A closer look at Jerry’s life and career, it has in Jerry himself the perfect storyteller. He simply loves his work and his enthusiasm and joy of living are contagious. A host of stars (Carol Channing, Angela Lansbury, Charles Nelson Reilly, Michael Feinstein, Fred Ebb, George Hearn and many others) talk about him and his shows, and they do it with affection and respect.

A special treat for us musical fans, are the excerpts from MACK & MABEL, HELLO, DOLLY!, MAME, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES and specially DEAR WORLD; they are enough reason to buy this unique DVD, but better than that is the opportunity to get to know Jerry in a more personal way. Unfortunately I don’t know Jerry personally, but it looks like the nicest and the most optimist man in the world.

By the end of the documentary, we perfectly understand why his music is always so up-lifting and we hope that a new Jerry musical will soon be available. I can imagine a couple of movies (A POCKTEFUL OF MIRACLES, MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS) that would be perfect for him to turn into musicals. I’m sure he must have a truck full of unreleased songs; I just hope that someday they will be available for al of us to enjoy.

Thank you Mr. Herman for all the joy and pleasure you have given us. Rate:

The problem was when I heard that dear Johnny Depp and Helena Bonhman Carter were cast in the leading roles. Could they sing? Weren’t they too young for the roles? Would this movie be a terrible mistake? Well, my worst fears didn’t happen, but the end result was a little disappointing.

Visually, the movie is strong and very gothic. The tons of blood are really red and I wouldn’t recommend it to sensitive souls. It works as a piece of grand-guinol, but not entirely as a musical. I guess Burton’s hand was too heavy to handle the musical sequences and he misses the dark humor of the Broadway musical; a good example of what I’m saying is the “A Little Priest” sequence. That song is played with a straight face and its delicious humor doesn’t work and the same happens with “By the Sea”. I guess Burton wanted to do a serious musical and in that case it works, but that wasn’t what I expected.

As for the cast, Depp sings his role with a rocker voice and he looks the part (I wouldn’t mind seeing him in any part). Carter is a too normal Mrs. Lovett, but delivers a sweet voice in her numbers. The best singing comes from Ed Sanders, as the young Toby (Burton’s nicest touch is turn Toby into a very young kid), and the best surprise is a delicious Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli.

Some of the songs are missing; others were truncated, but as far as movie adaptations of musicals go, this one is rather interesting and thanks to it I guess many people will discover the genius of Mr. Sondheim. I enjoyed seeing it, but I prefer the television broadcast of the stage play starring the one and only Angela Lansbury. Rate:

I can’t make comparisons with the stage show, but I guess directors Robert Schrock (who directed and conceived the stage play) and Troy Christian managed to get the spirit of it intact. There’s no doubt that the target audience is a gay one and I confess I didn’t knew this was so gay in content (I thought it was only gay because of all the naked boys), but I believe everyone can have a good time with it. Unless you are shy of male genitals (I am not, for the contrary) there’s nothing shocking here. Everything is done in the best of tastes, the music is pleasant, the lyrics are sometimes hilarious (“Perky Little Porn Star” and “Jack’s Song”), the choreography is funny and the sense of seeing a live show is here. In fact, this movie is basically the shooting of the stage play, with some cinematic effects to rich the events.

As for the naked boys, they surprised me with their strong voices, good dance movements, acting abilities and the way they easily face their nudity performances. The big moments were “Jack’s Song”, with choreography that would make Tommy Tune proud, Kevin Stea as “The Naked Maid” and the opening number. Not every number is a comic one, so there’s the tender “Window to Window” or the sad “Kris, Look What You’ve Missed”. Snooty performer Jason Currie has the worst moment of the movie with the “Robert Mitchum” song, but he redeems himself with “The Entertainer”. In fact, although each one of us will have his favorites (mines are Kevin Stea, Joe Souza and Joseph Keane) I believe everyone gives their best and they work perfectly as a team.

This musical revue is a good piece of entertainment and the fact that it has a few guys in the nude also contributes to the party. In fact it’s perfect to be shown among a friends, or even family, party. Don’t miss the DVD extras. Rate:

would love to be able to enchant animals with my singing voice (I tried, but it was a big failure). Here, Giselle has to do with not very gracious animals, but on the other hand she had two good-looking guys to choose. One is the cute James Marsden as the silly singing Prince, the other the charming and very real Patrick Dempsey as Robert; both actors are very convincing in their roles and if I were in Giselle’s shoes I would have a hard time choosing with which one I wanted to live happily ever after.

