Research Catalog

[Interview with Michael Tilson Thomas : raw footage]

Title
[Interview with Michael Tilson Thomas : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]
Publication
New York, 2003.

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
Moving imageRestricted use NCOX 2177Performing Arts Research Collections - TOFT

Details

Additional Authors
  • Tilson Thomas, Michael, 1944-
  • Kantor, Michael, 1961-
  • Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor
  • Thirteen/WNET, donor
Description
1 videocassette (VHS) (50 min.) : sd., col. SP; 1/2 in.
Summary
  • Raw interview footage used for the documentary Broadway, the American musical. Michael Tilson Thomas, a conductor, pianist and composer who directs the San Francisco Symphony discusses composer Leonard Bernstein. His music, Tilson feels, took the American musical to a "much more inspired and visionary place." Tilson discusses the existence of a "showbiz intelligentsia," as represented by the work of Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and others; the scores of Richard Rodgers which feature a lush symphonic sound; George Gershwin's operatic musical Porgy and Bess; Bernstein's evolution as a Broadway composer who captured the energy and pulse of the city musically; the show West Side story, characterized musically by two rival families who have two rival musical styles; the show's musical influences; Bernstein's originality as a composer who freely incorporated the work of others' into his music; Bernstein's feelings toward Broadway, and his way of working there; the music of Sondheim, which Tilson believes "pushes the envelope" rhythmically and lyrically, and how this is exemplified in his musical Sunday in the park with George; Porgy and Bess, a "tremendous, deeply touching masterpiece," which conveys many moods, feelings and observations about the way life is; Gershwin's origins as a songwriter whose early songs like How long has this been going on? and The man I love, portend the lyrical, "haunted" quality later heard in his Porgy and Bess; the yearning for self-expression in the music of Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Aaron Copeland; the musical Of thee I sing, a "delightful" political parody whose score by George & Ira Gershwin was crafted with an appreciation for its performers. Tilson moves over to his piano and interview ends on videocassette one.
  • Interview resumes on videocassette two with discussion on the connection between Broadway and the Yiddish Theater; Tilson's grandparents, Yiddish theater stars Boris and Bessie Thomashevsky, whose significance to the theater he came to appreciate at the age of eleven; the role of the Jewish theatrical unions in spurring the spirit of radicalism, change and excitement in Broadway theater of the 1930s, as seen in the 1937 production The cradle will rock; one of his grandmother's signature songs from "Chansy in America," which features a Yiddish part and a jazzy, swingy part, and influenced the Broadway musical; the awareness of Yiddish music, jokes and culture by composers George & Ira Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, who incorporated these elements into their musicals; more on how Jewish music was absorbed into the early Broadway theater; the sense of rhythm in the music of George & Ira Gershwin; the similarity between the Yiddish song Greena Cuisina and the early Broadway song Swanee; the Broadway musical as the first American "idiom" which allowed the expression of irreverant and controversial ideas; why he believes Jewish people have been attracted to the Broadway musical. During the discussion Tilson demonstrates his points about the music of the Yiddish theater at the keyboard.
Alternative Title
  • Broadway, the American musical
  • Broadway: the American musical
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Documentaries and factual works.
  • Musicals.
  • Unedited footage.
Note
  • This interview is one of a group of interviews with 90 individuals used in making the documentary Broadway, the American musical. The completed production is available on NCOX 2058.
  • Credits for completed production from pbs.org: A film by Michael Kantor ; produced by Jeff Dupre, Michael Kantor and Sally Rosenthal ; written by Marc Fields, Michael Kantor, Laurence Maslon, and JoAnne Young ; directed by Michael Kantor.
  • Time code on frame.
  • Contains various takes, at occasional brief intervals, audio continues without sound.
Performer (note)
  • Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Michael Tilson Thomas.
Event (note)
  • Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on Sept. 22, 2003.
Biography (note)
  • Broadway, the American musical, which aired on PBS in October 2004, is a documentary chronicling the entire history of a unique American art form, the Broadway musical. Each of its six episodes covers a different era in American theater history, and features the Broadway shows and songs which defined the period. The series draws on feature films, television broadcasts, archival news footage, original cast recordings, still photos, diaries, journals, first-person accounts, and on-camera interviews with many of the principals involved in the development of the genre.
Linking Entry (note)
  • Forms part of the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive, Billy Rose Theatre Division.
Call Number
NCOX 2177
OCLC
156848662
Title
[Interview with Michael Tilson Thomas : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]
Imprint
New York, 2003.
Performer
Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Michael Tilson Thomas.
Event
Videotaped in New York, N.Y. on Sept. 22, 2003.
Biography
Broadway, the American musical, which aired on PBS in October 2004, is a documentary chronicling the entire history of a unique American art form, the Broadway musical. Each of its six episodes covers a different era in American theater history, and features the Broadway shows and songs which defined the period. The series draws on feature films, television broadcasts, archival news footage, original cast recordings, still photos, diaries, journals, first-person accounts, and on-camera interviews with many of the principals involved in the development of the genre.
Local Note
Gift of Broadway Film Project, Inc. and Thirteen/WNET, 2005.
Linking Entry
Forms part of the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive, Billy Rose Theatre Division.
Connect to:
Request Access to Theatre on Film and Tape Archive Special Collections material
Added Author
Tilson Thomas, Michael, 1944- interviewee.
Kantor, Michael, 1961- interviewer.
Kantor, Michael, 1961- director.
Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor.
Thirteen/WNET, donor.
Research Call Number
NCOX 2177
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