Tag: Musical

Posted on

Audiences “Sing” To Theaters

The animated musical comedy with a heart for entertainment is continuing to draw crowds to theaters with great music and an even better story about never giving up and doing what you love to do.

Universal’s Sing, starring a long list of big names including, Matthew McConaughey as Buster Moon, the business savvy Koala who desperately wants to save his family’s theater from foreclosure by putting on one last performance, ‘a singing competition’, but through a mistype of the flyer, it appears to be more of a disaster for everyone.   But will Moon be able to save his theater, especially when everything seems to be going wrong.

The animated movie also includes the voice talents of Reese Witherspoon as Rosita, the mother pig, who wants more then just being a housewife, her partner in the competition, Nick Kroll as Gunter, the pig with the dance moves, Scarlett Johansson, as Ash, the porcupine with the dream to break free of her boyfriend and just Sing, Taron Egerton as the Soul singing gorilla who wants more then the “family business” and Tori Kelly as Meena the shy elephant with the mighty set of pipes.

Overall, Sing will have audiences laughing, inspiring and thoroughly enjoying all the songs of the entire movie as you go on a journey with a few different kinds of animals that have to band together to just do what they love to do and that’s ‘Sing’.

Sing came out in theaters Dec. 21, the same week as Rogue one and has been trailing the Star Wars film at number two consecutively, bringing in close to 200- thousand to date.  It’s a movie that is good for all ages and is highly recommended to all.  It’s still currently playing in a theater near you.

Posted on

“La La Land” REVIEW

There’s an original musical that is bringing crowds into the theaters for the month of December and trying to bring back the old time jazz and live stage performance to the big screen.

La La Land stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as two star cross lovers who are drawn together by their own unique passion.  Gosling a struggling jazz pianist whose ultimate dream is to bring back the iconic jazz scene to a new age audience.  He encounters Stone, a ambitious actress whose current repertoire is a series of rejections, but as they keep running into each other, a spark is ignited in each of them as they fall passionately in love, giving them extra passion to drive their dream, but is the love enough to hold their relationship when their dreams begin to become reality or will they be pulled apart by distance to achieve what they really want in life.

Set in traditional Hollywood, La La Land is the journey of one couple through an entire year and how fast life, love and work moves in the Los Angeles timeline.  At just over two hours, it’s the perfect movie to end the old year and ring in the new year with hope.

La La Land came out in theaters December 9th, 2016 and has already brought in over 27 million in revenues at the box office and has received seven Golden Globe Nominees for best director, cast nominees for Miss Stone, Mr Gosling and J.K Simmons as well as writer, score and song.  The Golden Globes are set to air on Sunday January 8, 2017.

La La Land is currently playing in a theater near you.

Posted on

Live: A “Grease” exclusive TV review

It was a performance unlike any other and at moments, it felt like the audience was watching John Travolta, Stockard Channing or Olivia Newton John in the original Grease movie, but there were some elements that told of the times, such as riding back and forth in golf carts and of course the use of cellphones in the opening credits.  There was also where Sandy was from, Salt Lake City, Utah as opposed to Australia, which was different, but it wasn’t that much of a problem to distract from the performance.

That being said, Grease Live, airing on Fox on January 31, 2016 was an exceptional 3 hour performance that had audiences both live and on the east and west coasts, cheering and singing along to the familiar hit songs by an entirely new generation for an equally new generation.

Grease live stars include Julianne Hough as Sandy, and the pink ladies, Vanessa Hudgens, as Rizzo, Keke Palmer as Marty, Carly Rae Jepsen as Frenchy, and Kether Donahue as Jan.  The T-Birds were played by Carlos PenaVega as Kenickie, Jordan Fisher as Doody,  David Del Rio as Putzie, Andrew Call as Sonny and Aaron Tveit as Danny Zuko.

One familiar from both the original Grease as well as Grease 2, Didi Conn came back as Vi, the waitress in the diner who helps “Frenchy” find her way back.  Also another familiar face, Eve Plumb from The Brady Bunch series, played Mrs. Murdock which was a good selection for the role.

There were also special guest singers including R&B group Boys to Men performing, Beauty School Drop out, pop super star Jessie J opened with Grease is the Word and Mario Lopez both hosted the performance as well as “Bandstand”.

Overall, every solo performance was exceptional, like watching the original.  Audiences in particular, awaited the iconic song sung by Stockard Channing in the original and they were not disappointed.  Vanessa Hudgens, in spite of her recent loss of her father to cancer, hit every note of “There Are Worse Things I Could Do” and Twitter went crazy as audiences were encouraged to comment with the hash tag #gogrease throughout the live performance.  It was clear that all the actors, studied their counterparts in order to channel and perform to do justice and pay homage to the original Grease that came out June 16, 1978.

For more information including when the soundtrack and DVD will be released go to Fox’ homepage.

Posted on

The “Pitches” Are On Top

universal’ssummer sequel, Pitch Perfect 2 had crowds flooding into the theaters on its debut weekend as it brought in over 69 million at the box office, while Disney’s Avengers dropped to the number 3 spot with nearly 39 million.

The musical sequel brings the Barden Bellas back with several returning cast including Anna Kendrick as Beca, Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy, Brittney Snow as Chloe and newcomer, Emily (Hailee Steinfeld) whose mother, (Katey Sagel) is a former  Bella legend and thus a legend to live up to.  The group has to regain their good name after a major indecent exposure in front of national TV which causes the Bellas to be suspended from any additional competitions.  Now it’s a battle of ultimate acappella style as the group attempts to win the World Acappella Championship and redeem their good name for the sake of future Bellas.

Pitch Perfect is a stunning movie of a different caliper as each voice has a unique sound that makes the groups blend into a performance well worth the time.  It is highly recommended for its voice, comedy and passion as the girls ultimately have a deeper connection that one can connect with regards to graduating college and entering the real world.  It’s a story of knowing one’s voice and living it to the fullest, with a group of close friends that will always have your back.

Pitch Perfect 2 is currently playing in a theater near you.

Posted on

“Boys” Debut Falls Short but Still Entertains

Based on the  broadway musical, Jersey Boys, stars “Law and Order” actors, John Lloyd Young as Frankie Valli, and Vincent Piazza as Tommy DeVito, and is the story of how Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons came to be, through their childhood struggles in New Jersey on to their smashing ten year run and finally how money problems lead to the unforeseen split of the group.   It’s told through the eyes of band members, DeVito and Nick Massey, played by newcomer, Michael Lomenda.

With great musical performances, such as “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Sherry” and the romantic ballad, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You”, the actors really sang to a thousands of movie goers over the weekend as the musical took in over 13.5 million, though it didn’t take the number one spot, it is still a movie worth seeing. Just make sure to keep straight who is narrating because the character shifts can get a little unclear.  That being said, it is still a great movie, highly rated for all music lovers.

Jersey Boys was directed by Clint Eastwood and released and distributed by Warner Brothers on June 20, 2014.
Jersey Boys was directed by Clint Eastwood and released and distributed by Warner Brothers on June 20, 2014.