All in Stage To Screen

Rocky Horror Picture Show – How it “Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch-a-Touched Me”

Rocky Horror Picture Show – How it “Touch-a-Touch-a-Touch-a-Touched Me”

Mark Robinson
Music That Makes Me Dance, Stage To Screen, Cinematters

When I was about 16, I was at Blockbuster Video (Remember that place?) and I decided to rent a movie. Halloween was coming and I wanted a horror film. Without looking too closely, I saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show on the “Staff Picks” shelf and said, “Oh, I’ve never seen this horror film”. So, I grabbed it and rented it without reading the back of the box (A mistake I often make when I am in a hurry that can also be my Achilles heel when reading directions). I went home, popped some popcorn and settled down to be properly frightened.

You all know my surprise.

Recycled Magic: Has Disney Run Out of Ideas?

Recycled Magic: Has Disney Run Out of Ideas?

Mark Robinson
Stage To Screen, Cinematters, Second Star to the Right

It was recently announced that Disney Studios will make a new Mary Poppins film musical, one that tells the further adventures of the Banks family with the titular nanny, some twenty-years after the original stories. Hairspray and Bombshell composing team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman are on board to provide music and Rob Marshall, director of Disney’s film adaptation of Into the Woods is set to direct. In recent years it has been de riguer for the House of Mouse to make live action versions or adaptations of films they have already made: Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and Maleficent come to mind, as do the forthcoming Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book. This is not to say that I am opposed to “new” Mary Poppins film musical, but isn’t it starting to feel that a lack on ingenuity and creativity is resulting in audience being served up a lot of reheated properties?

Streisand, Gypsy and Does This Need to Happen?

Streisand, Gypsy and Does This Need to Happen?

Mark Robinson
Music That Makes Me Dance, Stage To Screen, Cinematters

The word is out there that a Barbra Streisand film version of Gypsy is very close to getting the green light. It has been several years since this idea was first introduced to musical enthusiasts, and many have waited with bated breath to see if it will really happen. On again and off again, rinse and repeat, I think we have all resigned ourselves to believe that it MIGHT happen. How is that for definitive?

The Disney Animated Musicals That Still Need to Be Made

The Disney Animated Musicals That Still Need to Be Made

Mark Robinson
Stage To Screen, Second Star to the Right

With the recent hoopla surrounding Disney’s announcement that Gigantic, based loosely on the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale, will have a score by Frozen’s Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, I began thinking, what other fairy tales, folk tales and mythological stories would be the perfect fodder for an animated musical courtesy of Mickey Mouse. After pouring through lists of titles, these are the animated film musicals I would love to see happen.

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