My Fairytale - A musical

A musical about HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
Original idea & concept by FLEMMING ENEVOLD
Music & Lyrics by STEPHEN SCHWARTZ
Book by Phillip LaZebnik

"From the darkened stage of the Royal National Theater in 1846, Hans Christian Andersen is launched on an epic adventure through the timeless landscape of his own imagination. What he discovers there not only changes his life, but the world. His life’s fairytale, illuminated by beauty and longing, was the genesis for some of the world’s most beloved stories. My Fairytale was first produced by Flemming Enevold as Mit Eventyr in 2005 as part of Denmark’s bi-centennial celebration of Andersen’s birth. This gorgeous new musical is both a delightful revelry in the stories from Andersen’s imagination, an enlightening journey into the soul of the artist, and heartfelt celebration of the wonderful influence of the Danish spirit on the world."(Press release)

Will be playing at Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in California in August 2011.

More FAIRYTALES

Footloose (2011)

In theaters this year, the new 'Footloose' finds Julianne stepping into Lori Singer's cowboy boots as Ariel Moore, a small-town girl who takes a shine to newcomer Ren MacCormack (with Kenny Wormald taking on Kevin Bacon's iconic role). Ren soon discovers that the town prohibits loud music and dancing in response to a tragic accident, and must face off against Ariel's father, Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid), to bring life back to the repressed community.

Kenny Wormald and Julianne Hough on set of Footloose

Original with Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer

Watch: video interview with Julianne Hough (Access Hollywood)

The Music Man (2003)

Synopsis:
"Matthew Broderick is "Professor" Harold Hill, a glib traveling salesman who descends upon the town of River City, IA, in the weeks just prior to the Fourth of July celebration of 1912. Persuading the populace that the youth of River City is in great danger of being corrupted by the presence of a new pool table, Hill convinces them that their only hope for salvation is the organization of a boy's band, with himself as a leader. Naturally, this will require the parents to shell out good money for band instruments and uniforms, and in exchange, Hill promises to teach the kids how to make music by utilizing his revolutionary "Think System." There's only one problem: Harold Hill is an out-and-out con artist, who doesn't know one note from another. Even so, he manages to win over everybody in town except local librarian/music teacher Marian Paroo (Kristin Chenoweth) and thick-eared Mayor Shinn (Victor Garber). Ultimately, however, Marian joins Hill's camp -- mainly because he has brought her sullen brother, Winthrop, out of his shell -- but as July Fourth approaches, Hill faces exposure and arrest thanks to a vengeful anvil salesman named Charlie Cowell." (from Fandango)

IMDb

Matthew Broderick

Kristin Chenoweth


Victor Garber

Molly Shannon

Some of the fashion spotted in the film...

The Music Man (1962)

The Music Man is a 1962 musical film starring Robert Preston (Harold Hill) and Shirley Jones (Marian Paroo). The film is based on the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name by Meredith Willson.

"Confidence man Harold Hill arrives at staid River City intending to cheat the community with his standard scam of offering to equip and train a boy's marching band, then skip town with the money since he has no music skill anyway. Things go awry when he falls for a librarian he tries to divert from exposing him while he inadvertently enriches the town with a love of music." (from IMDb)

Wikipedia

Till There Was You

*Set in 1912*

Les Miserables - movie is in the works!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Jersey Boys - Broadway hit to hit the big screen

From Deadline:

Graham King's GK Films has won a spirited auction for feature film rights to the Broadway musical Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. Book writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice will write the script. King and GK Films partner Tim Headington will produce.

The play tells the story of how Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi went from blue-collar wrong side of the track origins to become an American pop sensation, selling 175 million records worldwide before they were 30 years old. The play has done over $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales since its 2005 Broadway opening, when it was directed by Des McAnuff and produced by Dodger Theatricals. It won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical and the cast album won the Grammy. When it transplanted to London, Jersey Boys won the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Musical.

Jersey Boys official site

Here's the London cast appearing on a talk show

Les Miserables - 25th anniversary screening!

"Would Les Miserables have reached its 25th anniversary without Susan Boyle? Yes. Would it have sold 57 million tickets? Sir Cameron Mackintosh thinks not."

