Every Little Step

The documentary Every Little Step is about dancers auditioning for a role in a musical that's about dancers auditioning for a role in a musical. How meta!

Filmmakers Adam Del Deo and James Stern took their cameras inside auditions for the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line, which opened in 2006 and ran for two years. It's the part of putting on a show that you don't normally get to see but in an unprecedented uh, step, they received special permission from Actors Equity.

More than 2,000 dancers auditioned, some from as far away as Australia, for 19 roles. Watching them leap and pirouette reminded me how much the big chorus numbers are part of what I love about Broadway musicals.

As several actors recited the same lines one after another I couldn't even imagine how nerve-wracking it must have been for them, performing in front of people like Bob Avian, co-choreographer of the original Broadway production, and Baayork Lee, the original Connie.

I wish the filmmakers had spent a little more time on some of the individual stories of the people who came to audition. We know they've been dancing since they were kids and can't imagine doing anything else, but not much more.

And of course, they're all talented dancers. As Lee says in an interview on the dvd's extras, "If I had to audition for the show now, I would never get in."

What I enjoyed most about Every Little Step was the way it alternates taking us inside the audition room with telling us the story behind the musical.

A Chorus Line, which opened on Broadway in 1975 and ran for 15 years, grew out of taped sessions with those normally anonymous "gypsies," the dancers who populate Broadway's chorus lines and move from show to show.

And it was great to hear from some of the people who helped create the musical - including composer Marvin Hamlisch, actress Donna McKechnie, who played Cassie, and on video, the late director/choreographer Michael Bennett.

One of the most touching characters - and one of the hardest to cast - is Paul, a young Puerto Rican dancer and drag performer based on the late Nicholas Dante, who won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award as the cowriter of A Chorus Line.

First, we hear Dante's voice on that original tape recording telling his story. Then, we see Sammy Williams perform the role on Broadway in a Tony-winning turn and finally, we watch Jason Tam, who would play Paul in the revival, during his audition.

That part of Every Little Step is so effective in the way it brings together the past and the present so poignantly. Avian and his colleagues are fighting back tears as Tam recites Paul's monologue. It gave me a real sense of how much A Chorus Line means to everyone involved with it.

The Little Red Truck

I admire anyone who works with young children because it's such a demanding job. The closest I've come was a year I spent living in Israel, where I worked with English teachers in a Tel Aviv elementary school. Sometimes I'd have to handle a dozen or so kids on my own, and that was more than enough.

So I have to hand it to the Missoula Children's Theatre, the subject of a very sweet documentary from 2008 by Rob Whitehair called The Little Red Truck.

For 35 years, this Montana-based company has traveled across the United States and Canada, to communities large and small - some of which don't have a school drama program. Over the course of a week, they cast, rehearse and mount a one-hour musical using about 60 local kids.

The movie combines footage shot in six places, including Nunavut in the Canadian Arctic, to take us through a week of activity, from auditions (sadly, not every kid makes the cut) to rehearsals and finally, the big event.

The tour directors who take the show from city to city don't have an easy task. It's tough to get kids to trust someone they've never met before, who are afraid of being made to "look stupid." But like good teachers, they're patient and energetic and they work hard to build a rapport with the kids.

And it is poignant to hear some of the stories - a 13-year-old caught up in a gang, kids who have to walk to and from rehearsals because their parents can't take them, or whose parents can't make it to their performance, a girl in the throes of stage fright.

Jim Caron, the theater company's cofounder and CEO, says in many of the places that the Missoula Children's Theatre visits it's the school play and community festival rolled into one. But he hopes it's more than that.

"What I hope we're also bringing is an alternative in terms of their own lives. We say to these kids look, here is something you've never tried before and you can do it and you can do it well."

Like the documentary OT: Our Town that I watched last month, The Little Red Truck is a testament to the power of theatre. "Let's put on a show" may be a corny, overused phrase but you know, there's something to be said for it.

Into the woods - my Yosemite adventure

A new, six-party documentary by Ken Burns, The National Parks: America's Best Idea, will air on PBS beginning Sept. 27. At the series' Web site, you can submit stories and photographs about your national parks experience.

