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Twilight: The Musical Is Hilarious And Criticizes Bella Swan — What’s Not To Love?
The recent staged reading of fan show Twilight: The Musical gave us sly references, fun songs, and funny meta moments from the laid-back but talented stars. More »
Newsies! 10 Differences Between the Movie and the New Musical
If you are a female of a certain age, chances are good that you went through a Newsies phase sometime during the ‘90s. In fact, you may never have grown out of your Newsies phase, because movie musicals about singing, dancing, striking newsboys never get old. But guess what, guys? After years of middle schools, high schools, and summer camps doing bootleg stage productions of the movie, Newsies has finally become an ACTUAL STAGE MUSICAL. And I have SEEN IT. And it is WONDERFUL. It’s also, however, a little different from the movie. How, you ask?I mean, besides the lack of Christian Bale? Well… More »
Virgin Viewing: ‘Singin’ In the Rain’
This week, actress Debbie Reynolds held a huge auction of some of the Hollywood treasures she has accumulated over the years, including Marilyn Monroe‘s iconic white dress from The Seven Year Itch and a lock of original It girl Mary Pickford‘s hair. And reading about the auction made me realize I’d never seen a single one of Debbie’s films, including the one that is arguably her most famous, Singin’ in the Rain. More »
Video: A Zombie Musical Love Story
While we’re on the subjects of both zombies and musicals: Has it ever occurred to you that maybe the undead deserve a musical of their very own? If it hasn’t, it should; but in any event, it occurred to SOMEBODY, and the result of that piece of epic wondering is this: Rigamortis: A Zombie Love Story. And it’s AWESOME. More »
17 Movies That Probably Shouldn’t Have Been Made into Broadway Musicals
On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that a musical based off of Rocky is in the works, with plans for it to hit Broadway in 2013. My immediate reaction (besides “That’s a TERRIBLE IDEA!”) was this: What is up with all of the musicals being based off of movies these days? Are there truly no original stories left? Or are the people who write Broadway just getting lazy? Because Rocky is far from the only movie to get the Broadway treatment. There have been many, and while some, like The Producers, have in fact ended up being wonderful, the vast majority of them are either bad, or– even worse– simply mediocre. Here’s a look at 17 movies that probably shouldn’t have attempted to take on Broadway. More »
5 High School Musicals That Are Better Than ‘High School Musical’
Before Zac Efron was a household name high school musical was a category of fun and angsty theater, not a frightening musical blob that covered TVs, T-shirts, and frisbees for several summers. There was singing, dancing, and – most importantly – absolutely no choreographed basketball dribbling. More »
‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’ Will Base an Episode on ‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’
Ripped from the headlines, indeed: Season 10 of Law & Order: Criminal Intent will feature an episode that alludes to Julie Taymor and Bono‘s troubled Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. According to TVLine, the fake musical is called Icarus, and while Spider-Man has sent many stuntmen to the hospital, one of Icarus‘ high-flying actors will turn up dead, bringing in Eames (Kathryn Erbe) and Goren (Vincent D’Onofrio) to investigate. More »
Joss Whedon Knows the Plot and Some Songs of ‘Dr. Horrible’ Sequel
Be still, our geeky hearts! In a recent interview with Joss Whedon, the New York Times didn’t shy away from asking about the Dr. Horrible sequel — and Whedon had something concrete to say! More »
‘Bring It On: The Musical’ Is Not a Joke, Has Already Been Broughten
When I heard that there was a musical version of Bring It On, the excellent Kirsten Dunst movie about dueling cheerleader squads, I figured that some college students at an arts school got together and wrote this ironic show. But judging from the preview, it’s a serious affair with quite the pedigree: The creators have also worked on Avenue Q, Next to Normal, and In the Heights. More »
Snap This: Neil Patrick Harris and Stephen Colbert Rehearsing ‘Company’
A few months ago, it was announced that Neil Patrick Harris would take the lead role of Robert in the New York Philharmonic’s upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim‘s musical Company. This made perfect sense, as Harris starred as the Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald in the 2004 revival of Assassins, and has displayed his musical stylings on How I Met Your Mother and Glee. But one of the celebrities joining him on-stage is a bit of a surprise: Stephen Colbert. More »
Interview: ‘Dr. Horrible’ Co-Writer Maurissa Tancharoen on “Breaking” the Help Nathan Buy Firefly Movement and Reviving ‘Dollhouse’
Last week we shared seven behind-the-scenes tidbits from the Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog companion guide, which featured memories and photos from the cast and crew. Now we’ve got an exclusive interview with Maurissa Tancharoen, writer, actress, and singer, who has been welcomed into the Whedon clan both personally and professionally — she co-wrote Dr. Horrible in 2008 and married writing partner Jed Whedon (Joss‘ brother) in 2009. More »
Fan Service: Good Riddance to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’s “Geek Chorus”
Due to all of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’s hyped-up behind-the-scenes disasters — like the revolving door of injured stars, and Julie Taymor getting ousted as director a few weeks ago — it’s only now that I learn of a particularly odious set of characters: the Geek Chorus.