"Until Susan Boyle it was the great score that never had a hit song. How wonderfully ironic that it took someone who was just an ordinary person to give a song a hit life" ...

Read more at Telegraph

I was among those thrilled to see Susan Boyle's appearance on Britain's Got Talent and wowed by her awesome performance of I Dreamed a Dream! I was also excited to see the subsequent resurgence in popularity of Les Miserables hoping that it might mean a more likelier chance of Les Mis touring near me or hasten the production of a new Les Mis movie that Mackintosh has previously mentioned. (now indicating that he hopes it will be in cinemas within two to three years)

Having missed an opportunity years ago to see Les Miserables (and not knowing at the time how much I would love it in the future), I was excited for the chance to watch the broadcast of the 25th anniversary production at the cinema. Being familiar with the 10th anniversary production and listening to the CD starring Colm Wilkinson, I was resistant to accept another Valjean in my life but I ended up being totally in awe of the performance of Alfie Boe with his soulful, pitch perfect portrayal of Victor Hugo's protagonist. Wow - he stole my heart!

Other highlights for me included Lea Solanga's I Dreamed a Dream, Samantha Barks On My Own, Nick Jonas' Empty Chairs at Empty Tables and Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras. (Colm & Ramin shown on right)

My hopes of seeing Colm appear at this event were not disappointed. I loved the finale with four Jean Valjean's performing Bring Him Home as a quartet. (Shown on left - Simon Bowman, Alfie Boe, Colm Wilkinson and John Owen-Jones). This was followed by a wonderful performance of One Day More including the cast from 1985. Now, to wait for the DVD to be available...

Claude-Michel Schonberg, Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
Thank you for your masterpiece!

Video: Bring Him Home sung by 4 Jean Valjeans

Video: One Day More with Original Cast from 1985
(Michael Ball, Rebecca Caine, Frances Ruffelle, Susan Jane Tanner, Alun Armstrong, Roger Allam)

-> LES MISERABLES

photo credits: Dan Wooller, Dianne Cunniffe

Beach Boys - untitled musical movie

Fox 2000 has picked up a an untitled Beach Boys project which revolves around the band's music but is not a biopic. The film, which will use Beach Boys hits for its soundtrack (similar to Abba's music in Mamma Mia), will be set in Southern California in the 1960's.

Also producing is John Stamos, who has toured with The Beach Boys as their drummer and whose association with the Boys goes back to when he appeared in the music video of "Kokomo."

The project is being produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the team responsible for "Hairspray" and who are trying get a Footloose reboot off the ground. Susannah Grant, (who also worked on new Footloose) is on board to write the project.

The plot has not yet been revealed.

The acquisition was made in a heated bidding environment, with Fox beating out Universal as the price tag surfed up to the seven figures.

Source: THR

Les Miserables - concert event!!

Updated:

October 21 - 27 in Australia

November 17 in 500 cinema screens in U.S.A.

On October 3rd, the legendary musical "LES MISÉRABLES" will celebrate its 25th birthday by making theatrical history with an international first - three different productions in London at the same time. The Original Production at the Queen's Theatre, the New 25th Anniversary Production at the Barbican, London and now, stars in their multitudes will gather for a celebratory concert at The O2 on Sunday 3rd October at 7.00pm, when all three productions and many of the shows original cast will come together to celebrate this momentous occasion.

JUST FOUND OUT

THIS WILL BE BROADCAST IN CINEMAS!!
(via satellite from the O2 Arena, London)

Live Cinema Event

On Sunday October 3rd at 7pm (British Summer Time) the legendary musical “LES MISÉRABLES” will celebrate its 25th birthday with a live broadcast via satellite to cinemas around the world from the star-studded 25th Anniversary Concert at the O2 Arena in London.

Buy your tickets for Live via Satellite Les Miserables concert events.

Denmark - Germany - Ireland & Northern Ireland - Norway - United Kingdom

Encore Broadcasts

Buy your tickets for concert broadcast at participating cinemas

4 October 2010 – Canada

21 October 2010 (week long) – Australia

November 17 - U.S.A.

