SECOND ACT PRODUCTIONS Presents

RICK MCKAY's

BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE TRILOGY

These three films are the first time in history that the story of Broadway, the most venerable indigenous art form in American history, is told not by writers, historians and critics - but by the Legends who actually were and are there. It is the most thorough and ambitious oral history ever created, incorporating incredibly rare lost footage of actual performances and never-before-seen personal home movies and photos. The first film has already captured a huge audience, young and old, that treasures this living history and eagerly awaits the two upcoming sequels.

1 - Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There

Winner of over 15 film festivals, filmmaker Rick McKay's first installment of his theatrical trilogy played in extended runs in theatres in over 135 cities in the summer of 2004, and was on 18 critics Top Ten Films of 2004 by years end. The film?s champions include Leonard Maltin, Rex Reed, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, Jeffrey Lyons of NBC and critics all over the country. The theatrical feature documentary covers Broadway theatre in the 1930's, 40's and 50's and stars Bea Arthur, Elizabeth Ashley, Carol Burnett, Carol Channing, Ben Gazzara, Robert Goulet, Uta Hagen, Julie Harris, Martin Landau, Angela Lansbury, Shirley MacLaine, Patricia Neal, Jerry Orbach, Jane Powell, Hal Prince, John Raitt, Chita Rivera, Gena Rowlands, Eva Marie Saint, Stephen Sondheim, Maureen Stapleton, Elaine Stritch, Tommy Tune, Gwen Verdon, Eli Wallach, Fay Wray, Gretchen Wyler and many more legends. The largest list of legends ever in one film is edited together with rare archival footage of live performances, many seen for the first time ever. The film is a hit on DVD and is released by RCA/BMG with over 90 minutes of bonus features.

2 - Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age

Now in post production, the new feature is slated for completion in the coming year and covers Broadway from the legendary 1959 season through the 60's and 70's, ending in the early 1980's. The cast includes Kaye Ballard, Betty Buckley, Sid Caesar, Diahann Carroll, Glenn Close, Barbara Cook, Patty Duke, Nanette Fabray, Peter Gallagher, Peter Gallagher, Joanna Gleason, Alice Ghostley, Lou Gossett, Jr., Elliott Gould, Valerie Harper, Rosemary Harris, Celeste Holm, Kim Hunter, Derek Jacobi, Frank Langella, Michele Lee, Cloris Leachman, Patti LuPone, Donna McKechnie, Ann Miller, Liza Minnelli, Melba Moore, James Naughton, Julie Newmar, Bernadette Peters, Estelle Parsons, Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Vanessa Redgrave, Charles Nelson Reilly, Ann Reinking, Debbie Reynolds, Diana Rigg, Chita Rivera, Doris Roberts, John Rubinstein, Richard Thomas, Tommy Tune, Dick Van Dyke and many more. The highly anticipated film will have a 2009 theatrical run followed by DVD and TV.
 
3 - Broadway: The Next Generation

Already deep into production, the final film of the trilogy covers Broadway from 1980 to the present as well as the theatre around the country that is influencing the future of the medium. Already in the cast are Debbie Allen, Jason Alexander, Alec Baldwin, Jason Robert Brown, Glenn Close, Alan Cumming, Hunter Foster, Sutton Foster, Jeff Goldblum, Harry Groener, Adam Guettel, Ruthie Henshall, Cady Huffman, Jeremy Irons, Cherry Jones, Michael John LaChiusa, John Lithgow, Robert Lopez, Cameron Mackintosh, Jeff Marx, Audra McDonald, Matthew Morrison, Christine Pedi, Amanda Plummer, Phylicia Rashad, Liev Schreiber, Marc Shaiman, Douglas Sills, Mary Testa, Wendy Wasserstein, Marissa Jaret Winokur, George C. Wolfe, Karen Ziemba and many more now filming. Already eagerly anticipated and reaching an even wider audience of young people than ever, the film is slated for completion in 2010.

Rick McKay is an award-winning filmmaker who lives in New York City, and who made the smash hit feature film Broadway: The Golden Age which is on over 17 BEST FILMS OF 2004 critics? lists and won awards at over 15 film festivals. BGA has since become one of PBS' most successful pledge drives in history and is a hit DVD on Sony/BMG. The two sequels that complete Rick's trilogy are due in 2009 and 2010. Rick was a segment producer on the PBS series City Arts, the most honored, locally produced show in television history which won over 30 Emmy awards. Rick has also produced for the PBS series Egg: The Arts Show, A&E's Biography series, HBO specials and the annual network opening of the Tony Awards. Rick has been honored at Sundance and much of his footage was used to create the HBO documentary Elaine Stritch at Liberty which won the 2004 Emmy award. Rick is also an award-winning print journalist with numerous magazine and newspaper articles to his credit and won San Francisco's Cable Car Award for Outstanding Journalist for feature reporting.

