“OSCAR CALIBER! Do NOT miss this absolute stunner of a film. There is MAGIC in it!” PETER TRAVERS – ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE

“One of the FINEST documentaries I have ever seen! SUPERB!’ JEFFREY LYONS – NBC

“ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! More laughs than any comedy in the multiplexes!” JACK MATTHEWS – NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

“RIVETTING! HEART-SKIPPINGLY EXHILARATING! The most enchanting movie I have seen this year! A TREASURE – IT WILL ENRICH YOUR LIFE!” REX REED - NEW YORK OBSERVER

“A RIP-ROARING GOOD TIME! LIKE 111 MINUTES OF PARADISE!” ROBERT OSBORNE – HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“Miracles happen over and over again in Rick McKay’s ‘Broadway: The Golden Age!’” LAWSON TAITTE - DALLAS MORNING NEWS

"A must-see ... absolutely stirring ... 'Broadway: The Golden Age' is one of the best documentaries of the year!" BRANDON JUDELL - INDIE WIRE.COM

"Rick McKay's exceptional new documentary "Broadway: The Golden Age" presents a veritable avalanche of interviews with some of the biggest names in the history of the American theater, preserving for posterity their wise words and disarming anecdotes. In addition, there's a glittering hope chest of stashed mementos -- including magnificent archival footage of Broadway productions from the pre-video era ... The resulting film (is) perhaps the screen's most authoritative encapsulation of Broadway history and an intimately resonant one." SCOTT FOUNDAS – VARIETY

"Absolutely charming ... makes you want to hop a plane for New York, if the flight could take you back 40-50 years the way this film does!" HAP ERSTEIN - PALM BEACH POST

"Rick McKay's documentary is the closet thing most of us will ever get to being a part of the golden age of Broadway. The list of legends interviewed is mind-boggling ...This film is really something special; anyone who is even remotely interested in theatre will find (it) absolutely fascinating and should seek this film out ... for everyone else, just eagerly await a screening date in your area to be added for the film ... An amazing piece of work!" AIN'T IT COOL NEWS.COM

"Some of the best moments come when a virtual dialogue occurs between two or more people discussing the same topic in individual interviews. Tommy Tune and Elaine Stritch take different sides about the current plethora of revivals. Then there are icons for days: Angela Lansbury, Carol Channing, Bea Arthur, Carol Burnett, Chita Rivera, Barbara Cook, Gwen Verdon and Diana Rigg. PBS should give McKay the Ken Burns treatment, with unlimited time for a miniseries." STEVE WARREN - SOUTHERN VOICE

visit: www.broadwaythemovie.com
Second Act Productions, Inc.
495 West End Avenue
NYC, NY 10024
fon: 212-721-7431
fax: 212-721-1990


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You MUST see this WONDERFUL film! The result is almost
INDESCRIBABLY POWERFUL and MOVING! RUN, DON'T WALK!

LEONARD MALTIN “ ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT

"BROADWAY" OPEN'S AS SMASH IN LA & S.F. & HELD OVER IN NYC AND DALLAS!

• The new HIT FILM "Broadway: The Golden Age" JUST opened in San Francisco, Berkley & San Jose, CA to RAVE reviews! Director Rick McKay is doing Q&A's with audience in SF on Fri/Sat and in San Jose (Camera 12) Sunday day & Berkley (Shattuck) Sunday night! Follow this link for showtimes and theaters:
  http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Films/films_frameset.asp?id=42690
  
  
• "Broadway" is also a Smash Hit in LOS ANGELES in FOUR area theaters, including the Laemmle Sunset Five and Pasadena, Irvine & Newport/Santa Ana. The film rec'd a SUPERB review in the LA Times and is the Pick of the Week by L.A. Weekly! Follow this link for showtimes and theaters:
  http://www.laemmle.com/films/film.php?index=292
  
  
• In DALLAS, 'Broadway' is Held Over the Third Week in a Row after Four Star Reviews in local papers and television! Follow this link for showtimes and theaters:
  http://www.angelikafilmcenter.com/Dallas/film.asp?RadiantID=4063&xref=100066
  
  
• And of course in NEW YORK CITY where it has been HELD OVER for a FIFTH WEEK at the City Cinemas Sutton 1&2 on 57th & 3rd and the Village East on 12th Street & 2nd Avenue! Follow this link for showtimes and theaters:
  http://movies.channel.aol.com/movie/main.adp?_pgtyp=pdct&tab=showtimes&mid=16575
  
  
• Director Rick McKay (and surprise guests!) will be doing Question and Answer Sessions with the Audiences in NYC on the weekend of July 16th-18th, in Boston (Kendall Square) and at Stony Brook Film Festival in Long Island on the weekend of July 23rd-25th and in more cities soon! Check the website: www.broadwaythemovie.com for more information!


