Rick McKay Releases Update on Broadway: BROADWAY: BEYOND THE GOLDEN AGE

Filmmaker Rick McKay has posted a lengthy update to Kickstarter with news on the anxiously awaited sequel to his award-winning film, Broadway: The Golden Age, with 100 new stars and new rare footage.

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your belief in "Broadway Beyond the Golden Age," the second installment of our "Broadway: The Golden Age Film Trilogy." And I would especially like to thank you for your patience during the herculean last chapter of our decade-long battle to finish this film.

Besides my usual indie filmmaker challenge of writing, directing, shooting, lighting, doing sound, and editing the film, I have dealt with a few other issues in the last five years. I was diagnosed in 2008 with a relatively rare form of macular sclerosis which was consistently diminishing my vision (not cool for a man who is either shooting or editing!), while causing migraine-worthy headaches and eyestrain until I was legally blind and contact lenses and glasses could no longer help. I continued to shoot and edit the film through most of this process while training interns from various universities that helped with transcriptions of interviews and organizing footage. Being an independent filmmaker, I fall through the cracks of Guild and union insurance, so I was not able to fight the malady head on. To make things more interesting, around the same time I was also diagnosed with a challenging form of melanoma skin cancer. I have had 11 surgeries in the last 15 months, but never stopped working on the film. The good news is that the "Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age" is now 80% finished - and I believe, heads and shoulders above the first film of the trilogy, "Broadway: the Golden Age." Thanks to the heroic efforts of Dr. Stanley Chang and Dr. Amelia Schrier, my vision has been saved and after numerous skin grafts, hospital stays and surgeries, I believe I am cancer free.

I have not revealed any of this information publicly before, mainly because I know that there are so many people with much greater challenges that they face every day. But, I thought you all should be aware as you have been so patient and passionate in your belief in this trilogy. On a happier note, what I have also not told announced publicly, even to our cast or to some of our producing team, is that we have been invited to premiere the film, sight unseen, shortly after the first of the year at a very prestigious film festival, one that we won during BGA's festival run. But, this means I have ahead of me the impossible task of finishing the film in 3 to 4 short months - on my own. But, as those of you who are aware of the first film's journey know, I do not shy away from challenge. I believe when the odds are the most impossible, you fight the hardest. And my goal is to make each one of you proud.

So, I hope you will forgive me for being remiss and not updating all of you as this is also my first adventure with Kickstarter. Your generous pledges and passionate belief in our Broadway: the Golden Age trilogy has been enormously helpful and the funds have gone to our archival research and to transfer and preserve never before seen footage that I have been uncovering (and that you are going to LOVE), as well as towards maintaining our aging editing equipment to keep the film on track. Some of the archival footage in the film costs upwards of $15,000 for less than a minute of video and musical rights, so you can imagine how hard the work that my great producing team and I have to put into fund-raising to keep the project going. So your generosity is more appreciated than ever!

I promise to keep you all updated and packages will be on their way out in the next months. The DVD/Blu-ray packages will, of course, have to wait till the release of the film next year, however others will be going out in much sooner. I promise it will be worth the wait!

Again, I thank you for believing in our project. Just because these brilliant performances that changed the entertainment world (and many of our lives) happened on the Broadway stage instead of on a Hollywood soundstage, there is no reason that they should be forgotten by history. And we are making sure that they never will be!

I thank also our great producers, Anne L. Bernstein, Richard Weigle, Jamie deRoy, Jane Klain, Michael Anastasio, Jack Coco and Francis Bator. I couldn't do it without them. And to everyone who has supported our film, or will in the future. Please send the link below to your friends. It is SO easy, secure and quick to make a 100% tax-deductible donation online - and in those few minutes they are making a tremendous difference - no matter how big or how small their donation. They can see the trailer and just click the big green DONATE button. What could be more fun ;-)

http://www.broadwaythemovie.com/trailer/bbga

Thank you all for believing that what we are doing matters.

See you at the movies - soon!

Rick McKay

Director/Producer, Broadway : The Golden Age Film Trilogy

Check Out the First Trailer for BROADWAY: BEYOND THE GOLDEN AGE!

http://www.broadwaythemovie.com/trailer/bbga

BROADWAY: BEYOND THE GOLDEN AGE is the long-awaited, much anticipated sequel to the award-winning feature film documentary, BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE, which documented American Theatre in the 30's, 40's and 50's. This new installment continues the story from the legendary Broadway season of 1959 (GYPSY, RAISIN IN THE SUN, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, etc.) through the tumultuous 60's (HAIR, OH, CALCUTTA, etc.), the revolutionary 70's (Sondheim, A CHORUS LINE, CHICAGO, etc.) up to the opening of 42ND STREET in 1980. Once again, the filmmaker Rick McKay tells the story with in-depth, candid, personal interviews with over 100 newly filmed, legendary stars, while incorporating never-before-seen footage of the original productions as well as home movies and photos from the stars' personal collections, bringing to life a lost era in American history. Many of the stars of the film went on to become household names from their subsequent fame in film and television, and talk of the differences between the mediums and how the theatre gave them the foundation for their success in front of the camera.