0:00:08 > 0:00:12This is New York, and this is Broadway,
0:00:12 > 0:00:15home of the songs that have entertained and inspired us
0:00:15 > 0:00:16for generations.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19# Life can be bright in America
0:00:19 > 0:00:21# If you can fight in America
0:00:21 > 0:00:23# Life is all right in America
0:00:23 > 0:00:27# If you're a white in America... #
0:00:27 > 0:00:29Now, here's my question.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32What do the following have in common?
0:00:32 > 0:00:36Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Laurence Hart, Oscar Hammerstein,
0:00:39 > 0:00:41Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43The list goes on and on.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48Yes, they're musical titans, every one.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53AND they also happen to be Jewish.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55# If I were a rich man... #
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Tonight, Imagine explores the remarkable role
0:00:58 > 0:01:01that Jewish immigrants have played
0:01:01 > 0:01:04in creating the modern American musical.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07# Tomorrow, tomorrow
0:01:07 > 0:01:09# I love ya, tomorrow
0:01:09 > 0:01:14# You're only a day away #
0:01:14 > 0:01:16Behind me you see a phalanx,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20an avalanche of Jews who have come with their talent, their money...
0:01:20 > 0:01:24I was a protege of the great Boris Thomashefsky.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26It's a fascinating tale.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30There's wit, wisdom and, of course, unforgettable music.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33# Don't tell me not to fly I've simply got to
0:01:33 > 0:01:36# If someone takes a spill it's me and not you
0:01:36 > 0:01:41# Who told you you're allowed to rain on my parade? #
0:01:41 > 0:01:42But before we begin,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46it's worth remembering an important piece of advice.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49In any great adventure, you don't want to lose.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53You won't succeed on Broadway if you don't have any Jews.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55# There's no business
0:01:55 > 0:01:58# Like show business
0:01:58 > 0:02:02# Like no business I know... #
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Once upon a time, King Arthur wanted to take his knights on a quest
0:02:07 > 0:02:11to do a musical on Broadway, but this was a very, very bad idea.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13And I'm going to tell you why.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19# In any great adventure if you don't want to lose
0:02:19 > 0:02:22# Victory depends upon the people that you choose
0:02:22 > 0:02:26# So listen, Arthur darling Closely to this news
0:02:26 > 0:02:31# You won't succeed on Broadway if you don't have any Jews
0:02:31 > 0:02:35# You may have the finest sets Fill the stage with penthouse pets
0:02:35 > 0:02:38# You may have the loveliest costumes and best shoes
0:02:38 > 0:02:41# You may dance and you may sing but I'm sorry, Arthur, king
0:02:41 > 0:02:44# You'll hear no cheers Just lots and lots of boos
0:02:44 > 0:02:48# You may have butch men by the score, whom the audience adore
0:02:48 > 0:02:50# You may even have some animals from zoos
0:02:50 > 0:02:52# Though you've holes and Krauts instead
0:02:52 > 0:02:54# You may have unleavened bread
0:02:54 > 0:02:57# But I tell you, you are dead if you don't have any Jews... #
0:02:59 > 0:03:01It's not funny unless it's true.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04And people only laugh because... It's true.
0:03:04 > 0:03:06Rodgers and Hammerstein!
0:03:06 > 0:03:10You can name off all the Broadway composers.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Jerry Herman. Irving Berlin.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Everybody on Broadway except Cole Porter.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25George Gershwin, Steve Sondheim.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29I'm trying to think if there was anybody not Jewish.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34# Ho-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oy! #
0:03:34 > 0:03:37My husband Adolph Green and his wonderful partner
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Betty Comden, and, of course, Lenny Bernstein.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Why were they, so many of them, Jewish?
0:03:47 > 0:03:49# There simply must be
0:03:49 > 0:03:52# Arthur, trust me Simply must be Jews! #
0:03:52 > 0:03:54Is it that they were misfits
0:03:54 > 0:03:57and then they all found themselves in musical theatre
0:03:57 > 0:04:00because it was a place where, with their unusual brains,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03they could all collaborate and co-exist in an environment
0:04:03 > 0:04:06that allowed for that flexibility?
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Maybe that was it.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Maybe one day we'll say, "Oh, they all had ADD
0:04:11 > 0:04:13"and that's why they all ended up in musical theatre.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16"It wasn't about the Jewishness at all."
0:04:34 > 0:04:37For generations of Jewish songwriters,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Broadway has been a catalyst for transformation.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45On Broadway, the idea of outsiders beating the odds
0:04:45 > 0:04:48could be dramatised in a uniquely American art form.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55Here, melodies derived from Jewish prayers inspired new songs
0:04:55 > 0:04:58that millions would embrace.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00Musical theatre offered Jewish songwriters
0:05:00 > 0:05:03a chance to make it in America
0:05:03 > 0:05:06and, in return, they fashioned an America of their own,
0:05:06 > 0:05:10through songs and shows that have endeared themselves
0:05:10 > 0:05:12to countless people the world over.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17Porgy And Bess and Show Boat
0:05:17 > 0:05:20and Oklahoma! -
0:05:20 > 0:05:24these are ideas that are fictions.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26What do we make America into?
0:05:26 > 0:05:29How do we take what we know and make it into America?
0:05:29 > 0:05:32The Broadway musical is a sort of tipping point experience
0:05:32 > 0:05:36where a handful of composers and lyricists
0:05:36 > 0:05:41created a way for all of us
0:05:41 > 0:05:43to experience the ideas
0:05:43 > 0:05:47that have become part of what we call the American Dream.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16Before the Broadway musicals set up home near Times Square
0:06:16 > 0:06:18in the early 20th century, there was
0:06:18 > 0:06:22a lively theatre that thrived downtown, on the Lower East Side,
0:06:22 > 0:06:27where Yiddishkeit, meaning "all things Jewish", took centre stage.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32There, Russian immigrants like Boris Thomashefsky
0:06:32 > 0:06:37and his wife Bessie pioneered a novel form of musical theatre
0:06:37 > 0:06:41which spoke to the multitude of newcomers fresh off the boat -
0:06:41 > 0:06:43the Yiddish theatre.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48There is a huge connection between Broadway
0:06:48 > 0:06:50and the American Yiddish theatre.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53People don't get that any more,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57about how powerful Yiddishkeit was
0:06:57 > 0:07:00in the foundation of Broadway,
0:07:00 > 0:07:02and that the direction of Yiddishkeit was twofold.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04It was to amuse,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07but it was also to instruct,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11and that the theatre could be used, ultimately, as a medium for
0:07:11 > 0:07:14showing people on stage
0:07:14 > 0:07:18how certain situations in life might play out,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21and hopefully offering them the opportunity
0:07:21 > 0:07:25to learn from the examples that they saw on stage.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28I was a protege of the great Boris Thomashefsky!
0:07:28 > 0:07:30CROWD GASPS
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Yes, yes!
0:07:32 > 0:07:35He taught me everything I know. MOURNFUL VIOLIN
0:07:35 > 0:07:41I'll never forget, he turned to me on his deathbed and said,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44"Maxella, alle Menschen mussen machen!
0:07:44 > 0:07:47"Heden togegatzen katschen pischen pippikochen!"
0:07:47 > 0:07:49What does that mean?
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Who knows? I don't speak Yiddish.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53Strangely enough, neither did he.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10Very often, in listening to an early Broadway song, you can think
0:08:10 > 0:08:12that you're hearing a Jewish song.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14So there's not all that much difference
0:08:14 > 0:08:19between a song like Greena Cousina...
0:08:26 > 0:08:29..and the opening of Swanee.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38# I've been away from you a long time
0:08:38 > 0:08:42# I never thought I'd miss you so
0:08:42 > 0:08:45# And how I feel, your love is real
0:08:45 > 0:08:48# Near you, I wanna be... #
0:08:49 > 0:08:54In 1919, the composer George Gershwin and lyricist Irwin Caesar
0:08:54 > 0:08:59wrote Swanee, the most popular song of Gershwin's entire career.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03# ..Swanee, you're calling me
0:09:03 > 0:09:07# Swanee, how I love ya How I love ya
0:09:07 > 0:09:10# My dear old Swanee... #
0:09:10 > 0:09:13The song relied on a theatrical convention
0:09:13 > 0:09:15dating back to the 19th century,
0:09:15 > 0:09:19in which a black-faced minstrel yearned for a mythic South land.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24# ..Praying for me, praying for me Down by the Swanee... #
0:09:24 > 0:09:26When he hit the big time with Swanee,
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Gershwin was only 20 years old,
0:09:28 > 0:09:33but had already been working in the music industry for five years.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36A high school dropout, he first tried to write songs for the
0:09:36 > 0:09:41Yiddish theatre, but was turned down for being "too American".
0:09:41 > 0:09:44The Gershwin family, like so many immigrant families,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47figured, "Give your kid music lessons because that's one more
0:09:47 > 0:09:51"step up the rung of ladder of assimilation and success."
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Give your kids every possible chance.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56So they buy a piano for George's brother Ira,
0:09:56 > 0:10:01and it's up on a crane, put through their window of their apartment,
0:10:01 > 0:10:05and suddenly George goes over and starts playing.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Well, he's been practising on a player piano.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13PIANO TAKES UP TUNE OF "SWANEE"
0:10:15 > 0:10:19So he gets music lessons and goes on to become a piano player
0:10:19 > 0:10:22on Tin Pan Alley, then a Broadway composer.
0:10:23 > 0:10:30Ira turns from writing clever light verse to becoming a lyricist.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32And Ira's way of keeping up with
0:10:32 > 0:10:36this very revolutionary musical brother of his
0:10:36 > 0:10:39is to build lyrics around American slang.
