Category Archives: Movies

EVERY LITTLE STEP Interviews

Playbill has run a great article about this documentary, with some general information and interviews with the filmmakers, Charlotte d’Amboise, Jason Tam and Kay Cole. A couple of choice quotations from d’Amboise and Tam : Charlotte d’Amboise:Playing Cassie is the … Continue reading

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The Best CAMELOT Recording?

So you want to get a copy of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s classic Broadway musical Camelot on CD and don’t no where to begin? Well, I’d like to tell you to look no further, but things are not … Continue reading

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You Can’t Stop the Beat: HAIRSPRAY 2

Following the success of the hit movie musical Hairspray, based on the smash stage show of the same name, New Line Cinema has asked John Waters – the man behind the original non-musical film that inspired both of these hits … Continue reading

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What is the Musical that got you into Musical Theatre?

Which was the musical that got you interested in musical theatre? The first musical in my life was The Sound of Music. Until I was four, my Gran used to look after me during the daytime. And at nap time, … Continue reading

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FAME: Movie Musical or Musical Movie?

An offshoot from the eternal question: what exactly defines a musical in terms of the relationship between music and drama? I’m not convinced that this particular film can be called a musical, although the stage production sharing the same name … Continue reading

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The Legacy of Alan Jay Lerner

Where does Alan Jay Lerner fit into the history of musicals? A prolific librettist and lyricist, Lerner had moments of genius (most of My Fair Lady and the film version of Gigi and parts of Camelot, On a Clear Day … Continue reading

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Your favourite version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL?

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a perennial holiday favourite. I once played a street urchin in a stage adaptation of the novel – one of the first shows I ever did – and I have only good memories … Continue reading

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RENT Rant: Anachronistic much?

Does anyone know the precise year in which RENT is set? It seems that Christopher Columbus and Stephen Chbosky do – 1989. But wait! Wasn’t Thelma and Louise , a film reference in RENT only released in 1991? How did … Continue reading

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“Perfect” Movie Musicals?

The release of RENT seems to have stirred up once more the debate around what makes a film adaptation of a stage musical “perfect”. Is it one that remains as faithful as possible to the material? Is it one that … Continue reading

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RENT Rant: Living and Dying Hollywood-style

The film adaptation of RENT certainly has its flaws, none more offensive than that which it inherited from its source material: the death of homosexual transvestite Angel and the miraculous survival of Mimi because of the endurance of “straight” love. … Continue reading

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