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 few vintage record albums that would change his life forever. Little did he know, his hunt for offbeat vinyl would thrust him into the world of Broadway-style “industrial musicals”. 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 - which were presented at the companies' annual sales meetings in the ’50s through the ‘80s. These productions dazzled and motivated their only intended audience, each company’s salesforce, which was regaled with lavish productions.
Steve didn’t know much about musical theater, but these recordings delighted him in a way that nothing ever had.
Dava Whisenant follows Young’s odyssey as he tracks down these shows’ souvenir albums, finds kindred fanatics, interviews the performers, songwriters and directors, and discovers rare performance footage of songs such as “My Bathroom” and “Everything’s Coming Up Citgo.” These shows helped pay the bills for then-emerging performers like Florence Henderson, Martin Short, and Chita Rivera, as well as songwriters Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock. A fascinating and hilarious homage to Young’s unique obsession, Bathtubs Over Broadway opens up a seat alongside Young as he takes the audience into a previously unknown world of corporate song and dance.
WINNER at this year’s Tribeca, Nantucket, Nashville, HOT DOCS and Heartland Film Festivals and featured on Alec Baldwin’s “Here’s The Thing”
Q&A WITH SPECIAL GUEST: Steve Young, star of the film