Now, I know I haven't seen any musicals or musical movies since I haven't had the time to recently, but for Christmas I got the soundtrack for Disney's newest animated musical film Frozen. The reason why I'm reviewing it here is not only because it's written by the husband-wife Broadway composers Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez, AKA the people who wrote the music for Avenue Q & Book of Mormon, but also because the movie itself is very much structured like a musical with the arrangements of the songs and how they're organised in the film. So I'm going to break down each song and write my thoughts about them, as well as the score. I got the deluxe edition which has demos and deleted songs, but I'm not going to go into them because 1) I haven't listened to them yet and 2) I'd rather focus on the songs used in the movie. So, without further ado, let's take a look into the music for Frozen! By the way, I'm not going to write about the score because I want to treat this review as if I'm reviewing a Broadway album, so only the songs themselves will be reviewed!
Frozen Heart: Used as the opening song for the film, it really helps set the dramatic tone for the rest of the movie, and I love the Norwegian feel it has with the instruments used and the melody sounding very traditional. Taking place with ice harvesters collecting ice with a young Kristoff, the lyrics very subtly foreshadow the events of the movie involving Elsa's ice magic and a major conflict, which I won't say for spoilers, which I love most about it! It also manages to subtly foreshadow the thematic elements, predominantly Elsa's internal conflict with love and fear, with even some fans believing it also describes the villain (not gonna say for spoilers again). Also, it reminds me in a way of Les Mis with the Working Song at the beginning, also in the visuals which by the way, are just beautiful to look at! It also has a very entrancing feeling to it as it begins the movie and the directors have said it's a tribute to the Roustabouts song from Disney's Dumbo, which I really can see with this!
Do You Want To Build a Snowman?: This song is just so adorably tragic, I can't help but call it that! Showing Anna and Elsa throughout the years since childhood with Anna wanting to rebuild their relationship after a tragic accident, I love how the visuals shows both girls' perspectives instead of just Anna's (only Anna sings this) with her feeling more lonely as Elsa constantly rejects her, while Elsa grows more frightened of her powers which are getting stronger and doesn't want to hurt her sister. Also, the singing is excellent from Katie Lopez (Young Anna's singing voice & also Robert & Kristen's daughter), Agatha Lee Monn (Pre-Teen Anna & co director Jennifer Lee's daughter) and Kristen Bell, especially the latter after um...watch the clip to see what I mean! I also love how it sounds like a Broadway song with the orchestra in the background and the interludes inbetween each part of Anna's life. Overall, I love this song, but it's not my favourite in the movie.
For The First Time In Forever: This is the Disney Princess I Want song in the movie and I absolutely love it! Reminding me of The Little Mermaid with the giant orchestra and beautiful melody, it really manges to look and sound like something for a musical! It shows adult Anna on Elsa's coronation day and being excited of the thought of not being alone and potentially finding true love. It also manages to become a duet by the end, showing Elsa (now Idina Menzel) dreading the coronation because she doesn't want her powers to be exposed, and has to hide her emotions in order for them to not be triggered. Kristen Bell really shines, and I never actually thought she could sing this well when I first saw the movie, having a very sweet voice which would perfectly fit a Disney Princess, and she surprisingly manages to complement Idina's more mature singing voice. The lyrics are also fun (the 'I wanna stuff some chocolate in my face' line is hilarious) but a few like 'totally bizarre' or 'don't know if I'm elated or gassy' I found to be a bit weird for a song like this. But then again, it shows off Anna's eccentric side and that's one of the reasons I love her character! The visuals are also very fun and pretty (try to notice the Rapunzel cameo in the clip) to look at, especially when Anna is outside of the kingdom for the first time, when the song reaches to an amazing climax. Overall, such a brilliant song and I can't help but replay it!
Love Is An Open Door: Although I feel like I should dislike this song, I surprisingly don't! With an upbeat tone parodying other Disney songs where the protagonists fall in love over one musical number, the silliness of it all attracts me into it, and it's clear the composers knew it was supposed to be like that. The visuals also help, being similar to So This Is Love from Cinderella except really overblown without it being too painfully obvious it's supposed to be a parody. Also, the lyrics can be considered quite subtle on Hans' part with what he's really singing about and his true intentions of being with Anna (you'll understand if you've already seen the movie) The singing is also excellent from Kristen Bell and Santino Fontana, surprisingly complementing each other in harmony, with their performances also helping with the overall fun feeling to the song. Just consider this the guilty pleasure for me in the soundtrack!
Let It Go: Easily my favourite song in the whole movie. This is probably one of the more unorthodox musical numbers to come from Disney as it's more about what a character is becoming rather than what they want, and is never portrayed as a villain's song. Showcasing the best visuals in the film, it shows Elsa finally embracing her powers after living in fear for several years, as well as lamenting on being alone and not being able to hide her powers from her sister and having to conceal her emotions. She decides to build an ice palace and fully becomes the Snow Queen, letting go of her powers and finally being free of the rules and obligations of being queen. Idina Menzel's voice is incredible, both showing Elsa's vulnerable and rebellious sides as the song progresses, reminding me heavily of Defying Gravity from Wicked in a good way, and not just because of Menzel, but also in lyrics and melody! I found it also to be a very empowering song about independence, being both uplifting and sad at the same time. The visuals of the song will just make your jaw drop, especially when Elsa builds her ice palace, let's her hair down and makes her Snow Queen dress as the music gets bigger and louder by the end. Overall, this is probably one of the best Disney songs ever written, and is just on my replay button all the time, I love it so much!
Reindeer(s) are Better Than People: Although the song is rather funny in itself, I don't really consider this a proper musical number, which is a huge shame because this is the only time Jonathan Groff gets to sing in the movie! He has an amazing voice like in Spring Awakening or Glee, and I found that the team wasted an opportunity to show off his talent! Also, it did nothing to progress the plot at all and only lasts for just under a minute! However, it's technically not a bad song in itself and Jonathan's singing is great, and can actually be very funny doing Sven's reindeer voice. Overall, this song doesn't have any replay value when listening to the soundtrack, unless you're a massive fan of Jonathan Groff (you have to listen to him doing a duet version of Kristoff & Sven singing Baby It's Cold Outside, it's hilarious!)
In Summer: This song is considered the I Want song for Olaf the snowman, who wants to experience summer despite, well, being made of snow. Although people may think of this as stupid, I consider him to be more naive. It is rather fun with the happy tone and Josh Gad's performance being hilarious, but the problem I have is it stops the film and doesn't really progress the plot. However, you could make an argument it's kind of helping develop Olaf's character and shows his comedic side with how naive he is. The visuals also look great being very colourful, despite the anachronism stew (well, Aladdin did that and it worked) and it almost has a ragtime feel to it both in the score and when Olaf is dancing with the seagull. The visual gags are also funny, showing Olaf in a mind of his own during summer, completely oblivious to the fact that he'd melt and he's never experienced heat in his short life. So even though I may not like it as much as the other songs, I can't say that it's bad, in fact, for what it is, it's a pretty good effort.
For The First Time In Forever Reprise: This reprise is just as good, if not better than the first version. Anna and Elsa have reunited, even though Elsa wants to be alone to avoid hurting her sister again and has only just discovered the kingdom is stuck in an eternal winter after she fled. As the song progresses, as Elsa becomes more agitated and frightened and Anna becomes more persuasive and optimistic, it becomes a full blown counter-argument duet between the two, with Idina & Kristen's vocals complementing each other very well, with Idina's powerhouse voice and Kristen's sweet voice contrasting each other. I love the melody for it, having that magical feeling when Elsa's magic starts become uncontrollable again and how the major and minors try to outdo each other by the end, also representing Anna and Elsa trying to get each other to understand their perspectives of the situation. This song also manages to show off Idina's powerhouse voice like Let It Go does when Elsa has finally had enough and accidentally hurts Anna again when her powers go out of control. Overall, I love this song as much as the first version.
Fixer Upper: As the final song in the movie, it's not actually the grande finale as there isn't one. It is treated like a full blown Broadway number, even down to the way it's choreographed! It's about Kristoff's troll family telling Anna about his shortcomings and saying they should get together, despite her being engaged to Hans. It also throws in some subtle lyrics involving true love and Anna's situation with her sister, despite it mostly being about Kristoff, being very funny and clever. The song also has a very gospel feeling to it, the kind the composers are familiar with from their past works, as well as sound pop-ish, the kind a Broadway musical would have. Maia Wilson, who happened to be in Book of Mormon as well as Josh Gad, has excellent vocals as Bulda, and it also has an array of Broadway singers, including Annaleigh Askford from Wicked and Legally Blonde. The only issue I have with it, despite it's very fun atmosphere, I don't like that the trolls are forcing Anna and Kristoff together up to the point they want them to get married despite knowing each other for roughly a day and ignoring the fact she's already engaged. Despite that, it's a very enjoyable song and one for Broadway fans.
Overall, this is an amazing soundtrack from Robert and Kristen, with a modern Broadway feeling to it while making it timeless to fit with Disney. It's clear they took advantage of the Broadway talent they got for the film, except for one, and they give out incredible performances, especially Idina Menzel as Elsa during Let It Go, who gives out one of her best performances since Elphaba from Wicked. They manage to make them similar to the Disney Renaissance while keeping it fresh for a more contemporary audience without using too much of teeny bop tone like Tangled did (I don't really like the songs from Tangled, but I may review the soundtrack one day). Yes, a couple stop the film, but at least they're memorable like the rest of the songs and that could just be considered nitpicking from me. Just go out and buy/download it because musical theatre fans, children and Disney fans will most definitely enjoy this soundtrack from the House of Mouse!
I know, I haven't been on for months and I haven't reviewed any shows for more than a year, but this week I went to see this new interpretation of the classic Shakespeare play starring Little Britain comedian David Walliams and the lovely Sheridan Smith with my Sixth Form and I'm here to review it!
Starring: Sheridan Smith, David Walliams, Katherine Kingsley, Susannah Fielding, Stefano Braschi, Padraic Delaney, Sam Swainsbury
Rating: ****
This adaptation of the classic Shakespeare comedy is given interesting modern interpretations while keeping the original dialogue intact, something similar to Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, and what director Michael Grandage does with it is very creative, imaginative and surprisingly erotic. Although some darker scenes are cut out for the sake of the comedic tone, it doesn't necessarily create any plot holes and nothing really feels underdeveloped with the plot still being cohesive about young lovers and how a bit of magic can create massive consequences.
Sheridan Smith (of Gavin and Stacey and Two Pints of Lager fame) was a joy to watch in the dual role of Titania and Hippolyta, but I enjoyed her more as Titania because she showcases her versatility and sensuality, as well as her fiesty side in contrast to Hippolyta, wearing pant suit a with her hair in a tight plait. Another actor in a dual role was as Oberon and who was good, but not as enjoyable as Sheridan/
David Walliams just shined as the comedy relief Bottom, with a notable stage presence which had me in tears of laughter with his flamboyant demeanour and hilarious breaking the fourth wall moments to the audience being perfectly timed. However, the only issue I had with him was I felt like I was watching another one of his Little Britain sketches rather than a Shakespearean play, but it didn't stop me from enjoying his performance, especially at the end as Pyramus in an amateur play opposite Alex Large as 'Thisbe', who also made me chuckle.
However, the actor who surprised me the most was Katherine Kingsley as Helena with how funny, touching and over the top she was, especially during the scenes involving her and Stefano Braschi as Demetrius spending most of his time showing off his six pack torso in white boxers. But whenever the mortal lovers were together onstage and quarrelling, that was when they shined both with the physical and adult comedy with how childish they can be.
The set designs were minimal, but effective, merely consisting of a painted background of the forest with the dominant moon shining on the action. The costumes designs were also creative and colourful to contrast the characters between the hippy-like fairies, and the 1940s influence on the human protagonists.
Despite the number of praises I have given, there are a few flaws, mostly involving whether the time setting was in the 40s because of the costumes worn by the mortals, or the 70s because of the hippy-style of the fairies (with the dances reminding me of the musical Hair). Moreover, I felt the pacing was way too rushed, especially during the first act which went by really quickly.
Overall despite those flaws, it's sexy, imaginative, engaging and very funny. It definitely felt like a dream with Grandage's faithfulness to the original manuscript, while putting in his own creative twists to make it a wonderful night.
Just discovered Glee star Cory Monteith has passed away....I was intending to review the show because I really dislike it, but this really isn't the right time. As much as I don't like it, he was actually good in it & it's incredibly sad for any television show to lose such an amazing man. We shouldn't think of this as goodbye, but rather we should be celebrating his life. No one deserves the tragedy that has happened today, especially the love of his life Lea Michele & my condolences go out to her & I hope she'll stay strong. I strongly think they should cancel the show because 1) it wouldn't feel right continuing the show when one of the core characters has died 2) it wouldn't be right for Ryan Murphy to toss Finn aside like it was nothing 3) it would be insulting to Cory if Finn was written out 4) if they write Finn is dead, that would cause more tragedy for the actors 5) there wouldn't be a good enough excuse to write Finn out & would make it even more insulting!
