Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Taymor, Julie, 1952-
2. Kantor, Michael, 1961-
3. Squires, Buddy
4. Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor.
5. Thirteen/WNET, donor.

Description

1. 2 videocassettes (VHS) (62 min.) : sd., col. SP; 1/2 in.

Summary

1. Raw interview footage used for the documentary Broadway, the American musical. Director and costume designer Julie Taymor speaks about the musical theater. Taymor begins with her decision to direct and develop the 1997 Broadway musical The lion king, which was based on the1994 animated film and produced by Disney Theatrical Productions. Taymor speaks about her idea to alter the original score for the production to emphasize the choral music by South African composer Lebo M., and the addition of three new songs by Elton John and Tim Rice. She discusses her approach to creating for the theater; the story of The lion king, and why it is so broadly appealing; the array of theatrical styles she employs in the production; and how the show's creators struggled to decide how to present the puppets and their human operators on stage. Taymor speaks about being hired by Michael Eisner and Tom Schumacher of the Disney Company to create the production, and how she along with her co-designer Michael Curry designed and engineered the masks which are used in the show; the ability of Broadway audiences to appreciate the South African music featured in the production; the show's opening which featured Rafiki summoning the animal kingdom to celebrate the birth of the next king, which she views as "primordial and archetypal," and how the audience responds to her stagecraft in that scene and others; the cultural diversity of the cast, and the show's transcendence of race via its universal theme set within the world of animals; the show's ability to communicate its message across cultures; her sources of inspiration in Asian theatrical forms, including Bunraku puppet theater of Japan, and how this was received by the show's Japanese audiences. Taymor speaks about Broadway as a market place, and how, nonetheless, business decisions were not involved in her creation of the characters for The lion king; the production of shows on Broadway by large companies, and the possible effect of this on the quality of the shows which are produced; her effort to emphasize creativity and originality over corporate recognizability in her production of The lion king; the power of spectacle to tell a story onstage; and more on the three additional songs written for the stage production, as well as the six or seven songs which were added to the score by Hans Zimmer and others. Discussion concludes on tape one with audio-only commentary for about a minute on the audience's ability to focus on a human face and a mask at the same time, and to interpret ideas which are presented abstractly in the theater.

Alternative title

1. Broadway, the American musical
2. Broadway: the American musical : Julie Taymor

Subject

1. Musical theater > New York (State) > New York
2. Masks
3. M, Lebo > Friends and associates
4. Documentaries and factual works
5. Costume designers > Interviews
6. Bernstein, Leonard, 1918-1990 > West Side story
7. John, Elton > Lion King (Musical)
8. Unedited footage
9. Broadway (New York, N.Y.)
10. Walt Disney Productions
11. Theatrical producers and directors > Interviews
12. Musicals
13. Theater > New York (State) > New York
14. Costume design
15. Women theatrical producers and directors > Interviews
16. Puppet making
17. Artists and theater
18. Musical theater > Production and direction
19. Theater audiences
20. Taymor, Julie, 1952- > Interviews
21. Rice, Tim, 1944- > Friends and associates
22. Puppet theater
23. Walt Disney Theatrical Productions, Ltd

Genre/Form

1. Documentaries and factual works.
2. Musicals.
3. Unedited footage.

Call number

1. NCOX 2158

Note

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Time code on frame.
4. Contains various takes, at occasional brief intervals, audio continues without sound.
5. On tape with: scenic footage of Broadway streets and landmarks.

Credits (note)

1. Cameraman: Buddy Squires.

Performer (note)

1. Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Julie Taymor.

Event (note)

1. Videotaped on Broadway in New York, N.Y., on July 16, 2003.

Biography (note)

1. 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.

Title

1. [Interview with Julie Taymor : raw footage] [videorecording] / [directed by Michael Kantor]

Imprint

1. New York, 2003.

Credits

1. Cameraman: Buddy Squires.

Performer

1. Interviewer: Michael Kantor. Interviewee: Julie Taymor.

Event

1. Videotaped on Broadway in New York, N.Y., on July 16, 2003.

Biography

1. 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

1. Gift of Broadway Film Project, Inc. and Thirteen/WNET, 2005.

Connect to:

1. Request Access to Theatre on Film and Tape Archive Special Collections material

Added author

1. Taymor, Julie, 1952- interviewee.
2. Kantor, Michael, 1961- interviewer.
3. Kantor, Michael, 1961- director.
4. Squires, Buddy, cameraman.
5. Broadway Film Project, Inc, donor.
6. Thirteen/WNET, donor.

Research call number

1. NCOX 2158