Musical

CHICAGO – Arriving a few years too late after the great movie mashup craze, “Anna and The Apocalypse” is a zombie Christmas musical. The signature (and only) joke is that teens are dancing and singing amid the blood, guts, and gore spurting in gushers around them. But it’s less a feature film and more akin to a late run episode of “Glee,” when its creators had clearly run out of any ideas.

CHICAGO – Bringing the musical movie genre back requires a bit of nostalgia, a nod to modernity and always old fashioned star power. Writer/director Damien Chazelle (“Whiplash”) combined all three to produce “La La Land,” with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as star-crossed lovers. Rosemarie DeWitt also has a featured role.

CHICAGO – The 52nd Chicago International Film Festival kicks off on Thursday, October 13th, 2016, with the highly anticipated film, ‘La La Land.’ The modern day musical, directed by Damian Chazelle (“Whiplash”) features Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as two star crossed lovers.

CHICAGO – The “Canuck Girls” have hit town, and they brought a lively, passionate and super fun musical about relationships and the environment to CIMMFest! Toronto-based writer/musician/actor/director Jude Klassen created “Love in the Sixth,” and it plays out at the 2016 festival on Sunday, April 17th (3:45p) at the Logan Theatre in Chicago. Click here for complete details.

CHICAGO – Chicago is a hotbed for new stage talent, and the growth of that creativity is generated in new theater works. The Artist’s Lab at Stage 773 is one such developmental program, and director Kevin Hanna is currently in residence to create a new three part musical production called “The Cowboy and the The Showgirl Cycle.” The first part will have its premiere at Stage 773 on February 11th, 2016 (details below).

CHICAGO – The movie musical seems to revive every year, and writer/director Richard LaGravenese puts his spin on the genre with a modern touch. A couple, portrayed by Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick, goes through the ups and downs of a relationship while belting out appropriate tunes in “The Last Five Years.”

CHICAGO – One potential theater-goer loves the “The Book of Mormon.” The other would rather stay home and watch old Ethel Merman YouTube videos. Pride Films & Theater offers the ultimate solution by combining both in a campy musical, “The Book of Merman.” Yep, two Elder characters from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints meets foghorn singer Ethel Merman.

CHICAGO – The ‘mumblecore’ movement, an early post-millennium film style, is now termed more accurately as movies on a “micro budget.” These films take advantage of today’s cheaper and more accessible technology for creating projects, and then finance them for less money. A new source in underwriting filmmaking costs is “crowdfunding,” and director Kevin Hanna is using that technique to subsidize his new film, “Rose’s Colored Glasses.”

CHICAGO – Society constantly needs a reminder about itself, especially in the arena of political and religious conflict. “Where Do We Go Now?,” written and directed with creative delicacy by Nadine Labaki, provides that reminder and fashions an adult fable of how women can do their part to stop war.

CHICAGO – The morality of conflict is brought to form in the new film, “Where Do We Go Now?,” written and directed by Nadine Labaki. This is a speculative fable about a small town in Lebanon that lives in harmony, as long as they are stay away from religious battles that plague the rest of the country. The town loves their peace, and the women there want to keep it that way.