musical Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Famed director Steven Spielberg has made lots of different kinds of movies over the years. He's dabbled in sci-fi, comedy, period pieces, kid's flicks -- you name it, he's made it. But one genre he's never touched is maybe the hardest of them all: the musical. Well, that's about to change, because Variety reports the director is working with Showtime to develop a behind the scenes series about a musical Broadway show. Spielberg has reportedly been developing the series for years now, and has now handpicked his team for a deal with Showtime.

The series is still in development, but what is known is that the show will center on "a behind-the-scenes look at every aspect of launching a tuner, from penning the songs to recruiting investors." There are also plans to mount an actual Broadway show once the season finishes on Showtime.

According to Variety, Spielberg is counting on the series having the legs to go for at least a few seasons and center on different productions each season. Personally, I love pulling back the curtain on anything to do with the world of entertainment, and there is no shortage of stories to choose from considering the entertainment business is packed with some wild characters. So what do you think? I know I'm sold on the idea -- how about you?

After the jump: some of my favorite behind-the-scenes musicals...

I'll admit, I never understood why anyone thought Spider-Man would make a good musical -- even with music by Bono and The Edge. But Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark seemed inevitable, and once we got word that Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming were joining the cast, the big-budgeted show seemed to be chugging along nicely towards it's 2010 release date. But all is not well in the world of Spidey, and Michael Riedel at the New York Post is reporting that the show is in serious trouble. According to Riedel, the set designers have been put on hiatus, actors might be released from their contracts, and staff is scrambling to cash their checks before the money runs out.

The production is still a long way from being finished, and according to sources, "A lot of it seems to exist only in Julie's [Taymor] head," But as far as Taymor and company are concerned, the show is on track for previews in February, 2010. According to the official website, tickets will be going on sale in October, but sources claim that agents are already trying to return the tickets that have been sold for advance previews.

After the jump: so where did it all go wrong?...

I think we can all agree that the 1980 roller-disco romance Xanadu isn't exactly what most people would call the height of film making achievement. But as a 5-year-old girl (yeah, I watched movies at a really young age -- strange, I know), it was possibly the best thing I had ever seen. The story of a young artist named Sonny (played by Michael Beck) slaving away recreating album covers (is that even a job?) and the muse who inspires him to pack it in to start the roller disco of his dreams may have been a huge success on the Billboard charts, but the film barely broke even at the box-office -- my god, the spandex budget alone would have bankrupted the production. Of course, none of that mattered to me as I watched Olivia Newton-John glide across the floor to the tunes of E.L.O.

So in a movie chock full of guilty pleasures, the scene in which Gene Kelly and Beck envision their perfect club is by far my favorite. Combining a big band sound with the new wave rock of The Tubes may sound like a horrible idea on paper, but when you watched those worlds collide on stage it took two great songs and turned them into one. guess you could say this was my introduction to the mash-up.

Xanadu Fun Facts:

• The film was an unofficial remake of the 1947 film Down to Earth starring Rita Hayworth.
• John Wilson was inspired to create the Razzie Awards after catching Xanadu playing on a 99-cent double-feature with Can't Stop the Music.
• Andy Gibb was originally cast to play Sonny.
• Xanadu was Gene Kelly's last musical performance.

Dancin'

I have a weird relationship with musicals -- and unfortunately I don't always have the best taste. For example, I can sing every song from Xanadu, but I don't think I've ever made it through an entire viewing of Meet Me in St. Louis (musical heresy, I know). But, one classic musical I have always loved is Damn Yankees, so the announcement of an updated version has me a little nervous -- throw in two untried singers and dancers and we just might be reaching panic. Variety reports that Jim Carrey (the man famous for talking out of his butt ... literally) has signed to star alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in an update of the 1958 musical.

Yankees was the story of Joe Boyd, a loveable loser who is so dedicated to his team, he makes a deal with the devil, and boy, does the devil deliver. Boyd is soon transformed into a star slugger by the name of Joe Hardy, who can help the team win the world series, but only in exchange for his soul. Throw in a sexy dame by the name of Lola, fantastic music, and dance routines by Bob Fosse, and you have one of the greatest musicals ever made. Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel have already been tapped to write the script, and according to Variety, Carrey is set to play the devil, with Gyllenhaal as Boyd, but the production has yet to cast the role of Lola.