DO NOT MISS THIS FILM IN THEATERS DURING IT'S LIMITED RUN IN YOUR TOWN!


• “Broadway: The Golden Age” has opened to RAVE reviews in NYC and is opening this week in Texas, next week in Los Angeles and the week after in San Francisco. Check below for showtimes and more cities that are being added on!
  
• Director RICK McKAY will do Q&A’s with the audience after the PM shows in NYC at the Angelika on Houston and Mercer and the Sutton East on 57th and 3rd on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings the weekend of 6/25-27 – watch for surprise guests! He will also do Q&A’s with cast the opening weekend of 7/2-4 at the Laemmle Sunset Five and at the opening weekend at San Francisco’s Lumiere Theater on the weekend of 7/9-11. Check back here for more details!
  
• BGA New York Times Ad with NYC screening info Click here
  
• “Broadway: The Golden Age” has its west coast premiere at a Star-Studded premiere on Wednesday, June 30th at the Laemmle Sunset Five! Watch for press coverage as many of the stars of Broadway and Hollywood are reunited on this historic night!
  

New cities and links to theatres added below:

• 6/23 and 6/24 at Angelika Film Center in Plano, Texas – click here for showtimes and to order tickets
  
• 6/25 Opening at Angelika Film Center in Dallas, Texas – click here for showtime and to order tickets
  
• 7/2 Opening at the Laemmle Sunset Five at 8000 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, CA – click here for showtimes and to order tickets
  
• 7/9 Opening in San Francisco at Landmark Theatre’s - click here for showtimes and to order tickets (soon)
  
• 8/6 Opening in Washington D.C. at Landmark Theater’s E-Street Theater Click here
  
• 8/20 Opening in Atlanta at Landmark Theater’s Midtown Center 7 Click here
  
• 9/7 Opening in Chicago at Landmark Theater’s Century Centre Cinemas Click here
  
• 9/10 Opening in Landmark Theater’s Starz Theater Click here
  
• 9/17 Opening in Detroit at Landmark Theater’s Maple Art Theater Click here
  
• 10/1 Opening in San Diego at Landmark Theater’s Ken Theater Click here

“Broadway: The Golden Age” has opened in NYC at the Angelika and the Sutton East to RAVE reviews!

BGA Ad with screening info Click here

For show times check local listings or Click here

Director Rick McKay will be doing question and answer sessions with the audience at the Angelika and the Sutton in NYC this weekend (6/18-20) on Friday, Saturday & Sunday at evening performances! Watch for possible surprise guests as well . . .

“Broadway: The Golden Age” will open in Dallas on 6/23, in Los Angeles on 7/2 and in Washington, D.C. on 8/6 with many more cities to be added soon. Check back often for more information and send your email address to info@broadwaythemovie.com and we will put you on our mailing list for updates!

BELOW ARE JUST SOME OF THE RAVE REVIEWS FOR OUR NYC OPENING THIS WEEK!

“OSCAR CALIBER! Do NOT miss this absolute stunner of a film. There is MAGIC in it!” PETER TRAVERS – ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE

“One of the FINEST documentaries I have ever seen! SUPERB!’ JEFFREY LYONS – NBC

“ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL! More laughs than any comedy in the multiplexes!” JACK MATTHEWS – NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

“RIVETTING! HEART-SKIPPINGLY EXHILARATING! The most enchanting movie I have seen this year!” REX REED – NEW YORK OBSERVER

“THEATER’S ‘GOLDEN AGE’ IS THE TALK OF THE TOWN!’ GENE SEYMOUR – NEW YORK NEWSDAY

“ ‘GOLDEN’ DELICIOUS! Broadway: The Golden Age’ is a delightful ‘That’s Entertainment’ for the theater!” LOU LUMENICK – NEW YORK POST

“Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There” premiered on Monday, June 7th to a star-studded audience at a benefit for the National Hemophilia Association at the Loews 42nd Street, followed by a party at the legendary theatre restaurant, Sardi’s. Photos and more information to follow soon. BGA opens to the public on June 11th in NYC and on July 2nd in Los Angeles. Check our “Screenings” page for more information and more cities to be added any day.

“BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE” sets NYC premiere and opening!

· On June 7th, 2004 BGA will have a star-studded Broadway-meets-Hollywood movie premiere to benefit the National Hemophilia Foundation. Stephen Sondheim's very first tribute back in 1973 (recorded and known lovingly as his "Scrabble album) was a benefit for the National Hemophilia Foundation. The premiere screening will be a red carpet event at the Lowes Cineplex 42nd St. E-Walk Theater in Times Square and will be capped by a party afterward at Sardi’s. Check back soon for details and ticket information.

