The Nightmare Before Christmas

Christmas is right around the corner and with that comes jack skelington. Whose is Jack Skelington you ask? Well, he's the pumpkin king of course. Everyone should know that right? if not let me enlighten you.

Jack Skelington is the main character from the 1993 stop motion animated musical "The Nightmare Before Christmas". While growing up this was one of my favorite movies, and is still my go to film when there is nothing else to watch. 

The Nightmare Before Christmas is by my all time favorite director and movie writer Tim Burton.
It focuses on Jack Skelington, who appears to be of high importance in the fantasy world of Halloween town. In this musical Jack is fed up with the same old celebration of halloween year after year.  After the halloween celebration for the year, he heads off walking in the woods alone at night and comes across the most piculiar looking door on a tree, which is in fact, shaped as a christmas tree. Jack opens the door, free falls through the dark as snow flakes swirl around him and lands at the bottom on his bony butt in a pile of snow.

He proceeds to investigate this strange place, which is revealed as christmas town, and shows great interest in it. Once he finds his way back to Halloween town, which is in complete turmoil due to his dissapearance, he begins to research Christmas and suggests at a town meeting that they celebrate it and nominates himself as "Sandy Claws".

Halloween and Christmas don't mix and essentially Jacks christmas is a disaster. Either or, it is still a wonderful musical and i recomend that anyone watch it. It is very dark and twisted just like Tim Burton himself.  I feel like just about anyone can appreciate this film and i truly believe this is Tim Burton at his best! It is Magnificent!

Chicago

Chicago is definitely on my list of favorite musicals.  The first time I seen Chicago would probably be when I was about fifteen or so. I had no idea what it was going to be about but I had seen the cover of the DVD case and it didn't appeal to me at all. One day my dad, who owns a party store in which they rent movies there, brought me home a movie to watch and it just so happened to be Chicago.  On a whim my cousin Garit and I sat down in my small living room and watched it. We had nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon.

The movie is set in the mid 1920's and opens up with Renee Zellwegers character, Roxie Hart, at night club watching a show, by the very famous Velma Kelly.  Later in the night, she goes home with Fred Casely, the man she is sleeping with in hopes that he will get her a vaudeville act.  Fred makes it known to Roxie that he doesn't actually have connections and cant get her an act. He only said he did so he could "get in her pants".  A pissed off Roxie, shoots him dead after a full out brawl between the two.

Roxie's ever so faithful husband comes home to a dead man in their bedroom and of course the police are involved.  She convinces Amos, her husband, to take the blame and say that he was an intruder and it was self defense.  That all seemed find and dandy until evidence that Roxie and Mr. Casely were fooling around and that he was married with children.  The truth of Roxie's crime of passion is revealed and she is sent to Cook County Jail.

Upon her arrival she is sent to "Murderess Row" and is cared for the corrupt "Mama" Morton.  While in the joint Roxie meets Velma Kelly, her idol, who is there for murdering her boyfriend and her sister whom she had a vaudeville act with. Roxie has Amos hire Velma's lawyer, Billy Flynn, to cover her case and get her out of jail.  Billy Makes Roxie a star and a household name.  The press go wild for her and her story. Eventually Velma and Roxie become locked in a rivalry and try to outshine each other. 

Roxie's trial becomes a media spectacle and she is eventually let off and found not guilty. Amos leaves her and she is left with nothing, so she sets off to find herself on the big stage yet again.  After no luck in finding a job, Velma Kelly, who also was found not guilty, approaches her with a proposition. Two is better than one and the girls face there differences and open a vaudeville act together and become very famous. 

The musical focuses on the corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of a "celebrity criminal", which was popular in this time era. 

I find this musical very fascinating and historical considering its based on actual crimes that took place in the 1920's.  Its crazy to think that actual criminals could buy themselves out of jail and into fame.

In Just Seven Days I Can Make You a Man

Yes! i have finally made it to a post that I am Super excited about! It's a British/American musical starring Tim Curry and it also happens to be a cult classic. Any guesses? Ok, I will just tell you... The Rocky Horror Picture Show!