0:10:40 > 0:10:46Ira loved to use colloquial expressions in his writing.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51The best example of that that I know
0:10:51 > 0:10:57is that one weekend, probably in about 1936,
0:10:57 > 0:11:01Ira and his wife Leonore came to spend the weekend with my parents.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06My father manufactured tomato products
0:11:06 > 0:11:10and during the course of that weekend,
0:11:10 > 0:11:16Ira said to my father, "Tell me, how come you call them tom-ay-toes
0:11:16 > 0:11:19"and your sister calls them tom-ah-toes?"
0:11:19 > 0:11:23And my father said to Ira, "Well, if I call them tom-ah-toes,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25"the farmers that I buy them from
0:11:25 > 0:11:28"would not know what I was talking about."
0:11:28 > 0:11:30And everybody forgot about it.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32# You like pot-ay-to and I like...
0:11:32 > 0:11:33# Pot-ah-to?
0:11:33 > 0:11:35# You like tom-ay-to and I like...
0:11:35 > 0:11:37# Tom-ah-to!
0:11:37 > 0:11:38# Pot-ay-to # Pot-ah-to
0:11:38 > 0:11:40# Tom-ay-to # Tom-ah-to
0:11:40 > 0:11:43# Let's call the whole thing off!
0:11:44 > 0:11:48# But oh If we call the whole thing off
0:11:48 > 0:11:50# Then we must part
0:11:50 > 0:11:55# And oh, if we ever part then that might break my heart
0:11:55 > 0:11:59# So if you like pyjamas and I like py-jay-mas
0:11:59 > 0:12:02# I'll wear pyjamas and give up py-jay-mas
0:12:02 > 0:12:05# For we know we need each other so
0:12:05 > 0:12:07# We better call the calling-off off... #
0:12:07 > 0:12:10The very same year that George and Ira began
0:12:10 > 0:12:12writing shows together for Broadway,
0:12:12 > 0:12:15George was commissioned to write a brand-new piece
0:12:15 > 0:12:18for an evening of experimental music.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21His modest offering was Rhapsody In Blue.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24MUSIC: "Rhapsody In Blue"
0:12:32 > 0:12:35How does Gershwin start the Rhapsody In Blue?
0:12:35 > 0:12:37But with a klezmer clarinet!
0:12:40 > 0:12:43You can hear him - dulyan, dulyan da!
0:12:50 > 0:12:53We could be talking about Romania here.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57You know? I mean, it's pure Yiddishkeit, you know?
0:12:57 > 0:13:00But he cloaks it within, you know, classical forms
0:13:00 > 0:13:04that are contemporary, modern classical music,
0:13:04 > 0:13:05influenced with jazz.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10So his music really is a melting pot.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15It becomes reflection of the American experience.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18George Gershwin was always experimenting,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22trying to bring jazz and blues and ragtime,
0:13:22 > 0:13:26basically black music, into mainstream Broadway musicals.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31There's a big affinity between the Jewish wail that you hear
0:13:31 > 0:13:36in the temple and the black spiritual, or the blues.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40I think a lot of it has to do with the minor key.
0:13:40 > 0:13:46I think it also has something to do with bent notes and altered chords.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48HE PLAYS A SCALE
0:13:54 > 0:13:59The blues scale has a kind of built-in minor-ness to it.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07That blue note is...
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Well, I guess it's a blue note, though it existed before the blues,
0:14:11 > 0:14:12is that, you know, the...
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Doesn't that kind of sound Jewish to you? Yeah.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24It's the kind of little flat thing.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27As opposed to, if I'm in the key of C, you know...
0:14:27 > 0:14:29MORE UPBEAT CHORDS
0:14:29 > 0:14:32..sounds sort of Episcopalian.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36I mean, the Jewish thing, it's...
0:14:36 > 0:14:38It's all minor.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Because, you know, Jews and their misery.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46The blacks amazingly always still had a little faith and hope.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48So they're at odds.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Not the Jews.
0:14:53 > 0:14:59Ira collaborated with George on one of the songs for Porgy And Bess.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02It is a song that debunks the Bible.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05# It ain't necessarily so... #
0:15:05 > 0:15:06It Ain't Necessarily So.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09# The things you're liable to read in the Bible
0:15:09 > 0:15:11# It ain't necessarily so. #
0:15:11 > 0:15:15# The things that you're liable to read in the Bible
0:15:15 > 0:15:20# It ain't necessarily so... #
0:15:20 > 0:15:24That line is actually lifted from the Liturgy
0:15:24 > 0:15:28because when you're called up to the Torah in the temple on Saturday,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30you have to make a blessing
0:15:30 > 0:15:32and you say...
0:15:32 > 0:15:35HE SPEAKS YIDDISH
0:15:35 > 0:15:37..which is the same thing as...
0:15:37 > 0:15:39# It ain't necessarily so. #
0:15:39 > 0:15:42So to borrow a prayer over the Bible
0:15:42 > 0:15:45for a song that debunks the Bible
0:15:45 > 0:15:50seems to me to be the very definition of chutzpah, cheekiness.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53# Wadoo Wadoo
0:15:53 > 0:15:54# Zim bam boddle-oo
0:15:54 > 0:15:56# Hoodle a da wa da... #
0:15:56 > 0:15:58They were very clever,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01as lines like about Jonah,
0:16:01 > 0:16:05"He made his home in that fish's ab-do-men."
0:16:05 > 0:16:10# Oh, Jonah, he lived in the whale
0:16:10 > 0:16:14# Oh, Jonah, he lived in the whale
0:16:14 > 0:16:20# For he made his home in that fish's abdomen... #
0:16:20 > 0:16:25Tunes written by Jews for non-Jewish audiences.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28The greatest ones have all been re-versioned by the greatest
0:16:28 > 0:16:31African American jazz artists.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Some of the most important examples of jazz improvisation
0:16:38 > 0:16:40come from Gershwin tunes.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53That back and forth, that may not always be a cordial one,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55it might be a contentious one,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57but I just love that there's a dialogue going on.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59I like that there's a battle.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01I like that there's a sense of, "Oh, you wrote this?
0:17:01 > 0:17:03"I'm going to rewrite it."
0:17:03 > 0:17:05"You were inspired by this thing I did?
0:17:05 > 0:17:06"Now I'm going to take your inspiration
0:17:06 > 0:17:10"and I'm going to redo it and take it one step higher."
0:17:10 > 0:17:12That sense of a kind of friendly competition
0:17:12 > 0:17:15runs throughout American pop music.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23All of these songs that were created,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26first on Broadway and later in Hollywood,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30have really become a part of our collective culture.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36And it's amazing that this great body of American song
0:17:36 > 0:17:39was produced by a handful of people,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41most of them Jewish,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44starting with people like Jerome Kern,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Irving Berlin and Harold Arlen,
0:17:47 > 0:17:50George and Ira Gershwin,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56all Jewish songwriters.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00I think Broadway was like a little Jewish club
0:18:00 > 0:18:04and it's still a little Jewish club.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07It's a wonderful club to be in.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09My father couldn't wait to go to work.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11He didn't want to do anything else but work.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Daddy met Larry Hart through friends
0:18:17 > 0:18:21and in a very short time, they understood the same things
0:18:21 > 0:18:26that they wanted out of the musical theatre, and nobody had done it yet,
0:18:26 > 0:18:30and they got along wonderfully.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32Gentlemen, you're about to be interviewed.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34Wait till I fix my tie.
0:18:34 > 0:18:35Don't you like being interviewed?
0:18:35 > 0:18:39I don't mind, as long as you don't ask us which we write first,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41the words or the music. I'm not going to ask you that.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46Richard Rogers and Laurence Hart both lived in uptown Manhattan.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50They came from successful families and studied at Columbia University
0:18:50 > 0:18:53but they struggled to get their songs to Broadway,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57as they re-enacted a few years later for the movie cameras.
0:18:59 > 0:19:00It's all your fault.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04My fault? All you did was talk about your lyrics.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06Why didn't you let me play the music for 'em?
0:19:06 > 0:19:08I'm sick of this racket.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11Now you'll have to go into the real estate business with your father.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13Come on.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Just as Rodgers was about to give up on music
0:19:15 > 0:19:19and go into the babies' underwear business, the team struck gold
0:19:19 > 0:19:24with a song that turned their home town into an isle of joy.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26Manhattan.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28Manhattan!
0:19:28 > 0:19:32We'll have Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten...
0:19:32 > 0:19:35# Island, too # It's lovely going through the zoo
0:19:38 > 0:19:43# It's very fancy on old Delancey Street, they say. #
0:19:43 > 0:19:46The song Manhattan starts with these Lower East Side streets.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49It starts with Delancey Street and Mott Street
0:19:49 > 0:19:51but it expands exponentially.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53It goes to Central Park. It goes to Coney Island.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56It goes to the Theater District.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Their dreams were taking over all of Manhattan
0:19:59 > 0:20:02and of course that's exactly what they did in their song.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13While Rodgers and Hart rhapsodised about the Lower East Side in song,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16this predominantly Jewish neighbourhood was, in reality,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19one of the most congested places on Earth -
0:20:19 > 0:20:23horribly crowded, noisy and filthy.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26But this rough and tumble world
0:20:26 > 0:20:29would produce America's greatest songwriter.
0:20:31 > 0:20:32In 1893, Irving Berlin,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36then five years old, gets off the boat at Ellis Island in New York.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41His earliest memory as a child growing up in Russia
0:20:41 > 0:20:42was of a pogrom,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45a vigilante attack on his Jewish village.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50And he remembers hiding in a ditch with his brothers and sisters
0:20:50 > 0:20:54and parents, watching Russian Cossacks burn down their village.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Then he comes to America, gets off the boat, looks around him,
0:20:59 > 0:21:01sees all these Americans
0:21:01 > 0:21:03and he says, "We stood there in our Jew clothes."
