Original Cast Album: Company | D: D.A. Pennebaker | 1970 | 53 min
This classic for both documentary and theatre aficionados offers a tantalizingly rare glimpse behind the Broadway curtain. In 1970, right after the triumphant premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking concept musical Company, the renowned composer and lyricist, his director Harold Prince, the show’s stars, and a large pit orchestra all went into a Manhattan recording studio as part of a time-honored Broadway tradition: the making of the original cast album. What ensued was a marathon session in which, with the pressures of posterity and the coolly exacting Sondheim’s perfectionism hanging over them, all involved pushed themselves to the limit—including theater legend Elaine Stritch, who fought anxiety and exhaustion to record her iconic rendition of “The Ladies Who Lunch.” With thrilling immediacy, legendary filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker offers an up-close view of the larger-than-life personalities, frayed-nerve energy, and explosive creative intensity that go into capturing the magic of live performance.
Screening with
Documentary Now! episode Original Cast Album: Co-Op | D: Alexander Buono | 2019 | 25 min
A fly-on-the-wall look at the marathon cast album recording of the ill-fated 1970 Broadway musical comedy centered around a cast of characters who work, live, or want to live in the same co-op.
Documentary Now! is a popular mockumentary series
that spoofs celebrated docs and is hosted by Dame Helen Mirren.
Featuring a pre-recorded intro with BlackBerry director Matt Johnson.
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Want more? Check out BlackBerry Inspirations. To celebrate the release of Toronto-based filmmaker Matt Johnson's BlackBerry, we present this series of films curated by Johnson and his collaborator Matt Miller. Each film will include a pre-recorded intro from Matt Johnson.
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