Here's mine:

In 2004, I visited Yosemite National Park with friends who live near San Francisco. Our first day we drove south, to Wawona, to see the giant sequoias and they were mighty impressive.

The next day, I wanted to spend some time in Yosemite Valley, so we split up. I took a bus from our motel to the visitor center and wandered around, went to the Ansel Adams gallery, saw a movie about the park.

Then, feeling energetic, I went to the information desk to get a list of Yosemite Valley day hikes. The park ranger gave me a sheet of paper with eight or nine hikes, a description and their level of difficulty from easy to very strenuous.

She checked off an "easy" one, Mirror Lake/Meadow, which you can do as either a 2-mile or 5-mile loop. I rode the shuttle bus to the starting point and I was ready to go. This particular hike starts with a paved trail, which was no sweat. Then, feeling ambitious, I went off the trail.

Bad idea.

Athough I was a Girl Scout, I must have missed the meeting where they taught us how to find our way around in the woods. Give me a city neighborhood and I'm fine. But what markers do you use in the woods? All the trees and rocks look alike! And there are no helpful signs to point you in the right direction.

While Yosemite does get crowded in the summer, it's easy to find solitude once you leave the paved paths. Every once in awhile other hikers or runners would come through but I was pretty much alone. The woods were beautiful and I kept climbing until I had a spectacular view of the meadow below.

Once I decided to head back down, though, I was in trouble. I could see the gigantic granite monolith of El Capitan in the distance, so I had a vague idea of which way to head, but I couldn't find anything resembling a paved path.

Of course I didn't bring nearly enough water and I was down to my last granola bar. Yosemite isn't like Disney World, where they check at the end of the day to make sure everyone's made their way out safely. I never tried my cell phone but I'm not sure it would have worked.

Up until that point, my new Merrell hiking shoes had kept me steady on my feet. Then, I fell and skinned my knee. Ouch, did it hurt! Luckily, a couple with a baby were behind me and helped me up. I told them to go on ahead, I'd be fine.

From then on, I walked very gingerly, carefully stepping over every rock. I could not believe there were so many of them. Clearly, this was not a path intended for human use. Mountain goats, maybe.

Eventually, I reached the main road and the shuttle bus back to the visitors center. You would not believe the rush of adrenaline I felt at that point. I felt like John Muir!

I could have gone to the first aid station to get a bandage but I didn't want to miss the next bus to the motel and I wanted to hit the gift shop. I weighed the options - Band-aid, souvenirs - and decided the knee could wait.

Now, I have a lovely, framed Yosemite poster on my wall and an adventure I'll never forget.

OT: Our Town

From a display case filled with trophies, you can clearly see the attention that Dominiguez High School in Compton, Calif., lavishes on its sports program.

The school's drama program, on the other hand, had apparently been allowed to evaporate. Until a determined English teacher named Catherine Borek came along, Dominiguez students hadn't put on a school play in 20 years. For a comeback, she chose Our Town.

Borek's attempt to put on a show is the subject of the 2002 documentary OT: Our Town, by Scott Hamilton Kennedy. This isn't a perfect documentary - there are spots where the film seems a bit slow. Still, it's a compelling look at how theatre gives teenagers a sense of accomplishment and a battered community a sense of pride.

On the face of it, I can't think of two more dissimilar places than a poor, largely Latino and African-American city plagued by gang violence and the rural, whitebread New Hampshire town in Thorton Wilder's play. And at first, some of the students can't make the connection either.

But Borek, and fellow teacher Karen Greene, persevere. They help them see how this story relates to their lives, how its themes are universal. They use props from the kids' own lives to make it personal. It's clear from listening to the students as they discuss the play and go through rehearsals and finally perform onstage that they "get it."

The same night I watched OT: Our Town, I read an interesting article in The Washington Post about Rocco Landesman, the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. What struck me this time wasn't anything Mr. Landesman said but a quote from the ranking Republican on the appropriations subcommittee that oversees the NEA:

"You have to show the rest of the country that the arts are a benefit to them," says Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson.