0:21:03 > 0:21:06He realised how different he was from everybody else.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09His father was a cantor
0:21:09 > 0:21:12who taught him how to sing prayers in synagogue.
0:21:12 > 0:21:18But Berlin took his cue from New York's unique musical melting pot.
0:21:18 > 0:21:19The ethnic songs were
0:21:19 > 0:21:21very popular at that point.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23So there was Sadie Salome...
0:21:25 > 0:21:27..there was the Yiddisha Nightingale, a beautiful song...
0:21:36 > 0:21:37..and so forth.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40They were humorous love songs.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43JOLLY MUSIC PLAYS
0:21:46 > 0:21:50Berlin was soon writing songs for major Broadway reviews
0:21:50 > 0:21:51like the Ziegfeld Follies
0:21:51 > 0:21:53and for shows that unleashed
0:21:53 > 0:21:55the anarchic talents of the Marx Brothers.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00Allez-vous. Are you boys giving me the run-around?
0:22:00 > 0:22:02No way. Come over here.
0:22:02 > 0:22:09# And I'll be there with you
0:22:09 > 0:22:12# When my dreams
0:22:12 > 0:22:16# Come true... #
0:22:16 > 0:22:22PLAYS: "When My Dreams Come True"
0:22:36 > 0:22:37INSTRUMENT SQUEAKS
0:22:39 > 0:22:44Berlin wanted to write popular songs for a multi-ethnic America.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48And as time went on, the business of pop songwriting,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Berlin became the kind of poster boy for the immigrant Jewish
0:22:52 > 0:22:57sensibility transformed into the mainstream American.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02For so many, becoming American meant changing your name.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Israel Baline became Irving Berlin.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09Jacob Gershowitz - George Gershwin.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13Isidore Hochberg morphed into Yip Harburg,
0:23:13 > 0:23:15who wrote lyrics for The Wizard Of Oz
0:23:15 > 0:23:18with composer Hyman Arluck,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20better known as Harold Arlen.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25To be considered American you've got to sound a certain way,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29you've got to look a certain way. And if your last name has too many
0:23:29 > 0:23:33syllables and makes people think of herring, you might not get the job.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38# Oh, someone's 'ead resting on my knee
0:23:38 > 0:23:41# Warm and gentle as tender as 'e can be
0:23:41 > 0:23:45# Who takes good care of me
0:23:45 > 0:23:51# Oh, wouldn't it be luvverly?
0:23:51 > 0:23:54# Luvverly
0:23:54 > 0:23:56# Luvverly... #
0:23:56 > 0:24:01Bizarrely, Jewish songwriters almost never told Jewish stories.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05Instead, their main characters might be a downtrodden flower girl
0:24:05 > 0:24:07with a Cockney accent,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10As in Alan J Lerner and Frederick Loewe's My Fair Lady.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14Or perhaps a mixed-race singer passing as white
0:24:14 > 0:24:18in Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern's Show Boat.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22# Fish gotta swim
0:24:22 > 0:24:27# Birds gotta fly
0:24:28 > 0:24:35# I gotta love one man till I die
0:24:35 > 0:24:43# Can't help lovin' that man of mine... #
0:24:46 > 0:24:51One of the ways that Jewish songwriters on Broadway wrote
0:24:51 > 0:24:57about the experience of being Jewish is by writing about other outsiders.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01I'm not going to tell you the story of Jews in America, but I am
0:25:01 > 0:25:05going to tell you the story of an African-American on a riverboat.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10I'm going to use somebody else's story to tell you mine.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14The more the Jews are not writing about Jews, I think you could
0:25:14 > 0:25:17argue is when they're actually writing the most about Jews.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Show Boat's lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein II,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28was born into a Broadway dynasty.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30He was raised a Protestant
0:25:30 > 0:25:33but his grandfather and namesake was a German-born
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Jewish impresario,
0:25:35 > 0:25:40whose theatres helped define Times Square at the turn of the century.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45As a teenager, Oscar went to summer camp,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48not simply to play sports but to learn to put on shows.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51For many of Broadway's songwriters,
0:25:51 > 0:25:56summer camps offered unexpected and invaluable experience.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00At Camp Paradox, Lorenz Hart was known as Shakespeare
0:26:00 > 0:26:04because his trunk was crammed with books instead of clothes.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07And at that same camp, Richard Rodgers spent his spare time
0:26:07 > 0:26:11writing songs when he wasn't teaching kids how to swim.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22My parents owned a summer children's camp
0:26:22 > 0:26:28and I eventually became the drama counsellor and put on shows there.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33I was learning about those simple songs that became
0:26:33 > 0:26:35The Best Of Times, that became Mame
0:26:35 > 0:26:39and Hello, Dolly! without knowing it.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47The camp that I went to let me put on the shows.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49I was 13 or 14 years old,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53but I thought that was the best present anybody ever gave me.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55It probably changed my life.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02I was told when I went to Camp Wigwam
0:27:02 > 0:27:04that Steve Sondheim had gone there
0:27:04 > 0:27:07but he said, "I never went to Wigwam,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09"I went to Camp Androscoggin."
0:27:15 > 0:27:19Summer camps weren't just training grounds for songwriters.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24Occasionally, they fostered lifelong partnerships.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28My father was music directing at this camp.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31It was really his lucky day
0:27:31 > 0:27:33when this weird, schlubby guy,
0:27:33 > 0:27:38Adolph Green, arrived to play the Pirate King in Pirates Of Penzance.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41And Lenny had heard about Adolph through Adolph's friends,
0:27:41 > 0:27:45how Adolph knew everything there was to know about classical music.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48On their first meeting, when my father found out that Adolph
0:27:48 > 0:27:51purportedly knew everything, he said, "Oh, yeah, come over here."
0:27:51 > 0:27:54And they sat down at the piano and my father said, "What's this?"
0:27:54 > 0:27:59And he played something and Adolph would say, "Ravel, Piano Concerto
0:27:59 > 0:28:02"No. 2." "Oh." Two seconds, OK?
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Played another thing. "Tchaikovsky's...No. 4."
0:28:05 > 0:28:07Two seconds - he knew it.
0:28:07 > 0:28:08And my father couldn't stump him
0:28:08 > 0:28:11until finally he played this one thing.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16"What's this?" And Adolph didn't know what it was.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19And Lenny jumped up, grabbed him and kissed him.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24He said, "I just made it up on the spot to try to really screw you."
0:28:24 > 0:28:27They were best friends for evermore
0:28:27 > 0:28:32and the thing about Adolph is that he had this kind of impish spirit.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37He had this liveliness and this antic quality.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41And then, when Betty Comden became Adolph's working partner,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45and she was so lively and quick on the trigger and funny and sassy...
0:28:46 > 0:28:49..the three of them had so much fun together.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52They really spoke to this zany part of my father.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56This monstrous little duet is entitled
0:28:56 > 0:28:57Carried Away.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02# Modern man, what is it?
0:29:04 > 0:29:07# Just a collection of complexes and neurotic impulses
0:29:07 > 0:29:10# That occasionally break through... #
0:29:11 > 0:29:14You mean sometimes you blow your top, like me?
0:29:14 > 0:29:16# I do. #
0:29:16 > 0:29:19If they hadn't come along, maybe my father wouldn't have written
0:29:19 > 0:29:22musical theatre, or certainly not the kind of musical theatre that he
0:29:22 > 0:29:26wrote with Betty and Adolph that was so delightfully fun and goofy.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30I mean, after all, he was supposed to be a very serious maestro.
0:29:30 > 0:29:34THEY SING IN THE ROUND: # I get carried away
0:29:34 > 0:29:40# He gets carried Yes, carried away. #
0:29:40 > 0:29:42In the early 20th century,
0:29:42 > 0:29:46New York City attracted a sizeable Jewish population.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50By the 1920s, nearly one in four residents was Jewish.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54Even so, the predominance of Jewish songwriters on Broadway
0:29:54 > 0:29:57was then, and remains today, a phenomenon.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02They're almost all Jewish, but the great exception that makes
0:30:02 > 0:30:06you wonder whether it's a rule at all is Cole Porter.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08What the hell is he doing in there?
0:30:08 > 0:30:11Porter, though he tried very hard to write
0:30:11 > 0:30:15a successful Broadway show, hadn't succeeded.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17Three shows flopped.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20And, er...
0:30:20 > 0:30:24he met Richard Rodgers in Venice and played him some of his songs.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28Rodgers knew that this was an immensely talented man.
0:30:29 > 0:30:35Porter confided at one point that he thought that he had finally
0:30:35 > 0:30:38figured out the secret of writing hits.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40"Oh," Rodgers said, "what's that?"
0:30:40 > 0:30:44And Porter said, "I'm going to write Jewish tunes."
0:30:46 > 0:30:49I asked him if that story were true and he said, "Yes."
0:30:49 > 0:30:54And then I thought about it, and I thought well, "Gee, Cole Porter."
0:30:57 > 0:31:00Well, what could be more Jewish sounding than...
0:31:00 > 0:31:01# You'd be so nice to come home to... # ?
0:31:01 > 0:31:05Especially since my father used to sing a song that went...
0:31:05 > 0:31:09IN YIDDISH
0:31:09 > 0:31:12I remember that, he used to sing it to me when I was a little boy.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15So yeah, that...that...I wouldn't be a bit surprised
0:31:15 > 0:31:17if that notion occurred to him.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26There's something sort of Semitic about that as well.
0:31:26 > 0:31:31# Strange, dear, but true, dear
0:31:31 > 0:31:37# When I'm close to you, dear
0:31:37 > 0:31:43# The stars fill the sky
0:31:43 > 0:31:45# So in love... #
0:31:45 > 0:31:49Yip Harburg, my father, said even Cole Porter was Jewish
0:31:49 > 0:31:52because back in the Inquisition times
0:31:52 > 0:31:55he was really Jewish and they forced
0:31:55 > 0:31:57him to become a Christian, see.