· On June 11th, 2004 BGA will open in New York City! The first theatre to be announced is the Angelica Theatre on Houston Street in Manhattan. An uptown theatre will be added soon. Director Rick McKay will be doing question and answer sessions with the audience after each screening. Rick will also be joined by a different surprise star at each q&a after each screening. These q&a’s are tentatively scheduled for the first two weekends of the NYC run.

· On July 2nd, 2004 BGA will open at the premiere theatre for independent film in the Los Angeles area with a run at the Laemmle Sunset Five on Sunset Boulevard. There will also be question and answer sessions with director Rick McKay and surprise guest stars from the film after the performances!

Check back often for new updates and information about the new theatres that BGA will be playing in. Also more information regarding the DVD release and television.

BGA Wins Again! Now has 13 Top Film Awards!

Opens in Theatres in June!

"Broadway: The Golden Age" won the top "Audience Award" - sponsored by the Santa Barbara Independent and calculated by Film Buzz Marketing - at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday, February 8th. Oscar-winning legendary actress Eva Marie Saint (ON THE WATERFRONT, NORTH BY NORTHWEST) appeared on stage with Director Rick McKay for the Q/A after Saturday night's standing room only screening.

http://sbfilmfestival.org/filmfest/index.htm

Also, "Broadway: The Golden Age" has been named by FILM BUZZ MARKETING as the Number One Highest Rated Film of 2003! Film Buzz tested all films in over 12 top American Film Festivals in 2003 and the movie that tested higher than any other in any festival or any category - and consistently so - was "Broadway: The Golden Age."

Stop by http://www.filmbuzzmarketing.com for more info.

"Broadway: The Golden Age" opens in theatres in June 2004 - stay tuned at www.broadwaythemovie.com for more information and to sign up for our mailing list to get information about the DVD, which is loaded with extra features and rare footage, and will be out in time for Christmas 2004.

MJ Peckos and Bob Myerson, formerly of First Look, have joined forces to launch Dada Films, a new domestic theatrical distributor that will also handle worldwide marketing for the films that it acquires. First up for the L.A. based duo is Rick McKay's "Broadway: The Golden Age," hitting theaters in June, which features interviews and anecdotes about Broadway from Kim Hunter, Gwen Verdon, Kaye Ballard, Mimi Hines, Bea Arthur, Carol Burnett, Carol Channing, Hume Cronyn, Eva Marie Saint, Charles Durning, Rosemary Harris, Derek Jacobi, Lainie Kazan, Fay Wray, Elaine Stritch, Stephen Sondheim, Chita Riviera, and Tony Roberts.

Peckos served as President of First Look Pictures and handled international duties for Overseas Filmgroup, First Look Media's international sales arm. Myerson has a background in political strategy and publicity, having worked at mPRm and later at First Look.

For more information visit www.secondactproductions.com

"Broadway: The Golden Age" was honored with a special New Year's Eve screening at esteemed critics Judith Crist and Peter Travers' Film Weekend in Tarrytown, New York. The legendary annual weekend shows "ten major films of the coming year" and BGA screened to spectacular audience response. Watch for Rick McKay's on-stage interview with Judith Crist and Peter Travers on the upcoming DVD of BGA.

UPCOMING SCREENINGS:
BGA will play the Ashland Independent Film Festival, which runs from April 1-5, 2004. Check back soon for more information, or visit www.ashlandfilm.org.

BGA will return to the site of it's world premiere, the Palm Beach International Film Festival, for one special screening during the PBIFF, which runs April 15th to 24th. Keep an eye on this site for details.

BGA IS A WINNER!

"Broadway: The Golden Age" has now won 13 Best Documentary or Best Film Awards as it finishes up its coast to coast festival run prior to theatrical release. Recent awards include:* San Diego International Film Festival: Best Documentary AND Audience Favorite/Best Documentary* Starz Denver International Film Festival: People's Choice Award: Best Documentary* Marco Island Film Festival (FL): Best Documentary AND Audience Favorite/Best Documentary

PREVIOUS FESTIVAL WINS:

BGA cleans up at the Dahlonega International Film Festival, winning both "Best Documentary" and "Audience Favorite: Best Documentary."

BGA sweeps beautiful and historic Harrisburg, PA as it beats out a Sundance winner and a Sundance fave to win both "Best Documentary" and "Best Film of the Festival" at the fifth annual ArtsFest Film Festival!

BGA wins "Best Documentary - Audience Favorite" at Palm Beach International Film Festival.

BGA wins 1st Place Runner-up for Best Documentary in the 2003 Golden Space Needle Audience Awards at the Seattle International Film Festival, beating out such acclaimed films as "Capturing the Friedmans," and "Winged Migration" for the honor and played to standing-room-only crowds and standing ovations at the festival.

