Kelly connects with filmmaker and writer Nick Davis. His films include “Once Upon a Time in Queens” about the 1986 New York Mets for ESPN’s 30 for 30 series; he recently won an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of “The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox” for Netflix. His book about his grandfather and great-uncle, “Competing with Idiots: Herman and Joe Makiewicz, A Dual Portrait,” was shortlisted for the LA Times book prize as biography of the year in 2021. His newest documentary is called “You Had to Be There,” which looks at the legendary 1972 production of “Godspell” starring Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, and Victor Garber among others.  

 I want to start with the fact that the way you got this documentary started was with an email to Martin Short’s people. That never works. 

“No, it absolutely never works, except then once it does work, you think it’s going to work every time. Yeah, so it got started because I was reading Marty’s memoir in 2017 alongside my wife, Jane Mendelsohn, my creative partner and co-writer on this film. And I knew all about the legendary 1972 Toronto production of Godspell. Finally, Jane and I, after kicking around the idea for a number of years, asked ourselves why hasn’t there ever been a documentary about this? Let’s write Martin Short a letter. So, I wrote Martin Short a letter, I sent it through to his agents. As you say, you don’t usually even get an answer, but I got the answer back: He’s willing to have lunch with you, pick a spot.” 

And Martin had the only known recording of the show, right? 

“Yes, he took a tape recorder one night in November to the Bayview Theater after it had moved theaters. By then it was a big established hit, and they knew they had something. He took his tape recorder and recorded the entire thing with a couple of cheap plastic mics that he pinned up to the chain link fence that is the set of Godspell. And then he told me this in the first lunch. He said, ‘You know, I did this, and then Paul Shaffer and I cleaned it up a few years ago. It doesn’t sound so bad. I’ll send it to you. And it sounds fine.’ You feel like, okay, I feel like I’m there. I can hear what it must have felt like in that crowd.” 

Your grandfather co-wrote “Citizen Kane” and your uncle wrote “All About Eve,” I wonder if you were attracted to this story because young talent doing incredible things is part of your family history? 

“That magical moment is is something that really appeals to me and attracts me deeply, both personally and professionally. It’s just like, what did that feel like? That’s the fun thing about any documentary film: what did it feel like and what was going on before they knew they were Martin Short and Gilda Radner? Like, they were just a couple of kids, and they were falling in love and doing a show together and earning money for the first time and in show business. That’s mind blowing for anybody. And then the fact that they went on to have these careers that we’re all so interested in and give us all so much joy, it just felt like, wow, this is gonna be a fun ride to investigate this.”