The Lion King: Feeling the Love

Photo: Disney In the early 1990s, during the production of the songs for Disney’s upcoming animated adventure The Lion King, West End legend Tim Rice had been hired to write…

Mary Poppins Returns

Two decades after the events of the first film, a now grown up Michael (Ben Whishaw) and his three children risk losing their home; then, Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) returns.  54…

Mary Poppins: Sorting Out the Bankses

Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews. Photo: Disney The story of how Walt Disney convinced the British-Australian author P.L. Travers to let him turn her books about Mary Poppins into…

An American in Paris: Art, Dance & Romance

Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. Photo: MGM ”An American in Paris” first saw the light of day in 1928. A jazzy orchestral piece, it was written by George Gershwin and…

Cabaret: Fun Before the Führer

Liza Minnelli. Photo: Allied Artists It’s often been said that the traditional Hollywood lost its way in the 1960s, making big, splashy and expensive musicals that no one went to…

La La Land: An Enchanting Year in the Sun

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. Photo: Lionsgate Remember that opening scene from Manhattan (1979)? It’s a montage of different New York City images beautifully captured in black and white by…

Beauty and the Beast 

When her father (Kevin Kline) is taken prisoner by a beast (Dan Stevens) inside a huge, wintry castle, Belle (Emma Watson) offers herself in exchange for his freedom. Another live-action…

My Fair Lady: A Loverly Musical

Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. Photo: Warner When George Bernard Shaw’s stage play ”Pygmalion” premiered in London in 1913, it was daring for its time. Making fun of the British…

West Side Story: When Maria Met Tony

Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood. Photo: United Artists Stage director Jerome Robbins was a key reason why ”West Side Story” became a groundbreaking Broadway hit in 1957. When the time…