DVD Review: Anna and the Apocalypse

Anna and the Apocalypse
(DVD Anna)

This movie started as a short film in 2011, Zombie Musical, written and directed by Ryan McHenry. It was then expanded to this full-length feature film, following McHenry’s death, by writers Alan McDonald and Tommy Reilly, with music by Roddy Hart and Reilly. And the music is integral to this film’s success — there are over 15 songs, sung by various cast members, who break into song-and-dance numbers that seamlessly merge into the chaos and zombie killing.

 

Teenager Anna is looking forward to traipsing around the globe following the end of her senior year — a prospect that neither her over-protective father and her best friend don’t relish. Anna isn’t part of the “popular crowd” but she and her fellow misfit outsiders still form a tight bond. They tend to ignore the news reports of a global pandemic that appears to be turning people into zombies — until it starts to affect the people in their sleepy Scottish town of Little Haven. As the entire world appears to be dissolving into total chaos, Anna and her friends (and enemies) must fight their way through their zombie-infested town to their high school, which may or may not be the last safe haven.

 

The entire cast of this is terrific, particularly Ella Hunt as Anna and Malcolm Cumming as her lifelong platonic best friend John. The songs are at first a bit jarring, but quickly become one of the best parts of the film — it reminded me of watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode “Once More, With Feeling” — and all the actors have excellent singing voices. The make-up and special effects are grotesque but impressive. If the film verges occasionally into cartoonishness, it is allowable, as the entire concept seems outlandish. And yet, somehow it works!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to see the If You Like…Die Hard list of harder-edged action/suspense films set at Christmas-time.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Music Review: Some Like It Hot (Official Broadway Cast Recording) by Marc Shaiman and others

Some Like It Hot (Official Broadway Cast Recording)
music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman, and a book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin (Hoopla Music, and hopefully on CD eventually)

The 1959 film Some Like It Hot, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, is considered by many film critics and fans to be among the greatest films ever made, a certainly one of the best Comedy films of all time. This stage musical, which opened on Broadway in 2022, is scheduled to close before the end of 2023, and features much of the same plot as the film, but has been expanded to explore issues of racial disparity and gender identity.

 

Joe (Christian Borle) and Jerry (J. Harrison Ghee) are best friends and musicians, trying to break into a big-name club in Chicago during prohibition. Though do they receive a break, they then witness a gangland slaying and have to go on the lam to avoid being rubbed out by the mobster whose club they were performing in. Desperate, they decide to impersonate women, and join the all-girl band Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopaters, leaving Chicago and traveling by train to California. Joe becomes Josephine, and Jerry becomes Daphne. Joe falls for Sugar Cane, a young woman with dreams of California stardom. When they reach San Diego, the Syncopaters are booked to perform at the glamorous Hotel Coronado, owned by quirky eccentric millionaire Osgood Fielding III, who immediately finds himself attracted to Jerry’s alter-ego Daphne.

 

Sue, Sugar Cane and Jerry/Daphne are all portrayed by actors of color in this production, and some of the new songs refer to the societal hurdles they face as musicians and performers. Jerry also finds himself far more comfortable in the skin of Daphne than he does of himself, and Osgood reveals that he likes Daphne, no matter who s/he is. The arrival of the pursuing mobsters leads to chase sequences and the revelation of Joe and Jerry’s actual identities…but it’s all okay in the end.

 

Featuring music by Marc Shaiman with lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman (both of whom did the music for the musicals Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can and the film Mary Poppins Returns), this musical is filled with rousing song-and-dance numbers as well as more introspective, pensive songs. The musical opens with the fast-paced “What Are You Thirsty For?” and “You Can’t Have Me (If You Don’t Have Him)”. I particularly enjoyed “At the Old Majestic Nickel Matinee”, “Let’s Be Bad”, “Dance the World Away” and “Ride Out the Storm”. And, of course, the title song “Some Like It Hot” is really catching as well. Personally, I enjoyed listening to this on CD, with a booklet that included extensive liner notes that helped explain what’s going on.

 

This is definitely a 21st Century take (with updated societal views) on a 64-year-old film masterpiece. Both are excellent in their own separate ways. I’ve been a fan of actor Christian Borle for many years, and while he does a terrific job as Joe/Josephine, it is J. Harrison Ghee who steals the show as Jerry/Daphne, and won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the original classic film starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, or Hairspray by the same creative team as this musical.)