0:31:57 > 0:31:58So, since then...
0:31:58 > 0:32:01And then Yip would sing some of Cole Porter's songs
0:32:01 > 0:32:07in a Hebraic Middle Eastern chant, you know?
0:32:07 > 0:32:11If you listen to My Heart Belongs To Daddy, the part in it...
0:32:11 > 0:32:13# Da da-da da da-da da da-da. #
0:32:13 > 0:32:15..that sounds a little like davening...
0:32:15 > 0:32:18# Da da-da da da-da da da-da... #
0:32:18 > 0:32:19..like praying in temple.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22# ..So I want to warn you, laddie
0:32:22 > 0:32:25# Though I think you're perfectly swell
0:32:25 > 0:32:29# That my heart belongs to Daddy
0:32:29 > 0:32:32# And my daddy, he treats it so well... #
0:32:34 > 0:32:36In the mid-1930s,
0:32:36 > 0:32:40Cole Porter's shows served as a great escape for theatregoers
0:32:40 > 0:32:43in the midst of the Great Depression.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45# ..My heart belongs to Daddy. #
0:32:48 > 0:32:52Across the Atlantic in Nazi Germany, however,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55very few Jewish families were fortunate enough to escape
0:32:55 > 0:32:59the Third Reich's murderous anti-Semitism.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01ANTHEMIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:33:05 > 0:33:09MARCHING FEET AND CHANTING
0:33:21 > 0:33:22SHIP'S HORN SOUNDS
0:33:24 > 0:33:26CHANTING IN BACKGROUND SUBSIDES
0:33:26 > 0:33:29WISTFUL BRASS-RICH MUSIC PLAYS
0:33:37 > 0:33:39I decided to become a citizen
0:33:39 > 0:33:41the day on which I arrived here, six years ago.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46I remember very well the feeling I had as the ship moved
0:33:46 > 0:33:49down the harbour past the Statue of Liberty and the skyscrapers.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55All about us were exclaiming in amazement at the strange sights,
0:33:55 > 0:33:57but my wife and I had the sensation that we were coming home.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06Kurt Weill was Germany's leading theatrical composer.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08He was also Jewish -
0:34:08 > 0:34:10the son of a cantor.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14Weill's work, which included the popular Threepenny Opera,
0:34:14 > 0:34:18was denounced by the Third Reich for being degenerate.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23January 30th, the reason I remember it is my birthday.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26January 30 1933,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28not my...my birth date, no,
0:34:28 > 0:34:34but my "birth" day, was when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.
0:34:35 > 0:34:41Kurt Weill left that day and a LOT of people left that day.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45It was a huge exodus. Goodbye. They knew.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53Weill and his wife and muse Lotte Lenya
0:34:53 > 0:34:56would eventually make their way to the United States
0:34:56 > 0:35:01where the Threepenny Opera had already made its Broadway debut.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03Kurt Weill had already brought
0:35:03 > 0:35:05his own radical musical revolution
0:35:05 > 0:35:07to America before he got there.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17Come join the army or...
0:35:24 > 0:35:28His...his love of the ambivalence of major
0:35:28 > 0:35:31and minor in so many of his songs. Pirate Jenny...
0:35:35 > 0:35:38There are Jewish melodic elements in his music.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42But he comes to America and you can see
0:35:42 > 0:35:47the evolution of musical style as he writes September Song.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52# But it's a long, long while
0:35:52 > 0:35:56# From May to December
0:35:56 > 0:35:59# And the days grow short
0:35:59 > 0:36:04# When you reach September... #
0:36:04 > 0:36:08September Song from the show Knickerbocker Holiday
0:36:08 > 0:36:12became Weill's first popular standard in America.
0:36:14 > 0:36:19He was immediately recognised as a great composer.
0:36:20 > 0:36:26One of the great landmark shows was Lady In The Dark.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31Moss Hart took his own psychoanalysis
0:36:31 > 0:36:35and used it as a motivation for writing that show.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38No-one had seen anything like it.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43Lady In The Dark paired Weill with Ira Gershwin,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46who was working on his first Broadway show
0:36:46 > 0:36:49since the death of his brother George at just 38.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55It made an overnight star of Danny Kaye, who recited
0:36:55 > 0:36:59Gershwin's witty list of Russian composers at breakneck speed.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03# Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff Mussorgsky
0:37:03 > 0:37:05# And Gretchaninoff and Glazounoff
0:37:05 > 0:37:07# And Caesar Cui, Kalinikoff Rachmaninoff
0:37:07 > 0:37:09# Stravinsky and Gretchnaninoff Rumshinsky and Rachmaninoff
0:37:09 > 0:37:12# I really have to stop, the subject has been dwelt upon enough!
0:37:12 > 0:37:15# Stravinsky Rachmaninoff
0:37:15 > 0:37:18# We really aught to stop because we all have undergone enough! #
0:37:18 > 0:37:20CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:37:25 > 0:37:28WEILL: What the immigrants of today are bringing to this country
0:37:28 > 0:37:31is not more and not less than what the immigrants of earlier
0:37:31 > 0:37:32persecutions have brought here.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37All they could ever bring was the work of their hands
0:37:37 > 0:37:39and the work of their heads.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41That's what they offer to this country
0:37:41 > 0:37:44and what the people of this country are so ready to accept.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49Kurt Weill was incredibly...
0:37:49 > 0:37:51I'd almost say obsessed with
0:37:51 > 0:37:53the idea of assimilation, obsessed
0:37:53 > 0:37:55with the idea of being different.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59He tried to make it in Hollywood and they said his stuff was too Jewish.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02Studios execs said, "Your stuff is too Jewish".
0:38:02 > 0:38:04And he was perplexed by that.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07He said, "Irving Berlin is a Russian Jew.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09"I'm a German Jew. That's the only difference.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11"We're both Americans."
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Though both Kurt Weill and Irving Berlin
0:38:17 > 0:38:19were Jewish American immigrants,
0:38:19 > 0:38:21Berlin's uncanny ability
0:38:21 > 0:38:25to write songs that felt American was unparalleled.
0:38:25 > 0:38:31Berlin humbly claimed that he just had a little knack for songwriting.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33But time and time again,
0:38:33 > 0:38:37he would create defining anthems for his adopted country.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41This is the guy who will so assimilate to America,
0:38:41 > 0:38:45he will write the most popular Christmas song, White Christmas.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48And even though he's Jewish, writes the most popular Easter song,
0:38:48 > 0:38:49Easter Parade.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53It's the Horatio Alger story told in Yiddish.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56He grows up and becomes the most American of all of us.
0:38:56 > 0:39:01# God bless America
0:39:03 > 0:39:07# Land that I love
0:39:07 > 0:39:11# Stand beside her
0:39:11 > 0:39:14# And guide her
0:39:14 > 0:39:16# Through the night
0:39:16 > 0:39:20# With a light from above... #
0:39:20 > 0:39:25That song came from the heart and it was his thank-you to this country
0:39:25 > 0:39:27that had taken him in and given him
0:39:27 > 0:39:30the chance to become who he became.
0:39:31 > 0:39:36Who would think that in the most American major-sounding work
0:39:36 > 0:39:39that Berlin wrote there would be in it what
0:39:39 > 0:39:42I hear very clearly as this, well, the Jewish word would be...
0:39:42 > 0:39:43IN YIDDISH
0:39:43 > 0:39:45But it would be a real cantorial
0:39:45 > 0:39:47# La da-da da-da-da du-dudum... #
0:39:47 > 0:39:52SINGS IN YIDDISH IN RISING PITCH
0:39:52 > 0:39:54Well, let's take that...
0:39:58 > 0:40:02..and I'll just put a fundamental bass tone under it.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15# God bless America
0:40:15 > 0:40:18# My home
0:40:18 > 0:40:21# Sweet
0:40:21 > 0:40:25# Home! #
0:40:25 > 0:40:29APPLAUSE
0:40:30 > 0:40:34But there were people who protested God Bless America.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38There were ministers who got up in church and said,
0:40:38 > 0:40:44"What does a Jew have to do with asking God to bless America?"
0:40:44 > 0:40:48There was real anti-Semitism.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51You know, you didn't feel that in the world of the theatre
0:40:51 > 0:40:58because that was a world in which no...nobody knew who everybody was
0:40:58 > 0:41:01or where they came from, just what they did.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08So popular was God Bless America,
0:41:08 > 0:41:10it almost replaced the national anthem.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17With the onset of World War II, Jewish songwriters joined the effort
0:41:17 > 0:41:19to lift the spirits of servicemen
0:41:19 > 0:41:20and the country at large.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Berlin mounted a new show called This Is The Army,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29with receipts donated to an army relief fund.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34The lyricist Dorothy Fields,
0:41:34 > 0:41:36who wrote On The Sunny Side Of The Street,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40cheered up servicemen at the stage door canteen.
0:41:40 > 0:41:45And Private Frank Loesser, later famed for Guys And Dolls,
0:41:45 > 0:41:49wrote the wartime hit Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55Servicemen on leave were given free tickets to see Oscar Hammerstein's
0:41:55 > 0:42:00latest show, created with his new partner, Richard Rodgers.
0:42:02 > 0:42:11# There's a bright golden haze on the meadow
0:42:11 > 0:42:17# The corn is as high as an elephant's eye
0:42:17 > 0:42:26# And it looks like it's climbing clear up to the sky
0:42:26 > 0:42:30# Oh, what a beautiful morning
0:42:30 > 0:42:34# Oh, what a beautiful day
0:42:34 > 0:42:40# I've got a beautiful feeling
0:42:40 > 0:42:44# Everything's going my way... #
0:42:45 > 0:42:47Rodgers and Hammerstein brought
0:42:47 > 0:42:50a new, dramatic depth to the Broadway musical,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53often raising sensitive moral and racial issues
0:42:53 > 0:42:57for both their characters and audiences to confront.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00Hammerstein wrote the book and lyrics,
0:43:00 > 0:43:04bringing a signature compassion to his body of work,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07which informed his personal life as well.