Certainly the drama students at Dominiguez High School, their families and friends understand the benefit of the arts. And I'm pretty sure a lot of other Americans know it, too. But for anyone who still needs convincing, this documentary is a good place to start.

Man on Wire

I've now seen this year's Oscar winner for Best Documentary, Man on Wire, and it was so intense I swear I got vertigo just sitting on my couch.

The film tells the story of French high-wire artist Philippe Petit's attempt to walk on a cable strung between the twin towers of the World Trade Center on Aug. 7 1974.

Director James Marsh blends old footage of Petit with current interviews in which he and his accomplices describe the years they spent planning the feat. Marsh also uses some re-creations that add to the drama, giving it a cloak-and-dagger feel.

Petit himself is such an engaging character, talking about his inspiration and why he does what he does. In 1974 he was a 24-year-old street performer in Paris: juggling, riding a unicycle, doing his high-wire act. I especially loved seeing him as a young man: red-haired, scrawny, kind of impish and incredibly determined.

But the documentary certainly doesn't give you the impression that he's a daredevil or foolhardy. Just the opposite. Petit takes great care with his wire walking and he's very meticulous in his preparations. We also see him walking between the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and across the towers of Notre Dame. He clearly knows what he's doing.

The film doesn't make any reference to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that brought down the twin towers, although you can't help but think of that day as you watch. In hindsight, it seems shocking that it was so easy for Petit and his friends to make their way inside the buildings with hundreds of pounds of equipment.

The most amazing scenes, though, are the ones where we just get to watch Petit in the air - holding a curved pole for balance, placing one foot carefully in front of the other, at times lying down on the cable, with nothing underneath him but the hard, unforgiving pavement.

It truly takes your breath away.

The Beatles Love on the big screen

I've been curious about The Beatles Love ever since Steve on Broadway took in the Cirque du Soleil production in Las Vegas last year and gave it a glowing review.

Well, I'm not likely to get to Las Vegas anytime soon, but later this month, there's going to be a one-night screening of All Together Now, a documentary about the making of Love. It'll be screened at select theatres nationwide on Oct. 20 and then released on dvd on Oct. 21.

Okay, two things. First, I couldn't find any theatres in my area that are showing the documentary. Hopefully, more sites will be added over the next week. I mean really, there's nothing at all listed for Rhode Island or Massachusetts. Second, apparently the dvd will be available only at Best Buy. These exclusivity deals seem to be a growing trend. For example, Barnes & Noble sells the current Broadway revival recordings of Gypsy and South Pacific with bonus tracks not available anywhere else.

According to the documentary's Web site, All Together Now is a detailed look at the project, from its birth through the friendship between the late Beatle George Harrison and Cirque cofounder Guy Laliberte, to the contributions of the surviving Beatles and producer George Martin, to the construction of a unique stage and sound system at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. The early stages were all filmed, as were the first rehearsals at the Mirage's theatre, where the show has been playing since 2006.

In addition to the 84-minute documentary, dvd bonus features include a 22-minute segment called "Changing the Music," a look at the decision to rework and remix the Beatles songs for the show; "Music in the Theatre," 9 minutes, creating the show's audio design; and "Making Love," 10 minutes, a look at the art direction, costumes, props, imagery and the use of the Beatles' voices.

Reading, watching, listening

I always like to check out the weekly list of upcoming theatre-related book, cd and dvd releases on Talkin Broadway. Here's some of what I'd like to be listening to, watching and reading:

Defying Gravity: The Creative Career of Stephen Schwartz from Godspell to Wicked: Wow, that's a pretty long title. Now granted, I'd probably just skip ahead to the section on Wicked, but according to the publisher, author Carol de Giere spent 80 hours interviewing the composer and talked to more than 100 of his colleagues friends and family. The 544-page biography reveals "never-before-told-stories and explores both Schwartz's phenomenal hits and expensive flops." Available now.

