The Greatest Showman: The Embodiment of the American Spirit

After walking out of this film, I have to conclude either the critics did not “get” The Greatest Showman, or they did… and didn’t like it. Or maybe it’s the fact that the film hits them where it hurts, with the critic within the film representing the wider critics at large, and the film asserting...

Les Miserables Trailer

I'm surprised this teaser trailer is out already, since I didn't think we would see one until the end of July or later. It looks good. I'm a huge fan of the original story, I absolutely adore the film, and I have a so-so relationship with the musical. When sung by a great cast of...

Love Never Dies

[ how Love Never Dies came to be ] “Okay, so I’ve been thinking about the sequel to Phantom—” “Wait, what sequel to Phantom?” “The one I’m working on. It’s great, you’re going to love it! So the Phantom is now at Coney Island.” “Why Coney Island?” “Because it’s cool, and that’s where his freak...

I Love Live Theatre

I love live theater. There’s something awesome about it. Movies are one thing; a live performance is another. In a movie, there are retakes, but theater is like real life… if you make a mistake, you have to force your way through it and keep going (if you do it well, the audience never notices)....

Revision

Some of you might have noticed I haven’t been blogging (or reviewing!) that much in the last couple of weeks. I have a really good excuse: I’m in the middle of a massive writing project, and starting to test the waters of finding an agent a bit. And that is proving more tedious than I...

Phantom of the Opera: Lust & Love

It has been a long six months since the official release of The Phantom of the Opera live performance at the Royal Albert Hall was announced for 2012. It finally hits American distributors on Tuesday and all I can say is, it’s about time! Many of my obsessions have come and go, but my love...

The Phantom of the Opera

This past weekend, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Phantom of the Opera turned 25 years old. No one knew when the show opened that it would become one of the most profitable shows in the history of live theater, nor that it would become the longest continuing run, surpassing even Cats. It has...

Phantom: Love Never Dies

I have to admit, Love Never Dies is growing on me.When news that Andrew Lloyd Webber was writing a sequel to Phantom of the Opera was released, I was not amused. In my mind, how can you improve on perfection and the glorious blend of sorrow and beauty in the original's magnificent ending? My fear...

Wicked!

All of us are familiar with the children’s story, The Wizard of Oz and most of us have seen the 1939 classic film adaptation in which Dorothy is caught up in a tornado and dumped unceremoniously into the land of Oz. There, along with the assistance of the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and...