My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies (1999) (TV)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

William Cosel

Writer:

David Thompson (writer)

Release Date:

1 December 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Music

Plot:

This film presents highlights of a concert given on 28 September 1998 at Carnegie Hall in New York City...

Plot Keywords:

TV Special | Live Audience | Concert Film

Cast

Julie Andrews	...	Herself as Hostess
Nell Carter	...	Herself
Lea DeLaria	...	Herself
Linda Eder	...	Herself
Luther Henderson	...	Himself
Jennifer Holliday	...	Herself
Dee Hoty	...	Herself
Anna Kendrick	...	Herself
Judy Kuhn	...	Herself
Priscilla Lopez	...	Herself
Dorothy Loudon	...	Herself
Rebecca Luker	...	Herself
Marin Mazzie	...	Herself
Andrea McArdle	...	Herself
Audra McDonald	...	Herself
Liza Minnelli	...	Herself
Debra Monk	...	Herself
Robert Morse	...	Daphne
Bebe Neuwirth	...	Velma Kelly
Faith Prince	...	Herself
Tony Roberts	...	Josephine
Wendy Rosoff	...	Herself
Elaine Stritch	...	Herself
Karen Ziemba	...	Herself and Roxie Hart

Runtime:

USA:99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Carnegie Hall - 57th Street & 7th Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Movie Connections:

Followed by "Great Performances: My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs" (2001)

Soundtrack:

The Ladies Who Lunch

Concerts like this don't happen every day!

Do you like showtunes? Better yet, do you like women singing showtunes? Or, even better yet, do you like DIVAS singing showtunes? This televised concert manages to string together a fantastic cast of fantastic women singing fantastic songs. While the "Lloyd Webber Love Trio" is trite and could have been left out, there is a plethora of excellent material here, much of it under-performed. Highlights include Karen Ziemba's "I Wanna Be a Rockette," complete with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes right behind her, Audra McDonald's hilarious turn with "Down With Love," and Liza Minnelli singing the [expletive deleted] out of "Some People."

I can see that some of you are still shaking your heads -- but this show has not one, not two, but three "must-see" performances that absolutely stopped the show cold. The first is Linda Eder ("Jekyll and Hyde") brilliantly singing "Man of La Mancha." The second appears shortly thereafter -- Jennifer Holliday's heartbreaking ballad "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." But the third, the concert's last solo, is Elaine Stritch singing Stephen Sondheim's witty (and bitchy!) diatribe against "The Ladies Who Lunch." This great actress, singing this great song, is alone worth the purchase price of this concert.