The Grapes of Wrath: I don't anything about composer Ricky Ian Gordon, but I've been a big John Steinbeck fan since high school. My favorite work of his is actually the nonfiction account of his 1960 trip across America, Travels with Charley. Still, I'm curious about Gordon's opera version of Steinbeck's Depression-era novel The Grapes of Wrath. This 3-cd set was recorded last year with the Minnesota Opera. Available now.

Radio City Christmas Spectacular: I took a tour of Radio City Music Hall last year and it was great. Unfortunately, because a show was going on, we didn't actually get to go into the auditorium. So until I can see those high-kicking Rockettes in person, this may be the next best thing. This 90-minute dvd features last year's 75th anniversary production, including the reportedly spectacular Parade of the Wooden Soldiers. Release date: Nov. 4.

In Spite of Myself: A Memoir: I loved Julie Andrews' memoir, Home, and now her Sound of Music costar, Christopher Plummer, is weighing in with a 656-page autobiography. The early reviews sound good. Publisher's Weekly calls the book “An enchanting observer of the showbiz cavalcade, drawing vivid thumbnails of everyone from Laurence Olivier to Lenny Bruce and tossing off witty anecdotes like the most effortless ad libs. The result - a sparkling star turn from a born raconteur for whom all the world is indeed a stage.” Release date: Nov. 4.

The Gospel at Colonus: Since seeing The Dreams of Antigone last week, I'm on kind of a Greek tragedy kick. The Gospel at Colonus is a retelling of Sophocles' play Oedipus at Colonus through the medium of modern gospel music. This is the 9o-minute filmed version of a 1985 Philadelphia performance and features Morgan Freeman as a Pentecostal preacher and The Blind Boys of Alabama, collectively, as Oedipus. Release date: Nov. 18.

13: Even if I don't get to see Jason Robert Brown's new musical, I'll still pick up the original Broadway cast recording. I don't feel compelled to buy the cd of every new musical, especially if I've never seen it. But I enjoy Brown's music - whether I've seen the show, like Parade, or whether I haven't, like The Last 5 Years - and this is the kind of catchy pop score that's usually right up my alley. Release date: Nov. 25.

Hair: Let the Sun Shine In: If I could travel back in time to see the original Broadway production of a musical, Hair would definitely be high on my list. Maybe it's not so shocking today, but I can only imagine what it was like to see it 40 years ago. This 55-minute documentary, which also includes an hour of bonus footage, "conveys a portrait of an era, a generation and its politics." Release date Dec. 9.

Passing Strange: The Complete Book and Lyrics of the Broadway Musical: Stew won the Tony award for Best Book of a Musical for writing Passing Strange and I can understand why. The dialog was smart, witty and memorable. I'm curious to see how his words hold up when I read them rather than listen to them. Release date: January 15.

Moon Over Broadway

The 1997 documentary Moon Over Broadway, by husband-and-wife filmmakers D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, chronicles a six-month journey to opening night of a farce called Moon Over Buffalo, the vehicle for Carol Burnett's return to the New York stage.

After watching it, I thought, this is not Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland rounding up up some of their pals to put on a show. First, there are millions of dollars involved. Second, there are egos involved. And third, let's face it, a paying audience can be a lot tougher to please than your pals in the neighborhood.

Pennebaker first gained fame for 1967's Don't Look Back, about Bob Dylan's British tour two years earlier, and he's made many films about music, theatre and politics, among other subjects. Moon over Broadway is a fascinating look at how a show comes together and it incorporates Pennebaker's signature style: handheld cameras, grainy appearance from filming in available light and, in cinema verite fashion, no narration.

The documentary opens with a curtain call, and then moves several months back to a March press conference announcing Moon Over Buffalo. It's the story, according to playwright Ken Ludwig, of a 1950s acting couple, George and Charlotte Hay, kind of second-rate Lunts. Hollywood director Frank Capra is coming to Buffalo because two stars of a movie he's about to film are injured, and he may use George and Charlotte as their replacements. They go beserk in their greed and ambition.