Thankfully, I’ve found out about them because they’ve been cut from the cast as Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa moves into rewrites to make the musical more relatable. If you wanted to make the show relatable in the first place, you shouldn’t have included four comic book nerds who framed the story with their snarky, socially awkward commentary. More »
Video: In Preparation for Tonight’s ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Musical Episode, Here Is Sara Ramirez Singing
Tonight, Grey’s Anatomy is going to do a musical episode. As we’ve said before, a lot of the vocal heavy lifting will be done by Sara Ramirez (Callie), which is good news, because she’s a fantastic singer who did Broadway musicals before joining the cast of the hit medical drama. More »
S Club 7 reunites at a performance of Jersey Boys in London. – ‘Cause it ain’t no party like an S Club party when you’re celebrating former member (the band split in 2003) Jon Lee taking over the lead role of Frankie Valli. (The Daily Mail)
Fan Fiction: This Week’s ‘Glee’ Episode A Tribute to ‘Glee’
(Int: McKinley High’s rehearsal room. Mr. Schue enters waving around sheet music)
Mr. Schue: Great news, guys! I have found the perfect musical act for us to perform at Nationals in New York this year!
Kurt: Rent?
Mr. Schue: No, we couldn’t get the okay from the school board to do a play that features pre-9/11 themes.
Brittany: Glengarry, Glenross?
Mr. Schue: Not a musical, Brittany.
Santana: Please tell us it’s not Yentl. I couldn’t deal with seeing Rachel sing in profile for three hours.
Rachel: Hey!
Brittany: Speed-the-Plow?
Mr Schue: Also, not a musical, Brittany.
Brittany: (mumbles) Not until David Mamet starts replying to my fan mail.
Mr. Schue: No guys….this piece is perfect for us! It combines kitsch, dramatic solos, heart-warming group numbers…We’re going to do last week’s episode of Glee, you guys! More »
‘Rocky Horror’ Gleek of the Week: Mercedes As Frankenfurter
TMI Confession time: When I was in elementary school, my favorite movie was the Rocky Horror Picture Show. To this day, I still don’t know why my parents thought it was an appropriate movie to show a 6-year-old; I do know that a bunch of kids weren’t allowed back over to my house after their parents found them reenacting some of the more risque scenes with me out in my backyard.
So, much like Sue Sylvester, I came into Glee‘s Rocky Horror Picture Show tribute with some reservations. Yes, the “It’s not okay kids!” excuse served as a thinly veiled metaphor for the GQ photo controversy of Lea Michele and co. last week, but more than that, my memories of Tim Curry in drag have been tarnished by years of therapy and the realization that, well, the show isn’t all that great.
That being said: campy songs and faux-transvestites are what drives Fox’s sing-along to begin with, and I can’t think of a musical that toes the uneasy line between teenage fun and adult sexuality better than Rocky Horror. So lets dive into my traumatic past and last night’s episode with this week’s winners and losers of Glee! More »
Crush Links: Kanye’s Cover Art Gets Nixed
• The man is trying to censor Kanye West! His cover art idea for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy has been banned in the US, probably because it is terrifying and involves bird boobs. (Twitter)
• Flashdance: The Musical should probably stay in London theaters. You know, American audiences won’t just buy into nostalgia just because someone put it to pop music. (J/k, Glee!) (Variety)
• Is Lady Gaga getting “fat”? No, she’s probably getting “less sickly thin.” Still, time for a costume change. (RadarOnline)
• Paris Hilton‘s aunts, Kim and Kyle Richards, caused huge family drama when they decided to go on The Real Housewives of Beverley Hills. That family has a reputation to uphold! (People)
• The Internet vigilantes are at it again: This time trying to track down a British man who was taped kicking his dog. Michael Bay, ready to pony up another bounty for his head? (Buzzfeed)
• The real sleazebag of Facebook isn’t Mark Zuckerberg, it’s Peter Theil, the billionaire who thinks women’s votes ruined America and started a fellowship for kids to drop out of college and start their own tech companies (that he can glom onto). (Slate)
• Justin Bieber got a little too aggressive at laser tag in Canada and may be facing assault charges. Come on Canada, time to man up if you’re crying over a shoulder-check from America’s most adorable lesbian. (TMZ) More »
Video: ‘Clear Blue Tuesday’ is ‘Rent’ Meets September 11th
“And when you’re living in America, at the end of the millennium, you’re not aloooone!” sings the chorus to one song in Rent, Jonathan Larson‘s now hopelessly pre-9/11-dated rock opera, Rent. For fans of both NYC and musicals, Rent was the best thing about the late 90s, but when you talk about AIDS being the biggest problem in New York, we know that your little ditty was written before the twin towers fell.
Luckily (not luckily), someone has come to remedy this, with Clear Blue Tuesday, a musical about a group of New York natives living –and singing — their way past the tragedy of September 11th. Won’t you join us know as we cringe along to this weird, mumblecore musical? More »
An Open Letter to Karaoke Ringers
You guys know who you are, even though you come in to the karaoke bar every night pretending not to know each other from acting/improv/voice class. You hog the microphone with your musical numbers (that would be numbers from musicals, which often involve props you’ve brought along like a funny hat, or nearby stool to Fosse-out on), and make sure that for every one song somebody else sings, you’ve cued up three. The announcer gets embarrassed after the fourth or… More »
Video: High School Vampire Musical
Well, this was inevitable: The combination of every guilty pop culture pleasure in movie form, designed specifically to raise teenage girls’ dopamine levels so high that they will stop having sex and cutting themselves. So you guys: I Kissed A Vampire, starring High School Musical’s Lucas Grabeel. There will be blood (and choreographed dance numbers! And catchy songs!). We want to pretend like we are too good for this movie, but we have already pre-ordered our tickets. Sorry guys, see… More »