A Yankees update almost made it into production back in 2004 under Miramax, but after Mr. Weinstein left the building, the rights lapsed and now New Line is the proud owner of the property. So place your bets: what do you think are the chances of either of these guys being musical wunderkinds? Or, are we doomed to another so-so remake of a classic musical?

Well, duh. That's what you're thinking after reading that headline. Of course Steven Soderbergh is going to make a live-action 3D rock 'n' roll musical about Cleopatra. He couldn't find a backer for the animated all-female pop opera about Nikola Tesla, and the black-and-white German-language kabuki play about Attila the Hun fell through, so naturally the live-action 3D rock 'n' roll musical about Cleopatra would have to be his next choice. Anybody could have seen that coming.

Soderbergh, who has directed about 20 theatrical features covering about 15 different genres and styles, seems determined to make his most unusual film yet. Variety says it's called Cleo, it's budgeted at $30 million, and Soderbergh is pursuing Catherine Zeta-Jones (whom he worked with in Traffic and Ocean's Twelve) to play Ms. Patra and Hugh Jackman to be her Marc Antony. We know they can both sing. But can they sing in 3D??

Oh, and in case it didn't sound weird enough already, the music is by indie rock band Guided By Voices (founded in 1983; disbanded in 2004) with a script by the band's former bass player (and sometime author), James Greer. Soderbergh is apparently a GBV fan -- one of their songs appeared in his Full Frontal, and the frontman, Robert Pollard, provided some music for Bubble.

Soderbergh is a busy guy. His four-hour Che Guevara biopic is about to be released, he's just finished a whistleblower comedy-drama called The Informant starring Matt Damon, he's preparing to make a Liberace biopic starring Michael Douglas, and his next project, The Girlfriend Experience, will be released simultaneously in theaters, on DVD, and on the HDNet movie channel. For an extra fee, Soderbergh will come to your house and act it out for you. Cleo will have to wait at least until after Girlfriend Experience, and maybe after the Liberace thing. And who knows, in the meantime he might decide to make a futuristic outer-space epic about Benjamin Franklin and Charo. You never know with that guy!

So while I might not be the biggest Jackie O or Jeanne Tripplehorn aficionado, I will say this: they do look an awful lot alike. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Tripplehorn has signed to play the iconic Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the HBO Films 'remake' of Grey Gardens. Tripplehorn will be joining Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange in the 'true' story of two of the most eccentric women you could ever meet.

Back in 1975, Albert and David Maysles, Susan Froemke, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer made a documentary about the lives of Edith "Big Edie" Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale. They were the aunt and cousin to Onassis and lived a bizarre life in almost total isolation in a ramshackle mansion by the name of Grey Gardens. After trying for years to have the home brought up to code, the two were finally separated when "Big Edie" died in 1977 (Little Edie finally sold the house in 1979 to a former editor for the Washington Post). The documentary inspired an award winning stage musical in 2006 starring Christine Ebersol as Little Edie. The new film from HBO will not be a musical (thankfully, I might add) and instead was based on the original documentary.

The cast also includes Daniel Baldwin as Julius Krug, the former secretary of the interior and true love of Little Edie (Barrymore). Tripplehorn is doing some post-production work for Winged Creatures, an ensemble drama about a group of people who survive a shooting in an L.A. diner (I guess it will be kind of like Crash, but with more gunfire). Grey Gardens is being directed by Michael Sucsy (who also co-wrote the script with Patricia Rozema) and is currently shooting on location in Toronto, Canada. Grey Gardens will hit theaters in 2008.

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Jamie Foxx is returning to the genre that brought him loads of acclaim and an Academy Award -- he has signed on for another musical biopic. Foxx will be portraying Nathaniel Anthony Ayers in The Soloist, the true story of "a homeless musician with schizophrenia who dreams of playing at Walt Disney Concert Hall." Wow. A 1) Homeless 2) Musician with 3) Mental Problems and 4) A Dream? Foxx is pretty much demanding the award here, isn't he? Can't we just give him the Oscar before production begins? They're probably polishing it up for him right now.