Rocky Horror is one of my absolute favorites, i remember as a little kid my mom would take us to the movie store to rent movies and i would always see it sitting on the shelf and I was quite intrigued by the cover. It was a all silver with a big pair of red lips on the front, with what looked like a cross dressing male sitting between them.  I never asked my mom to rent it for me, I just knew she would tell me no.

I never actually got to watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show until about three years ago while i was at my friends house and she was talking about it. I had told her i never seen and she instantly ran to her movie shelf and selected it out and we sat down to watch it.

I found it to be very intresting and entranceing, but it took me a couple times to figure out exactly what it was about.  It starts out with this newly engaged couple, Brad and Janet. They end up with a flat tire on a dark, cold, rainy night. They spot a castle in the distance with lights on so they head in that direction in search of a phone. Once there they are greated by a hunch backed butler and a maid in a skimpy maids outfit. They get swept in a room full of what would look to be Elton John clones and they are blessed with the presence of Dr. Frank N. Furter, who is a self proclaimed transvestite from Transexual, Translyvannia.

At this time Dr. Frank N. Furter is announceing to the convention attendees that he has discovered "the secret to life itself" and reveals that he had made a man, who he names Rocky.

To make a long story show Frank gets intimate with Brad, Janet finds out and sleeps with Rocky, and Frank and Brad find out and are pissed!

Eventually the maid and the butler reveal themselves to be aliens, kill Frank and the castle turns into a spaceship and takes off into the night sky leaving Brad and Janet crawling in the dirt.  The narrator then concludes with comparing the human race to insects crawling on the earths surface.

This musical is great! The musical numbers are catchy and fun, and Tim Curry gives an amazing performance! I feel that it should be something everyone should see at least twice in there life!

Camp Rock

If you haven't noticed I'm on a Disney Channel kick. Camp Rock, another Disney musical, the only difference from my last post though is I actually liked this one. 

Camp Rock focuses on the main character of Mitchie Torres who is a young singer who has hopes of making it in the big time. She wants to go to Camp Rock, which is a summer camp for musically gifted kids. The only thing stopping her is the fact that her family doesn't have enough money to send her there. One day she comes home to find out that her mom landed a catering job with the Camp and they are letting her go as part of her mothers payment for the job.

At the same time that she is there Shane Grey, who is apart of popular music group in the movie, is teaching a dance class at the camp. He over hears Mitchie singing, but doesn't see her, and sets out to find the girl behind the voice. By the end of the movie they end up falling madly in love and singing happily ever after. I know its kind of Cheesy.

I enjoyed this one A LOT more than the other Disney musical because it actually had talented people in the movie and it was obviously made by talented people. The Vocals from Demil Lovato and Nick Jonas were exceptional.  The songs that were written and performed in the movie were great and fit well with the story line. It was great, and well put together. I loved it.

The people in this movie also either became very successful or were already very successful.  The Jonas Brothers at the time the movie was released were a big deal and were adored by a million screaming "tween" girls.  Demi Lovato ended up landing a record deal with Hollywood Records and releasing numerous hits. Not to mention her own show on Disney channel Sonny With a Chance.

I'm glad high school was never like this!

All through middle school I was a part of the middle school choir.  I loved it. I loved performing in front of people and I absolutely loved how the 30 of us sounded as a group.

One day in choir class we had a substitute teacher, and well there aren't exactly to many substitute teachers who can come in and accompany us on a piano while we practice for whatever upcoming concert or competition we had, so we were stuck watching a movie.

At this time Disney recently aired High School Musical, which actually became a huge hit. Our teacher had bought her own copy on DVD and that was our assignment for the day, to try to sit through this terrible movie and we had to discuss it when she came back. YUCK!

Well of course I watched the whole thing, I had to.  It was awful! Disney tries to hard to make "child stars". Zac Efron's lip syncing skills were well below average, you could tell it wasn't even his real voice, it sounded nothing like the way he talked. Plus, there were countless times his lips didn't even meet up with what was being sung. Yes, he is gorgeous and I could stare at him all day long but not while watching that mess.

Then we have Vanessa Hudgens who plays Gabriella in the movie. I can honestly say she might have been the only one who had any talent.  I didn't like her character very much, she seemed to innocent and honestly nobody is that innocent.

