Theater News

Rick McKay's Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age to Premiere on PBS in August

The film is a sequel to McKay’s ”Broadway: The Golden Age”, which debuted in 2004.

Pictured from left to right: Rick McKay, Jane Summerhays, Tommy Tune, Donald Pippin, Carleton Carpenter, and Marni Nixon
Pictured from left to right: Rick McKay, Jane Summerhays, Tommy Tune, Donald Pippin, Carleton Carpenter, and Marni Nixon
(© David Gordon)

Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age, the long-awaited sequel to the late Rick McKay's 2004 documentary Broadway: The Golden Age — By the Legends Who Were There, will have its television premiere via PBS's Great Performances beginning August 14 around the country. The New York area premiere date is August 19 at 8pm ET. The film will also stream via the PBS Video app.

The film has been in development since the 2003 release of the initial film, and earlier versions have premiered at film festivals within the last decade. Beyond the Golden Age tells the story of the heyday of Broadway from 1959 to 1983, utilizing interviews commingled with performance footage, home movies, and photos. It covers the rise of director/choreographers like Gower Champion, Michael Bennett, and Bob Fosse, explores the creations of shows like Fiorello!, Pippin, Ain't Misbehavin', A Raisin in the Sun, A Chorus Line, and Chicago; and follows the struggle of Times Square and New York City in the 1970s.

Director/writer/producer McKay converted his home into his own studio and editing bay, with shelves and storage spaces holding tapes with over 600 hours of interviews with over 300 Broadway stars. He passed away at the age of 57 in 2018, leaving his team of producers — Anne L. Bernstein, Albert M. Tapper, Jane Klain, Jamie deRoy, Richard Eric Weigle, Michael Anastasio, James Berry, Corey Brunish, Frances B. Bator, Kimberly Reed, and Rachel Roark Strange — to get the film done.