Tag: Musical

Andy Fickman developing ‘Heathers’ Musical

heathersmusical

Remember ‘Heathers’…? Of course you do! The 1988 dark comedy about teens is a popular cult favorite and launched the careers of Wynona Ryder, Christian Slater and Shannen Doherty. Well, are you ready for Heathers: The Musical? No, I didn’t stutter. It’s true, but it gets even worse. Andy Fickman, you know… the auteur director responsible for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s masterpiece Disney films including ‘The Game Plan’ and ‘Race to Witch Mountain’… yeah, so he’s developing a musical stage adaptation of ‘Heathers’. Yipee!

The trio has worked on the production under the radar for some time, even doing readings this week in Endeavor’s screening room. The readings saw “Veronica Mars” star Kristen Bell playing the lead and Christian Campbell as J.D., with Jenna Leigh Green (“Wicked”), BrokeDown Cadillac lead singer Corri English and Christine Lakin (the CW’s “Valentine”) as the three Heathers. — HR

Fickman isn’t entirely foreign to the musical genre, having directed ‘Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical’ in 2005 with partner Kevin Murphy, with whom he is working with on ‘Heathers’. Fickman claims the original movie offers many “over the top” moments that would give the musical a similar appeal to John Waters’ ‘Hairspray’. Unfortunately, Fickman failed to consider one crucial element… Waters knows how to make an entertaining movie!

[source: Hollywood Reporter]

‘Spider-Man’ Musical gets an Opening Date

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‘Spider-Man’ is a HUGE franchise, but I’m not sure anyone expected to see it go musical on Broadway. The comic-turned-movie had been in theatrical development Hell for some time, but now can take a small breath of relief as it’s been given an official opening date of February 18, 2010.

The stage musical adaptation will be directed by visionary director Julie Taymor, with music and lyrics created by Bono and the Edge of the band U2. The production is reported to have a staggering $31 million dollar budget.

No casting has taken place yet, but apparently Taymor has been holding readings with Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood, both of whom starred in Taymor’s movie ‘Across the Universe’. While rumors suggest Strugess will not play Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Wood is allegedly enthusiastic and all over the role of Mary Jane.

[source: Hollywood Reporter]

Do you feel lucky… Broadway? ‘Magnum Force’ the Musical?

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It’s no secret that Broadway has been on a bit of a movie-to-musical binge lately, but this is really pushing the limits of what can be taken seriously. Guardian News has reported that singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock is apparently developing ‘Magnum Force’ (sequel to ‘Dirty Harry’) into a stage musical. Yes, you heard me correctly… a musical!

Hitchcock is said to be working alongside MTV executive Bill Flanagan to produce the 1973 modern action classic into a Broadway bound singing and dancing extravaganza, joining such other movie-to-stage adaptations as Dirty Dancing, Billy Elliot, Sunset Boulevard and yes, even Evil Dead. So, how exactly does one become inspired to convert a film riddled with violence and gunfights into a stage musical?

Hitchcock claims his relationship with Magnum Force is a longstanding one. “It’s a film that seemed to be on all the time when I was on tour,” he said. “By the fifth time [I saw it], I became addicted to it. It’s taken a very strange hold on my life.” — Guardian

[source: Guardian]

ATTN! Darren Bousman: Please bring ‘Repo!’ to St. Louis…

Here in St Louis we have been patiently waiting to see ‘Repo! The Genetic Opera’ and so far we are still very (im)patiently waiting to see it! I think there was some error in scheduling as you guys just skipped right over us. If you bring the tour to St Louis and I will make sure that its a packed house, or I will buy all the remaining tickets myself!

So for all of you St Louis people out there, leave some comments below and tell Darren just how much you want to see this damn movie!

Review: ‘Xanadu’ on DVD

That’s right… Xanadu is finally out on DVD! I know this is probably on 80% of critics worst movie of all time, but it really gets a bad rap. Olivia Newton John is fresh off her success in Grease and takes on the world of Roller Disco. Throw in Gene Kelly and and the virtual unknown Micheal Beck (Swan from the Warriors) and you have an OK cast. But Xanadu thrives on the music. A soundtrack that features the Tubes, Olivia Newton John and the Electric Light Orchestra, it makes the movie worth a rental.

Xanadu is the story of Sonny Malone (Beck), an artist and a guy that dreams of making it big in the art world, but he is stuck painting giant album covers for record stores. As his dreams begin to fade he is “kissed by a muse”. Kira, a muse, one of the nine daughters of Zeus sent to inspire humanity. Kira begins to pop up everywhere Sonny Looks, and soon he falls for her. During this romantic chase Sonny bumps into one of Kira’s past successes, Danny McGuire (Kelly). McGuire a construction giant, who in the past was a magical musician playing with the likes of Benny Goodman. Danny remembers his inspiration and it’s the spitting image of Kira. Sonny and Danny become partners on a new state-of-the-art club… you guessed it… XANADU. Unfortunately what happens when your dreams come true..the muse must move on. Sonny won’t have this. So he must find a way to keep Kira.

Like I said the story is kinda shaky and features early animation mixed with live action, but when you add the music ..it does the trick. Before you revoke my Geek/Man card, check out the songs: Magic (John), All over the World (ELO), Don’t Walk Away (ELO), The Fall (ELO), Dancin (Tubes), I’m Alive (ELO) and the Title track Xanadu (John & ELO) make this romantic musical worth the rent. The DVD also has a featurette “Going back to Xanadu” and original trailer. If you like this enough and want to pluck down 14.99 you can get the Magical edition that comes packaged with the soundtrack and makes it a bargain to buy.

