Thoms Pays the Rent

Tracie Thoms, who played lesbian lawyer Joanne in the movie version of Rent, will take to the Broadway stage tonight in that role in the long-running Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical hit.

Thoms, who was one of the two film Renters who wasn't in the original cast of the show, will stay with the production through its closing date, September 7.

Reel Thoughts: ABBA-cadabra!

If you don’t like ABBA, you have Australia to blame for their resurgent popularity. Would the Swedish pop group have had such a comeback without Toni Collette’s marriage-obsessed Muriel’s Wedding and the ABBA-riffic Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert? Why, even the Broadway posters for Mamma Mia! were a direct rip-off of Muriel's.

Of course, once it opened, Mamma Mia! became a worldwide sensation, easily one of the best “jukebox musicals” of all time. The reason it succeeds onstage, even in fickle Las Vegas where it has outlived about a half dozen other Broadway imports, is that the wafer-thin story is just framework enough to hang ABBA’s infectious hits. On the other hand, it doesn’t feel like a tired retread of what it’s celebrating, like All Shook Up did.

The film version is extremely exciting, mostly due to its all-star cast and spectacular Greek locations. Opened up and blown up on the big screen, some of what works on stage feels flat on film. The other problem is that now, you really get the chance to hear the lyrics, and it reminds you that English wasn’t really ABBA’s first language. No amount of song selling on Christine Baranski and Julie Walters’ parts will improve the inherent silliness of “Chiquitita”; and much as I adored Meryl Streep’s heartfelt rendition of “The Winner Takes It All”, after the fourth repetition of the same lyrics, you start to feel a little bad for her -- let the poor woman finish the song, already!

The story of Mamma Mia! takes place on a magically beautiful Greek Island where Donna (Streep) is running an inn and preparing for her daughter Sophie’s wedding. Sophie, played with charming sweetness by Amanda Seyfried, is determined to have her father give her away, despite never having met him or even knowing his name. Reading her Mom’s diary, she narrows it down to three men with whom Donna “dot, dot, dotted,” and Sophie invites them all to her wedding. Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård play the prospective papas, while Baranski and Walters play Donna’s best friends and former back-up singers (when they were “Donna and the Dynamos”).

The film is set to every ABBA song you’ve ever heard, and a few you haven’t. Donna and Sophie bond while confronting the past, and everyone finds love in one way or another. My favorite thing about the film and show is the way it focuses on the middle-aged women and their supportive friendship. The music may not always be equal to the quality of the people singing it (especially Streep), but everyone is clearly having a ball, and you will, too.

UPDATE: Mamma Mia! is now available on DVD and Blu-rayfrom Amazon.com.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Little House on the Stage

As a kid, I was obsessed with the opening credit sequence of the wholesome TV classic Little House on the Prairie. It was always comforting to hear that familiar theme music, even though the show that followed often dealt with the harsh realities of such a life. I would always wait for little Carrie Ingalls to go tumbling down that hill, and was confused when Big Edie would tell me (seemingly every week) that Lindsay Sidney Greenbush was actually two people. Did that mean that Melissa Sue Anderson was too?

The big star of the show, of course, was Melissa Gilbert as Laura "Half Pint" Ingalls, who would grow up to write the stories the series was based upon. And now, Gilbert herself is all grown up (and glammed out) and currently starring as Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in a musical version of those same books, making its world premiere tonight at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.

The new tuner, directed by Francesca Zambello (Broadway's The Little Mermaid) and featuring the music of Oscar winning composer Rachel Portman (Emma) with a book by Tony Award winning librettist Rachel Sheinkin (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), has already proven to be a big draw. Its limited engagement has been extended by two weeks. In addition to Gilbert, the cast includes familiar Broadway faces Steve Blanchard and Jenn Gambatese.

Let's Do the Time Warp Again

With a jump to the left and a step to the right, MTV has announced they are remaking the movie that defines the terms "cult film", "audience participation" and "midnight movie classic", The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Original RHPS producer Lou Adler is heading up the remake, which will use the original story and score by Richard O'Brien, plus possibly a few songs from the original stage production ("Superheroes", "Once in a While") that were cut from the final 1975 movie. No director has been attached as of yet.