The 25th Anniversary concert at The O2 will host a company of over 500 actors and musicians, including Alfie Boe as “Jean Valjean”, Nick Jonas as “Marius”, Norm Lewis as “Javert”, Matt Lucas as “Thénardier”, Lea Salonga as “Fantine”, Jenny Galloway as “Madame Thénardier”, Ramin Karimloo as “Enjolras”, Camilla Kerslake as “Cosette”, Samantha Barks as “Eponine”, the casts of the Original Production at the Queen’s Theatre, the New 25th Anniversary Production at the Barbican, London and members of the Original 1985 London cast.
[Sept 29: Camilla Kerslake replaced at Les Mis 02 Arena Concert by Katie Hall]

North & South - the Musical?

North and South, the Musical is a stage adaptation of English author Elizabeth Gaskell's 1855 novel. A production has just been staged in Boulder, Colorado.

Music by Marcia Marchesi
Book and Lyrics by Patricia Marchesi

Marcia Marchesi was 2003 Colorado Commissioned Composer, and twice a recipient of the ASCAPLUS composition award. She studied at the Hochschule fuer Musik und Darstellende Kunst (Vienna, Austria) and at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her music has been performed on NPR and music venues all over the world.

Patricia Marchesi teaches English literature at Northern Arizona University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder. They started writing musicals over 20 years ago while in high school, and this is their sixth musical collaboration.

Photo by Quade Smith

Official site

Jane Eyre the Musical - shown with Toby & Ruth!

LisaB1991 brilliantly combined samples of the songs from the Broadway Cast Recording of Paul Gordon's musical of Jane Eyre with video of the 2006 adaptation starring Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson. An excellent way to discover the musical but be sure to turn up the volume!

Gorgeous banner made by Iconzicons

'Wicked' movie will have to wait

If only people would stop buying tickets to see this musical, it might be adapted for film sooner!! (I have to confess that I just bought tickets to see it my 4th time so I'm part of the problem.)

Stephen Schwartz, composer of the Broadway hit mentioned in an interview at Western Michigan University that a movie version of Wicked is in the works but will be released in about 5 years.

Darn. Hoped for it sooner.

Read full article here

Weekend of Total Mizery

The "world's longest running musical" has been seen by over 56 million people worldwide in 42 countries and in 21 languages. "LES MISÉRABLES" is undisputedly one of the world's most popular musicals ever written, with new productions continually opening around the globe, with seven more currently scheduled.

In October this year, the legendary musical "LES MISÉRABLES" will celebrate its 25th birthday by making theatrical history with an international first - three different productions in London at the same time. The Original Production at the Queen's Theatre, the New 25th Anniversary Production at the Barbican, London and now, stars in their multitudes will gather for a celebratory concert at The O2 on Sunday 3rd October at 7.00pm, when all three productions and many of the shows original cast will come together to celebrate this momentous occasion.

I'm still waiting on news about the plans for a movie of the musical to be made. Checked IMDb and Mackintosh is currently developing Miss Saigon and My Fair Lady so I think Les Miserables won't be done for a while yet.

Don Quixote - Man of La Mancha

I'd only heard passing references to this iconic character growing up and after acquiring the soundtrack, I've enjoyed reading more about Don Quixote. Lucy Pollard-Gott, author of The Fictional 100 has Quixote listed #3, only surpassed by Hamlet and Odysseus in "Most Influential Characters in World Literature and Legend".

In a survey of 100 noted authors, conducted by the Nobel Institute, Don Quixote received the highest number of votes in the Top 100 Works in World Literature

I just heard that there is yet another film possibly in the works besides Terry Gilliam's ongoing efforts to get his project off the ground.

1) Warner Brothers might be teaming up with Joel Silver to produce a 'swashbuckling' version similar to Pirates of the Caribbean? "Prepare yourself for a fantasy world in which the windmills really are giant, Quixote is really a chivalrous hero and, most importantly, there's a happy ending."
source: Cinematical

2) I'm still hoping that Terry Gilliam's project moves forward with Ewan Macgregor as a filmmaker who travels back in time and gets roped into the adventures of Don Quixote, who will be played by Robert Duvall.
There was a documentary Lost in La Mancha covering Gilliam's first attempt to launch his film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote back in 2002. Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort were cast at the time. It's currently on Youtube.

