https://stevedrice.net/ 2026-04-24T23:34:30+00:00 https://stevedrice.net/ https://stevedrice.net/_media/wiki/dokuwiki.svg text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/4 Review of 'The Sound of Music' One of my favourite films of all time follows the story of Maria as a troublesome young lady in a convent who is assigned to be the governess for the Von Trapp family with seven children. Along the way we are treated to a series of memorable musical numbers and incredible scenery. Maria and the Von Trapps have never looked this good. Definitely recommended. text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/20 Review of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' A new adaptation of the classic Webber musical this time done in a sort of “West Side Story” setting. The music, as ever, is incredible and brought to life on the DVD though the singing is not, in my opinion, any where near as good as the original JC Superstar album (though neither was the not-so-good 60s movie). text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/57 Review of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' The cult classic. Fantastic music with an...interesting...story line. Brad and Janet are stranded in a rain storm when they come across a castle which just so happens to be occupied by an doctor (from another world, don't you know) and his strange followers/groupies/whatever. Things get interesting text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/64 Review of 'Romeo + Juliet' Shakespeare's classic is updated to the modern setting of Venice beach where swords have become “Sword Brand” guns with the Capulets and Montegues get around in fanciful cars. With a fantastic soundtrack this inspiring adaptation harkens to Baz's later Moulin Rouge which, I feel, is superior. Romeo (Leondardo DiCaprio) is truly tragic and engaging as you are drawn to his doomed relationship with Juliet (Claire Danes) to it's inevitable conclusion. text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/75 Review of 'Jeff Waynes Musical Version of the War of the Worlds: Live on Stage' In 1978 an extraordinary album was released by Jeff Wayne that re-interpreted the H.G. Well's classic Science Fiction story War of the Worlds as a rock musical (I would suggest text/html 2023-11-27T19:47:09+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/95 Review of 'The Magic Flute' This is an adaptation of the Mozart opera of the same name for the screen. It is not a straightforward filming of an opera production but rather a “re-imagining” of the opera with flights of fancy galore. The action takes place in a World War 1 setting as a soldier, Tamino (Joseph Kaiser) is called upon by the Queen of the Night (Lyubov Petrova) to rescue Pamina (Amy Carson) from the text/html 2024-10-06T16:35:32+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/103 Review of 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are back in this movie adaption of the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd. I have never seen the musical but have always wanted to but held back after hearing of the graphic violence. So, seeing the movie, what did I think? Yep, it is graphic. text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/166 Review of 'The Muppets' Have to admit it, I was always a fan of The Muppets. I grew up with them and it is great to see them back on the big screen. Ok, only the first Muppet Movie was anything I really remember but still... Walter (played obviously by a muppet) is a big Muppet fan so when his brother Gary (Jason Segal) and his girlfriend Mary (Amy Adams) go on a trip to Hollywood Walter is invited along for a dream visit to the Muppet Theatre which, to his disappointment, is abandoned an… text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/179 Review of 'Les Misérables' Finally the famous musical is brought to the big screen with a big budget to match. Jean Valjean (played admirably by Hugh Jackman) is a prison convicted of stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family who is released from prison only to find that the world is not as forgiving so finds himself caught for stealing from a church. He is forgiven and told to use the money to text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/198 Review of 'Walking on Sunshine' On holiday in a beautiful coastal Italian village Taylor (Hannah Arterton) falls in love with local Raf (Giulio Berruti). Taylor turns away from the love of her life to return to university. Three years later she is back in the same village to visit her sister Maddie (Annabel Scholey) who surprises her by announcing that she is getting married. It soon becomes apparent that Maddie is going to marry Taylor's holiday romance Raf. Do Raf and Taylor still love… text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/289 Review of 'Into the Woods' “Into the Woods” is an alternative and adult take on various fairy tales as it takes in elements from “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, “Cinderella” and “Rapunzel” set to music by the legendary Stephen Sondheim with an all-star cast. Here a baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) are distraught at not being able to conceive a child so are approached by their neighbour, a witch (Meryl Streep) who offers to help them out if they will provid… text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/292 Review of 'La La Land' Sebastian (Ryan Gosling showing an occasional spark of emotion) is an unemployed jazz musician dreaming of opening his own jazz bar. Mia (Emma Stone) works at a coffee shop on the back lot of a film studio who dreams of becoming an actress though is continually rejected. One day Mia is passing by a bar and hears a piano so goes in to see who is playing only to witness Sebastian being fired for playing off the manager's set list. They strike up a friendship that soon… text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/338 Review of 'The Greatest Showman' A big screen, all singing, all dancing musical telling the story of the circus legend P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman). Starting with Barnum's troubled childhood we see his desire to entertain from a young age despite coming from a poor background. Barnum later marries Charity (Michelle Williams) and they have two children who have tremendous imagination with their father's entertaining nature. With the difficult economic times the company Barnum works for clos… text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/378 Review of 'By Jeeves' You can be forgiven for never having heard of the musical “Jeeves” by none other than the king of musicals Andrew Lloyd Webber. This is a new version of Jeeves, “By Jeeves” which was filmed by the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) in Toronto on a specially created set. text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/416 Review of 'My