As expected, die-hard Rocky fans are up in arms (there is already an online petition protesting the new film), but I'm curious to see how they would do it ... and with a budget this time. Casting would be key, most especially for the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania immortalized on stage and screen by Tim Curry.

If I were making the decisions, I'd pick Alan Cumming for Frank; anyone who has seen his Cabaret Emcee would agree. For Brad and Janet, how about the Enchanted couple themselves, James Marsden and Amy Adams. O'Brien could be Riff Raff again if he's up to it; if not, perhaps Raúl Esparza from the 2000 Broadway revival. His co-star, Dick Cavett, would return as the Criminologist, while Magenta and Columbia could be the totally Wicked pairing of Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth. As in the stage RHS, Eddie and Dr. Scott would be played by the same person: Jack Black. And as for Frank's ultimate creation, Rocky himself? Why, Cheyenne Jackson of course; he is the perfect man and, as luck would have it, he has played the role before.

Hopes are for a Halloween 2009 release, so we'll likely hear more soon.

UPDATE: In a curious development, Richard O'Brien claims no connection to -- or support of -- this remake. Additionally, although it at first appeared to be a theatrical release, new reports are indicating that it will be aired on television, which may effect the casting (in other words, strike out Marsden, Adams and Black from my dream cast ... sigh).

Calling All Spider-Men

If you can sing, look good in tights, walk on walls and be able to kiss upside down, then here's your chance of a lifetime. Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor is holding an open casting call this Monday in New York City for her upcoming Broadway musical adaptation of the comic book superhero Spider-Man.

In addition to Peter Parker and Mary Jane (roles that apparently won't be going to Taymor's Across the Universe stars Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood after all), it sounds like that evil spider-woman character Arachne is still intact (yeah, I know, but remember: this is Julie Taymor we're talking about here).

Music for the unlikely tuner will be by U2's Bono and The Edge. As of now, no timeframe has been announced as to when Spidey will spin his first web on the Great White Way.

Boys in the Hood

Illustration by Pete Emslie

The Rat Pack hits the Great White Way: a stage adaptation of the 1964 movie musical Robin and the 7 Hoods is aiming for a 2010 Broadway bow.

Casey Nicholaw (Tony nominee for Monty Python's Spamalot and The Drowsy Chaperone) will direct and choreograph the new tuner, which will feature the movie's Academy Award nominated score and song "My Kind of Town". Rounding out the tune stack will be more hits from the Sammy Cahn/James Van Heusen songbook, including "Come Fly with Me" and the Oscar winning "Call Me Irresponsible" (originally heard in the Jackie Gleason comedy Papa's Delicate Condition).

The original film, a Robin Hood tale updated to the age of Prohibition, starred Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. (along with Bing Crosby, Peter Falk and Victor Buono), so casting is key to catch that ultra-suave vibe. Naturally, Harry Connick Jr. immediately springs to mind for the Sinatra role.

You Really Can't Stop the Beat

Talk about your pleasant surprises: New Line Cinema wants John Waters to write a sequel to Hairspray, the hit movie musical based on the stage version of his original film (did you follow that?). All the original creative team will be onboard as well, including director/choreographer Adam Shankman, producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan and songwriters Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who will pen new tunes for the sequel.

No further details or casting has been announced at this time, although it is hoped that as much of the original cast (including Golden Globe nominees John Travolta and Nikki Blonsky) will return.

As longtime readers of Movie Dearest know, we will certainly be following this project as it develops.

UPDATE: Adam Shankman doesn't know what John Waters has cooked up for the sequel yet, but he has some ideas of his own.

Blonde Crazy

Bailey Hanks, the winner of the recent MTV talent/ reality show Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods, makes her Broadway debut tonight as that fabulous fashionista-turned-legal eagle Elle Woods in the hit musical version of Legally Blonde.

In a nice show of support for new talent, the show's producers have also cast the three Blonde runners-up. Autumn Hurlbert will also make her Broadway debut tonight; in addition to playing a sorority sister, she also understudies the lead role. Lauren Zakrin will fill similar roles on the upcoming Legally Blonde national tour, where she will be joined by Rhiannon Hansen in the ensemble.