0:43:08 > 0:43:14I think Oscar was a liberal - Jewish in that respect -
0:43:14 > 0:43:16and cared a great deal about the world.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20You can tell by all the lyrics that he wrote.
0:43:20 > 0:43:21Like Show Boat,
0:43:21 > 0:43:28which was the landmark un-prejudiced musical,
0:43:28 > 0:43:31that he felt keenly about those things.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35He was one of the people who started the Pearl Buck Foundation.
0:43:35 > 0:43:40Those children were the product of Asian women
0:43:40 > 0:43:42and usually American GIs.
0:43:42 > 0:43:48# Bali Ha'i may call you
0:43:48 > 0:43:53# Any night, any day
0:43:53 > 0:43:57# In your heart you'll hear it call you
0:43:57 > 0:44:03# Come away, come away
0:44:03 > 0:44:04# Bali Ha'i... #
0:44:04 > 0:44:07In their Pulitzer-prize-winning show, South Pacific,
0:44:07 > 0:44:11Rodgers and Hammerstein dramatised the experience of servicemen
0:44:11 > 0:44:13and women overseas
0:44:13 > 0:44:17and delivered an urgent musical plea for racial tolerance.
0:44:17 > 0:44:22# It's not born in you It happens after you're born
0:44:23 > 0:44:28# You've got to be taught to hate and fear
0:44:28 > 0:44:30# You've got to be taught
0:44:30 > 0:44:34# From year to year
0:44:34 > 0:44:40# It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
0:44:40 > 0:44:44# You've got to be carefully taught... #
0:44:46 > 0:44:50You've Got To Be Carefully Taught was something that they felt
0:44:50 > 0:44:52strongly about.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57Now, they didn't try to do stories just because they could
0:44:57 > 0:45:01get their political leanings in front of the public.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05But it comes up all the time because it's there all the time.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07It mattered to them.
0:45:17 > 0:45:23BOTH: # There's a place for us
0:45:25 > 0:45:31# A time and place for us... #
0:45:31 > 0:45:33SINGS IN SPANISH
0:45:38 > 0:45:45# Hold my hand and I'll take you there... #
0:45:45 > 0:45:49As the Broadway musical matured in the wake of World War II,
0:45:49 > 0:45:54issues like bigotry and racism were no longer entirely off limits.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56The director Jerome Robbins
0:45:56 > 0:45:59began working on a show called East Side Story
0:45:59 > 0:46:05that featured a conflict between Jews and Gentiles.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08Jerry Robbins came to Lenny Bernstein and me
0:46:08 > 0:46:13to do a contemporary version of Romeo And Juliet.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16One or the other was to be Catholic
0:46:16 > 0:46:18and Jewish, I forget which.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22And what finally happened was
0:46:22 > 0:46:26I realised it was Abie's Irish Rose set to music.
0:46:27 > 0:46:33That was an enormous hit in the Dark Ages, with a Catholic girl
0:46:33 > 0:46:35and a Jewish boy.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38And so we dropped it.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42Years later, East Side Story was transformed
0:46:42 > 0:46:46when the creative team found a way to project the fears and tensions
0:46:46 > 0:46:50of assimilation on to a new group of immigrants.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52With a score by Leonard Bernstein,
0:46:52 > 0:46:55and lyrics by a 27-year-old Stephen Sondheim,
0:46:55 > 0:46:58the show set to music the conflict between
0:46:58 > 0:47:00ethnic Whites and Puerto Ricans
0:47:00 > 0:47:03finding their way in America.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07HIGH`SPIRITED VOICES
0:47:07 > 0:47:10# Lots of new housing with more space
0:47:10 > 0:47:13# Lots of doors slamming in our face
0:47:13 > 0:47:16# I'll get a terraced apartment... #
0:47:16 > 0:47:18Better get rid of your accent.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22# ..Life can be bright in America
0:47:22 > 0:47:24MEN: # If you can fight in America
0:47:24 > 0:47:26# Life is all right in America
0:47:26 > 0:47:30# If you're all-white in America. #
0:47:31 > 0:47:35That's something that has made the show more timely today than
0:47:35 > 0:47:36it was then.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42When the word "immigrant" is said on the stage today, you can
0:47:42 > 0:47:46feel the whole audience freeze because of all this...
0:47:48 > 0:47:50I won't characterise it -
0:47:50 > 0:47:52stuff going on in Congress about immigrants.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57It's a nation of immigrants, which we are very busy trying to deny.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00THEY WHOOP
0:48:11 > 0:48:13THEY CHEER
0:48:13 > 0:48:17My father never gave up on the idea that the world could become
0:48:17 > 0:48:18a better place.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22But he struggled with it because all these ghastly calamities kept
0:48:22 > 0:48:24happening in his lifetime
0:48:24 > 0:48:26starting with World War II really
0:48:26 > 0:48:30being the big one and then the bomb. And then he went through
0:48:30 > 0:48:35McCarthyism, which was so evil. So all the way through his life he was
0:48:35 > 0:48:39constantly doing whatever he could to make the world a better place,
0:48:39 > 0:48:45racism not the least of these evils that he was trying to repair.
0:48:45 > 0:48:49And I really think he felt somehow that
0:48:49 > 0:48:53if he wrote a great enough piece of music, he could change the world.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57You can really hear that struggle in West Side Story. It's
0:48:57 > 0:49:04about intolerance and hatred and the misery that that sows in the world.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08# Somehow
0:49:08 > 0:49:12# Someday
0:49:12 > 0:49:16# Somewhere. #
0:49:56 > 0:49:59# Let me entertain you
0:49:59 > 0:50:02# Let me see you smile
0:50:04 > 0:50:06# Let me do a few tricks
0:50:06 > 0:50:08# Some old and then some new tricks
0:50:08 > 0:50:11# I'm very versatile
0:50:12 > 0:50:14# And if you're real good
0:50:14 > 0:50:17# I'm going to make you feel good
0:50:17 > 0:50:19# And something to smile... #
0:50:19 > 0:50:21Forgive me, Steve.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24# ..Let me entertain you
0:50:24 > 0:50:27# And we'll have a real good time Yes, sir
0:50:27 > 0:50:30# And we'll have
0:50:30 > 0:50:35# A real good time. #
0:50:40 > 0:50:43Jule Styne was a London emigre
0:50:43 > 0:50:45raised in Chicago, who, as a young child,
0:50:45 > 0:50:48mastered the classical piano.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50But despite his obvious talents,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53he was a little insecure around his schoolmates.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55I wanted to be liked,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58wanted applause badly.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00And I went out and bought
0:51:00 > 0:51:0420 Irving Berlin songs over the weekend.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06And I memorised them.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08Alexander's Ragtime Band was one of them
0:51:08 > 0:51:12and I played it with all the power I had in my hands,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15my Beethoven power on Alexander's Ragtime Band.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19And I walked into that gymnasium on Monday afternoon.
0:51:19 > 0:51:20I was an instant smash!
0:51:22 > 0:51:26After years working as a bandleader, a vocal coach
0:51:26 > 0:51:28and a top Hollywood composer,
0:51:28 > 0:51:31Styne longed for the creative freedom of Broadway.
0:51:31 > 0:51:36His scintillating score for the landmark show Gypsy,
0:51:36 > 0:51:38which starred Ethel Merman,
0:51:38 > 0:51:43seemed to draw on all of Styne's show biz know-how.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46I'd wanted Steve Sondheim to do the whole score.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49Merman... Actually, her agent didn't want Steve,
0:51:49 > 0:51:53so we needed a composer, and Jerry Robbins suggested Jule.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56Jule was very fertile,
0:51:56 > 0:51:58but he came from the old school,
0:51:58 > 0:52:01you know, he was not used to writing this kind of integrated stuff,
0:52:01 > 0:52:05so I would just give him lyrics to set, for the most part.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08I would write out the rhythms, and Ethel Merman belted songs.
0:52:08 > 0:52:09What can I say?
0:52:09 > 0:52:14# That's OK for some people
0:52:14 > 0:52:18# Who don't know they're alive
0:52:18 > 0:52:21# Some people... #
0:52:21 > 0:52:26Every star has a trademark, and you better deliver that trademark,
0:52:26 > 0:52:28somewhere, for that audience.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31When I gave Steve the tune to...
0:52:31 > 0:52:33# Some people ba-da-da-da.... #
0:52:33 > 0:52:35..but the release goes... # But I... #
0:52:35 > 0:52:39# ..But I... #
0:52:39 > 0:52:42At that moment, the audience says, "Oh, there's Merman."
0:52:42 > 0:52:47# ..When I think of all the sights that I gotta see yet
0:52:47 > 0:52:49# All the places I gotta play... #
0:52:49 > 0:52:52Steve understood what that was all about,
0:52:52 > 0:52:55and when he heard her do it, he knew what I was talking about.
0:52:55 > 0:53:02When we were out of town, it was Easter Passover,
0:53:02 > 0:53:05and Jule decided to give a Seder.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Now, Ethel Merman, who had been born Zimmerman,
0:53:09 > 0:53:13was always terrified that somebody would think she was Jewish.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17She was German, and if you ran into her on the streets
0:53:17 > 0:53:19of Philadelphia and say, "What did you do today, Ethel?",
0:53:19 > 0:53:23she'd say, "Oh, I was praying for the show...in church!"
0:53:23 > 0:53:27Anyway...at rehearsals, she always had a turkey sandwich,
0:53:27 > 0:53:29so Jule invites her to the Seder.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32She said to me, "What am I going to eat?"
