Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Dada Films | Release Date: June 11, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Dallas ObserverJean Oppenheimer
Pure joy to watch -- and an invaluable documentary record of a bygone era. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Moving and invaluable. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's one for the time capsule. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The strength of McKay's film is not in identifying a cultural period, but in giving voice to so many great theater people. Their passion is infectious, their stories are priceless and their humor is boundless. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
This free-flowing film certainly hits the high points as it flips around its talking-head celebrity sound bites at warp speed. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's the sort of history you could nibble on for hours. Read full review
80
VarietyScott Foundas
Rick McKay's exceptional new documentary Broadway: The Golden Age presents a veritable avalanche of interviews with some of the biggest names in the history of the American theater, preserving for posterity their wise words and disarming anecdotes. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
This is cinema as oral tradition. And one heck of a cheap-seat deal. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleRachel Proctor May
Consisting of five years' worth of interviews illustrated by a mountain of archival footage, the film sails on the actors' consistent ability to spin a good yarn. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
A delightful "That's Entertainment" for the theater. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
An intriguing exploration of New York theater at the height of its glory. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It's the videotaped equivalent of a primary research data dump. But to quote Bette Davis by way of Edward Albee: What a dump. Read full review
70
The New York TimesStephen Holden
Anyone who attended Broadway shows in the days when ticket prices were reasonable and the actors and singers performed without amplification will feel a rush of nostalgia as these troupers offer what amounts to a breezy compilation of after-dinner remarks. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
The film will eventually be a must-own video item for theater buffs. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyRon Stringer
Performance after performance -- by Kim Stanley, Marlon Brando, Laurette Taylor . . . Never heard of her? That’s reason enough not to miss this movie. Read full review
70
Washington PostStephen Hunter
If you love the theater, you've got to see the film. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
In one of the film's most persuasive bits, Farley Granger talks about chucking a lucrative film career in order to tread the boards in New York. Maybe it's that kind of magnetic draw that makes an age golden. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kamal Al-Solaylee
It takes more than a fan to analyze the legacy of a period. But a fan is just what it takes to indulge in that legacy, which is exactly what Broadway: The Golden Age is all about. Read full review
60
Village VoiceCharles McNulty
More buff than historian, McKay chats with anyone who can tell him about the good old days, a vaguely defined period that sprawls from the mid '40s to the late '60s. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
What could easily have been a sentimental, fannish exercise in musty nostalgia is in fact a lovely tribute to an era of feverish creativity that seemed as though it would never end yet now lives only in memory. Read full review
50
Film ThreatPhil Hall
A well-intended but hopelessly ill-focused documentary which wants to be the "That's Entertainment!" for the New York theater but seems like a hodgepodge of anecdotes, factoids and moldy memories. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The movie is mostly a megadose of good-old-days nostalgia. Read full review
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