Showbiz History: Dreamgirls vs Nine, Damien The Omen, and More.

Today is my birthday! Wish me well. Or better yet, donate to the site (see right hand sidebar) to keep it healthy. That's my only birthday request since I have a roof over my head and food in the fridge and friends to  have weekend activities with and really that's the important stuff in the grand scheme of things so I'm hashtag blessed... without the icky religious connotations! My only church is the cinema.

Anyway,  here's what was happening in showbiz history on June 6th throughout the years!

1933 The first ever drive-in movie theater (location: Camden, New Jersey) opened starting a popular but now essentially lost tradition. 

1944 D-Day a World War II and inspiration for many filmmakers since.

1950 Director Chantal Akerman born in Belgium

1954 Multiple Tony winner and queer icon Harvey Fierstein is born in Brooklyn. I love that one of my heroes shares my special day. Credits include Torch Song Trilogy, La Cage Aux Folles, Hairspray, and more...

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Soundtracking: "Muriel's Wedding"

by Chris Feil

It’s a sad truth that the closest thing we’ve gotten to Toni Collette starring in a screen musical is Muriel’s Wedding (and Connie and Carla, but that's for another day). The forgotten half-truth is that it isn’t the only screen ABBA musical. Sure, Mamma Mia! actually features full blown singing and dancing, but just because Muriel’s Wedding’s musicality exists in the daydreaming of its heroine, that doesn’t mean we’re spared the delights of a slew ABBA’s biggest hits. But the tunes are so crucial to the film’s identity and omnipresent throughout that it’s a huge missed opportunity that Muriel’s inevitable stage adaptation will never be the ABBA jukebox musical that could have been.

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'We're gonna score-ore-ore tonight. We're gonna score-ore-ore to-niii-ight 🎵'

omg. Big Little Lies went bowling! Okay so who won? Who was throwing gutter balls? And who was pulling off miraculous spares? Who sang a bar from Grease 2's "Score Tonight"? Your theories in the comments please!

Stage Door: Best Musical Nominees at the Tony Awards

by Nathaniel R

Though I have not seen as much Broadway theater as I'd hoped to this year, I have finally managed to see all of the nominees in the big kahuna Tony category: Best Musical. This is the marquee category each year in that it's the one that matters financially and for bragging rights the way "Best Picture," "Drama Series," and "Album of the Year" are saved for last at the Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys respectively... even if you might personally think other prizes more significant or telling. Let's rank the nominees after the jump, shall we?

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Doc Corner: Dances with Films Festival

by Glenn Dunks

The spectre of films past linger over two documentaries at the Dances with Films independent film festival (June 7th-17th at the TCL Chinese Theaters in Los Angeles). Their ability to bring an audience back to something more innocent is perhaps one of the strongest elements of this festival that prizes the atmosphere of a summer camp rather than a crazed film festival in the snowy mountains or on the sunny beaches.

The more obvious of the two that I was able to sample is Alexander Monelli's At the Drive-In, a film that you could glimpse at a pass and suspect you have already seen a dozen times at other festivals. Film festival audiences are, after all, more naturally disposed to watch a documentary about a venue like a drive-in or a classic movie palace or a dying/dead/forgotten part of the filmgoing experience. The inherent nostalgia and cinematic reverence of these topics make them solid programming on any festival’s behalf...

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