0:53:32 > 0:53:36I said, "You're not going to have to eat any little Christian babies.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39"You'll have capon, which is chicken, Ethel, chicken."
0:53:39 > 0:53:44Well, the night came and she dressed very properly -
0:53:44 > 0:53:47a little black dress - she even seemed to have less hair.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50Jule escorted her to the seat of honour
0:53:50 > 0:53:54and she sat down, she opened her bag and took out a ham sandwich
0:53:54 > 0:53:56and put it on the plate.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58And Jule looked at her.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02This was his star, but it was his Seder.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05So he picked up the sandwich and threw it on the floor.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09He said, "Ethel, you're insulting the waiters."
0:54:09 > 0:54:11LAUGHTER
0:54:11 > 0:54:13And then he turned around - she couldn't see him - and he broke up.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17Styne's ability to write great material
0:54:17 > 0:54:20for renowned singers like Merman
0:54:20 > 0:54:23was called upon with a vengeance for Funny Girl,
0:54:23 > 0:54:27a show based on the legendary life of Fanny Brice.
0:54:35 > 0:54:38# Everyone was singing
0:54:38 > 0:54:40# Dancing, springing
0:54:40 > 0:54:42# At a wedding yesterday
0:54:42 > 0:54:46# Yiddle on his fiddle played some ragtime
0:54:46 > 0:54:49# And when Sadie heard him play... #
0:54:49 > 0:54:52It was no mean feat to find a performer to
0:54:52 > 0:54:55take on the role of Fanny Brice.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57Fanny was one of a kind -
0:54:57 > 0:55:01a musical talent who could make people laugh AND cry.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05After rejecting a number of versatile actresses,
0:55:05 > 0:55:09Jule Styne went to a cabaret show in Greenwich Village.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13She opened her mouth, one note came out
0:55:13 > 0:55:15and my arm was practically broken
0:55:15 > 0:55:17because Jule was pressing down so hard.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19"This woman must play Funny Girl!"
0:55:19 > 0:55:25He was absolutely right then convinced, totally, 1,000%,
0:55:25 > 0:55:29and from there, that was the beginning of Funny Girl.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33# Lovers
0:55:33 > 0:55:38# Are very special people
0:55:40 > 0:55:50# They're the luckiest people in the world
0:55:50 > 0:55:54# With one person
0:55:54 > 0:56:00# One very special person
0:56:00 > 0:56:05# A feeling deep in your soul
0:56:05 > 0:56:10# Says you were half now you're whole
0:56:10 > 0:56:14# No more hunger and thirst
0:56:14 > 0:56:20# But first be a person who needs people... #
0:56:20 > 0:56:23What I wanted to do is take advantage of
0:56:23 > 0:56:25all these vocal talents that she had.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29When you know somebody... It's like, you write for Merman,
0:56:29 > 0:56:32you go further because you know they're going to bake it.
0:56:32 > 0:56:37# ..The luckiest people in the world... #
0:56:37 > 0:56:39And I accomplished it on Rain On My Parade.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42You know, like, how's a girl going to sing...
0:56:42 > 0:56:45HE PLAYS PIANO INTRO
0:56:47 > 0:56:50# Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter
0:56:50 > 0:56:56# Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade
0:56:56 > 0:56:58# Don't tell me not to fly
0:56:58 > 0:56:59# I've simply got to
0:56:59 > 0:57:02# If someone takes a spill it's me and not you
0:57:02 > 0:57:07# Who told you you're allowed to rain on my parade?
0:57:07 > 0:57:09# Nobody
0:57:09 > 0:57:13# Is gonna
0:57:13 > 0:57:29# Rain on my parade... #
0:57:32 > 0:57:37In 1964, the same year Funny Girl opened,
0:57:37 > 0:57:40the unimaginable happened.
0:57:40 > 0:57:45A musical devoted entirely to a Jewish story came to Broadway.
0:57:45 > 0:57:50Seven decades earlier, a violent pogrom forced Irving Berlin's family
0:57:50 > 0:57:52to flee their Russian village.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56Now a pogrom, re-imagined on stage,
0:57:56 > 0:57:58would disrupt a wedding celebration
0:57:58 > 0:58:01in a hit Broadway musical.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05THEY PLAY: "If I Were A Rich Man"
0:58:13 > 0:58:14We should introduce ourselves.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17In place of your usual glamorous hosts,
0:58:17 > 0:58:20you have two frightened writers today.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23This is Sheldon Harnick, who wrote the lyrics to Fiddler On The Roof.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26And this is Jerry Bock, who wrote the music to Fiddler On The Roof.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29And conducting the orchestra today, Milton Green,
0:58:29 > 0:58:33who conducts the orchestra at the Imperial for us every night.
0:58:33 > 0:58:35There was the sceptical feeling,
0:58:35 > 0:58:38that this might not be a universal show,
0:58:38 > 0:58:43if any show can be termed universal, appealing to almost everybody.
0:58:43 > 0:58:47But this show more than others might be specifically designed
0:58:47 > 0:58:49for just a certain group of people.
0:58:49 > 0:58:52And we had this in mind,
0:58:52 > 0:58:54without destroying any of the authenticity
0:58:54 > 0:58:56or the folklore or the colour of the show.
0:58:56 > 0:59:00We didn't want to limit it just for the appreciation of a small group.
0:59:00 > 0:59:03Many people have said, "Oh, you were so brave."
0:59:03 > 0:59:05We didn't feel that way.
0:59:05 > 0:59:09I thought, "I'm a Jew, I fought Hitler...
0:59:09 > 0:59:12"Certainly, the American people, we all fought Hitler.
0:59:12 > 0:59:14"What's so...what's so brave?
0:59:14 > 0:59:20"What's so avant-garde about doing a show about Jews?" So we did.
0:59:23 > 0:59:28We did many backers' auditions for the women who sell theatre parties
0:59:28 > 0:59:32and many of them were Jewish because they represented Jewish groups.
0:59:34 > 0:59:36Usually, the way the audition would go is that
0:59:36 > 0:59:40I would explain what the book was, in brief,
0:59:40 > 0:59:45and Jerry Bock and I would then sing some of the score.
0:59:45 > 0:59:50TOGETHER: # May the Lord protect and defend you
0:59:51 > 0:59:56# May the Lord preserve you from pain
0:59:56 > 1:00:00# Favour them, oh, Lord
1:00:00 > 1:00:04# With happiness and peace
1:00:04 > 1:00:09# Oh, hear our Sabbath prayer
1:00:09 > 1:00:16# Amen... #
1:00:27 > 1:00:29Hal Prince, who was our producer,
1:00:29 > 1:00:31after we would do the backers' audition,
1:00:31 > 1:00:35he would have to get up and really try and convince these ladies
1:00:35 > 1:00:39that the show was going to be fun and not just a show that had a pogrom
1:00:39 > 1:00:43at the end of the first act and an exile at the end of the second act.
1:00:43 > 1:00:45So Hal had his work cut out for him
1:00:45 > 1:00:48because these women were very sensitive
1:00:48 > 1:00:51and they thought, "Our audiences are not going to like this."
1:00:51 > 1:00:53They asked me to direct it.
1:00:53 > 1:00:54And I said, "I'm the wrong guy.
1:00:56 > 1:01:01"You've got to get Jerry Robbins or someone like him.
1:01:01 > 1:01:06"He can give it a universality with movement,
1:01:06 > 1:01:12"so it won't be just for a narrow audience."
1:01:12 > 1:01:15And the first question that Jerome Robbins asked was,
1:01:15 > 1:01:17"What is this show about?"
1:01:17 > 1:01:20We explained what we thought the show was about, and Robbins,
1:01:20 > 1:01:23to our surprise said, "No, that's not what gives
1:01:23 > 1:01:25"these stories their power."
1:01:25 > 1:01:28Time and again, at meetings, he'd say, "What is this show about?"
1:01:28 > 1:01:30and we'd say, "Well, it's about this farmer,"
1:01:30 > 1:01:32and we'd start to describe the plot, and he'd say, "No!"
1:01:32 > 1:01:36And then finally, one day, I believe it was Sheldon Harnick said,
1:01:36 > 1:01:39"Well, I mean it's about tradition, what else is it about?"
1:01:39 > 1:01:44And Jerry said, "That's what it's about. Write about tradition."
1:01:44 > 1:01:46# Who day and night must scramble for a living
1:01:46 > 1:01:48# Feed a wife and children
1:01:48 > 1:01:50# Say his daily prayers and still... #
1:01:50 > 1:01:53That's the old lyric. Everything involves...
1:01:55 > 1:01:58# Who day and night must scramble for a living
1:01:58 > 1:02:00# Feed a wife and children
1:02:00 > 1:02:01# Say his daily prayers?
1:02:01 > 1:02:04# And who has the right as master of the house
1:02:04 > 1:02:06# To have the final word at home? #
1:02:06 > 1:02:08And the daughter's theme was...
1:02:08 > 1:02:11# And who does Mama teach
1:02:11 > 1:02:14# To mend and tend and fix?
1:02:14 > 1:02:20# Preparing me to marry whoever Papa picks
1:02:20 > 1:02:23BOTH: # Tradition
1:02:23 > 1:02:24# Tradition
1:02:25 > 1:02:28# Tradition, tradition
1:02:28 > 1:02:30# Tradition! #
1:02:30 > 1:02:35The opening number, Tradition, was common to every culture
1:02:35 > 1:02:40so the show was as common to Japanese family life
1:02:40 > 1:02:43as it was to Jewish family life.
1:02:43 > 1:02:46And it went all over the world
1:02:46 > 1:02:51and every single place it went, it became THEIR family story,
1:02:51 > 1:02:55despite the idiosyncrasies of what was Jewish about it.
