‘On Broadway’ filmmaker explores the pull of the stage

“Without the theater, New York would somehow not be itself.” So says Ian McKellen at the start of the documentary “On Broadway.”  Most of us who love the Great White Way, even those who might only have traveled there in their imaginations, would be hard-pressed to disagree.

The film is essentially about the seesawing fortunes of Broadway from the disastrous 1969-1972 era right up until just before the pandemic