Garth Drabinsky
In this thorough retelling of the rise and fall of cinema and theatre impresario Garth Drabinsky, we see all his Machiavellian ways, from ruthlessly challenging the Famous Players movie-house chain to fudging the financial books to keep musicals such as Ragtime running. Drabinsky was a heavyweight behind the scenes, as we all know from the blanket news coverage of his conviction for fraud in 2009. Barry Avrich's documentary presents his story with a Broadway razzle-dazzle that suits Drabinsky's showmanship, but it gets in the way of a fuller picture of the man. He obviously cared greatly about putting out entertainment he thought would sell, but it came at the expense of ugly backroom deal-making. Ask yourself this: Do you have the patience to watch all the archival press clips of Drabinsky talking about his accomplishments?