The Show
Broadway is not everyone's cup of tea. Some people actually take it as a personal insult if you suggest taking in a show. The rest of civilized society (at least, those who can get to New York) knows that Broadway can provide some of the most memorable nights of entertainment known to man. So how does a theatergoer convert the non-believer? This DVD set may just be the way.

PBS (who is broadcasting the main show (minus the bonus features) later in October) has, with the help of their production partners, put together the definitive history of the American musical. From its start in Vaudeville, to its recent big-budget blockbusters, Broadway has had a rich history, one that, despite its limited reach as a New York entity, has been tied-in to the history of America. As the nation has changed, so has the musical comedy.

Musical legend Julie Andrews hosts the six-hour special, which is broken up into six episodes. Each hour covers a different era of the theater, moving forward to today. Here's a breakdown of what each episode holds:

Ep. 1: Give My Regards to Broadway (1893-1927)
The first big stars of the theater, including Florenz Ziegfeld, Irving Berlin and George M. Cohan, lay down the foundation for what will become "The Great White Way," and Broadway's first big show, Show Boat sets sail.

Ep. 2: Syncopated City (1919-1933)
Social issues are reflected in the arts, as new stars take the stage, including blackface entertainer Al Jolson. When the Gershwins and Richard Rogers make the future look bright, reality is much more grim.

Ep. 3: I Got Plenty O' Nuttin' (1930-1942)
As the country struggles through the Depression and the start of World War II, Cole Porter's escapist musical Anything Goes brings hope. The emergence of new stars like Ethel Merman isn't the only development, as race takes center stage with Ethel Waters and George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

Ep. 4: Oh' What a Beautiful Mornin' (1943-1960)
A golden age arrives on Broadway with a series of memorable musicals start production, including Oklahoma!, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate, Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady. In a big development, the growing television audience gets a look at the New Yorkers.

Ep. 5: Tradition (1957-1979)
The marquees get more crowded, as West Side Story, Cabaret, Hair, Chicago and A Chorus Line make their mark. These new shows show a new influence on Broadway.

Ep. 6: Putting it Together (1980-2004)
One of the best stories in this set is told, regarding maverick producer David Merrick's work on 42nd Street. The rise of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Disney in the world of theater serves as a set-up for three of the biggest shows in recent history, The Lion King, The Producers and Wicked.)

This set covers pretty much everything, though it does tend to avoid giving any mention to off-Broadway hits, and ignores one of the most groundbreaking shows of recent years, the 2004 Tony-winning Avenue Q. If any show describes how far the art form has traveled since Show Boat, it's this irreverent puppet musical. It's a disappointing omission, and does nothing for Broadway's image as a haven for stuffy mainstream productions (The Producers aside.)

In regards to the documentary's mechanics, the production crew did a great job, melding "talking head" interviews with archival clips to keep what can be a dry topic from losing momentum. Also, by getting interviews with the more famous members of the community, like Mel Brooks, Jerry Orbach and Tim Robbins, the uninitiated has an in to the material. An excellent overall job.

The DVDs
The six hour-long episodes of "Broadway: The American Musical" are presented in anamorphic widescreen, on three DVDs (two episodes on each), with a decent selection of extras on each disc. The animated menus on each DVD are classy (though slow), with fade-in/fade-out transitions. There are no subtitles or alternate audio tracks available, but there are scene selections within each episode. The discs are packed in black ThinPak cases, with episode descriptions on the back, which are housed in a cardboard slipcase.

The Quality
PBS hit it out of the park on this set in terms of the visual quality. From the first introduction by Andrews, it's obvious that the anamorphic widescreen video is as good as it gets. The new footage is beautifully clean and crisp, with outstanding skintones and vivid colors. Take a look at the shots of vintage theater programs and you'll see how good video can look. The earlier video and film of old shows and appearances have obvious faults due to age and condition, but even these clips are in better shape than one might expect. There are some digital artifacts visible at times, especially during old video footage.

The audio is a bit disappointing, in that it's only available in Dolby 2.0, though it's unlikely the source material on 90-percent of the series' musical footage would have been any better than mono. The interviews are clearly presented, and the songs are well-produced, with the background track separated nicely from the main vocal track.

The Extras
Each disc has a spread of extras, mainly additional performances and more complete interviews from which much of the series' footage was drawn from. A list of menu photo credits is included as well.

Disc One:
Additional Performances:
Vaudeville selections (Early films from the Library of Congress Variety Stage collection)
Bill Robinson (from the 1932 movie Harlem is Heaven)
Eddie Cantor's tailor shop routine (from the 1929 film Glorifying the American Girl)
• These are some excellent archival pieces of footage. Though very grainy, the age of these clips makes it easy to accept their condition.

There are also 19 interview clips, including chats with Stephen Sondheim, Mel Brooks, Carol Channing and Al Hirschfeld. Each is preceded by a title card, explaining the topic. Among the subjects are the early influences on musical theater, Show Boat, the first legends and the well-known Sardi's restaurant. They tend to be short, but are worth checking out.

Disc Two:
Additional Performances:
"Hostesses of the Stage Door Canteen" (from Irving Berlin's This is the Army)
"If I Loved You" (from Carousel, performed by John Raitt and Jan Clayton)
"Some Enchanted Evening" (from South Pacific, performed by Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin)
• These clips are fascinating, for different reasons. "Hostesses" is performed by an all-male, all-military cast, which means there's army drag and an army kick line, while the second two, seemingly shot for television, show how much the musical has changed.

This time, there are 23 interviews, with Tim Robbins, Jerry Orbach and Patricia Morison in the mix, as they talk about why governments fear art, why they love the theater, lyrics and more stories about the greats.

Disc Three:
"Wicked: The Road to Broadway"
This 16-minute featurette (produced in anamorphic widescreen), follows the creation of one of the biggest shows of today, a new exploration of the The Wizard of Oz mythology. Most every part of the show gets screentime, as the music, dance, and nearly most important of all, the design comes together on the way to Opening Night. Informative and interesting, with lots of fly-on-the-wall footage.

Additional Performances:
"Someone in a Tree" (from Pacific Overtures, performed by Stephen Sondheim and the show's original cast, with an interview by critic Frank Rich)
"Sunday" (by Jonathan "Rent" Larson)
"For Good" (from Wicked, performed in rehearsal by Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, with Stephen Schwartz and Stephen Oremus)
• More contemporary clips from more recent shows, these aren't nearly polished, with the first song looking like vintage 1970s television. The Wicked Song gives a good look at how Broadway rehearsal works.

Even more interviews, with 27 this time. New participants include Marvin Hamlisch, Harvey Fierstein, Ben Vereen, Chita Rivera and Joel Grey. The focus tends to be on their own personal experiences this time, with some remembrances of some legends as well.

The Bottom Line
If anyone was going to tell the story of the American musical and the upper-crust world of the Great White Way, PBS, with its similar reputation, had to be the network to do so. Blessed with Andrews' prim and proper narration and a all-star cast of "talking heads," "Broadway" has just the right feel for a documentary on one of high society's cultural gems. The scope of the show demanded the six-hour length, but the segments are intimate and focused, making it a broad, yet detailed look back. But most importantly, the series puts the story of Broadway into historical context, which is key to learning about any art form.

All that's needed to dive into this series is a passing interest in musical theater, as the methodical pacing isn't going to pull in the casual viewer, but once the show starts, it's hard to not get hooked. It would have been even harder if they had included some Avenue Q, but hey, that's just me (and the Tony voters) talking. I guess PBS only shows their own puppets.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.