RAVE REVIEWS:

"An essential record of Broadway history, that every theatregoer MUST see - and LONG overdue!" JEFFREY LYONS - NBC

"A must-see ... absolutely stirring ... 'Broadway: The Golden Age' is one of the best documentaries of the year!" BRANDON JUDELL - INDIE WIRE.COM

"Rick McKay's exceptional new documentary "Broadway: The Golden Age" presents a veritable avalanche of interviews with some of the biggest names in the history of the American theater, preserving for posterity their wise words and disarming anecdotes. In addition, there's a glittering hope chest of stashed mementos -- including magnificent archival footage of Broadway productions from the pre-video era ... The resulting film (is) perhaps the screen's most authoritative encapsulation of Broadway history and an intimately resonant one." SCOTT FOUNDAS - VARIETY

(FOUR STARS out of four) **** "Absolutely charming ... makes you want to hop a plane for New York, if the flight could take you back 40-50 years the way this film does!" HAP ERSTEIN - PALM BEACH POST

"Rick McKay's documentary is the closest thing most of us will ever get to being a part of the golden age of Broadway. The list of legends interviewed is mind-boggling ...This film is really something special; anyone who is even remotely interested in theatre will find (it) absolutely fascinating and should seek this film out ... for everyone else, just eagerly await a screening date in your area to be added for the film ... An amazing piece of work!" AIN'T IT COOL NEWS.COM

Director Rick McKay piles up interviews with stage legends that come one after another, the luminaries lining up for his feature film. They describe their first experiences in a theater audience, their initial encounters with New York, life as a struggling actor and the shows that marked their lives . . . The anecdotes are beautiful, some of them caught in the last years of stars such as Gwen Verdon. John Raitt recalls auditioning for Carousel and using Figaro to warm up . . . The stories are interspersed with rare archival footage, the most delicious part of the documentary. For someone of my generation, it's thrilling to see Carol Lawrence in the 1957 production of West Side Story and the only extant sound footage of legendary actress Laurette Taylor. That's this film's prize - along with the image of Tommy Tune in white tie and white suit sitting barefoot on a white sofa. LISA BORNSTEIN - ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

(FIVE STARS out of five) ***** You always have to hand it to someone who has the foresight to record people who were involved in something important before the big Poof! Wonderful footage and home movies show the actors more at home at Walgreen's and the Automat than at Sardi's. Scores of Broadway's famous on-stage actors: Carol Channing, Shirley MacLaine, John Raitt, Carol Burnett, Robert Goulet and many more tell their stories and thus the story of the disappearance of the Great White Way that was in the 30's thru the 60's . . . This is far from a depressing film. It is a celebration. If you have ever sung, "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," your heart will be filled with sunshine with this nostalgic and humorous look at the past. SAVANNAH ROBILLARD - SAVANNAH NEWS

"Broadway Documentary is a Classic! ...it certainly has the biggest and most impressive cast of all the films playing the Rhode Island International Film Festival. Broadway: The Golden Age is a delight for any theater lover ... It's classic stuff!" MICHAEL JANUSONIS - PROVIDENCE JOURNAL

"Some of the best moments come when a virtual dialogue occurs between two or more people discussing the same topic in individual interviews. Tommy Tune and Elaine Stritch take different sides about the current plethora of revivals. Then there are icons for days: Angela Lansbury, Carol Channing, Bea Arthur, Carol Burnett, Chita Rivera, Barbara Cook, Gwen Verdon and Diana Rigg. PBS should give McKay the Ken Burns treatment, with unlimited time for a miniseries." STEVE WARREN - SOUTHERN VOICE

NEWS:
BGA was recently honored at a special screening at the Hollywood headquarters of the American Film Instiute on Friday, November 21st, 2003. The AFI got a special sneak preview of "Broadway: The Golden Age," introduced by filmmaker Rick McKay and followed by a panel discussion helmed by McKay with cast members Martin Landau, Edie Adams, Carole Cooke, Betty Garrett, Janis Paige and Gretchen Wyler. The immensely successful, standing-room-only evening began with a cocktail recpeption with director and cast and was hosted by AFIA board members Ruth Davis, Bunny Stivers and Penny Bigelow.

BGA was honored by the American Cinematheque with a special sneak preview at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Director Rick McKay and many of the stars -- including Edie Adams, Kaye Ballard, Nanette Fabray, Betty Garrett, historian Miles Kreuger, Hal Linden, Patricia Morison, Fayard Nicholas, Janis Paige, John Raitt, Elliott Reid, Vincent Sherman, and Gretchen Wyler -- dazzled the capacity crowd with an exciting Question and Answer session following the film.

BGA sneak preview benefiting breast cancer at Laemmle's Camelot Theatre in Palm Springs has rave reviews, standing-room-only crowds and many of the stars of the film present and on a panel after. See "Broadway: The Golden Age" listing on www.imdb.com for a photo of the director and stars of the film from that historic event.