1:02:56 > 1:02:58# If I were a rich man
1:02:58 > 1:03:02# Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
1:03:02 > 1:03:05# All day long I'd biddy biddy bum
1:03:05 > 1:03:08# If I were a wealthy man
1:03:08 > 1:03:11# I wouldn't have to work hard
1:03:11 > 1:03:14# Ya ba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dibba dum
1:03:14 > 1:03:18# Lord who made the lion and the lamb
1:03:18 > 1:03:22# You decreed I should be what I am
1:03:22 > 1:03:27# Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan
1:03:27 > 1:03:36# If I were a wealthy man? #
1:03:36 > 1:03:38CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:03:42 > 1:03:46Fiddler On The Roof is not just a success, it's a massive blockbuster,
1:03:46 > 1:03:50and it opens the door for Jewish stories on Broadway in a way
1:03:50 > 1:03:52that's absolutely unprecedented.
1:03:52 > 1:03:55There are musicals about stories from the Old Testament.
1:03:55 > 1:03:58There are musicals set on the Lower East Side with Jewish families.
1:03:58 > 1:04:01There's musicals set in the suburbs with Jewish families.
1:04:01 > 1:04:05So the fact that you could have a successful Jewish musical
1:04:05 > 1:04:09just ushers in a tidal wave of Jewish-themed shows.
1:04:12 > 1:04:17# Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!
1:04:17 > 1:04:22# Fremder! Etranger! Stranger... #
1:04:22 > 1:04:26The time was finally right for Broadway to take on
1:04:26 > 1:04:30the most sensitive theme in the modern Jewish canon -
1:04:30 > 1:04:32the rise of Nazi Germany.
1:04:32 > 1:04:37# ..Wilkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome!
1:04:37 > 1:04:41# Im Cabaret Au Cabaret
1:04:41 > 1:04:43# To Cabaret... #
1:04:43 > 1:04:45The creative team behind Cabaret
1:04:45 > 1:04:48fearlessly dramatised the intolerance
1:04:48 > 1:04:51that had driven Kurt Weill from his homeland.
1:04:52 > 1:04:55And his wife, Lotte Lenya, would embody
1:04:55 > 1:04:58the emotional heart of the show.
1:04:58 > 1:05:02# With time rushing by
1:05:02 > 1:05:05# What would you do?
1:05:07 > 1:05:11# With the clock running down
1:05:11 > 1:05:14# What would you do...? #
1:05:16 > 1:05:20We were dealing with an historical moment in which Jews
1:05:20 > 1:05:22were very much involved.
1:05:22 > 1:05:26# ..I will listen... #
1:05:26 > 1:05:30The fact that one of the characters is Jewish
1:05:30 > 1:05:32is very important to the plot.
1:05:32 > 1:05:40# ..If you were me... #
1:05:42 > 1:05:45It took place in a world in which
1:05:45 > 1:05:48anti-Semitism would reach its zenith,
1:05:48 > 1:05:51obviously, with the slaughter...
1:05:52 > 1:05:54It's not...
1:05:54 > 1:05:57about, I don't think...
1:05:57 > 1:06:01It's not about Jewishness, it's about hatred.
1:06:03 > 1:06:08And the danger of not being aware of what's going on around you.
1:06:14 > 1:06:17# I know what you're thinking
1:06:17 > 1:06:20# You wonder why I chose her
1:06:20 > 1:06:24# Out of all the ladies in the world
1:06:24 > 1:06:27# That's just the first impression... #
1:06:27 > 1:06:29If You Could See Her Through My Eyes
1:06:29 > 1:06:33was written for Joel Grey and a gorilla.
1:06:33 > 1:06:40It's a very gentle little vaudeville song which goes...
1:06:40 > 1:06:44# If you could see her through my eyes... #
1:06:48 > 1:06:51It's just this kind of simple melody.
1:06:58 > 1:07:01Now, what could be more innocent than that?
1:07:01 > 1:07:06It was a love song to this gorilla across the stage,
1:07:06 > 1:07:08and it ended with,
1:07:08 > 1:07:11"If you could see her through my eyes,
1:07:11 > 1:07:13"she wouldn't look Jewish at all."
1:07:15 > 1:07:21And it was clearly illustrative of what had happened to Germany.
1:07:25 > 1:07:28That line - she wouldn't look Jewish at all -
1:07:28 > 1:07:32was a real slap in the face.
1:07:34 > 1:07:39We wanted people to realise what anti-Semitism is really like,
1:07:39 > 1:07:43what real prejudice comes with.
1:07:44 > 1:07:47It comes with jokes.
1:07:50 > 1:07:54What I guess we were naive about
1:07:54 > 1:07:58was how Jewish audiences would react to that.
1:07:58 > 1:08:02And it came as a shock to realise that they thought
1:08:02 > 1:08:05we were saying Jews looked like gorillas.
1:08:05 > 1:08:09The songwriter's aim to depict elements of anti-Semitism
1:08:09 > 1:08:13with an ingeniously dark humour did not play well
1:08:13 > 1:08:16with some of theatre-going public.
1:08:16 > 1:08:20I was not only the director but the producer of that show,
1:08:20 > 1:08:24and I said, "We're going to change it.
1:08:24 > 1:08:29"We're playing with fire all over the place.
1:08:29 > 1:08:32"We've got Nazis on the stage.
1:08:32 > 1:08:35"We're asking so much of an audience at a time
1:08:35 > 1:08:39"when this is not the currency of musicals.
1:08:39 > 1:08:41"I won't do it."
1:08:41 > 1:08:47But when the movie was made, and that was that many years later,
1:08:47 > 1:08:51the public had followed us and caught onto it
1:08:51 > 1:08:53and was more sophisticated.
1:08:53 > 1:08:57# Oh, I understand your objection
1:08:57 > 1:09:02# I grant you the problem's not small
1:09:02 > 1:09:12# But if you could see her through my eyes... #
1:09:14 > 1:09:16(She wouldn't look Jewish at all.)
1:09:16 > 1:09:20LIVELY MUSIC PLAYS
1:09:20 > 1:09:21APPLAUSE
1:09:32 > 1:09:35The anti-Semitism at the core of Cabaret
1:09:35 > 1:09:37may have seemed like
1:09:37 > 1:09:41a remote and distant memory to some in the audience,
1:09:41 > 1:09:44but for others, it was a familiar story,
1:09:44 > 1:09:47experienced first-hand in America.
1:09:49 > 1:09:53When I was growing up, my father thought it would be good for us
1:09:53 > 1:09:55to work on a farm.
1:09:55 > 1:09:58He was in the tobacco business and sent us up to a farm.
1:09:58 > 1:10:04And we saw right away that the young men were
1:10:04 > 1:10:08virulently anti-Semitic.
1:10:08 > 1:10:13Everybody was "the Jew boss", "the Jew driver" -
1:10:13 > 1:10:15so my brother and I made a pact to say
1:10:15 > 1:10:20if they should ever ask us that we were Greek Orthodox...
1:10:20 > 1:10:23Greek Orthodox, cos we were dark, you know, fairly dark.
1:10:23 > 1:10:30But one day, they said, "You guys are Jewish," my brother and me,
1:10:30 > 1:10:35and they started to beat up my brother.
1:10:35 > 1:10:37About six of them.
1:10:37 > 1:10:41And then they tied me to a tree, they tied me to a tree,
1:10:41 > 1:10:44and put papers under it and lit a fire.
1:10:45 > 1:10:48I remember the smoke and inhaling it,
1:10:48 > 1:10:51and I remember them pummelling my brother.
1:10:51 > 1:10:55And then the straw boss, whose name was Murphy, came along
1:10:55 > 1:10:59and they said, "Aw, here comes the Jew boss, we better stop,"
1:10:59 > 1:11:02and he set us free. Didn't say anything about it.
1:11:02 > 1:11:05He said, "All right, come on, lunchtime is over."
1:11:05 > 1:11:06That was all.
1:11:07 > 1:11:10One of the ways I think you can look at
1:11:10 > 1:11:15the sing-and-be-happy poptimism of the Broadway stage
1:11:15 > 1:11:18is that it's a release valve.
1:11:18 > 1:11:21It allows you to sing your way into a new world.
1:11:24 > 1:11:27# Grey skies are going to clear up
1:11:27 > 1:11:30# Put on a happy face
1:11:30 > 1:11:33# Brush off the clouds and cheer up
1:11:33 > 1:11:36# Put on a happy face
1:11:36 > 1:11:40# Take off the gloomy mask of tragedy
1:11:40 > 1:11:42# It's not your style
1:11:42 > 1:11:46# You look so good that you'll be glad you decided to smile
1:11:46 > 1:11:49# Pick out a pleasant outlook
1:11:49 > 1:11:51# Stick out that noble chin
1:11:51 > 1:11:54# Wipe off the full-of-doubt look
1:11:54 > 1:11:57# Slap on a happy grin
1:11:57 > 1:12:01# And spread sunshine all over the place
1:12:01 > 1:12:05# Just put on a happy face. #
1:12:08 > 1:12:13He and his partner Lee Adams write quintessentially
1:12:13 > 1:12:18up, optimistic songs,
1:12:18 > 1:12:21what you associate with America.
1:12:21 > 1:12:25And it's...it's wonderful.
1:12:25 > 1:12:28Probably one of the best songs they ever wrote was
1:12:28 > 1:12:31Put On A Happy Face. It's a credo.
1:12:31 > 1:12:35And it's built in to the material they write.
1:12:41 > 1:12:43The song became famous.
1:12:43 > 1:12:45And, you know, sometimes people say,
1:12:45 > 1:12:47"Do you know what's going to be a hit?"
1:12:47 > 1:12:51I have no idea, but that song turned out to be
1:12:51 > 1:12:55one of the reasons I have this apartment.
1:12:56 > 1:13:00Strouse tapped into Broadway's optimism once again
1:13:00 > 1:13:02when he scored an adaptation
1:13:02 > 1:13:05of a Little Orphan Annie comic strip,
1:13:05 > 1:13:08working with the lyricist Martin Charnin.
