All tagged Thomas Meehan

Hairspray, Huh? … Interesting Choice

Hairspray, Huh? … Interesting Choice

Mark Robinson
Music That Makes Me Dance, Tube Tied

The Wiz was an unqualified hit for NBC and what has become their annual holiday LIVE! musical. In fact, it was so much better than its predecessors The Sound of Music and Peter Pan that it has injected a little more life into this teetering series that is always on the brink of extinction, dependent on ratings and an assured audience made up of musical theatre enthusiasts (are we a dying breed?). Let’s face it: if they make a musical, we will come. Those of us who love musicals in any format will show up and give it a try, but live musical television counts on a much larger crowd getting on the bandwagon.

Stage to Screen - The Original Annie Film

Stage to Screen - The Original Annie Film

Mark Robinson
Stage To Screen

With all of the talk about the revised and updated film version of Annie set to be released on December 19th, 2014, it prompted me to start thinking about the original 1982 film adaptation that I grew up watching. It is true that this version is misguided by director John Huston and the adaptation from stage to screen does nothing to lessen the amount of sugary optimism that comes at you like a molasses enema. I still, however, have a fondness for portions of the film, especially the deliciously droll comedic turns from Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, and Tim Curry.