And finally: Bailey's recording of the Blonde song "So Much Better" is now available for download on Amazon and iTunes – Over 2 million songs and growing.

UPDATE: Broadway.com has pics from Bailey's opening night, including a shot of new UPS guy, former Altar Boy Ven Daniel.

Nine Gets Fergalicious

Pop chanteuse Fergie (nee Stacy Ann Ferguson) has joined the cast of Rob Marshall's film version of the Tony Award winning musical Nine.

Fergie, who has also appeared in the movies Poseidon and Grindhouse, will play Saraghina, the lusty woman who introduces a young Guido to the world of sexuality through the showstopper "Be Italian".

Days of Our (Sordid) Lives

Del Shores' Sordid Lives, the cult fave movie based on the cult fave play, is now aiming for that cult fave trifecta with a TV show: Sordid Lives: The Series premieres tonight on LOGO.

The 12-episode series will actually be a prequel to the play and movie, which starred Bonnie Bedalia, Beth Grant, Leslie Jordan, Olivia Newton-John and Ann Walker, who all return as members of the outrageous Texas family at the center of the story, originally billed as "a black comedy about white trash" (the Ewings they ain't). Joining them in the fun are new cast members Jason Dottley, Rue McClanahan and Caroline Rhea, plus such guest stars as Candis Cayne, Margaret Cho and Carson Kressley.

AfterElton.com has both a preview and a review to get you primed for opening night; click here to watch a sneak preview (NSFW for language).

Now They're the Ones That We Wanted

Cuties Derek Keeling and Ashley Spencer, finalists in the talent/reality show Grease: You're the One That I Want, take over the iconic roles of Danny Zuko and Sandy Dumbrowski in the Tony nominated revival of Grease tonight. They replace the winners of the televised casting session, Max Crumm and Laura Osnes, whose final performance was this past Sunday.

Broadway.com has videos of the arriving and departing Dannys and Sandys.

The Blonde Leaving the "Blonde"

Laura Bell Bundy, who received a Tony Award nomination for creating the role of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde: The Musical, performed her last "bend and snap" on Broadway yesterday. Bundy had been with the production since its early workshop days back in 2005.

Replacing Bundy in the role is the winner of the MTV talent/reality show Legally Blonde The Musical: The Search for Elle Woods, who will not only be revealed on tonight's final episode, but will also make her Broadway debut in the hit tuner Wednesday night. Of the three finalists -- Bailey Hanks, Rhiannon Hansen and Autumn Hurlbert -- Autumn is the fan fave in a current Playbill.com poll, with over 50% of the vote, while Bailey is the frontrunner on the show's official website.

The winner will also see her recording of the Blonde song "So Much Better" released as a single and download on Amazonand iTunes – Over 2 million songs and growingthis Tuesday.

UPDATE: And the new Elle Woods is ... click here to find out, and click here to see her "So Much Better" music video.

Rings Cycles On

The sprawling stage spectacular based on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy will play its final performance tonight in London.

The big budget theatrical experience -- which combines state-of-the-art stagecraft, music and the classic tale of Frodo, Gandalf, et al -- made its world premiere in Toronto two years ago. Plans are now underway for a German production as well as an international tour through New Zealand (where the Oscar winning movies were filmed), Australia and the Far East. Unfortunately, there are no plans at this time to bring it to the United States.

Here's a video preview of the show from before it came to London; the original cast recordingis also available.

Reverend's Reviews: Blast from the Past

As a longtime lover of musical theatre, I own more than a few original cast recordings (on LP, no less) that I treasure. Among them are Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures, which my 8th grade teacher introduced me to; Barnum, co-starring a then-unknown Glenn Close; and Li’l Abner, which I had the pleasure of performing in my junior year of high school.

The Drowsy Chaperone, a Broadway hit and multiple-Tony winner now playing in Los Angeles and touring the US, takes its inspiration from the love of musicals and their cast recordings. The show’s central figure, identified only as “Man in Chair” (played in LA by the very funny Jonathan Crombie), narrates for contemporary audiences the plot of his favorite, fictional musical from the 1920’s, The Drowsy Chaperone.