So how does this movie differ from all the other schmaltzy musical biopics? Producer Gary Foster tells the Los Angeles Times: "Midnight Cowboy is a perfect example of what we want this movie to feel like. It won't be slick and glossy. It's going to be emotional and real." He says that now, but I'll bet you $100 the movie ends with a teary-eyed audience jumping to its feet and bursting into applause. Joe Wright (director of the surprisingly non-boring Keira Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice as well as the upcoming Knightley film Atonement) will direct the film. Susannah Grant (writer of a very solid run of chick flicks that includes 28 Days and Erin Brockovich) wrote the script, which is based on a 12-part series of articles by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez. The film will focus on the relationship between Ayers and Lopez. Lopez has yet to be cast, and his photo doesn't have any casting choices leaping out at me. Any ideas?

It didn't seem all that long ago when we first had news that MGM was planning to dust off the 1980's musical Fame. Now, FilmJerk claims that sources report that Andy Fickman has been chosen to direct. Originally directed by Alan Parker (Evita, Pink Floyd The Wall), Fame centered on a high school for the performing arts in New York. If MGM has chosen Fickman to helm the remake, it certainly gives us an indication that MGM could be planning a little sanitizing of the original film's more gritty elements (drug abuse, pornography, and abortion). So far, Fickman has directed the Amanda Bynes comedy She's the Man, and the Disney football film The Game Plan with Dwayne Johnson -- with both films definitely falling into the category of family-friendly.

Say what you want about the original film (it's hard to overlook the excessive use of leg-warmers, I know), but at least Parker tried for just a slightly more realistic portrayal of struggling artists and the cost of success -- Well, at least as realistic as people bursting into musical numbers in the middle of a crowded NY intersection can be. Since nothing is definite yet, its way too early for purists to declare any changes to the original film as blasphemy -- although you can't blame them when you look at Fickman's track record so far.

I'm not sure what to make of this, but I will say that watching a man with giant scissorhands dance and twirl his way around the stage feels a bit ... odd. A trailer of sorts for the staged Edward Scissorhands production -- scheduled to arrive in Brooklyn this spring -- has landed on YouTube in all of its blue-tinted glory. Help, I'm torn: part of me thinks it looks fantastic and beautiful, while the Edward Scissorhands fanboy in me simply wants to avoid it at all costs. Scissorhands isn't supposed to prance; he's pale, jaded and in love with a woman he cannot touch without impaling her through the chest.

The production, which, thankfully, is being presented without words (not sure I could take Scissorhands breaking out into song while dancing), opens up this March 14 at BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House. However, you'll have to be fast as it only lasts through the end of the month. Matthew Bourne created the dance-theater adaptation -- using Tim Burton's beloved film as the source material -- and is convinced the production will not only be wildly entertaining, but also pack a powerful message. He notes: "Even though the production is spectacular, outrageously funny and touchingly romantic, its simple message of tolerance and looking beneath the surface seems particularly important." Hey, if anything, it's amazing to watch the lead dancer somehow pull off his moves with these huge pair of scissors attached to his hands. That alone should be worth the price of admission ... which, in case you were wondering, ranges from $30 to $80 for a pair of tickets.

Wow, now that was a nice surprise. Check out this rather lovely new trailer for Julie Taymor's Across the Universe and then come back and let me know what you think. To me it looks like 1969 meets Moulin Rouge ... or maybe Forrest Gump meets Sgt. Pepper. Either way I now have another movie title to add to my "oooh, gimme!" list for 2007. Written by veteran British wordsmiths Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, Across the Universe sure looks (despite my earlier comparisons) pretty darn unique!

It's a story of love, lust and innocence lost in the 1960's, it's a musical, and it's all Beatles music! Neat! (The stars are Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson and the luminous Evan Rachel Wood.) Sony hasn't nailed down a firm release date just yet, but "September" seems to be the general consensus right now. Frankly I'm pretty darn psyched to check this flick out -- and this is coming from a guy who spends most of his days knee-deep in monster movies and stoner comedies. (And if you've never seen Taymor's Titus, I just now thought of a flick you need to toss into your Netflix queue.)