Have you caught up with "Cats" on streaming yet?

by Eric Blume

While many Americans are talking about their life in terms of Before and After the Pandemic, I'm now talking about my life in terms of Before and After watching Cats the movie.  The much-maligned Tom Hooper musical opus is currently available on iTunes and Amazon, so I felt I should give it a shot after all the chatter, here, and elsewhere.  But beware, kind viewer:  once you've seen this movie, there is no coming back.

Preface that I am not a "Cats" hater (or even a cats hater...they're not dogs, but that's not their fault).  I saw the almost-original Broadway production back when it was all the rage, so I have a tender spot for it in my heart...

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Adelaide's Lament

A little bit of psychomatic musical comedy humor to get you through this anxiety-riddled weekend.

Photos from 2020's West Side Story

by Murtada Elfadl

Vanity Fair has the exclusive first photos from Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story. They are certainly colorful, in more ways than one, if your main concern about this remake was the usual grayish color palette of Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski.

Authenticity in casting is what differentiates this version, according to Spielberg.

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You Couldn't Get Those "Hamilton" Tickets?

by Eric Blume

Good news, as Disney is bringing a filmed version of the Broadway sensation Hamilton to movie theaters October 15, 2021, with the original cast. It will not be a fully-imagined film like this summer's other Lin-Manuel Miranda musical In the Heights.  Instead, it will be a "live capture" of the stage performance, shot in the Richard Rodgers Theater before the original cast started to disband.  

I was lucky enough to see this cast in the original incarnation at the Public Theater, and then again when it moved to Broadway with different actors.  No disrespect to the excellent work of the actors from round two, but there is truly nothing like seeing the original cast of a show...

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Soundtracking: Chicago

by Chris Feil

With Renée Zellweger likely taking home another Oscar for her performance of Judy Garland this Sunday, it feels like a full circle moment for the actress’s career and Oscar’s relationship with musicals in the modern era. Rob Marshall’s take on the Kander and Ebb masterpiece Chicago was a platonic ideal between Academy voters (and the public) who sneered at the genre and its fans that were reinvigorated by the audacity of Moulin Rouge! just a year prior. Chicago injected new life into a previously dead genre, reigniting Oscar’s love as well, from all-out musicals to especially musical biopics like Zellweger’s Judy.

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