The part of this song that everyone likes best is the “What can you do/What can you DOOOOOOO,” which is pure vocal catnip. We’re supposed to like it. It’s in there as enjoyable punctuation in a number which is not shy about throwing chest voice belting in with rapid enunciation. In the Raul Esparza interpretation… Read More “30/90,” from tick…tick…BOOM!
This is the third entry in a Hamilton trilogy I didn’t realize I was working on until now. For my thoughts on the show itself, click here. For my thoughts on how Hamilton works with and around race, click here. It’s been about two years since Hamilton made its way from stage to cast album. As a young person, I guessed… Read More Hamilton Lived, Hamilton Died, and the Story’s Still Being Told
Even in the midst of one of the more eclectic musicals of the recent past, “Letters” stands out as an especially weird song. The first third of the song, which belongs solely to Pierre, careens from topic to topic in his letter to Andrey who, if you remember the “Prologue,” isn’t here. What is at first a typically… Read More “Letters,” from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812
Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen. Starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman Llewyn Davis (Isaac) has made an accidental habit of picking up orange cats. (I love cats. I confess to some slight distraction when they were on screen. Also, this movie has two cats, so by the standard the Academy set after The Artist, and… Read More Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Matt and I return, adding another unnecessary element to the title of the podcast (it’s possibly the B&B B&B Suite now, which is punny and dumb and relates back to the punny, dumb stuff we do), but more importantly biting off more than we can chew. Both of us burrowed back into our little musical… Read More Baumann and Burch, Episode 32: The Kirk, Spock, and McCoy of 2000s Alt-Rock
Dir. Alan Parker. Starring Barry Miller, Maureen Teefy, Gene Anthony Ray A fun thought exercise for future car trips: what’s your trilogy of (insert city here) movies? For example, my Los Angeles trilogy features Sunset Boulevard, Blade Runner, and Pulp Fiction (with special apologies to Double Indemnity and Chinatown). I’ve given less thought to my… Read More Fame (1980)
I came across the Kerry Ellis Anthems version first. It hums and pulses and lands on forte sections every now and then thanks to an active string section and Ellis’ smooth voice for three minutes before Kerry really gets to whale on the song, and by the end she and Brian are in full shred mode, the way that… Read More “You Have to Be There,” from Kristina from Duvemala
Dir. Chris Columbus. Starring Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Rosario Dawson I am afraid to type the following sentence, but it deserves to be said: Rent, as a film, deserves another chance. You have no idea how much I wish I didn’t mean that, unless you’ve read my thoughts on “What You Own” – so in… Read More Rent (2005)
The airing of the Hamildoc on PBS (which is only available until mid-November! If you haven’t watched it, hurry!) a few nights ago was received with the kind of joy which you’d expect. I was a little surprised at how much it aligned with the Hamiltome, and I was more than a little surprised at… Read More Race, Slavery, and Colonial Era Musicals
Dir. Hugh Wooldridge. Starring Idina Menzel, Josh Groban, Adam Pascal For half a second back there, I thought that the Christmas movie musical was about to become a staple of the American film schedule. Les Miserables hit, Into the Woods missed, and then The Force Awakens came out a year later, with a new Star Wars property expected every Christmas, in… Read More Chess in Concert (2008)
Seeing Things Secondhand 