Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
72 Adela
39 Adventures of Power
78 Afghan Star
61 After the Storm
66 Afterschool
xx All the Best
58 American Casino
72 Amreeka
48 Antichrist
73 Araya
62 Art & Copy
55 As Seen Through These Eyes
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
13 Beautiful Life, A
70 Beeswax
35 Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71 Big Fan
66 Black Dynamite
51 Blind Date
xx Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76 Bliss
35 Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57 Boys Are Back, The
45 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
70 Bronson
45 Burning Plain, The
xx Carriers
55 Casi Divas
57 Chelsea on the Rocks
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
59 Collapse
44 Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
67 Departures
xx Dil Bole Hadippa
71 Disgrace
xx Do Knot Disturb
70 Earth Days
24 Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
xx Eulogy for a Vampire
xx Everyone Else
xx Fatal Promises
56 Fifty Dead Men Walking
62 Five Minutes of Heaven
74 Flame & Citron
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
28 Free Style
xx From Mexico with Love
50 Fuel
25 Gentlemen Broncos
50 Give Me Your Hand
58 Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
52 Grace
66 Harmony and Me
81 Headless Woman, The
xx Heretics, The
63 Horse Boy, The
73 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
74 Humpday
94 Hurt Locker, The
29 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16 If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75 In Search of Beethoven
83 In the Loop
61 Intimate Enemies
42 Irene in Time
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
19 Labor Day
xx Laila's Birthday
41 Little Ashes
41 Little Traitor, The
66 Liverpool
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
83 Maid, The
xx Ministers, The
59 More Than a Game
67 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
xx Mystery Team
48 New York, I Love You
73 Night and Day
66 No Impact Man
47 Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34 Other Man, The
xx Painter Sam Francis, The
54 Paper Heart
xx Paradise
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
44 Peter and Vandy
35 Play the Game
77 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx Pretty Ugly People
65 Providence Effect, The
76 Rembrandt's J'accuse
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
40 Shrink
61 Skin
77 Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx Skiptracers
46 Splinterheads
39 St. Trinian's
89 Still Walking
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
55 Storm
65 Tetro
70 That Evening Sun
72 Thirst
xx Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61 Trucker
xx Turning Green
83 U2 3D
66 Unmade Beds
66 Unmistaken Child
70 Visual Acoustics
55 Walt & El Grupo
67 Way We Get By, The
69 We Live in Public
64 Wedding Song, The
64 Where is Where?
xx White on Rice
74 Woman in Berlin, A
69 World's Greatest Dad
70 Yes Men Fix the World
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx You, the Living

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway

EMAILPRINTRegent Releasing

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway reviews
73
9.7 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 14 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary

Written by: Dori Berinstein
Richard Hankin

Directed by: Dori Berinstein

Release Date:
Theatrical: May 11, 2007

Running Time: 102 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG for language and some sexual references

Starring Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Boy George, Tony Kushner, John Lithgow, Idina Menzel, Rosie O'Donnell, and Tonya Pinkins

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway is a feature-length documentary that examines the annual influx of ambitious, star-crossed hopefuls, scrambling for the high-board to make their big leap into everlasting limelight. (Regent Releasing)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

What stands out, not surprisingly, is the work and passion that goes into the shows. But seeing all this from the inside creates an extraordinary level of empathy for those involved.

Read Full Review >
83

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

ShowBusiness is a smart, highly entertaining piece of cinema-reportage, but it never quite rises to the level of penetrating insight or emotional catharsis.

Read Full Review >
80

Village Voice Matt Singer

Producer/director Dori Berinstein knows her way around a Broadway show -- she's produced 11 of them, including her latest, Legally Blonde -- and her insider status no doubt helped secure behind-the-scenes access as she tracks one season in the life of four musicals, and explains the unusual level of intimacy between interviewer and subjects.

Read Full Review >
75

TV Guide Robin Snook

It's riveting to watch the shows' respective creators work, clash, whine, celebrate and commiserate as the season and their stories unfold.

Read Full Review >
75

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Following the shows from rehearsals to Tony Awards night, she gets behind the scenes and does a good job conveying the incessant anxieties and glee of the talents involved.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Tribune Chris Jones

Much of this strikingly human, rapidly paced and laudably well-rounded film is fascinating.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Captures the flavor of putting on a show on Broadway.

Read Full Review >
75

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The film's slick and entertaining, an obvious must-see for musical hounds.

Read Full Review >
70

Washington Post Philip Kennicott

ShowBusiness is not so clever nor so entertaining as the popular musical "A Chorus Line," which plied this territory more than 30 years ago, but it does go deeper into the mechanics of the business.

Read Full Review >
70

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Along the way Dori Berinstein's cameras catch gallant theater people doing what they've done since Sophocles was a pup: rehearsing, revising, worrying, learning, stretching, struggling to bump things up from good to wonderful and constantly, fervently hoping.

Read Full Review >
70

Chicago Reader Albert Williams

Thrilling rehearsal and performance footage of Idina Menzel in "Wicked," Tonya Pinkins in "Caroline," and Euan Morton in "Taboo" is juxtaposed with thoughtful, funny, and revealing interviews with writers, directors, producers, publicists, and critics.

Read Full Review >
70

Los Angeles Times Charkes McNulty

The film is a love letter to theater and the people who make it.

Read Full Review >
70

The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz

ShowBusiness is packed with telling details that the director, Dori Berinstein, was lucky to catch on camera.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Post Lou Lumenick

You'll have to look elsewhere than this love letter to the Great White Way to explain why "Wicked" and "Avenue Q" became huge hits, and why "Caroline, or Change" joined "Taboo" as a costly flop.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.7 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jason R. gave it a9:
Great idea to follow so many shows, though it did mean that it didn't get as involved enough in each of the shows separately as I would have liked. Bill S. is right... should have been a series. Even if you haven't seen any of the shows, I'd still recommend it. You'll want to see them afterwards! (unfortunately for me - and all of us I suppose - the two I haven't seen are the ones no longer running).

Stephanie R. gave it a10:
Really loved this doc. It felt like a feature. What a great ride and fantastic characters I really cared about. And funny too! A rock solid 10.

Emily R. gave it a10:
I strongly recommend this film! It's not just for theater lovers. It's the best doc I've seen in years. And funny too!!

Lee S. gave it a10:
Brilliant! I saw it with people who don't love theatre and they loved this film!! What a ride. And so funny. Can't wait for the DVD>

Bill S. gave it a9:
I like musicals, so this was really wonderful. My only complaint - keeping it from a 10 - is that it didn't go as deeply as I wanted it to, because of time. What a great series this would have been.

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use