Man in Chair’s one-room apartment, the show’s sole set, is magically transformed as the “original” cast of The Drowsy Chaperone materializes. In true Roaring 20’s style, the musical is a lightweight pastiche involving pending nuptials, Prohibition, vaudeville routines, pioneering woman pilots, and gangsters. The songs are clever and enjoyable, if not particularly memorable, and the choreography by Casey Nicholaw (who also directed) is vivacious.

In addition to Crombie, performers of note among the overall delightful LA cast include Georgia Engel (yes, Georgette from The Mary Tyler Moore Show) as Mrs. Tottendale, which she originated on Broadway; Robert Dorfman as her vodka-swilling Underling; Andrea Chamberlain as the musical’s female lead, Janet Van De Graaff; and the hilarious Nancy Opel as the title character.

The Drowsy Chaperone is easily the second-funniest stage musical I’ve ever seen, after The Producers. But this is the more original show, since The Producers had its origin as a movie. It is a loving valentine to a by-gone era as well as the unique art form known as musical theatre.

It also illustrates how great musicals never die, even if they don’t get performed often, so long as a cast recording exists. Speaking of, at least a few of us are holding out for one for recent Tony nominee (now sadly closed) Cry-Baby. Get on it, John Waters and company!

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

9 to 5 First Look, Wicked the Movie & More

This and that from From Screen to Stage:

• Here's the first look at the ladies of 9 to 5 (Stephanie J. Block, Allison Janney and Megan Hilty), along with that sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot (Marc Kudisch). The Dolly Parton-penned musical will open on Broadway next spring at the Marquis Theatre.
• Universal is finally moving ahead, albeit slowly, with a movie version of the international stage smash Wicked. Marc Platt, who produced the original stage version as well as the recent action flick Wanted, is also working on a movie remake of Jesus Christ Superstar as well as the expected sequel to Wanted. No word on Wanted: The Musical yet though.
• A workshop production of the play adaptation of Jim Carroll's book The Basketball Diaries is currently underway in Manhattan. You may recall the film version starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll.
• Global Broadway Productions Inc. has launched, with Broadway aimed musical versions of the book series-turned-TV favorite Little House on the Prairie and the Daphne Du Maurier novel-turned-Hitchcock classic Rebecca on their slate, as well as one called Havana, which presumably has nothing to do with the Sydney Pollack/Robert Redford movie of the same name.
• And finally: the Oscar nominated Belgian film Daens will premiere as a stage musical October 4 in Antwerp.

Sonny and Sal, Together Again

Then and now.

Dog Day Afternoon, a new play based on the events that inspired Sidney Lumet's Academy Award winning film, makes its world premiere tonight at the Studio Theatre at Theatre Row Theatres in Manhattan.

If anything, the actors cast in the roles played by John Cazale and Al Pacino in the film sure have the right look. "Attica! Attica!"

Happily-Ever-Aftering for Spamalot

Las Vegas has not been kind to Broadway musicals lately, with Avenue Q, Hairspray and The Producers all facing quick evictions, but you would think that the quintessential "straight man's musical" Monty Python's Spamalot could survive in Sin City. Apparently not, for gambling tourists seemed to prefer their nights in the casinos as opposed to the Knights Who Say Ni, and the Tony Award winning musical (based on the classic cult comedy Monty Python and the Holy Grail) closes tonight at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel.

Spamalot's future isn't much brighter in the West End, as the London production has posted a closing notice for January 3, 2009, although a national tour will follow.

Meanwhile, on Broadway, fortunes are brighter as the tuner recently welcomed a new King Arthur, Stephen Collins of 7th Heaven fame, as well as former boy bander/Dancing With the Stars champ Drew Lachey.

Nine + Three

Maury Yeston has written three new songs for the upcoming film adaptation of his musical Nine (itself an adaptation of Federico Fellini's 8½). The titles are "Take It All" (to be sung by Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman), "Simple" (Cruz and Kidman) and "Cinema Italiano" (reportedly Kate Hudson).

These three new tunes will be eligible for the Best Original Song Academy Award; if Yeston wins the Oscar, he can place it on his mantel next to the Tony Award he won for Nine.

