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ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway (2005)

tomatometer

88

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 52
Fresh: 46 | Rotten: 6

Made with obvious care and attention, Showbusiness is an entertaining, insightful look into Broadway.

88

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 17
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 2

Made with obvious care and attention, Showbusiness is an entertaining, insightful look into Broadway.

audience

77

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 1,735

My Rating

Movie Info

The documentary ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway journeys behind the scenes of four Broadway productions mounted during the 2003-4 theatrical season that ultimately garnered nominations for Best Musical: Wicked, the Rosie O'Donnell/Boy George collaboration Taboo, Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change and the iconoclastic puppet review Avenue Q. The film provides a glimpse into each stage of the theatrical process for these productions - from auditions to staging to rehearsals to previews to

Oct 16, 2007

Regent Releasing

All Critics (53) | Top Critics (18) | Fresh (48) | Rotten (6) | DVD (3)

Bright lights, big drama. A delectable trip down Broadway.

June 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | Comment
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It is filled with neurotic people in greasepaint, some charming, most amusing, and by the time you've spent an hour and a half with them, you're more than invested in their lives and cares.

June 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Along the way, the film includes insightful observations about the creative process.

June 8, 2007 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

In the end, I wish Berenstein had devoted her filmmaking to two musicals instead of four, thus affording even more screen time to each show's creative process (the audition process, the choreography, early rehearsals and such).

June 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The film's slick and entertaining, an obvious must-see for musical hounds. It holds water for laypeople, though, because the insights into a communal creative process are so sharp.

June 8, 2007 Full Review Source: Boston Globe | Comment
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Sheds much-needed light on a fascinating show-business institution.

June 8, 2007 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Anyone who thinks show biz is glamorous and easy should watch this film.

April 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

It whets your appetite for the stage; it certainly made me want to watch every one of these plays.

November 5, 2007 Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | Comment

For those who believe there's no business like show business, this documentary will be a singular sensation.

October 2, 2007 Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Comment
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

This sounds like the sort of thing that could bore to tears anyone not enamored of the musical theater, but in fact it's a compelling, often amusing look backstage.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Oregonian | Comment
Oregonian

Thanks to Berinstein's celebratory but lucid documentary, now have a better sense of what it takes to make it on Broadway.

August 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | Comment
Boxoffice Magazine

It's a rosy and warty look at what makes the big shows happen, and what makes them tick. I hope you'll see it, even if you're not 'into' musical theatre -- it's really well done.

August 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Cinerina | Comment

Berinstein's film captures all the hopes, thrills and heartache of an endeavor in which every night is a high-wire act.

August 10, 2007 Comment
Kansas City Star

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway is a tasty bonbon for theater buffs that has many fascinating backstage details.

July 21, 2007 Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | Comment
culturevulture.net

For the Broadway babies out there, ShowBusiness will make you want to schedule a trip to the Great White Way.

July 12, 2007 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

It's incredibly prescient of Berinstein to know where to be and get in there...It's a rosy and warty look at what makes the big shows happen, and what makes them tick. I hope you'll see it, even if you're not "into" musical theatre.

July 5, 2007 Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | Comment
rec.arts.movies.reviews

By keeping the theme squarely on the process and the toll it takes on the players, Berinstein gives viewers a captivating look behind the scenes.

June 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Entertainment Insiders | Comment
Entertainment Insiders

This is an entertaining visit to a strange planet.

June 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Seattle Times | Comment
Seattle Times

The star-struck [Dori] Berinstein squanders her opportunity to ask some tough questions about the state of, and prospects for, the American musical.

June 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Comment
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Showbusiness: The Road to Broadway is essentially a valentine to a profession that filmmaker Dori Berinstein loves and admires.

June 27, 2007 Comment
KPBS.org

A fascinating document about the constant tussle between the show and the business of showbiz.

June 23, 2007 Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | Comment
San Diego Metropolitan

Show Business misses lots of fascinating stuff.

June 21, 2007 Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | Comment
St. Paul Pioneer Press
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway

"Show Business: The Road to Broadway" is a blithely entertaining documentary about the 2003-2004 Broadway season focusing on four musicals - Wicked, Avenue Q, Taboo and Caroline, or Change, from the plays' conception to the 2004 Tony Awards with an amazing amount of backstage access. However, I do wish there had been

June 4, 2008
Harlequin68
Walter M.

Super Reviewer

Pretty cool.

November 28, 2008
SunilJawahir

Super Reviewer

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