From Andy Hardy musicals and plays like Noises Off and Kiss Me, Kate, we all have images of what it's like behind-the-scenes during a theatrical production. But in this movie from two award-winning documentarians, the true story of one play's run--from its first read-through to its last performance--is more filled with intrigue and problems than any fictitious drama would have dreamt up. Most interesting is the fact that the director and writer have a huge problem with Carol Burnett's overacting and paraphrasing of her lines, while it's obvious everytime we see a scene from the play that the writing is in desperate need of help--and in fact Burnett gets great reviews, while the play itself is slammed by the critics. Especially noteworthy are a scene where Burnett's co-star, the venerable Phillip Bosco, finally loses it with the director, and a scene where the first reviews come in--"They're bad, but they're not mean bad" says one man, who's agency will use the reviews to write an ad. If you like the theater, this video is the equivalent of a page-turner--you won't be able to hit the pause button!