The couple are played by Burnett, making her first appearance on Broadway in 30 years, and veteran stage actor Philip Bosco. In addition to showing us rehearsals, costume fittings and backstage, Pennebaker's cameras eavesdrop on some pretty blunt conversations and frayed tempers. It's so interesting to be a fly on the wall. You really get a sense of the stress, the anxiety, the tension among everyone involved in putting on this show.

Apparently, some people were not too happy to have a big television star in the cast. At one point, Ludwig laments to producer Rocco Landesman that the play will never be performed as he wrote it, which I guess is a pretty common complaint among playwrights. "This is the pact you make with the devil in the modern theatre: you need a star to sell tickets."

On the commentary, Bosco says he was worried about working with Burnett, fearing that her presence would change the dimension of the show. "I didn't like the play to begin with. I thought it was poorly written. but the role was great, I thought, it was a leading role on Broadway and you don't turn leading roles on Broadway down very easily." (I recommend listening to the commentary, which was obviously recorded years later for the dvd).

But I have to say, I was really impressed watching Burnett at rehearsal. I didn't notice any "I'm a big tv star" behavior. She seemed nervous but very dedicated, working hard to learn her lines and get the character down, listening to notes from director Tom Moore. It was interesting to see how an actor and director and writer work together to shape a performance.

By August, the show is ready for its out-of-town tryout, at Boston's Colonial Theatre.

Things are a lot different once the show gets before a paying audience. The tension is definitely racheted up a few notches. There's fine-tuning and rewriting and a lot of details that never even occurred to me, like questions about whether the dressers are able to work fast enough to help the actors change costumes between scenes.

The reviews in Boston end up being mixed, and there's lots of discussion among the creative team about what got laughs and which sections of the theatre seemed to be laughing the most. They discuss hiring a joke writer to punch up the dialog. "Audience will forgive all sorts of structural stuff, a lack of characterization, the story not making sense," Landesman says. "They won't forgive it not being funny."

In September, Moon Over Buffalo moves to Broadway's Martin Beck Theatre. (Now the Al Hirschfeld.)

A crisis occurs during the first preview when a winch jams, temporarily stopping the show. You see five sets of hands working furiously backstage, alternating with Burnett, who comes out to talk to the audience. She tells stories, answers questions, just like she'd do on her variety show. What a trouper! The audience is roaring. It was very funny, probably funnier than anything in the play, and one of those only-in-live-theatre moments.

Moon Over Buffalo opened on Oct. 1, 1995. As in Boston, the reviews were mixed. The New York Times' Vincent Canby doesn't like the play very much but he has very kind words for Burnett and Bosco. They both received Tony nominations, and the show played a total of 309 performances, closing on June 30, 1996. (In the end, we learn that of the 21 non-musical plays that opened, only three others finished the season.)

As he gets ready for opening night, putting on his lucky cowboy boots, Landesman sums things up nicely: "It wouldn't be any fun if you couldn't fail totally and be humiliated and embarrassed. It's that possibility, that risk of total mortification and degradation, that you're always trying to escape from, and what a joy when you do."

Mamma mia - it's here!

Some cinematic observations:

I don't think I'll be going to see the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Maybe I'll catch up with it in a few months, when it comes out on DVD. Maybe. It just looks too intense and violent for me. Plus, I'm not really a comic book fan. And when I see Heath Ledger's scary, twisted face as The Joker it just makes me cringe. I know his final performance is getting tons of praise. But it seems unbearably sad to watch someone so young on the big screen who's recently passed away, and in such tragic circumstances - from an accidental drug overdose.

It's finally here! Mamma Mia! opens nationwide today! I will be going to see the summer 2008 entry in the revitalization of the movie musical. It's only going to be about 95 degrees this weekend. Is there a better way to spend a couple of hours than sitting an air-conditioned movie theatre and being transported to a Greek island - with fun ABBA tunes? Plus, I'm sure there'll be another terrific performance from a singing and dancing Meryl Streep, arguably America's greatest living actress.