Gilliam's efforts to get this film produced could be described as his own 'impossible dream resulting in a documentary Lost in La Mancha: "In August 2000, Gilliam finally got his opportunity to create his dream film he labored for a decade, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. However for all his creativity and enthusiasm, the film is immediately plagued with an improbable series of disasters ranging from scheduling conflicts, budget cuts, studio and location problems and worse that threaten to doom the film."

-> Movieweb
-> Robert Duvall chats about film

The Impossible Dream
(Great scene from Man of La Mancha (1972) with Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren)

I love these images of Quixote...

Marianno Villalba

Antonio Saura


Pablo Picasso


Octavio Ocampo, painting described here

Stanislav Prokopenko

He lays down the melancholy burden of sanity and conceives the strangest project ever imagined,
to become a knight-errant, and sally forth into the world in search of adventures;
to mount a crusade; to raise up the weak and those in need.
No longer will he be plain Alonso Quijana,
but a dauntless knight known as Don Quixote de La Mancha.

Dorothy of Oz (2012)

Lea Michele, the star of Glee,
has landed the lead role in the animated 3D Wizard of Oz update
"Dorothy of Oz"

Jim Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Kelsey Grammer have all already signed on to play the Lion, Scarecrow and Tin Man, respectively, and Oliver Platt, Megan Hilty, Hugh Dancy and Martin Short round out the cast of new characters — Martin is playing Dorothy’s arch nemisis, now that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead.

Bryan Adams is writing the first songs and lyrics for the film along with writing partner Jim Vallance.

"Jester, the new arch-nemesis of Dorothy and all of Oz. The Jester is "a performer without
his coveted audience" and the role is rife with comedy, song, and lighthearted wickedness."


"Tin Man, who with his new found heart is literally wearing his emotions on his sleeve
and now needs to carry an extra oil can due to all his weeping."


"Lion who is reveling in his new role as guardian and protector of Oz.
Continuously attempting to remove the word "Cowardly" from his moniker with little success,
he is forced to overcompensate with acts of exaggerated bravado."


Scarecrow, who famously once sang "If I only had a brain," but has learned
one should be careful what they wish for as now he finds himself
in a position of authority that is entirely unfamiliar.



"soft-hearted and candy-coated"

"humorous old soul and adventure-seeking"

______________Synopsis______________

Dorothy returns to Kansas to find it devastated by the tornado that had whisked her away to the magical Land of Oz. The home she had been so desperate to return to is no longer; the townspeople, with nowhere to turn, are packing up and moving out. However, before Dorothy can even begin to react to or resist this change, she is transported back to Oz by equally magical methods as her first trip. Oz is in trouble, and the people there need her help: Dorothy's old friends - the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion - have disappeared and the land is in a state of decay. As Dorothy journeys to find her friends, she encounters a number of new companions and problems, including a man made of marshmallows who can't think for himself, a china doll princess whose bossiness is a cover for her fragility, and a tugboat with as many personalities as he has pieces. Dorothy must help this odd group band together against a wicked new villain - a jester who thinks all of Oz should be under his control.

Summertime is aiming at completing "Dorothy" by the end of next year with distribution not yet set. Veteran animation producer Bonne Radford ("Curious George," "The Road to El Dorado") is producing with Dan St. Pierre ("Everyione's Hero") directing.

"Dorothy" is based on the writings of children's author Roger S. Baum, great-grandson of "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" author L. Frank Baum. Summertime is aiming to make several more pics based on Roger Baum's stories.

Musical components will be supervised by Vicki Hiatt with lyrics by Tift Merritt and Mike Himelstein. Jim Dooley will contribute to the score.

-> video interview with Roger Baum
-> Roger Baum's website

source: Variety,
-> Official website of Dorothy of Oz
-> other Wizard of Oz remakes...
->Megan Hilty as Glinda performing Popular
->Wikipedia link
->Character descriptions found here

Thanks to the Manchester Maniac for telling me about this remake!