Fair Lady' When a snobbish phonetics professor Harry Higgins (Rex Harrison) comes across an obviously lower-class woman with a strong east-London accent selling flowers in Covent Garden following a night at the opera he bets a friend Colonel Hugh Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White) that in six months he can transform her into a well spoken woman suitable for inclusion into high society. After some convincing the woman, Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn), agrees to the scheme and Higg… text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/432 Review of 'The Producers' Producer Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) is an unsuccessful Broadway producers but with the help of his meekly mannered accountant Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick) they come up with the idea of creating a musical so bad it fails and they pocket the money raised to create it. The first step is to find a screenplay. They settle on text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/433 Review of 'Rocketman' Many that have seen “Rocketman” -- a biopic-musical of Elton John -- have said how much better it is than Bohemian Rhapsody -- a similar film of Freddie Mercury -- however, I would say they are two very different things. It is an unfair comparison. The later is more of a documentary-style while Rocketman is more of a no-holds-barred flamboyant musical. Which do I prefer? For sheer exuberance it has to be Rocketman text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/473 Review of 'Singin' in the Rain' One of the most iconic musicals of all times, “Singin' in the Rain” routinely appears on “top ten films of all time” lists and for good reason. Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) are famous stars of the silent cinema but with advent of text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/480 Review of 'Cabaret' Brian Roberts (Michael York), a penniless university student, arrives in 1930s Berlin to complete his German studies. He finds himself boarding with flamboyant Cabaret headliner Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) who lives for the moment. They are immediately attracted to each other but Brian's interest is with the other sex text/html 2025-12-31T15:39:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/595 Review of 'In the Heights' It is a hot summer in the Washington Heights area of New York City bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) dreams of taking over his father's bar in the Dominican Republic. There is a strong sense of community in this Latino area of the city. Spinster Abuela Claudia (Merediz) has put many of them under her wing including raising Usnavi. The shy Usnavi (named after what his mother saw painted on the side of a navy ship when arriving in the city) is attracted to salon… text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/614 Review of 'Tommy' “Tommy” is the film version of The Who's 1969 rock opera album of the same name. A trippy and often very disturbing confusing story of drugs, abuse, fame and religion. The young Tommy (Barry Winch) loses his father, a pilot in the air force, in the second world war. His mother Nora (Ann-Margret) is drawn to the deeply disturbing holiday camp director Frank (Oliver Reed). Some time later Tommy witnesses the couple kill his father who has unexpectedly survived and returne… text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/636 Review of 'Mary Poppins Returns' I am a big fan of the original “Mary Poppins” film staring Julie Andrews. Sure, it might not be as true to the source material by P. L. Travers as it could have been (much to the consternation of the author, see text/html 2023-04-30T18:21:55+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/637 Review of 'West Side Story' “West Side Story” is famous director Steven Spielberg's first foray into musicals, doing an incredible job at bringing this classic 1957 musical featuring music by Leonard Bernstein. It is 1957 New York and a whole section of housing is being demolished for redevelopment. Amongst this we are introduced to two gangs: The Jets, featuring disenchanted white youth, and The Sharks, a group of young Puerto Ricans trying to make a life for themselves in the new world… text/html 2024-12-08T15:12:43+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/785 Review of 'Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration' We are big fans of tenor opera singer Andrea Bocelli but so far have not coughed up the money to see him live (it is a big cough) so when we learned that “Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration” was to be shown at the local cinema we jumped at the chance to see him in concert on the big screen. text/html 2025-12-31T15:39:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/789 Review of 'Wicked' Based on the musical of the same name Wicked tells the story of the “Wicked Witch of the West” from the “Wizard of Oz”, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) as she struggles against prejudice with her green skin. She is unexpectedly enrolled at Shiz University where she is somewhat ironically assigned to share a room with the completely opposite, prim and stuck up Galinda (aka text/html 2025-09-07T15:24:18+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/830 Review of 'Popeye' On our recent trip to Malta I was surprised to find it was the location where the vintage classic musical “Popeye” featuring Robin Williams was filmed. The old “Sweethaven” set has been adapted into a tourist attraction devoted to the characters. Though I am not sure that many of the visitors have seen this film which, frankly, tanked at the box office but I remembered it and recently sat down to watch it again text/html 2025-12-31T15:39:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/843 Review of 'Wicked: For Good' Picking up immediately following the events of the first film Wicked, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) has been outcast by the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and battles for the rights of the animals from her forest hideaway. The animals are being spied on by the Wizard's flying monkey spies so are leaving Oz completely. Glinda (Ariana Grande), now engaged to Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), is the Wizard's spokesperson. Fiyero goes off in search of Elphaba despite Glinda insisting t… text/html 2025-12-31T15:39:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/introduction Musicals I am a huge fan of musicals though the number of musicals that have transitions successfully from the theatre into the cinema I can probably count on one hand though “Sound of Music” I can think of being probably the best, perhaps even exceeding it's theatre beginnings. text/html 2025-12-31T15:39:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/reviews/film/musical/list List