The film version, directed by Rob Marshall and also starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench and Sophia Loren, will start rehearsals next month, with a planned release in December 2009.

Reverend's Report from Outfest: Mamma Mia!

The must-attend events of day 2 of Outfest 2008 were the back-to-back screenings Thursday night of the film version of Mamma Mia! (opening in theaters July 18). Both screenings packed the Directors Guild theater, and I was there to testify that there's nothing quite like watching an ABBA-inspired musical with 500+ gay boys. The temptation to turn the screening into a sing-along was high but most restrained themselves until the final credits, when Meryl Streep actually encourages the audience to join her, Christine Baranski and Julie Walters in singing "Dancing Queen."

I should confess that I'm no fan of the stage version of Mamma Mia! I saw the original Broadway production and felt ripped off by the jukebox musical's strained, flimsy plot ... and I hadn't even paid for the $100 tickets! However, the movie's cast, trailer and more affordable ticket prices had me looking forward to it.

In a couple of ways, the film is an improvement over the stage version. The plot, centering on a young woman's plan to identify her unknown father out of three candidates she has invited to her wedding on a Greek island, is still strained and flimsy but the screenplay (adapted by Catherine Johnson, who wrote the theatrical book) wisely pares it down to the barest of essentials. The movie's lean, 108-minute running time is definitely preferable to the stage version's 2½ hours. Additionally, the actual Greek locations in the film are breathtaking.

The film's big-name cast is a mixed bag. La Meryl is, as always, fabulous as Donna. She looks great, sings and dances very well, and obviously had a lot of fun. While the story's serious moments are few and far between, Streep invests them with her trademark emotional authenticity. The lovely Amanda Seyfried, who plays Donna's "bastard" daughter Sophie, gives a breakthrough performance. Their wedding-day duet, "Slipping Through My Fingers", is the movie's highlight.

As Donna's former band mates, Baranski is wonderful (especially singing "Does Your Mother Know" to a beach full of hot, shirtless young men) but Walters mugs shamelessly and can't really sing or dance. Her rendition of "Take a Chance on Me" stops the show all right, but not in a good way.

The men -- Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård, Colin Firth and Dominic Cooper -- fare a little better, both in terms of their performances and their singing. Firth, in particular, reveals a lovely singing voice. Brosnan's singing voice is odd, often sounding like he is in pain and threatening to become more of a bellow, but he can't be faulted for the earnestness he brings to his songs.

Mamma Mia!, the movie, is weakest in the technical department. The stage version's original director, Phyllida Lloyd, was employed to direct the film and she does so with a relentlessly heavy hand. She either encouraged or allowed nearly every line of every song to be illustrated as graphically as possible with gestures and facial expressions. The cinematography and editing, especially of the dance numbers, are downright awful (with the exception of "Voulez -Vous"), most likely due to Lloyd's apparent inexperience.

While most in attendance clearly enjoyed the screening and applauded vigorously at the end, I didn't share their enthusiasm. It wasn't painful to sit through (although my partner, an ABBA devotee, strongly disagrees) but ends up being a merely OK entry in the growing number of modern movie musicals.

UPDATE: Mamma Mia! is now available on DVD and Blu-rayfrom Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Whatever Lola Wants

"I'll have what she's having."

The New York City Center's Encores! Summer Stars series steps up to bat this evening for the official opening of their Damn Yankees. This production of the classic baseball musical stars Sean Hayes as Mr. Applegate (a.k.a. the Devil), Jane Krakowski as Lola and Cheyenne Jackson as "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, MO" (the part played by Tab Hunter in the 1958 movie version).

Krakowski and Jackson are reuniting after previously working together on an early workshop of Xanadu; he is taking a temporary leave from that show to appear in this one, but will return to his short shorts and headbands once this one closes on July 27.

But he may have his next gig lined up if Yankees is the home run that the last Encores hit, Gypsy, was; that show transferred to Broadway and won three Tonys. If so, Cheyenne may have a Tony in his future as well if history repeats itself. Jarrod Emick won his Tony for playing the same role in the last Broadway revival of Damn Yankees in 1995.