Category Archives: Musical

WEST SIDE STORY

Hollywood loves a remake. Sometimes it’s a successful foreign film recast with English-speaking celebrities. Sometimes it’s a decent story that just didn’t work the first time around. Most of the time, it’s a hollow-minded cash-grab by a studio rejiggering its intellectual property. But now and then, it’s a filmmaker of regard taking a bonafide classic […]

WEST SIDE STORY

Musical Masterpiece: Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”

I remember the first time I saw “West Side Story.” I watched the 1961 film during class at my Catholic elementary school decades later — on a square TV on a rolling cart — and it was transformative. I immediately loved the music, choreography, dancing, characters, and storytelling. I watch that version from time to […]

Musical Masterpiece: Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”

TIFF 2021: “Dear Evan Hansen”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 5 out of 5. There are always moments when we think we are misunderstood, blamed and judged for something we had nothing to do with. Also, people think if we are emotional, loud and extremely cheerful or angry from the outside, we are bad and should be ignored. Evan Hansen (reprising his role […]

TIFF 2021: “Dear Evan Hansen”

Review: “Annette”

Toward the end of Noah Baumbach’s 2019 film “Marriage Story,” Charlie, played by Adam Driver, breaks into an emotional rendition of Sondheim’s “Being Alive” from the musical “Company” while at a restaurant with friends, facing the dissolution of his marriage. It’s a beautiful scene—my favorite in the entire film, actually—and one that made me immediately […]

Review: “Annette”

In the Heights: An Extremely Fun Musical That Will Put a Smile on Your Face

Quick Thoughts: In the Heights is an absolute blast. It puts a smile on your face, and is proof that stage musicals can be successfully translated to the big screen.  Directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, Step Up 2: The Streets, Step Up 3D), In The Heights kicks off the summer season with […]

In the Heights: An Extremely Fun Musical That Will Put a Smile on Your Face

First Glance: “In the Heights”

Following the enormous success of “Hamilton” what better time for Warner Brothers to release “In the Heights”. This musical drama is an adaptation of a Tony-winning stage play by Quiara Alegría Hudes and “Hamilton” mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda. Jon M. Chu of “Crazy Rich Asians” fame directs the film from a screenplay written by Hudes with […]

First Glance: “In the Heights”

First look: Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley in Romeo and Juliet

The National Theatre has released the first image of the filmed version of Romeo and Juliet, starring Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley. The venue utilised the stage spaces of its Lyttelton theatre to house the production of the 90-minute film over the course of a three-week shoot. The film will premiere in the UK on […]

First look: Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley in Romeo and Juliet