Undoubtedly, the most feel-good film event of the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, the afterglow from Saturday’s world premiere of Dava Whisenant’s Bathtubs over Broadway is only now wearing off. The afternoon featured a post-screening performance of a musical number promoting the joys of disposable paper hospital products, and a duet about faucets. Take that Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen. If you missed out on the fun, you can catch up on what went down below.

Bathtubs over Broadway is about an unlikely hero and his quest to save a little-known slice of Americana from fading into oblivion. At the film’s open, we meet Steve Young, longtime writer for the Late Show with David Letterman. One of Steve’s assignments over the years has been finding obscure records for the reoccurring segment “Dave’s Record Collection”. During one of his numerous vinyl-hunting missions, he stumbles upon a curious breed of souvenir record that appears to have been given out to company employees following a corporate sales meeting or retreat. With a label of “internal use only”, these albums feature recordings of full-blown musicals, but these aren’t productions you would have heard of like Fiddler on the Roof or Hello, Dolly!. Rather, these are musicals written about a company or product, and have names like The Bathrooms are Coming! or Diesel Dazzle.

We come to learn that in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s it was commonplace for large American corporations like Hardee’s, Champion Spark Plugs, Ragu Foods, Chevrolet, MetLife, and McDonald’s to hold lavish meetings to motivate their troops. One of the highlights of these events was branded entertainment. A creative team would be hired to write and perform a musical themed around the company and the products they produce. These were well-paid gigs and some very talented composers made a career out of this kind of work. Also, Martin Short, Chita Rivera, Florence Henderson and Andrea Martin have all fessed up to wading in this revenue stream.

Steve, who refers to himself as a damaged comedy writer, is pretty low-key and has never been big on hobbies. However, these bizarre cast recordings strike a chord and he becomes consumed with collecting them. Oddly enough, he finds that there are others who share his interest.

In Bathtubs over Broadway, we see Steve’s obsession yield a fruitful outcome, as he develops relationships with other collectors, seeks out the creative people who worked on the musicals, and subsequently co-author’s a book and creates a roadshow to draw attention to this little-known phenomenon and the talented people who were a part of it.

It’s also important to note, the documentary is shot against the backdrop of the final years of the Late Show with David Letterman. This is a time when Steve is contemplating his future career-wise, and likely questioning his legacy and the immortality of his creative contributions.

Photo credit: Mindy Bond

As for the premiere event at the Tribeca Film Festival, it was in keeping with the subject matter of the film. Steve served as master of ceremonies and everyone in the audience was given a pair of souvenir “zoom” glasses reminiscent of the ones worn at a CITGO gathering that was featured in the film. Steve went on to introduce two musical numbers by the late great Sid Siegel, one of the more prolific composers in the industrial musical genre. The second of these songs, “Proximatics” was performed by some of the original cast from The Bathrooms Are Coming!. (Our video of the musical portion, while not the best quality, should at least give you a feel for this section of the festivities.)

Following the music, a Q&A ensued. Dava and Steve were joined by producers Susan Littenberg and Amanda Spain, co-writer/creative partner/co-producer Ozzy Inguanzo, and former performers Susan Stroman, Sandi Freeman-Geller, and Pat Stanton.

Dava went on to explain how she got involved with the project. A former editor on the Late Show with David Letterman, Dava received a CD from Steve that contained a selection of industrial musical show tunes. She thought, “this is a world nobody’s ever heard of, why don’t we make a documentary about it.” Steve was more than willing to make it happen with Dava at the helm.

The performers also spoke about the experience of doing this kind of work. Susan Stroman explained that these shows were a way to survive while waiting to be on Broadway. And, for her personally, they served to be a real stepping stone to her becoming a director and choreographer.

Bathtubs over Broadway is Dava’s first foray into directing, but it certainly doesn’t show. The film, which weighs in at a svelte 87 minutes, is uplifting, well-conceived, and finely tuned. It’s well-worth seeking out.

The documentary has two more screenings at the festival. For showtimes and tickets, visit the Tribeca Film Festival website. Update: Dava Whisenant was awarded Tribeca’s Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award for Bathtubs Over Broadway.