Musical Movie Review; ****^Anastasia (1997)

This is one of my favorite animated musicals.   This film boasts an all star cast.  Meg Ryan portrays Anastasia, and Kirsten Dunst plays the girl Anastasia.  However they do not provide the singing parts.  Liz Callaway sings for Anastasia.  John Cusack and Kelsey Grammer plan the two who discover her.  Christopher Lloyd plays the evil Rasputin.  Bernadette Peters plays the grandmother's cohort, and Angela Lansbury the Queen mother, or Anastasia's grand mother.  I love the song "Once Upon a December."  "Journey to the Past" is also wonderful.  And the story of finding yourself, and then maybe that is not the thing you really want to do.  I think the Rasputin character may be over done.  He is always falling apart and putting himself back together, and it gets old after a time.

Music Review: Finding Neverland the Musical

This link gets you to a playlist of songs form Finding Neverland.  This is a new musical which opened this year.  The music is intriguing.  It is written by Gary Barlow.  The performers include Matthew Morrison as J.M. Barry, Laura Michelle Kelly as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, Kelsey Grammer as Hook and Aiden Gemme as Peter Llewelyn.  I you haven't listened to this music you should.  It is very uplifting.  It includes Grammer singing "Play" in which he reminds us not to forget about being children.  Grammer also confronts Barrie in "Live by the Hook" and "Stronger."  There is a lovely duet between Morrison and Kelly, "What you Mean to Me."  In this they sing "Second star on the right and strait on till morning."  Barrie struggles with the boys, who have lost their father and he befriends the family.  Peter Pan is based very much upon their play.  There is a very good duet between Morrison and Gemme about letting imagine help cure our ills.
There is much here.  I think the highlight is the music at the end, "Neverland" and "Finale" are very climatic.  This is music that leaves you feeling good.

TV Review: 69th Annual Tony Awards (2015)

There is lots of music in this two-part presentation of the Tony Awards.  Kristen Chenoweth and Alan Cumming.  This presentation has many presentations of musicals from the year.  One of the highlights is "Stronger" from Finding Neverland with Matthew Morrison and Kelsey Grammer.  The hosts present a few funny gags.  But another highlight is a musical satire of musicals where people burst into song.  This is very entertaining stuff.  There is some political correctness fa-la-la, but there is lots of talent displayed here.

Christmas Movie Review: ****^A Christmas Carol: The Musical

A Christmas Carol Musical  This is a movie version of the Broadway Musical.  This is a delightful find.  It stars Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge and Jason Alexander as Jacob Marley.   Yes Kelsey Grammer has a singing role, and he does a very good job with his gruffy voice.  Most of the singing is carried by the background characters, and very well done.  It is not overly dramatic with its large production numbers.  Most of the action takes place outside at the beginning, rather than in the office.  The ghosts are people he meets upon the streets that day, and entertainer, a beggar, a blind lady.  The transformation takes place with each of the visits.   

There is a song in this production which is very beautiful and stays with me, “God Bless us Everyone”

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LiyE8-MokY

Let the stars in the sky
Remind us of man’s compassion.
Let us love till we die
And God bless us, everyone.

In your heart
There’s a light as
Bright as a star in Heaven.
Let it shine through the night and
God bless us, everyone.

‘Til each child is fed,
‘Til all men are free,
‘Til the world
Becomes a
Family

Star by star in the sky
And kindness by human kindness,
Let me love ‘til I die
And God bless us everyone.