The filmmaker and writer Michael Kantor, executive producer of American Masters on PBS, discusses the third edition of Broadway: The American Musical (Applause Books, 2020), with Joseph Planta.

Broadway: The American Musical, Third Edition by Michael Kantor and Laurence Maslon (Applause Books, 2020). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Broadway: The American Musical

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

In 2004, PBS aired a landmark miniseries documentary, Broadway: The American Musical. It was from the filmmaker Michael Kantor, who joins me now, who wrote the film and the companion book with Laurence Maslon. The book, a comprehensive resource on its own has just had its third edition published, updated through to the 2018-2019 season. It features The Book of Mormon, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, and last year’s winner of the Tony for Best Musical, Hadestown. The book has been lauded as the gold standard when it comes to musical theatre books for how it chronicles the evolution of the art form from the turn of the twentieth century and its roots in operetta and Yiddish theatre, through to its golden era mid-century, through to the new millennium. The place and the idea of Broadway is contemplated throughout the book, and features remarkable stills from the history of the Great White Way, with interviews with people at the heart of Broadway and the musical, the performers, the creators and composers, the audience, and everyone in between. Michael Kantor is an award-winning writer, director and producer. Broadway: The American Musical won an Emmy for Outstanding Nonfiction Series, and his other work like Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America was Emmy-nominated, and Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy, another remarkable series for PBS’s Great Performances received a Peabody Award. In 2014, he became executive producer of the American Masters series on PBS overseeing films such as Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Raul Julia: The World’s a Stage, and the recent Sammy Davis Jr. I’ve Gotta Be Me. He is also a nominator for the Tony Awards. The new edition is from Applause Books and is available now. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Michael Kantor; Mr. Kantor, good morning.

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