Posts tagged as Musicals
Cee-Lo Green, "Cry Baby"
Is that Drake, in the pink shirt, tan sweater vest and bow-tie, dancing next to Jaleel White in Cee-Lo's new video? It almost could be, right?
Jay-Z And Will Smith To Remake "Oliver!" After Remaking "Annie," Probably
No official word on whether or not Jay-Z's classic "Hard Knock Life" will make the soundtrack to the new version of Annie he's going in on with Will and Willow Smith. But if his recording history is a precedent, the team's next movie will be a remake of Oliver! starring Willow's brother Jaden. And it will be pretty much exactly the same as Annie. READ MORE
The Dorothy of South Street Seaport
"Ladies! Dorothys!" yelled Mary Shriver at nine dark-haired young people. She is one of the producers of "WiZaRD," an upcoming off-Broadway musical loosely built around the music of "The Wizard of Oz." It was 9 a.m. on Thursday at the South Street Seaport, and the nine women were sitting on benches about 100 feet from a makeshift stage, which was built between a schooner and a mall. The bright-eyed actors carried bottles of water and cups of hot coffee, and some even wore pigtails. READ MORE
Oklahoma! at 67: It's Retirement Time
As an extremely passionate fan of (almost) all things musical theater, I do have to honor Oklahoma!'s is milestone status-it is perhaps the most influential American musical ever made. And it was, at least, revolutionary for its time. When it opened on Broadway in 1943, Oklahoma! got rave reviews in almost every paper for, as critic Brooke Atkinson wrote, making "the banalities of the old musical stage ... intolerable." And playwright Thomas Hischak wrote "[Oklahoma!] is the first fully integrated musical play and its blending of song, character, plot and even dance would serve as the model for Broadway shows for decades." And that's true: Oklahoma!, Rogers and Hammerstein's first collaboration, marked in many ways the beginning of the "book musical." Okay, that's nice. Oklahoma!-cutesy as a jackrabbit, sugary-sweet as one of Laurey's gooseberry tarts, subtle as Ado Annie herself-is so earnest and corny that it necessitates the exclamation mark tacked on to the end of its name and also, now that it is 67, a permanent retirement. READ MORE
Understudies! "Carrie": The Worst Musical Ever
There are many flops in the annals of Broadway history, but none-not even "Anna Karenina"-are as notorious as "Carrie," the 1988 musical adapted from the Stephen King novel and Brian De Palma film. The musical was co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, responsible for more high-brow and conceptual productions that were not intended to be coupled with cheesy pop-rock scores for American audiences who expected to understand what the hell is going on. Initially, critics even claimed that the subject matter was too dark for a musical, which is hardly the case; serious musicals like "West Side Story," "Sweeney Todd," "Evita," and-in the previous Broadway season-"The Phantom of the Opera" were all immensely successful on Broadway. "Carrie" failed primarily because it was a giant mess of a show; the very simple and timeless Cinderella storyline (with bonus menses and mass murder subplots) is perfect for a stage adaptation, but the play was muddled with high-concept staging and campy production qualities dressed-up as grand drama. READ MORE
Understudies! The American Musical and Life After "Cabaret"
With this introduction, we begin a brief series on the recent life of the American musical. No, for real! The hideous, hilarious, wonderful, big-business of musical theater. This series is guest-edited by our own Natasha Vargas-Cooper. READ MORE
Stephen Merritt's 'Coraline': Good Weird
Last night I saw a preview of Coraline, Stephin Merritt and David Greenspan's musical adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel about a young girl who discovers a seemingly ideal alternate world which soon proves to be far more sinister than it appears. You know, like most alternate worlds. Anyway, should you go? READ MORE