The movie succeeds as a spoof of many Disney animated classics and even manages to be a delicious musical, but things become less interesting on the last third, with the conventional ball sequence and a kind of forceful climax. The best of all is Amy Adams performance as Giselle, she’s absolutely perfect in the role and very believable as a fairy-tale character; the success of the movie belongs to her and to the Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz songs.

For Musical aficionados there’s the presence of Idina Menzel and Tonya Pinkis, plus cameos by Jodi Benson, Paige O’Hara and Judy Kuhn (all three had lend her voices to previous Disney-Alan Menken animated musicals). It could have been better, but it’s fairly enjoyable. Rate:

and white, with cardboard sets, theatrical acting and static camera work, this looks dated, but it doesn’t mean that’s uninteresting.

For musical fans like me, there’s more than one reason to buy this DVD. First,it has a young Liza Minnelli as Red Riding Hood. By this time she had already been FLORA, THE RED MENACE on Broadway and here she shines in all her numbers, showing she was born for the Musical. Second, it has a new score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill; both would return to it in 1989 for a stage production. Third, it has the unique Cyril Ritchard as the wolf and he chews the scenery with his “queenish” ways.

There’s also a wooden Vic Damone as, you guess it, the Woodsman and the out of place Eric Burdon and the Animals, who delivered the worst sequence of this TV special. A dance number with actors dressed like animals could have been part of CATS and that made me believe that Andrew Lloyd Webber and choreographer Gillian Lynne must have seen this musical.

The best scenes have Liza Minnelli singing “I’m Naïve” (later used on the London stage version of SOME LIKE IT HOT), “My Red Riding Hood” and, together with Cyril Ritchard, the funny “Ding-a-Ling, Ding-a-Ling”. This isn’t a great musical, not even a good piece of television, but it has its moments and if you love Liza you should have it. Rate:

Julie Taymor is the director responsible for Broadway’s big hit THE LION KING. Personally, although is has some brilliant moments, I didn’t like that musical; so I approached this musical inspired by the Beatles songbook with caution. I’m a too old fashioned Diva to enjoy the psychedelics of this movie and I never cared much for the Beatles songs.Curiously, Taymor and her creative team were able to build a consistent story using the songs that sound like if they were written specially for the movie.

The musical numbers don’t look forced and Taymor’s camera is a creative one and she has completely control over it. Its true, the film is a bit too long and sometimes she lets her imagination run too wild (the circus sequence), but there’s also some genius moments like the army inspection sequence.

The cast is perfect and the three principals all deliver their songs with feeling and talent. Among the supporting cast you can find Joe Coker, Eddie Izzard, Deidre Goodwin, Orfeh and Salma Hayek.

This kind of mix of HAIR with RENT is a visually strong and colorful movie, that I’m sure will appeal to the young crowd. As for me, well, I love the likes of HELLO, DOLLY! and THE BAND WAGON, do I need to say anything else? Rate:

TABOO, the intellectual CAROLINE OR CHANGEand the little show that become a surprise hit AVENUE Q. We’re introduced to the people behind those shows and to its actors, all of them share with us their hopes and fears and, if you’re emotional like me, I’m sure you’ll feel moved. It’s exciting to be with them from the first rehearsals to Tony’s night; it’s a journey worthy taking.

Bernstein had the good idea of including the reunion and opinion of a few theatre critics. To imagine that those impossible pretentious people have the power to destroy a show it’s scary. Who do they think they are? It’s true, I’m doing a review here, but I’m doing it just for fun and I don’t take myself seriously. I confess I read those critics reviews, but regardless what they say I’ll see the shows that interest me, even if they said they are horrible. Thankfully, a lot of theatregoers think like me and made hits of WICKED and AVENUE Q, two shows the critics seem to despise. You don’t imagine the pleasure I had when those people were faced with the AVENUE Q Tony awards, it really made my day.

If you love theatre in general and musicals in particular, this unique DVD is for you and I’m sure you’ll have a good time seeing it. I wish there were more scenes from the shows, but this isn’t about it, but about the magic of making those shows come true. Don’t miss it! Rate:

heavy hand for the musical sequences and those look forced. I know that not all musicals should be light, but they need some magic to work and unfortunately Turturro is no magician.

