Reviews by Tag: musical

Rent is a rock musical about New York City struggles in the 90s with the rise of AIDS. It is a musical written by Jonathan Larson and has many awards. It started off Broadway, made its way to Broadway, and now there is the movie adaptation. Unfortunately, Jonathan Larson passed away before he was able to see its success. This musical is all about love, acceptance, bohemia, drugs, pride, friends and loyalty.

Thanks for Listening is a realistic fiction young adult novel that follows the high school senior, Mia, through her last high school musical. She finally got the position of stage manager, but no one will listen to her! That is, until she finds her voice as an anonymous help channel on social media. Through this journey, she falls in love with the mysterious new girl, and has to navigate the challenges of dating someone with lots of rumors swirling around them.

Writer of the Broadway musical Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell, describes the process of writing the lyrics to a sung-through musical. The book has the lyrics of each song, as well as that song’s particular past and journey to its current version. Mitchell tells the story of the making of this musical, as well as the storytelling through this book. 

As the book writer for Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, Berger writes about the creative process for writing a musical. Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark had a much more complicated beginning than most musicals. From rewrites to funding issues, to injuries, this musical’s origin story had its share of troubles.

Summary: In the Heights, a musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda, unfolds over three days in the vibrant, predominantly Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City. The story centers on Usnavi, a bodega owner with dreams of returning to his native Dominican Republic, and explores the hopes, struggles, and cultural identity of the community.

Summary: This movie is about the upbringing of Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The movie starts with Wonka ending off his world travels of chocolate hunting going to try and open up a new candy shop inside of the big city. Sadly, he hits a roadblock when he is tricked by a local innkeeper into signing a deal to have to work in their basement for 25+ years. Willy is determined to make a name for himself and he won’t let this get in the way of his dreams.

La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, pulls on heartstrings in a unique way. In this fun and exciting musical the main characters Sebastian and Mia meet while both in a rough patch. They realize soon that them being together might be the best thing that could happen to them. Trouble begins to hit their relationship when Sebastian's career takes off, and Mia is left behind.