Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey (2002), ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway (2005), Gypsy Caravan (2006), Been Rich All My Life (2006), The Royal Ballet (1960), Crazy Horse (1996), The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979), Opening Night (1977) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Performing Arts movies.
Storyline: The creators of the internationally renowned stage show "Stomp" aim to bring its infectious energy to the world stage. Shooting on location on five different continents, the filmmakers interweave various musical styles with the inventive percussion and high-energy dance numbers of the off-Broadway smash to reveal the evolving nature of music around the world. Performers rhythmically pound their feet, clap their hands and bang any object in sight to reveal the pulse that connects all mankind.
Plot Keywords: music, dance, rhythm, performing arts, documentary, creativity, improvisation ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Filmmaker Dori Berinstein charts the evolution of four Broadway shows from inception to Tony Awards during the 2003-2004 season: "Wicked," "Taboo," "Avenue Q" and "Caroline, or Change." Featured cast members and producers include Idina Menzel, Rosie O'Donnell, Boy George, Alan Cumming and Euan Morton.
Plot Keywords: documentary, broadway, musical, theater, behind the scenes, creative process, actor's life ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Combining footage from 1999 and 2001 tours, this documentary follows five different gypsy bands as they perform across America. Their music is as diverse as their home countries, from Indian raga tunes to upbeat, fiddle-driven Romanian pieces. Despite their varied backgrounds, the musicians are united by their common identification with the "roma" gypsy culture. As the tour progresses, the musicians begin playing together, fusing their styles into new hybrids.
Plot Keywords: music documentary, travel, music festival, multicultural, performing arts, musicians, road movie ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: They are the "Silver Belles," five women aged 84 to 96. They first met in the 1930's as chorus dancers at the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater where they worked 15 hour days, rehearsing a new show every week. In their heyday they performed with legendary band leaders like Cab Calloway, Jimmie Lunceford and Duke Ellington. When the big band era ended, and with it the need for show dancers, they all went into other work. In 1985 they put their tap shoes back on, and are still performing regularly. But in one week, Cleo tumbles down the subway stairs and breaks her knee and arm, Marion gets a pacemaker, and Bertye is taken to the hospital. Is this the end of the Silver Belles?—Signy
Plot Keywords: documentary, dance, elderly, new york, african american, women, history ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Filmed on the stage of London's Covent Garden. Includes extracts from Swan lake, Ondine & The Firebird.
Plot Keywords: ballet, dance film, performing arts, stage performance, black and white film, 1960s, british culture ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: During the mid-19th century, in what is now South Dakota, Crazy Horse (Michael Greyeyes) of the Oglala Sioux rises to prominence in his tribe. He falls in love with the married Black Buffalo Woman (Irene Bedard), and uses his trance-like visions to help his uncle, Chief Red Cloud (Wes Studi), and his people fight for independence against the advancing American forces. Eventually, they defeat General Custer (Peter Horton) and his men, but they then must face the reality of Westward expansion.
Plot Keywords: documentary, dance, performing arts, paris, cabaret, art film, french cinema ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: This documentary presents highlights from four 1979 benefit performances given in support of Amnesty International. Spearheaded by Monty Python's John Cleese, they feature an array of primarily English talent ranging from comedian Peter Cook and fellow Python Michael Palin, to the Who's Pete Townshend and new-waver Tom Robinson. The film also features cameos by Scottish comedian Billy Connolly and, in a very early appearance, Rowan Atkinson of "Mr. Bean" fame.
Plot Keywords: comedy, charity, uk, satire, music, live performance, humor ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A young woman gets killed in an accident trying to meet her favorite actress Myrtle Gordon after a play. Then Myrtle Gordon felt responsible for the killing leading her down to an emotional crisis that interferes with her professional work as an actress.—Chemi González <chemi01@hotmail.com>
Plot Keywords: drama, psychological drama, female protagonist, show business, theater, midlife crisis, mental breakdown ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Following a number of performers and judges who converge at the annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Several tales are interwoven as the judge of a comedy award drives his personal assistant to distraction (and the bottle), a would-be comedienne tries to get her big break, and an actress mounts her earnest and challenging one-woman play.
