Trivia

Final on-screen appearance of Betsy Palmer.

This sequel to Broadway: The Golden Age (2003) was in the works since 2004. Director Rick McKay died in 2018, while still in the process of raising funds to complete the film, which laid dormant until it premiered on PBS' Great Performances series on August 14, 2021.

Unused portions of interviews conducted for the first film are included in the sequel, which explains why some of the faces appear blown up in the widescreen aspect ratio.

For the better part of a decade between the release of Broadway: The Golden Age (2003) and this sequel, Rick McKay's frequent updates, as well as the multitude of excerpts that appeared on YouTube, suggested that the running time of Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age (2021) would be roughly 145 minutes. Once PBS came aboard to salvage the project, the footage was pared down for broadcast purposes -- factoring in three pledge drive breaks -- and the running time was whittled down to a paltry 81 minutes, which intimates that much unused footage remains on the cutting room floor.

After the death of Director and Filmmaker Rick McKay in 2018, Producers Richard Eric Weigle, Jamie DeRoy, Jane Klain, Michael Anastasio and James Berry stepped up to rescue and save the film and get it to PBS Great Performances which edited and aired the film many times. Co-Producer Kimberly Reed was also invaluable in this endeavor.