78
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90TheWrapAlonso DuraldeTheWrapAlonso DuraldeBathtubs Over Broadway is pure pleasure, both in its exploration of a hidden and uniquely American corner of show business and its portrait of the charmingly nerdy Young and his singular path toward rescuing this sub-sub-sub-genre while many of its executors are still alive to tell their stories.
- Bathtubs Over Broadway offers plenty of evidence that these shows contained material from songwriting greats.
- 88RogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmRogerEbert.comMatt FagerholmWith its balance of exuberant humor and rigorous insight, Bathtubs Over Broadway provides as stellar an education for the uninformed as Siegel’s “The Bathrooms Are Coming!”
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeYoung and Whisenant hatch a finale that is corny and wonderful — a rare chance to watch someone's dream come true, and an exhortation for others to follow their own weird enthusiasms wherever they might lead.
- 80The New YorkerRichard BrodyThe New YorkerRichard BrodyThe overarching and underlying question that the film poses is nothing less than: What is art? And, for that matter, is the conventional definition of good art too narrow to account for the merits of such works as these?
- 75Boston GlobePeter KeoughBoston GlobePeter KeoughDava Whisenant’s documentary, Bathtubs Over Broadway, offers a glimpse into a world few are aware of: industrial musicals — Broadway-style productions similar to Broadway shows except that they promote products like bathtub fixtures, surgical supplies, and John Deere tractors. They were performed exclusively for company members, sometimes recorded or filmed, then forgotten.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonSan Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonBathtubs Over Broadway rediscovers the forgotten world of industrial musicals through rare recordings and film clips, and it is as smoothly entertaining as showbiz set piece, and at times flat-out funny.
- 75Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonPhiladelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonThe elegiac air that surfaces here and there in Bathtubs blends nicely with Young’s own final days on Late Show, reading his separation papers and wondering how to look for a job in his 50s.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKevin CrustLos Angeles TimesKevin CrustThere is a guileless quality to the enterprise as Young interviews stars such as Chita Rivera, Florence Henderson and Martin Short who worked in industrials, as well as the lesser known performers and songwriters who became his heroes.
- 70VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeAnyone who loves musical theater owes it to themselves to see Bathtubs Over Broadway, a delightful deep-dive documentary into one man’s obsession with the obscure world of industrial musicals — corporate-sponsored song-and-dance revues from the golden age of American capitalism.