Review: ‘Once’

Zac:

One of the top films of the year is this little seen masterpiece. Having seen it 3 times now does not take away from the excellence of this film and I urge to rush out and see this now.

An Irish “musical,” Guy meets Girl and they bond over the creation of music. Guy and Girl are both romantically estranged and are eventually happy to find some companion ship on there musical adventure.
The film is as simple as it sounds but the characters are so believable and the music so good that the simplicity works to its favor as you are able to just sit back and enjoy every bit of it. The film is at least fifty percent music and that is not a bad thing, again, since the material is so good. The characters do not sing their dialogue but the lyrics do reflect the emotions in the air many times and it all works so well do to the fantastic chemistry of the two leads played by Glen Hansard and Markà ©ta Irglovà ¡.
Both leads are professional musicians in real life, Hansard is the leader of The Frames and Irglovà ¡ had done a duo CD with Hansard called The Swell Season. The director John Carney was in The Frames and recruited Hansard for some of his music and some new original work and eventually cast him in the lead. Irglovà ¡ was suggested by Hansard for the part and the rest is history. The fact that the two have played together and know each other really lends itself to the movie as it makes their compatibility all the more believable and I don’t know how well the film would have worked with any other people.
The film also works as a film as it is very concise and to the point and never meanders coming in at a hair under ninety minutes. The emotional connection you invest into these characters is also amazing and you are so sad or excited for them as they move along their journey. I will not spoil the film as it is a joy to watch but I find it hard to believe anyone can really dislike this film. If they don’t it will be because it’s either low budget or they can’t get past the accents, and that is just a damn shame because they couldn’t that this film is about so much more than what these people are saying to one another.
Almost a guaranteed lock to be in my top 5 films of the year, I implore you to go out and rent this movie ASAP as you will not be disappointed. This is one film that needs to be shared and discovered by as many people possible.

[rating: 5/5]

Review: ‘Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story’

Zac:

The newest film out of the Apatow camp is by far the weakest, but still has some good laughs and an enjoyable turn by John C. Reilly as Dewey Cox.
As a spoof movie, it is a fun romp, and has to be a million times better than the likes of Epic Movie or that recent string of horrible looking crap. Though, the movie doesn’t work the whole time and drags for much longer than it should in the middle which ultimately leaves a stale taste in your mouth when it is all said and done.
John C. Reilly as Dewey Cox is a joy to watch throughout at the sheer ridiculous of his character and he hams it up and plays the absurdity to a T. Unfortunately the absurdity isn’t very interesting sometimes and unfortunately not as funny as it thinks it is on a number of occasions. A perfect example is the Beatles scene which should have been gold with the actors involved but falls far short of your lofty expectations.
The supporting characters don’t have much to do either with Jena Fischer acting being almost down right bad at a couple of points. Tim Meadows, Chris Parnell, and Matt Besser are all one trick ponies as the band behind Cox, with Meadows having one of the better repetitive gags in the film. David Krumholtz is solid as the manager and is spoofing himself from Ray; and he does it well. The cameos are also weak with Jack White as Elvis and Frankie Muniz as Buddy Holly as the only notable mentions, outside The Beatles scene, and they’re barely worth noting.
The movie works best in the early goings when it’s blatantly making fun of the themes of the musical biopic and doesn’t try to hide it at all, but once Dewey Cox becomes a star the jokes become fairly hit or miss, outside a great Dylan parody sequence, until the last reel or so of the movie.
It should be noted that the songs are good fun though, with some funny lyrics and tunes that aren’t all that bad either, and Reilly is more than capable of handling the singing duties. The songs are usually the highlights of the film and when the film is dragging there aren’t any new songs; and this of course happens during Dewey’s “song block.”
In the end, Walk Hard is moderate to mostly entertaining fair that is best served as a rental, but it’s good to see John C. Reilly get the spotlight as he is one of the most unappreciated actors working today.

[rating: 3/5]

Review: ‘Romance & Cigarettes’

Zac:

The long delayed New York based musical by John Turturro finally gets to show its face, and sadly, outside of a few good laughs here and there this one is not a winner.
The film has no direction at all for 2/3 of the film. It feels like a random splattering of scenes most of the time and is just all over the place with no plot line really to follow. There are a couple of good laughs sprinkled throughout, i.e. if Christopher Walken or Steve Buscemi are on screen, but most of the time you are left wondering what the hell is going on. Random imaginary sequences pop in here and there, the dance numbers are fun, silly, and probably the best part of the film, the songs used are ok and usually feel appropriate but still a bit random; its all a bit random. The movie is all over the place so much I really can’t even figure out how to explain it.
The final third of the movie has stability but it stops being funny as James Gandolfini’s character seeks redemption for cheating on his wife as he is slowly killed by his lung cancer. The scenes work, are well done, and are even a bit touching, but again, randomly different then the rest of the film. The movie just never seems to know what it wants to be and we don’t know what to expect ever.
The actors are all a bit over the top and ridiculous but with a cast including Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, Mary Louise Parker, and the three fore mentioned males you would think this would be a bit better, but it is not.
Turturro’s film has a number of bright spots, but as an overall film, it just doesn’t work. My girlfriend felt like she was in the theater for 4hrs for a 1:45min movie, and she would give it a 3 because she “liked the dancing.” Either way, it’s a major disappointment, and I guess the studios knew what they were doing when they passed on this film for the last couple of years.

[rating: 2/5]