1:13:08 > 1:13:12# Just thinking about tomorrow
1:13:12 > 1:13:18# Clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow
1:13:19 > 1:13:21# Till there's none
1:13:21 > 1:13:24# When I'm stuck with a day
1:13:24 > 1:13:29# That's grey and lonely
1:13:29 > 1:13:32# I just out my chin
1:13:32 > 1:13:34# And grin
1:13:34 > 1:13:37# And say...
1:13:37 > 1:13:39# Oh...
1:13:39 > 1:13:42# The sun'll come out tomorrow
1:13:42 > 1:13:46# Show you gotta hang on till tomorrow
1:13:46 > 1:13:49# Come what may
1:13:49 > 1:13:51ALL: # Tomorrow, tomorrow
1:13:51 > 1:13:54# I love ya, tomorrow
1:13:54 > 1:13:58# You're only a day away
1:13:58 > 1:14:00# Tomorrow... #
1:14:00 > 1:14:03Many have claimed that in the late-20th century,
1:14:03 > 1:14:06Jews became mainstream American culture.
1:14:06 > 1:14:11That in the literary world, in theatre, in film,
1:14:11 > 1:14:13Jews were American pop culture
1:14:13 > 1:14:17in a way that was very different from the pre-World War II years.
1:14:17 > 1:14:19Where no longer were they outsiders working in
1:14:19 > 1:14:22but they were now insiders working on the inside.
1:14:22 > 1:14:24And that's a huge shift.
1:14:27 > 1:14:29We made it.
1:14:29 > 1:14:31We made it!
1:14:31 > 1:14:35But then you have Sondheim coming along, Stephen Sondheim.
1:14:35 > 1:14:39He's another generation along and he's sort of saying,
1:14:39 > 1:14:41"Look, we have everything.
1:14:41 > 1:14:43"Aren't we supposed to be happy?"
1:14:43 > 1:14:46And his shows consistently are questioning -
1:14:46 > 1:14:51is the American Dream in fact fulfilling the promise?
1:14:52 > 1:14:54Yes, we've gained acceptance in this country.
1:14:54 > 1:14:56Does that mean we're happy?
1:14:58 > 1:15:01# Isn't it rich?
1:15:03 > 1:15:07# Are we a pair?
1:15:08 > 1:15:13# Me here at last on the ground
1:15:13 > 1:15:16# You in midair
1:15:18 > 1:15:23# Send in the clowns... #
1:15:23 > 1:15:26Whether inspired by a Swedish film,
1:15:26 > 1:15:28a Victorian horror story
1:15:28 > 1:15:31or assassination attempts on US Presidents,
1:15:31 > 1:15:34Stephen Sondheim's work has illuminated
1:15:34 > 1:15:38both the light and dark side of humanity.
1:15:38 > 1:15:42# ..One who keeps tearing around
1:15:42 > 1:15:46# One who can't move... #
1:15:46 > 1:15:49People do want you to come out
1:15:49 > 1:15:51and say something either positive or negative.
1:15:51 > 1:15:53They don't like the idea that you're
1:15:53 > 1:15:56saying something positive AND negative.
1:15:56 > 1:15:59But even in the most simple-minded musicals, you know,
1:15:59 > 1:16:02you get a song, an Irving Berlin musical,
1:16:02 > 1:16:04where, "I hate you but I love you."
1:16:04 > 1:16:06I mean, ambivalence is the stuff of drama.
1:16:06 > 1:16:08I don't know why people have made so much out of it.
1:16:08 > 1:16:11It's just that I tend to deal with it on a more realistic level
1:16:11 > 1:16:14than it has been dealt with in musicals before.
1:16:14 > 1:16:16Or had been, I should say.
1:16:16 > 1:16:20But ambivalence is what drama is about.
1:16:21 > 1:16:23Stephen Sondheim changed Broadway.
1:16:23 > 1:16:28He created a world where you can write about everything and anything,
1:16:28 > 1:16:30and nothing is off limits.
1:16:30 > 1:16:33All sorts of music can be used.
1:16:33 > 1:16:36To go from Sweeney Todd and Passion
1:16:36 > 1:16:40to the pastiche work in Follies
1:16:40 > 1:16:42or the contemporary music of its time that was in Company,
1:16:42 > 1:16:44on and on and on.
1:16:44 > 1:16:49But the bad part is he made it that everyone is expecting that now,
1:16:49 > 1:16:51from everyone.
1:16:51 > 1:16:54And not everyone can deliver that,
1:16:54 > 1:16:57and sometimes you go to the theatre and you don't want that.
1:16:57 > 1:17:02Musicals started going in very interesting and offbeat directions.
1:17:02 > 1:17:06I had three major hits in the '60s -
1:17:06 > 1:17:09Milk And Honey, Hello, Dolly! and Mame
1:17:09 > 1:17:12all came pouring out of me,
1:17:12 > 1:17:17and I thought you just wrote a musical and it ran for seven years.
1:17:17 > 1:17:19But then the '70s came,
1:17:19 > 1:17:23I thought that the kind of stuff I did was over
1:17:23 > 1:17:29and nobody wanted the quintessential Broadway musical any longer.
1:17:32 > 1:17:36In 1983, Jerry Herman and his collaborators
1:17:36 > 1:17:40reinvigorated the old-fashioned musical with the classic
1:17:40 > 1:17:44outsider-seeking-acceptance theme.
1:17:44 > 1:17:48In a modern twist, the central characters were a gay couple,
1:17:48 > 1:17:50one of whom was a drag queen.
1:17:50 > 1:17:52The drag character does
1:17:52 > 1:17:57what's become a sort of anthem in our community - I Am What I Am.
1:17:57 > 1:18:01# I am what I am
1:18:01 > 1:18:03# I don't want praise
1:18:03 > 1:18:08# I don't want pity... #
1:18:08 > 1:18:13I have been beaten, I've been made fun of, they've called me names,
1:18:13 > 1:18:17but I do not for any of that ever say I'm not me.
1:18:17 > 1:18:22# ..So it's time to open up your closet
1:18:22 > 1:18:26# Life's not worth a damn
1:18:26 > 1:18:29# Till you can say
1:18:29 > 1:18:32# Hey, world
1:18:32 > 1:18:42# I am what I am... #
1:18:42 > 1:18:44CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:18:53 > 1:18:57The musical represents mainstream America,
1:18:57 > 1:19:00and I think that when a people are presented on Broadway
1:19:00 > 1:19:03and accepted on Broadway,
1:19:03 > 1:19:07groups that were formerly viewed with suspicion
1:19:07 > 1:19:13have a shot at acceptance, a way in.
1:19:13 > 1:19:17And this is largely because of what Jews did to create the musical.
1:19:17 > 1:19:23The 2001 Tony Award for Best New Musical - The Producers!
1:19:23 > 1:19:25CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:19:25 > 1:19:28Behind me you see a phalanx,
1:19:28 > 1:19:30an avalanche of Jews, who have come...
1:19:30 > 1:19:32LAUGHTER
1:19:32 > 1:19:35..with their talent, their money, their spirit
1:19:35 > 1:19:37and their love for the theatre,
1:19:37 > 1:19:40and that's what brings us all together tonight.
1:19:40 > 1:19:43We all love this thing called the theatre.
1:19:43 > 1:19:50It was always my dream to marry comedy with music with dancing.
1:19:50 > 1:19:53That's called a musical comedy.
1:19:53 > 1:19:59# Springtime for Hitler and Germany
1:19:59 > 1:20:00# Look, it's springtime
1:20:00 > 1:20:07# Winter for Poland and France... #
1:20:07 > 1:20:12In 2001, Mel Brooks's preposterous musical The Producers
1:20:12 > 1:20:16won a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards.
1:20:16 > 1:20:19It welcomed Nazi characters back to Broadway
1:20:19 > 1:20:24and this time, Jewish audiences just couldn't get enough.
1:20:24 > 1:20:26How do you get even with Adolf Hitler?
1:20:26 > 1:20:28How do you get EVEN with him?
1:20:28 > 1:20:31There is only one way to get even.
1:20:31 > 1:20:34You have to bring him down with ridicule.
1:20:35 > 1:20:39# Heil myself
1:20:39 > 1:20:41# Watch my show
1:20:41 > 1:20:44# I'm the German Ethel Merman Don't you know...? #
1:20:44 > 1:20:48One of my lifelong jobs has been to make the world
1:20:48 > 1:20:51laugh at Adolf Hitler.
1:20:51 > 1:20:53# ..Make a great big smile
1:20:53 > 1:20:54# Everyone Sieg Heil
1:20:54 > 1:21:03# To me, wonderful me... #
1:21:07 > 1:21:09Look at the musicals.
1:21:09 > 1:21:12Look at the musical comedies we have exported.
1:21:12 > 1:21:15They say happiness. They say hope.
1:21:15 > 1:21:17They say we're tough.
1:21:17 > 1:21:19They say we can survive.
1:21:19 > 1:21:21They say we're sharp.
1:21:21 > 1:21:25We're hip. We're America.
1:21:25 > 1:21:28The Broadway musical distinguishes us
1:21:28 > 1:21:31from every other country in the world.
1:22:16 > 1:22:19Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
1:22:29 > 1:22:30Do I have enough awards, Alan?
1:22:30 > 1:22:33Do I have the most awards of anybody in show business?
1:22:33 > 1:22:35You sure do. Has he?
1:22:35 > 1:22:39Well, he's got the most awards for a particular show
1:22:39 > 1:22:41in the history of theatre.
1:22:41 > 1:22:43The Producers got... How many? ..16.
1:22:43 > 1:22:4512. 12.
1:22:45 > 1:22:47But that is the most. I say 16.