RECENT REVIEWS

"ONE OF THE MOVIE-GOING DELIGHTS OF THE YEAR . . . People are calling this the year of the documentary; if so, THE ONE THAT MAY BEAT ALL THE OTHERS FOR FLAT OUT ENTERTAINMENT VALUE is Rick McKay's Broadway: The Golden Age. Unlike PBS' recent Broadway series, this film is much more personal, less a history of the great white way than a series of impressions and memories shared by more than one hundred stars, composers, playwrights, and directors, from Angela Lansbury and Carol Channing to Stephen Sondheim.  Interspersed with rare and precious film clips, the cumulative effect is EXHILARATING AND DEEPLY MOVING to anyone who cares about the theater. I LOVE THIS FILM!"  LEONARD MALTIN - ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT

OSCAR CALIBER! Do NOT miss this absolute stunner of a film. There is MAGIC in it!   PETER TRAVERS - ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE

One of the FINEST documentaries I have ever seen! SUPERB!   JEFFREY LYONS - NBC

Carol Channing, Ben Gazzara, Robert Goulet, Angela Lansbury, Jerry Orbach, Shirley MacLaine, John Raitt and Elaine Stritch are ingeniously commingled with heart-stopppingly rare performance footage. The result is an irresistibly nostalgic portrait of a lost era. The editing alone deserves an Oscar! ... You'll weep.  I did. to hear them share their fond memories!   TERRY TEACHOUT - WALL STREET JOURNAL

RIVETTING! HEART-SKIPPINGLY EXHILARATING! The most enchanting movie I have seen this year! A TREASURE - IT WILL ENRICH YOUR LIFE!   REX REED - NEW YORK OBSERVER

IF YOU LOVE BROADWAY SEE "Broadway: The Golden Age." This is Rick McKay's acclaimed feature film on our unique American art form. You'll see legends such as Carol Channing, Chita Rivera, Barbara Cook, the late Fred Ebb, Jerry Herman, Bea Arthur, Kaye Ballard and Carol Burnett tell their tales of life upon the wicked stage. A MUST-SEE!    LIZ SMITH - NEW YORK POST

A RIP-ROARING GOOD TIME! LIKE 111 MINUTES OF PARADISE! THE BEST DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR! ROBERT OSBORNE - HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

"FASCINATING ... AND WHAT A TALE! The only way to see more stars is to head to a planetarium! McKay's film should be mandatory viewing for casual theatergoers, high-school drama clubs and working thespians everywhere!"  MISHA DAVENPORT - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"IT'S JUST SO DARN MUCH FUN I WISH IT HAD LASTED FOUR HOURS INSTEAD OF TWO!"  STEPHEN HUNTER, WASHINGTON POST

"RICK MCKAY'S 'BROADWAY THE GOLDEN AGE' HAS NO PEER! THE MOST ENTHRALLING DOCUMENTARY IN YEARS!"  **** (out of four)    ED BLANK, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

"MAGIC . . . McKay pushed his stars to remember things in ASTONISHING detail. Sandwiched between archival stills and rare stage footage, these stars reveal themselves, their art and their lives, all with so much love and appreciation that, for a while, you wish you could have been a part of something as bonding, fulfilling and special as Broadway's theater community . . . "Broadway: The Golden Age" finally evolves into an INDISPENSIBLE history of the hopes, fears, trials, defeats and victories of those brave enough to step into the limelight of a Broadway stage and make it their home."    DANN GIRE - CHICAGO DAILY HERALD

"Rick McKay's EXCEPTIONAL new documentary "Broadway: The Golden Age" presents a veritable avalanche of interviews with some of the biggest names in the history of the American theater, preserving for posterity their wise words and disarming anecdotes. In addition, there's a glittering hope chest of stashed mementos -- including magnificent archival footage of Broadway productions from the pre-video era ... The resulting film (is) perhaps the screen's most authoritative encapsulation of Broadway history and an intimately resonant one."    SCOTT FOUNDAS - VARIETY

McKay got together an ASTONISHING bunch, some of them now departed: Channing, Lansbury, Harold Prince, Stephen Sondheim, Carol Burnett, Julie Harris, Carol Lawrence, Gwen Verdon, Nanette Fabray, Elaine Stritch, Marian Seldes, Uta Hagen, Ben Gazzara, Robert Morse, Chita Rivera, Jerry Orbach and Betty Comden and Adolph Green, among others ... their memories are CHOICE AND PRICELESS, their PEDIGREE UNQUESTIONED ...This is a documentary about people who understand Broadway's GREATNESS, who endured its cheesy and heartless side and who still love everything about it.   SID SMITH - CHICAGO TRIBUNE

You MUST see this WONDERFUL film ... The result is almost indescribably POWERFUL and MOVIING!  RUN DONT WALK!  LEONARD MALTIN - ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT