Televising the Performing Arts

This is an exciting inside look at the professional careers of America's leading cultural TV directors. Merrill Brockway, Kirk Browning, and Roger Englander have directed some of television's most memorable programming, including Dance in America, the Arturo Toscanini concerts, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Live from Lincoln Center, and the Young People's Concerts with Leonard Bernstein. Together, they revolutionized the way television covers music, dance, opera, and theater. In interviews with TV historian Brian Rose, they offer an engaging survey of five decades of American television. The challenges they faced as cultural directors are brought vividly to life, particularly the difficult task of translating works created for one medium to another. They discuss what it was like to make concert music resonate for the home viewer, how to squeeze grand opera onto the small screen, and what steps to take in choreographing cameras to film ballet.

The interviews in Televising the Performing Arts reveal the complexities of television production as seen from the vantage point of the director. In detailed examples, Merrill Brockway, Kirk Browning, and Roger Englander illustrate the formidable operations involved in shooting large-scale events like a live concert or staging an opera in the narrow confines of a TV studio. They also explore their collaborations with some of the great artists of our time, including George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Leonard Bernstein, and Gian Carlo Menotti. In addition to its analysis of the production process, Televising the Performing Arts also documents the pressures--both economic and creative--in network television and the significant changes over the years at CBS, NBC, PBS, and the cable networks. Through his critical introductions, Brian Rose provides a historical context to understanding the evolution of cultural programming and the lasting achievements of each of the three directors.