9.3/1026 votesLoading...#1 - Tradition (1957-1979)
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 10/21/2004
The episode features interviews with actor Joel Grey, composer Marvin Hamlisch, actor Jerry Orbach, producer Hal Prince, writer Frank Rich, lyricist Stephen Sondheim, director Julie Taymor, and actor Ben Vereen. Highlights include rare footage of Ethel Merman rehearsing for Gypsy and home movies from the original stage production of Chicago.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 9.1/1029 votesLoading...
#2 - Give My Regards to Broadway (1893-1927)
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/19/2004
The episode features interviews with Irving Berlin’s daughter Mary Ellen Barrett, Ziegfeld Follies girls Doris Eaton and Dana O’Connell, New Yorker critic Brendan Gill, theater artist Al Hirschfeld, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and Ziegfeld daughter Patricia Z. Stephenson. Highlights include newly-restored color footage of The Ziegfeld Follies and footage of Fanny Brice singing “My Man.”
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.9/1020 votesLoading...
#3 - Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' (1943-1960)
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/20/2004
The episode features interviews with actor Julie Andrews, writer/lyricist Betty Comden, choreographer Agnes De Mille, writer/lyricist Adolph Green, Oscar Hammerstein’s grandson Andy Hammerstein, choreographer Michael Kidd, author James Michener, theater historian Steve Nelson, musician John Raitt, choreographer Jerome Robbins, composer Mary Rodgers Guettel, and conductor Michael Tilson-Thomas. Highlights include never-before-broadcast footage of Jerome Robbins’ choreography for On the Town, 1960 TV footage of Rex Harrison re-enacting “I’m an Ordinary Man” from My Fair Lady, and the first American broadcast of 1950 footage of the original Guys and Dolls cast performing in London.
Director: N/A
Writer: JoAnn Young
- 8.7/1024 votesLoading...
#4 - Syncopated City (1919-1933)
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/19/2004
The episode features interviews with actor Carol Channing, Gershwin sister Frances Gershwin Godowsky, Al Jolson & Co. creator Stephen Mo Hanan, critic Margo Jefferson, writer Miles Krueger, New Yorker theater critic John Lahr, radio host/music critic Jonathan Schwartz, theater historians Max Wilk and Robert Kimball, and director/producer George C.Wolfe. Highlights include rare performance footage of composer Eubie Blake and a specially animated sequence of Rodgers and Hart’s 1927 hit “Thou Swell” from A Connecticut Yankee.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.6/1026 votesLoading...
#5 - I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' (1930-1942)
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/20/2004
The episode features interviews with actor and original “Bess” Anne Brown, playwright Jerome Chodorov, actor Carol Channing, film director Stanley Donen, actor and original “Porgy” Todd Duncan, writer Philip Furia, actor Kitty Carlisle Hart, actor June Havoc, actor/producer John Houseman, actor/director Tim Robbins, and composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Highlights include rarely seen home movies of the Gershwin brothers from the 1930s, and 1950s TV footage of the incomparable Ethel Waters singing Irving Berlin’s “Suppertime.”
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.7/1042 votesLoading...
#6 - Putting It Together (1980-2004)
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 10/21/2004
The episode features interviews with writer/producer Mel Brooks, actor Kristin Chenoweth, Walt Disney Corporation CEO Michael Eisner, actor/bookwriter Harvey Fierstein, composer/lyricist Jerry Herman, actor Nathan Lane, playwright/director James Lapine, producer Rocco Landesman, director Arthur Laurents, actor Idina Menzel, Nederlander Theaters chairman James Nederlander Sr., director Susan Stroman, and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Highlights include home movies of Jonathan Larson working as a waiter before leaving his job to create Rent, and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of Wicked in rehearsal and opening on Broadway.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Broadway: The American Musical
Every episode of Broadway: The American Musical ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Broadway: The American Musical!
This six part documentary miniseries presents the evolution of the Broadway musical from its inception in 1893 to current day 2004. It presents those influential...
Genre:Documentary
Network:PBS
Best Episodes Summary
"Tradition (1957-1979)" is the best rated episode of "Broadway: The American Musical". It scored 9.3/10 based on 26 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 10/21/2004. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Give My Regards to Broadway (1893-1927)".