 

( Wikipedia entry for the Some Like It Hot musical )

 

See Donna G.’s review of the film Some Like it Hot in the March 2011 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Music Book Review: Attack of the Monster Musical: A Cultural History of Little Shop of Horrors by Adam Abraham

Attack of the Monster Musical: A Cultural History of Little Shop of Horrors
by Adam Abraham (Music 782.14 Abr)

In light of the recent Lincoln Community Playhouse production (September 23-October 1, 2023) of the musical Little Shop of Horrors (and the library book list that came out in support of it), I was intrigued by this detailed examination of the the development and history of this dark-humored theater staple, and decided to give it a look.

 

While at times a bit dry and academic, I still found Attack of the Monster Musical to be a fun look back at the origins of Little Shop of Horrors, starting with the creation of Roger Corman’s 1960 low-budget b&w horror film, which was the inspiration for the musical over 20 years later. There’s lots of juicy historical tidbits about the different stages of the musical’s development, including the background of creators Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, how the various Audrey II puppets were created, the changes to the story that were required for the filming of the movie version, and the many musicals that were inspired by Little Shop in the years since. This was definitely an enjoyable read, and I learned a lot about Little Shop of Horrors I had not been aware of before. I do wish that there were more illustrations — the book has about a dozen or so black-and-white photos or drawings, but Little Shop is such a visual-oriented show, I would have loved to have seen more pictures in this.

 

This book should absolutely appeal to anyone who is a Little Shop of Horrors fan, but even if you’re just a musicals fan who’s not so familiar with Little Shop, you should appreciate the detailed background info about what it took to create a quirky off-Broadway show.

 

( Wikipedia entry on the Little Shop of Horrors stage musical ) | ( official Adam Abraham web site )

 

See Scott C.’s review of multiple versions of Little Shop of Horrors in the October 2018 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
See the Recommended Reading List for fans of Little Shop of Horrors among the Lincoln Community Playhouse booklists here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Check out this, and all the other great music resources, at the Polley Music Library, located on the 2nd floor of the Bennett Martin Public Library at 14th & "N" St. in downtown Lincoln. You'll find biographies of musicians, books about music history, instructional books, sheet music, CDs, music-related magazines, and much more. Also check out Polley Music Library Picks, the Polley Music Library's e-mail newsletter, and follow them on Facebook!

Movie Review: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
(DVD Umbrellas)

Stunning and vivid and beautiful, and also kind of crazy, I can see why this movie, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) would be on Greta Gerwig’s “Required Reading List” for the actors in the upcoming (Summer 2023) Barbie movie.

 

The backgrounds of every scene are lush with color. There’s the vibrant pink striped walls and black cabinets of the umbrella shop, the bold pink roses on bright blue of Genevieve’s bedroom, brilliant blue and green stripe of Guy’s home, and the orange of the cafe/bar where they go to enjoy a drink. Each scene is punctuated by saturated color. Instead of washing out in the face of all the intensity, the actors shine in equally vibrant costuming and colors.

 

This movie, which stars the blonde and perfect Catherine Deneuve and the dark haired and handsome Nino Castelnuovo as young star-crossed lovers, is a feast for the senses. Genevieve, who works in her mother’s umbrella shop worries that her mother thinks she is too young for love so she sneaks out to see her beau, Guy, a talented mechanic.

 

Classic antics ensue, miscues and missed appointments, a mother with debt trouble, an aunt who is bedridden, somebody gets drafted, someone gets married . . .

 

Did I mention there’s singing? And it’s in French? <3 <3 <3

 

For those who like this kind of stuff, this is definitely the kind of stuff they’ll like.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try  La La Land (nods to the visuals of Jacques Demy), Swinging Mademoiselles: Groovy French sounds from the 60s or Dressing Barbie.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Carrie K.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Compact Disc Review: Music Man - The 2022 Broadway Cast Recording

Music Man: The 2022 Broadway Cast Recording
by Meredith Willson (Compact Disc 782.14 Mus)

I’ve been a huge fan of the actor Hugh Jackman for years, and have really enjoyed his performances in such musical films as Les Miserables and The Greatest Showman. Similarly, I’ve enjoyed what performance by Sutton Foster that I’ve had the chance to see and hear, including her multi-season fun on Younger, and her contributions to soundtrack albums like Young Frankenstein, Anything Goes and The Drowsy Chaperone. But I’ve never had the chance to see either of them live, in person, in a stage show. None-the-less, I had high hopes for enjoying them as the leads in the soundtrack to the 2022 Broadway version of The Music Man, the classic American musical.