In addition to musicals, I'm a huge documentary fan, and I just read about a new blog devoted to the genre called Docsider. It's written by Mark Rabinowitz, one of the founders of Indiewire, which provides news and networking on the subject of independent films. So far, Docsider has only a few posts, but as someone who likes to keep track of what's going on in the documentary world, including upcoming releases, it could be a great resource.

And finally, Marc Shaiman is pretty high up on my list of personal musical theatre gods. There's just something about the catchy pop tunes that he and Scott Wittman wrote for Hairspray, the way they captured America in the early 1960s, that I find irresistible. A few weeks ago I saw South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. It really was hilarious, a great satire, and I loved Marc's songs. So I'm happy to hear that he's writing the score for a new movie, Bob: The Musical, about a thirtysomething self-proclaimed musical theatre hater who wakes up one morning to find out that his whole life has become a musical. Sounds like fun!

Wrestling with Angels

Last night, I watched the documentary on playwright Tony Kushner that's airing this month on PBS, "Wrestling with Angels." It's a really illuminating look at Kushner as a writer and as a person.

My introduction to his work came through the 2003 HBO miniseries of "Angels in America." I didn't actually have HBO at the time it aired, so while I was waiting for it to come out on DVD, I read the two plays that make up Angels: "Millennium Approaches" and "Perestroika."

While Kushner's work is about the AIDS crisis, it's not solely about that. In addition to the angels and the Mormons and Roy Cohn and Ethel Rosenberg what I took away from it was a very thoughtful and perceptive examination of what happens when someone we love falls ill. How well do we handle it?

And I think the final scene, in front of the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, is so stirring and inspiring. It's not an ending about dying from a horrible disease, but rather about living with it, surrounded by people you love. There's a glimmer of hope and a vow not to be silent ever again.

The documentary, by Academy Award winner Freida Lee Mock, touches on most of Kushner's works. But it spends the most time on some of his more recent endeavors, including the play "Homebody/Kabul," the Holocaust-themed opera "Brundibar" and the musical drawing on his Louisiana childhood, "Caroline, or Change." (There must have been a lot of cameras following Kushner at one point, because "Caroline, or Change" is also one of the shows featured in the documentary "ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway.")

Kushner wears his progressive politics on his sleeve, and he talks a lot about the political nature of his plays. We even see him going to Florida to ferry voters to the polls during the last presidential election. He's constantly talking about the need for the individual to take a stand and make a difference.

But it's the personal parts of the documentary that really fascinated me and gave me a fuller portrait of Tony Kushner than I'd ever had before. We see him getting around New York City on foot, by subway and cab, with a backpack slung over his shoulder. We visit his house in the country, and the little shed where he writes. We're guests at the wedding of Kushner and his partner, Mark Harris, in a traditional Jewish ceremony. (I caught sight of Marian Seldes for a brief second in a corner of the screen. That woman is everywhere!)

I especially loved the look at his small-town Southern Jewish roots. Kushner talks a lot about his family in the documentary. We travel with him to his hometown of Lake Charles, La. We see the small brick synagogue where he had his bar mitzvah and the lumberyard that his family owned. We meet his father and his brother.

I think that the title can work on two levels. Obviously, it's an allusion to "Angels in America." But I thought of another possible allusion. In the Book of Genesis, Jacob spends all night wrestling with a mysterious being, or an angel. He's given the name Israel, meaning one who has struggled or wrestled with God and prevailed.

Since then, the idea of wrestling with God has in many ways been at the core of Jewish identity. To me, it's not simply a religious struggle, but a struggle to understand the world and your place in it.

Whether or not you agree with his politics, I think that as a person, and as a playwright, that is what Tony Kushner is doing. He comes across as a very sincere, likable person as he talks about all of his struggles: coming out to his parents and being true to himself as a gay man, what it means to be a good person and a good citizen, and what an individual can do to make the world a better place.

True stories

I'm a big fan of documentary films. If done well, the characters they portray and the stories they tell are just as varied and compelling and emotionally involving as anything that could come from the mind of a screenwriter.