Plot Keywords: comedy, music, documentary, art, culture, independent film, film festival ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Narrated by Sydney Pollack, film critic Richard Schickel's dazzling two-hour plus documentary to one of the towering figures in film: Charles Chaplin. Hardcore Chaplin fans may not find much new material here, but more unfamiliar admirers will gain some valuable information about one of the most famous personalities of the 20th century. Schickel has constructed the documentary as a chronological survey of Chaplin's work, starting with his most significant shorts and covering all of his features. Schickel supports his narration with testimony from artists familiar with Chaplin's work and family members who offer personal insights into the comedian's life. The documentary plays down but doesn't ignore the controversies that swirled around Chaplin's private life. But the main focus is on the films. They include some of the best-loved movies of all time. Clips from "Kid Auto Races at Venice," the 1914 Keystone short in which Chaplin first used his Tramp costume, reveal a startlingly modern technique and sensibility, as if the filmmakers were predicting and mocking reality TV. Subsequent shorts show Chaplin refining his 'Little Tramp' character while absorbing the essentials of filmmaking. By the time he made "Easy Street," in 1917, Chaplin had perfected a combination of knockabout farce and Victorian sentiment that still proves irresistible. Chaplin's early features, including "The Kid," "The Gold Rush" and "City Lights," were such blockbuster hits that he could essentially ignore the coming of sound for almost a decade. Those making appearances on the program include Woody Allen, Richard Attenborough, Jeanine Basinger, Claire Bloom, Geraldine Chaplin. Sydney Chaplin, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Milos Forman, Bill Irwin, Norman Lloyd, Marcel Marceau, David Raksin, David Robinson, Andrew Sarris, Martin Scorsese and Jeffrey Vance.—alfiehitchie
Plot Keywords: biography, documentary, film history, silent film, comedy, hollywood, filmmaking ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In modern dance since the 1970s, few choreographers have had more influence in the medium than the late Pina Bausch. This film explores the life and work of this artist of movement while we see her company perform her most notable creations where basic things like water, dirt and even gravity take on otherworldly qualities in their dancing.—Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
Plot Keywords: dance, documentary, modern dance, art, germany, performing arts, choreography ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Documentary with a selection from a non-stop 7-hour musical event at Watts, the Los Angeles Coliseum, August 20, 1972. It's a sort of Woodstock event but with black artists, namely the groups Dramatics, Staple Singers, Rance Allen Group, Emotions, Bar Kays, Mel & Tim.—Artemis-9
Plot Keywords: concert, documentary, music festival, black culture, live performance, 1970s, los angeles ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: For many, modern ballet began with the Ballet Russe of Monte Carlo, originally made up of Russian exiles from the Russian Revolution. This film tells the story of this landmark company with its stars and production as well as its power games, rivalries and tribulations that marked its turbulent history.—Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
Plot Keywords: documentary, dance, ballet, history, art, culture, russia ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Starting at midnight January 26, 1974, dancer and choreographer Michael Bennett held a twelve-hour taped get-together with twenty-two dancers talking about themselves, he not knowing exactly where it would lead. It would become the genesis for what has become one of the most influential Broadway musicals of all time, and a show which speaks to theatrical dancers' hearts: "A Chorus Line". In 2008, a Broadway revival of the show is being mounted, with many involved in the original production part of the creative team behind the revival. The issue for the revival's creative team is to make the show and the casting fresh, while respecting the original, where the characters, their stories and their related songs all came out of the 1974 dancers' stories, they who were cast in the original production. Although the names and the faces have changed from 1974, the dancers auditioning mirror many of the stories and issues faced by those original dancers. As such, they "really want this job" as it speaks to who they are and what they do and want to do for a living. It ends up being a difficult process for both sides as there end up being 3,000 dancers at the start of the eight month audition process.—Huggo
Plot Keywords: documentary, musical, broadway, behind the scenes, dance, musical theater, actor's life ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A star-studded roster of interviewees (including Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Crystal) pay tribute to the legendary, multi-talented song-and-dance man.
Plot Keywords: documentary, biography, music, history, culture, usa, entertainer ...
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