It was a little irritating watching "High Schoolers" act the way they did, I was in the eighth grade at the time and I acted more mature than what they did. I get that they were trying to appeal to a younger crowd but really is that how you want your kids to grow up thinking they will need to act like when they are in high school. Its very misleading.

All I have to say is I think that High School Musical was a High School fail. I felt the musical numbers were very amateur. They could of done a better job and not made it so terrible!

The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

When I was fourteen I was obsessed with the movie Jersey Girl, which was this comedy-drama by director Kevin Smith. It wasn't a popular movie and happened to be a box office bust but I loved it anyways.

In the movie Ben Affleck's daughter wants to see the musical "Cats". He tells her no, claiming its a terrible show but promises that he will to take her to see one. One day, while the girl is looking in a newspaper, she comes across an ad for the musical Sweeney Todd. Ben tells her that the musical is not suitable for a seven year old girl but she demands to see it anyway. Ben gives in and takes his daughter to the gruesome musical and the girl loves it.

Now from watching this movie I was introduced to the main idea of the play. An 18th Century barber kills his customers and sends them down to the woman who owns the pie shop beneath him. She then proceeds to cut the people up and put them in her meat pies and sells them to half of London. It sounded interesting enough to me so from that point on I showed a great interest in the story.

In 2005 I found out Tim Burton, who happens to be my all time favorite director and movie writer, was making his very own version of Sweeney Todd staring Johnny Deep who is my favorite actor.
I knew before I had even seen the trailer that it was going to be the most amazing thing my eyes had ever gazed upon. Three of my all time favorite things collaborated into one.

I haven't been able to see the original Sweeney Todd, but from what I understand it started out as a 1973 play and was turned into a musical in 1979 by Hugh Wheeler and Stephen Sondheim. The only version I have seen is the one starring Johnny Depp by Tim Burton but I would love to see the original because there were multiple musical numbers that were cut out in the Tim Burton adaptation.


Sweeney Todd is about a barber named Benjamin Barker who was transported or "exiled" from London for 15 years on made up charges. Upon his return he finds out that his wife had poisoned herself after being raped by the judge who had made up these false charges. Benjamin vows his revenge on the judge and changes his name to Sweeney Todd. He becomes "business" partners with Mrs. Lovett the pie maker who runs a business below his barbershop and together they slaughter London and turn them into meat pies and feed them to the locals.

This musical is very dark and wonderful all at the same time. I guarantee that if you love musicals and a little bit of gore and horror this one is right up your alley. It is my favorite of all time. Tim Burton did a wonderful job with this and I honestly am extremely excited to find the original so I can compare.

Fiddleing on the roof

Fiddler on The Roof was the first musical I had ever seen. Not only was it the first musical I seen but it was also the worse! It's not like its a bad musical just it wasn't one that I was interested in.

When I was a freshman in high school I was in drama club. We went and seen Fiddler on The Roof as a field trip with the choir kids. It was being put on at the Strand Theatre by Gratiot county players club which is this group of men, women, and children in my community that puts on plays and musicals. The strand theatre was the central buzz of our town back in the day, it was where my parents and grandparents had always gone to see movies. When I was really small it was a theatre that played movies once they left the big movie theatre, so usually new releases would show up there about a month after they left the other one. The best part is you got to see them for half the price. when I was about 10 years old it was shut down and turned into a play house.

On the way to the theatre everyone was so excited, but who wouldn't be with a chance to get out of school. We walked to the front of the building once we got there and it looked like exactly what it was, an old movie theatre. there was a booth out front with glass windows where people once bought tickets for the latest blockbusters. we walked through big wooden double doors that lead into the lobby. There sat an empty counter that once house snacks and treats. We were lead to a door on the left of the counter. In the room there sat over a couple dozen old theatre seats, they didn't even recline like the fancy ones we have now days. at the front of the room sat a stage. We all took our seats and waited for the musical to begin.

Everyone has there opinion on anything, but I have to say Fiddler on The Roof was down right boring! In a nut shell, its about a poor Jewish peasant who must marry off his three daughters while the girls fight the Jewish traditions and the government threatens to take their home. Boring right? thought so.

After the play was over, we all headed back to school extremely disappointed, we almost would rather have sat in class all day then sit through that. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you shouldn't watch it but I will tell you that I thought it was terrible!