My condolences go out to everyone from Glee, Lea, his family & friends who have lost an amazing man who has been through so much.
Cory Allan Michael Monteith
Born May 11th 1982. Died on June 13th 2013. You will forever be missed. <3
Monday, 24 June 2013
Hello this is the Theatre Loving Fairy...I'm back! Sorry for not posting for months, but now I'm actually gonna focus more on musical movies than stage shows for a while since I have other things to focus on. Also, I'm gonna revamp the blog so don't be surprised in the future! I might go and see Once and I intend on seeing Miss Saigon next year, but besides that, I have no other plans of seeing any other musicals! Well, on with what I'd like to call the worst attempt of a mixing pop and country into a movie for pre-teen girls, Hannah Montana the Movie! Yes, I consider this a musical so shut up and let's review this piece of shit! Hannah Montana the Movie Rating: * (this is me being nice, believe it or not!) Cast: Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray Cyrus (both of whom can't act to save their lives), Haley Joel Osment's inferior sister, that guy from Metro Station's brother
Don't care about the rest of the cast (actually I care about none of them) moving on! Here's the plot: Miley Stewart is struggling with her double life as Hannah Montana & her personal life as Miley which leads her to ruining best friend Lilly's My Super Sweet 16 style birthday party by upstaging her as Hannah, so her dad makes her do a 'Hannah detox' at her hometown Crowley Corners (what a creative name, huh?) full of bland & annoying people who for some reason have a hostility towards malls which could help their dwindling economy! There's a love angle with Miley & some cowboy guy which is contrived, bland & unnecessary like the entire movie!
Yes, this is an actual scene from the movie!
And there's another love angle with Billy Ray and Jan from The Office which Miley supports even though she wasn't happy when he dated a real estate agent in the show since she thought he was replacing her mother (yeah, I had a phase of liking it when I was 10 so my brain wasn't as prepared to realize it's a piece of shit)! And there's ANOTHER plot (see a theme?) involving some guy trying to find out Hannah's secret & follows her to Crowley Corners which contributes nothing to the main story! The ending is dumb & stupid, why?! BECAUSE EVERYONE REJECTS MILEY AND WANTS HANNAH AFTER SHE BEARS HER SOUL TO EVERYONE WITH A CRAPPY POP SONG!! Seriously, they want superficiality and lies, not Miley to be herself! WORST ENDING EVER!!
The chicken of the far left must've known this would be crap!
OK, the acting is atrocious & almost every character can't seem to tell that Miley is Hannah despite Hannah having a different hair colour & wear ugly Barbie clothes! It's what everyone notices, put the blonde wig on & you become Hannah Montana! OK, back to the acting! Like I said, Miley conveys no emotion whatsoever & she's just selfish throughout & doesn't change at all, making the whole movie entirely pointless! The cowboy boyfriend is just boring a love interest with no personality & the rest are just stereotypes with no personality & I do not care for!
Worst dance scene in a movie ever!
Now onto the songs...which are BAD! Worst one has got to be Hoedown Throwdown mixing country, pop, hip-hop & RnB together with an awful dance trying to be the Tim Warp! The Climb is just cliched & about nothing trying so hard to be like Britney Spears' I'm Not A Girl, But Not Yet a Woman which is equally as bad! The rest are forgettable, so I'm not gonna bother going over them!
Overall....HANNAH MONTANA THE MOVIE IS CRAP! I recommend avoiding it, it's a waste of 90 minutes with a washed down moral, an awful ending, atrocious songs & bland characters who can't act to save their lives!
Now, I know I haven't seen any musicals or musical movies since I haven't had the time to recently, but for Christmas I got the soundtrack for Disney's newest animated musical film Frozen. The reason why I'm reviewing it here is not only because it's written by the husband-wife Broadway composers Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez, AKA the people who wrote the music for Avenue Q & Book of Mormon, but also because the movie itself is very much structured like a musical with the arrangements of the songs and how they're organised in the film. So I'm going to break down each song and write my thoughts about them, as well as the score. I got the deluxe edition which has demos and deleted songs, but I'm not going to go into them because 1) I haven't listened to them yet and 2) I'd rather focus on the songs used in the movie. So, without further ado, let's take a look into the music for Frozen! By the way, I'm not going to write about the score because I want to treat this review as if I'm reviewing a Broadway album, so only the songs themselves will be reviewed!