What saves the movie from the total disaster are some of the performers: the talented Susan Sarandon as the wife, Kate Winslet is a breath of fresh air as the mistress and Bobby Cannavale is a funny Elvis-wannabe.

I confess I thought in leaving the theatre before the end of the movie, I only stayed because of the starry cast that also includes James Gandolfini, Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker, Christopher Walken, Steve Buscemi, Elaine Stritch, Aida Turturro, Barbara Sukowa, Eddie Izzard, Amy Sedaris, Cady Huffman, Tonya Pinkins, Michael McElroy, Mary Bond Davis and John Selya. Rate:

voice and lots of energy. Michelle Pfeiffer is perfect as the bitchy Velma and Queen Latifah is “big, blonde and beautiful” as Motormouth Maybelle. Christopher Walken is flawless as Tracy’s father, Zac Efron (there’s something gay about him and I guess he’ll grow into a gorgeous adult male) looks and acts exactly as a teenager idol, the cute James Marsden (I want to be on The Corny Collins Show too and have fun with him) looks like he just come out of a sixties show and Amanda Bynes is really funny as Penny. One last word for John Travolta (not among my favorite actors), who has the performance of his life and he’s truly amazing as Edna, Tracy’s big mother.

One word of warning, this is a musical (that genre where everyone sings and dance every time they have a chance) and to enjoy it you need to stop disbelief and accept the genre’s fantastic rules. This isn’t one of the best musicals in movie history, but you’ll have a good time with it and, believe me, “You Can’t Stop the Beat”. Rate:

I have been waiting for years to have MAME on DVD and finally here it is, in a gorgeous cover! I just saw it again and it didn’t loose any of its charms. It’s one of those movies that dated well, in fact I think it’s timeless, and deserves to be rediscovered by all musical fans.

To all of those people who say terrible things about this movie adaptation, I would like to ask a question. Where else will you see the unforgettable performances of Beatrice Arthur and Jane Connell as, respectively, Vera Charles and Gooch? Both recreated her stage roles for this movie, with terrific results. Also from the original stage show there’s director Gene Saks and choreographer Onna White. In a nice touch of casting, Robert Preston plays Beauregard, Mame’s love interest, and sings a new Jerry Herman song, “Loving You”.

The big problem seems to be Lucille Ball. Maybe she was too old for the role (she was 63 against Angela’s 41), but she looked the part. She’s sweet, funny, loving and motherly.

What she didn’t have was a strong singing voice, so her deliver of songs like “”If He Walked Into My Life” or “It’s Today” (my all time favorite song) is poor. I believe that’s the only reason I don’t give five stars to this highly enjoyable movie, otherwise I still love it as much as I did when I was 14 years old (I’ll be 43 next month). This MAME still has the power to make me laugh, cry and feel happy and that’s more than I can say for hundreds of movies.

So, forget the terrible word of mouth surrounding it, put all your prejudices aside and buy it! You’ll be pleasantly surprise. Rate:

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to mind), doesn’t pay too much attention to the musical numbers, they are there more as background than to help the action move on.

Anyway, there are several moving scenes and one in particular is really magical. While in New York, Piaff receives a visit by Marlene Dietrich who tells her that she brought Paris to New York and that her voice is the soul of Paris. It’s a very touching moment that you won’t easily forget.

As Piaff, Marion Cotillard delivers an incredible performance that should give her an Oscar; she is simply fantastic! As the man of her life, Jean-Pierre Martins is a hunk that many of you (me included) won’t mind having an affair with.

This isn’t a great film, but gives us an affective look at the great Piaff’s life. Rate:

perfectly caught the spirit of their act and of those times. The beautiful Beyoncé Knowles shows that there’s acting talent in her soul and Anika Noni Rose is a joy to watch (they should have given her more to do), but everyone is talking about Jennifer Hudson. I confess I don’t like her persona (I simply hated her at the Oscars) but she convinces as Effie and strongly delivers two of the musicals best songs, “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” and “I Am Changing”.

On the male side (the one that makes me tingle) the surprise is Eddie Murphy, who gives his best performance ever and should have won the Oscar (the real world is full of injustice). Jamie Foxx is the convincing bad guy and the pretty face Keith Robinson has star quality.

I had a good time with this musical; I even share a tear or two during the “Family” number and in the final. Anyway, I had the pleasure of seeing Jennifer Holiday singing “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” and she’s is the real Effie. Rate: