Mary Ellen Ashley, Michele Ragusa, and More Among Subjects of New Documentary on Broadway Women

A new documentary film begins shooting this week with a majority of the film to be shot in New York City over the next six to eight months. The film will chronicle the lives and careers of professional actresses whose performances have been seen on Broadway over several generations.

The film, Broadway Ladies, will include interviews with Mary Ellen Ashley, Michele Ragusa and other actresses who will be announced at a later date. Ashley made her Broadway debut as a young girl in The Innocent Voyage in 1943. She would go on to be cast in the original Broadway production of Annie Get Your Gun starring Ethel Merman and stay with the show for the entire run. She was also on Broadway in Yentl and has produced and co-produced on Broadway as well. Ragusa made her Broadway debut in 1993 in the original cast of Cyrano: The Musicaland has since gone on to five other Broadway shows including the original cast of Titanic and in 2008 replaced Megan Mullally in Young Frankenstein.

The documentary will highlight the careers of these "lifers" sharing details of the ups and downs of the business, their own unique creative journeys and the balance of family and personal lives with their artistic work.

The film will be the directorial debut for Patrick Riviere, himself a professional actor and playwright who was the first Industry/Professional Liaison at NYU's TISCH School of the Arts. He was also the Education Director at Second Stage Theatre, Associate Director for The Hudson Riverfront Performing Arts Center and Artistic Director for both The Emerging Artists Project, Inc. and All Seasons Theatre Company.