Bathtubs Over Broadway
Opening Night Screening
With Dava Whisenant and Steve Young
When he started as a comedy writer for the Late Show with David Letterman, Steve Young had few interests outside of his day job. But while gathering material for a segment on the show, Steve stumbled onto a cache of vintage record albums that would change his life forever.
Bizarre cast recordings—marked “internal use only” —revealed full-throated Broadway-style musical shows about some of the most recognizable corporations in America: General Electric, McDonald’s, Ford, DuPont, Xerox. They also featured writers and performers who would become legends, such as Chita Rivera, Florence Henderson, and Bob Fosse. Steve didn’t know much about musical theater, but these recordings delighted him in a way that nothing ever had.
Bathtubs follows Steve Young on his quest to uncover all he can about this hidden world. While delving into treasure troves of forgotten archives, tracking down rare albums, unearthing unseen footage, and rediscovering composers and performers, Steve comes to form unlikely friendships and discovers how this discarded musical genre starring tractors and bathtubs was bigger than Broadway.
| Country, Year | United States, 2018 |
|---|---|
| Director | Dava Whisenant |
| Cast | Steve Young |
| Producer | Amanda Spain |
| Language | English |
| Runtime | 87 MINS, 00 SECS |
| Genre | Documentary |
| Subject | Music |
| Event Type | Film |
Special Guests
Dava Whisenant
Dava Whisenant is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker making her directorial debut with Bathtubs Over Broadway, which she also produced, co-wrote, and edited. Recently, she was the co-producer and editor of Two Trains Runnin’, a Grammy-nominated blues and civil rights documentary directed by Sam Pollard (2016). Dava was also an editor for Focus Features’ 3D documentary Under the Electric Sky (2014, Sundance) and Merle Haggard: Learning to Live With Myself for the PBS’ series American Masters. Her diverse experience includes serving as Supervising Producer for BBC Worldwide, an editing assistant to Steven Soderbergh, and several years as an editor at The Late Show With David Letterman. Dava is a 2016 Sundance Fellow and, at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, she received the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director.
Steve Young
Steve Young is a New York-based comedy writer, author, songwriter, and lecturer. His writing credits include Late Night and Late Show with David Letterman, The Simpsons, Maya & Marty, and the animated holiday special Olive the Other Reindeer, which also feature his song lyrics. Young is the co-author of Everything’s Coming Up Profits: The Golden Age of Industrial Musicals. He teaches television history at New York University.