To commemorate its 25th anniversary, the International Documentary Association has published a list of the top 25 documentaries as chosen by the organization's members, and I've seen almost all of them.

The top honor goes to 1994's "Hoop Dreams," an often-praised film that tells the story of two African-American teenagers from Chicago who have their sights set on careers in professional basketball. This is a film that could easily fall into cliche territory. I was really drawn into the lives of these two young men and angry about the way they were used by some of the adults around them.

"Hoop Dreams" is also noteworthy because of the controversy it caused when it failed to garner an Oscar nomination for best documentary. The omission, which was widely criticized, led to reforms in the way the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences picks the nominees.

The rest of the list isn't really very surprising to documentary fans. It includes lots of classics, like the 1955 film about the Holocaust, "Night and Fog," the 1970 concert film "Woodstock," and legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman's legendary 1967 film about the mentally ill, "Titicut Follies." There are also many well-known, recent titles on the list, like "Super Size Me," "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Spellbound." A short essay accompanies the Top 10 picks.

Here are some more documentaries that aren't on the list, but which I've enjoyed:

"The Agronomist" - A film by Jonathan Demme telling the inspring but ultimately tragic story of a legendary Haitian radio journalist and political activist.
Recording the Producers: A musical romp with Mel Brooks - A glimpse inside the recording studio, with lots of wit from Mel Brooks and company as they make the cast album for the Broadway musical.
CSA: The Confederate States of America - A mockumentary that examines what life would be like in the United States if the South had won the Civil War. It's a cutting satire that makes you laugh even as you cringe.
4 Little Girls - Spike Lee recounts one of one of the most horrific events of the civil-rights movment, the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Ala., and the four young children who were killed.
My Architect: A Son's Journey - Nicholas Kahn's film about his father, architect Louis Kahn, a man who designed beautiful buildings but had a rather messy personal life.
Born Rich - A very funny and surprisingly reflective film about the lives of some wealthy young adults, made by the heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune.
To Be and to Have - A dedicated teacher tends to his young charges in a one-room schoolhouse in rural France.
Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns - The story of the two Johns who make up the quirky two-man alternative rock duo "They Might Be Giants."
Maya Lin: A Strong, Clear Vision - An Academy Award winner about the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the controversy surrounding her selection.
Amandla! A Revolution in Four-part Harmony - How music helped in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa.

On the road

I love the PBS series "Broadway: The American Musical," so I'm really looking forward to another, albeit much shorter, Great White Way-themed documentary out on DVD this week, "ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway."

In a behind-the-scenes look, director and Tony-winner Dori Berinstein captures the 2003-2004 theatrical season's hopes, dreams, hits and flops. Artists, producers critics and fans all get a say. She focuses on four musicals: the soon-to-be behemoth "Wicked," adult-themed puppet show "Avenue Q," Tony Kushner's civil-rights era tale "Caroline, or Change," and the Boy George/Rosie O'Donnell collaboration "Taboo."

The film's Web site describes it as "a feature-length documentary that examines the annual influx of ambitious, star-crossed hopefuls, scrambling for the high-board to make their big leap into everlasting limelight. It could be any season, because this phenomenon continues as faithfully and ritualistically as swallows’ return to Capistrano."

The Washington Post's Philip Kennicott reviewed the film in June, saying ShowBusiness is "filled with neurotic people in greasepaint, some of them charming, most of them amusing, and by the time you've spent an hour and a half with them, you're more than invested in their lives and cares." On filmcritic.com, Chris Barsanti credits Berinstein with "a good feel for what is the overriding emotion of Broadway at any given time, most especially at the loosely-defined summer start of a new season: fear."

Extras accompanying the 104-minute film include an hour of deleted scenes and a commentary track with Berinstein, actor and coproducer Alan Cumming, and Avenue Q co-creator Jeff Marx.

Berinstein also talks about the making of the documentary, and about her career, in this DownStage Center interview. She's also known as cofounder of the summer program for theatrical-loving kids, Camp Broadway, which, alas, I'm too old to attend.

I know ShowBusiness is at the top of my shopping list for Tuesday!