Broadway’s Lost Treasures

Broadway’s Lost Treasures (2003) Technically, they weren’t lost, just buried for a while. I’m not completely clear where these song and dance numbers came from, but it seems to be a mix of segments from a PBS program archive and performances done at the Tony Awards. Some feature just the one performer doing his or her Big Number from the Smash Hit Musical, or seven or eight on an almost-empty stage, like the stuff we see from Annie, but then a few of them are full productions with full casts.

I’m gaga over musical comedies, this was a real find. Just take a look at some of the wonders on display here:

Zero Mostel singing, jabbering, and jiggling his huge bulk to “If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof.
Carol Channing, belting out “Before the Parade Passes By” from Hello, Dolly!
Joel Grey smirking, insinuating, chuckling wiz ze beautiful orgestra and Kit Kat Girls, (each of them a wirgin) in “Willkommen” from Cabaret.
Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin from Evita.
Robert Preston from The Music Man.
Tommy Tune and Twiggy doing the title tune from My One and Only.
Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera from Chicago.
Jerry Orbach singing “Lullaby of Broadway” from 42nd Street.
All the cats singing “Jellicle Cats,” and Betty Buckley singing one of the all-time showstoppers, “Memory,” from Cats.

… and much, much more, including a few scenes from musicals I had barely heard of, with Bonnie Franklin and Barbara Harris. This is the cream of the cream, friends, and if you love Broadway (or West End) musicals, you need to have this DVD.