On Sunday, the Tonys will be handed out on  and, if you want to watch the ceremony, it’ll be televised on CBS.  However, if you’d just rather watch some movies about backstage life, I’ve got a few suggestions.

The Broadway Melody (1929) is a historically important film, in that it was the first sound film and the first musical to win the Oscar for Best Picture.  The story is nothing special.  Two sisters (Anita Page and Bessie Love) attempt to make the transition for Vaudeville to Broadway.  One sister becomes a success and almost loses herself in the process.  The other sister remains determined to become a star.  Watching the film today, it’s obvious that the cast and the crew were still figuring out how to work with sound.  That said, it’s a historical oddity and an interesting look at the film industry making the transition into the sound era.  If you’re into that sort of thing — and I certainly am! — the film is now available on Tubi. 

Far more entertaining is the same year’s Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929).  Produced by MGM, Hollywood Revue features all of the MGM featured players showing off what they could do.  It’s a plotless parade of variety acts, hosted by the suave Conrad Nagel and featuring everyone from Joan Crawford to Marion Davies to Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Lionel Barrymore, John Gilbert, and Jack Benny!  The goal here was to not only show off MGM’s roster of stars but also to show audiences that MGM knew how make sound pictures.  It’s actually a really fun little movie.  The cast appears to be having fun and there’s something really enjoyable about seeing so many talented people all in one movie.  It also features a song called Singin’ In The Rain.  The film can be viewed on YouTube.

Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz (1979) is a masterpiece, following choreographer Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider) as he directs both a film and a musical at the same time while popping pills, having heart attacks, and flirting with the Angel of Death (Jessica Lange).  The scene where Gideon watches as his daughter and his girlfriend perform a dance routine that they’ve prepared for him is one of the most heartfelt moments that I’ve ever seen in a movie.  The film’s surreal ending manages to be satirical, heart-breaking, oddly funny, and sad.  Fosse based Gideon on himself and sadly, they both shared the same fate.  It can be viewed on Tubi.

Finally, Michele Soavi’s Stage Fright (1987) is one of the best horror films to ever be set in a theater.  Have you ever wondered why the victims in slasher films don’t just leave the house or the theater?  Have you ever said, “Don’t split up, you idiots!”  Well, in this one, everyone sticks together and everyone tries to leave and it doesn’t do a bit of good.  (Unfortunately, their director has a cocaine problem.)  This film has an absolutely brilliant opening sequence.  I always laugh when the Marilyn Monroe look-alike starts playing the saxophone.  The much-missed Giovanni Lombardo Radice has a small role.  Director Soavi appears as a cop who asks, “Do you think I look like James Dean?”  The film is on Tubi.

(Check out last week’s Weekend Films here!)