Musical
Texas Church Twists Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton into Bible-Thumping Homophobic Screed
A Texas church’s unauthorized production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton has drawn widespread criticism and a cease-and-desist letter for shoehorning in several references to Jesus as well as a homophobic screed that compares being gay to being addicted to drugs. This attempt to put some rap into the rapture was first reported by OnStage Blog, with more details provided by The Washington Post and The Dallas Morning News. On Friday, August 5th, The Door McAllen church livestreamed a never-before-seen take on Hamilton, with plenty of lyrics that would have surprised, if not the Creator, then at least the show’s creator, Miranda. Now-iconic lyrics such as, “What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see/ I wrote some notes at the beginnin...
Tom Cruise to Star in Untitled Song-and-Dance Musical
Tom Cruise is retiring his airplane for the power of song. The action movie legend is teaming up with producer Christopher McQuarrie for an original song and dance-style musical, Deadline reports. Although — especially in the shadow of Top Gun: Maverick — it’s hard to imagine Cruise doing much else on screen besides his own stunts, he did flaunt his pipes for Adam Shankman’s 2012 jukebox musical comedy Rock of Ages. Evidently, he’s been wanting to take on another musical for a while now, with plans to dance this go around and write the script alongside McQuarrie. The as-yet-unnamed musical is just one of many movies Cruise and McQuarrie have coming down the pipeline. To the surprise of no one, they’re also working on another original action film with “franchise pot...
Shawn Mendes Takes Over 88th Street in Trailer for Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: Watch
Shawn Mendes is the titular reptile in Sony Pictures’ upcoming film adaptation of Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, and in the first trailer for the film, we see the creature charm the Primm family (led by matriarch Constance Wu) and the rest of New York City. Check out the clip below. Based off Bernard Waber’s children story of the same name, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile follows Mrs. Primm, Mr. Primm (Scoot McNairy), and their son Josh (Winslow Fegley) as they discover a crocodile living in the attic of their new Manhattan home. While Mrs. Primm and Lyle’s main enemy, Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman), are naturally terrified of the animal, Josh, and Lyle’s owner, Hector P. Valenti (Javier Bardem), assures them he’s a gentle giant — after all, “he wears a scarf, and he can sing.” Enter pop star Mend...
Emma Thompson Tosses Insults and Students in Teaser Trailer for Matilda the Musical: Watch
The girl lost in daydreams and the headmistress of nightmares face off in the new teaser trailer for Roald Dahl‘s Matilda the Musical. It’s coming to Netflix this holiday season, and stars a nearly-unrecognizable Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchbull. Adapted from the Tony-winning Matilda the Musical, this Netflix film is directed by Matthew Warchus with original music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. Alisha Weir (Darklands) plays the titular hero, a young girl with a sharp mind and the world’s dullest parents. While her mom (Andrea Riseborough) and dad (Stephen Graham) watch trash TV, Matilda quietly reads. This endears her to her teacher Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch), but draws the ire of Trunchbull (Thompson), a disciplinarian who craves nothing more than to see the children fall in li...
Joker 2: Lady Gaga in Talks to Play Harley Quinn in Musical Sequel
Big news regarding the Joker sequel Todd Phillips teased last week: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Joker 2 is going to be a musical, and Lady Gaga is in talks to join Joaquin Phoenix as Harley Quinn. While the report doesn’t say much about what a musical Joker would look like, it does make sense to cast the singer in such a project. THR says that neither Gaga nor Phoenix have been completely secured for the sequel, which, according to the script cover Phillips posted to Instagram, is called Joker: Folie à Deux. The French title translates to “shared madness,” which tipped us off to Harley Quinn’s appearance in the sequel. Now we’ll just have to wait to see how the pair’s “Bad Romance” fares on screen (sorry). Prior to Gaga, Margot Robbie played Harley Q...
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s Wicked Will Be Split into Two Films
The lions and tigers and bears (and witches) of The Wizard of Oz have inspired endless spinoffs and adaptations — most famously, Gregory Maguire’s prequel novel Wicked, which Stephen Schwartz adapted into a beloved musical in 2003. Now, rich source material in mind, director Jon M. Chu has announced his upcoming film adaptation of the story, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, will be split into two parts. “As we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of WICKED into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” Chu explained in a statement. “As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all f...