 

This soundtrack is fine, on its own, and is particularly rewarding as a two-disc set, which includes a LOT more music than has been on the single-disc releases associated with earlier stage and film productions. And, I actually did enjoy listening to it in the end. Both Jackman and Foster are enthusiastic performers and more-than-capable singers. BUT…and it’s a big but…as someone who grew up listening to the soundtracks to both the 1957 Broadway production and the 1962 feature film version, Jackman and Foster simply do not inhabit the characters of Harold Hill and Marian Paroo like Robert Preston did for both stage and screen, and Barbara Cook and Shirley Jones did for the stage and screen versions. The late Robert Preston simply IS Harold Hill, and Jackman was a mere pretender.

 

For Broadway soundtrack fans, I do still recommend this 2022 version…its got an infection sense of energy, and some of the tracks featuring group performances are outstanding. And if you’ve never heard the songs of The Music Man before, you may end up loving this version. But for someone well-versed in the history of Broadway music, this one ultimately falls a bit short. Its main selling point, for me, is the fact that there’s twice as much music represented as in previous production albums.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to see if you can find the soundtracks to both the 1957 Broadcast Cast Album, and the 1962 movie version of this story. But by all means, avoid the 2003 TV-movie version, starring Matthew Broderick, as it is far inferior to all other versions.)

 

( official Music Man on Broadway 2022 web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

New Lincoln Community Playhouse Booklist on BookGuide for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

  

The classic 1979 Broadway hit Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is currently on stage (March 10-19) at the Lincoln Community Playhouse, neighbor to the Lincoln City Libraries' own Gere Branch Library. As we usually do, a new booklist was created to accompany a book display at the Gere Branch, featuring books that should appeal to fans of this macabre masterpiece from Stephen Sondheim.

The booklist is available in two formats -- a simple single-page PDF listing titles only, and a more elaborate web page featuring a description of the history of this musical, plus descriptive blurbs and catalog hotlinks for each of the included books, CDs and DVDs (and this version has a few more titles than the shorter form).

You can "check out" these two variations on the Sweeney Todd booklist at the following hotlinks:

Sweeney Todd (1 page - printer-friendly)

Sweeney Todd (more detailed, web-based)

Music Review: Spirited: Soundtrack, music by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Spirited: Soundtrack
by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (and others) (Hoopla Music)

Spirited was a fanciful Christmas musical film produced by AppleTV+, which got a limited theatrical release in late 2022 but will stream exclusively on AppleTV+ by the end of the year. Two soundtrack albums were released — the first was a collection of the 12 original songs written for the film (and performed by the cast) by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. This album was released both digitally and on CD. The other album, released only digitally, featured the instrumental-only score to the film.

 

Through the libraries’ Hoopla digital music service, the Spirited: Soundtrack is available to listen to. The film, a modern twist on the old “A Christmas Carol” chestnut, features Will Ferrell as The Ghost of Christmas Present, and Ryan Reynolds as Clint Briggs, a slick manipulative image consultant who may just be a soul that is too unredeemable for the three Christmas ghosts (and their support crew) to salvage.

 

The film is a hoot — alternately paying loving homage to the concepts and traditions at the core of “A Christmas Carol”, while still poking fun at holiday tropes and the old-fashioned nature of redemption that underlies that story. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are the musical team behind the hit Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen, as well as the musical films La La Land and The Greatest Showman. Songs on this soundtrack range from big song-and-dance numbers featuring the whole cast and large ensemble (“That Christmas Morning Feeling”, “Do a Little Good”), to intimate solos or duets (“The View From Here” featuring Octavia Spencer, and “Unredeemable” featuring Will Ferrell). Some are serious (“The View From Here” and “Unredeemable” and “Do a Little Good”) while others are hilarious (“Bringing Back Christmas”, in which Reynold’s character incites a culture war on behalf of the Christmas Tree Growers Association, and “Good Afternoon”, in which immense fun is poked at the use of that two word phrase to “swear” back in olden times). But my favorite song is amusingly handled as an “outake”, and is performed under the film’s closing credits — “Ripple”, in which Ferrell’s Ghost of Christmas Present talks about the ripple effects of how saving one soul can impact so many others in the world.

 

Absolutely terrific soundtrack!

 

( official Spirited web site ) | ( official Pasek & Paul web site ) | ( Wikipedia entry for the Spirited Soundtrack )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!