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Another chance to hear the landmark documentary series celebrating the most popular and successful form of theatrical entertainment in the world: The Musical.

Programme Two: Drawn From Life
It's important for the musical theatre audience to understand the characters on stage and their motivation which is why, as we discovered in our first programme, the story - or, as it is called in the musical, 'the book' is of vital importance. It also probably explains why so many musical stories are not original but are borrowed from other sources such as novels, plays and increasingly these days, films.
Always popular with composers are the life-stories of real people.
Some of them were already famous before becoming characters in musicals, but many were largely unknown - until becoming the subject of a successful show brought them a unique kind of fame!
Featured musicals include: 'Gypsy', 'Evita' and 'The King and I'.
Contributors include: director Hal Prince, Stephen Sondheim, actors Patti LuPone, Ruthie Henshall and Paul Nicholas, creator of ‘Nine The Musical’, Maury Yeston, and Elaine Stritch. We also hear from actor-director, Maria Friedman, lyricist Tim Rice, actors Elaine Paige, Liz Robertson and Victor Spinetti, writer Richard Stilgoe, and director Michael Grandage.
Other contributors include actor Joel Grey, critic Michael Riedel, historian John Fricke, and head of The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organisation Ted Chapin.
Presented by actor and director, Daniel Evans.
Written by Brian Sibley and produced by Malcolm Prince.
First broadcast in 2010.