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s Wicked Will Be Split into Two Films
The lions and tigers and bears (and witches) of The Wizard of Oz have inspired endless spinoffs and adaptations — most famously, Gregory Maguire’s prequel novel Wicked, which Stephen Schwartz adapted into a beloved musical in 2003. Now, rich source material in mind, director Jon M. Chu has announced his upcoming film adaptation of the story, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, will be split into two parts. “As we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of WICKED into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” Chu explained in a statement. “As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all f...
Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane, Bowen Yang, and Megan Mullally Join A24’s Fucking Identical Twins
In a collaboration we certainly couldn’t have predicted, musical theater icon Nathan Lane and recent college graduate Megan Thee Stallion will be joining Megan Mullally and SNL’s Bowen Yang in Fucking Identical Twins, a forthcoming musical comedy from A24. Described as a “subversive spin” on The Parent Trap, Fucking Identical Twins stars and is written by comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp. It’s based on the duo’s two-man stage show, which they premiered at New York’s iconic Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 2014. Larry Charles (Borat) will direct the film, which is currently in production. Similar to the 1961 film (and the 1998 masterpiece of a remake), Fucking Identical Twins follows two rival businessmen who realize they’re, well, fucking identical tw...
Watch the Trailer for “Heart Failure,” the First-Ever EDM Musical
In some kind of raunchy, techno-fueled twist on West Side Story, the first-ever EDM musical is primed for the silver screen. “We were bored, angry, horny students watching the best years of our lives slip away, so we were just like, f**k it, let’s make a musical,” said Will Wightman, who wrote and directed Heart Failure, an upcoming short film produced by award-winning independent video production company Cool Bean. According to a press release shared with EDM.com, Heart Failure, which features an original soundtrack comprising electronic dance music, is the first of its kind. The film follows Frank, whose rollicking, hysterical one-night stand with Lizzie leads to a complex relationship and eventual breakup. Heart Failure/Kickstarter Recommended Articles Heart Failure&nbs...
Sorry, But the Story Part of West Side Story Sucks
The Pitch: On a very literal level, Steven Spielberg‘s West Side Story is a technically perfect film. Every detail on screen, from the period-accurate production design to the costumes to the choreography and sound design, is flawlessly rendered by some of today’s best artisans, and regular Spielberg collaborator Janusz Kamiński’s cinematography is unmatched, using the full frame at all times, playing with depth of field and brilliant lighting choices in ways that only enhance the cast’s brilliant performances. There is so much to admire about this new take on West Side Story, especially how it makes up for the 1961 original by casting actual Latinos in key roles, and takes a bilingual approach to the dialogue that adds to the authenticity. The problem, unfortunately, is that all of this i...
Ariana Grande to Star in Film Adaptation of Wicked
Ariana Grande is headed to Oz. The pop star has been cast as Glinda in the film adaptation of Wicked, the musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz. She announced the news on Instagram Thursday evening. “Thank goodness,” she wrote, sharing ecstatic photos of her reaction to the casting. Grande’s good witch will be joined by Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. In the Heights director Jon M. Chu leads the big screen adaption, while Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music to the original Broadway show, returns with Winnie Holzman to adapt the screenplay. Advertisement Related Video Though Grande’s become a world-renowned singer in recent years, she got her start as an actress, first on Broadway in the musical 13 and later as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon hit Victorious...
R.I.P. Leslie Bricusse, Willy Wonka and “Goldfinger” Songwriter Dead at 90
Leslie Bricusse, the Academy Award-winning songwriter who worked on numerous film and theater productions, has died at the age of 90. Some of Bricusse’s best-known works include “Pure Imagination” from Mel Stuart’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, as well as the James Bond themes “Goldfinger” and “You Only Live Twice.” His death was confirmed in an Instagram post by actress Joan Collins. “One of the giant songwriters of our time, writer of #candyman #goldfinger amongst so many other hits, and my great friend Leslie Bricusse has sadly died today,” Collins wrote with a photo of her and Bricusse together. “He and his beautiful Evie have been in my life for over 50 years. I will miss him terribly, as will his many friends.” His cause of death has not been publicly reported. Advert...
