Disney is perhaps the most well-known member of the film industry who transforms their movie musicals into Broadway musicals. Other companies, however, are taking notice, and stepping into the fray. Legally Blonde: The Musical is produced by Hal Luftig, Fox Theatricals, and Dori Bernstein in association with MGM Onstage, Darcie Denkert, and Dean Stolber (notice - no Disney!), but broke new ground in Broadway’s continuing challenge of reaching new audiences.

In September of 2007, MTV recorded the musical in its entirety, and aired it the next month, with the stars of their hit show The Hills as hosts. Other musicals have also been recorded and aired on television, but only after their Broadway runs already closed. Legally Blonde was well into its run, having opened in April of 2007, and is still listed with no closing date on the Internet Broadway Database. In addition to the oddity of a recorded performance airing while the Broadway run was ongoing, few recorded musicals are picked up by cable television. They tend to be aired by the bastion of arts and public education on television, PBS, and interrupted by public service announcements and donation requests, instead of ads for cars, fast food, reality shows, and Vegas vacations. Musicals that are adapted into a film version, such as The Sound of Music or South Pacific, travel more easily to cable than recorded versions of the stage productions. »Read More

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WTJU’s Rock and Roll Movie Night presents the one and only, This is Spinal Tap, tonight at 8pm in Room 120 of UVA’s Olsson Hall.  There is no charge.

Arguably one of the greatest rock n roll movies of all-time, This is Spinal Tap has become a lasting piece of rock pop culture as well as a cautionary tale for would-be drummers.  Do I really need to say anymore than that?

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The Paramount Theater officially announced its entire Summer 2008 Series performances today.   Listed below are a couple of the items that jumped out at me. 

-Legendary songwriters Guy Clark, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, and Jesse Winchester all under one roof on Friday, June 20.

-SMV, featuring the trio of bass guitar greats Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, and Victor Wooten on Sunday, August 17.

-The Paramount will be complementing their live performances with three weekends of summer films including a Salute to the Coen Brothers with showings of The Big Lebowski on 07/11, Blood Simple  on 07/12, and Raising Arizona on 07/13.  The dude abides my friends!

For the entire Summer Series at the Paramount Theater click here.  For more information on previously announced Summer Series shows at the Paramount… »Read More

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A couple of items of note worth checking out and now that the rain has finally stopped and the sun has returned, I’m sure we’re all feeling a little extra shot of energy this Wednesday.  So here you go…it’s Hump Day.  The first round’s on me.

• Gravity Lounge is celebrating Earth Week with a daily matinee film series.  Today they’re showing The Real Dirt on Farmer John .  Film starts at 2pm.  $5 adults/kids free.
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• The Noble Beasts and Wes Forehand open for The Grey Matter at Outback Lodge.  9:30pm.  $5 - $7.  [Rock/Blues/Funk]
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• Charlottesville Music Showcase presents Sesshin at Rapture.  9:30pm.  No cover.  [Funk/Jam/Jazz]
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Busy, busy, busy.  Here are a couple of things you might want to check out and add to your hump day activities:

• “Charlottesville’s Music Showcase” presents Lynchburg rockers Six Chasing Seven at Club R2 at Rapture.  Tim Be Told opens.  Wednesday.  9:30pm.  $5.  21+ age requirement.
• Monadnoc, from Chicago, Illinois performs at the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar Wednesday.  Cakes of Light and local singer-songwriter Joe Pollock open.  9:30pm.  $6.
• “Mother Courage and Her Children” on stage at Live Arts.  It’s Wednesday, so as always it’s “pay-what-you-can”.  8pm
• And finally, for those fans of the Rolling Stones, the Martin Scorcese directed rockumentary “Shine a Light” which spans the Stones’ career, is currently in theaters at Charlottesville’s Downtown Regal Cinema.  Show times tonight at 7pm and 9:40pm.  $9.

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Here are a couple of noteworthy music items taking place in Charlottesville as we kick off your work week.  WTJU 91.1FM presents another Rock and Roll Move Night on Monday starring the band Radiohead and on Tuesday the Paramount Theater presents Steve Earle with Allison Moorer.  For more details….

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This is not so much a post as more a survey. I suppose just like me, many of you are musicians, artists, actors, playwrights, poets and what not in their own right. How do you feel about using (or perhaps abusing) cvilleMUSE to make your own performances known?

Personally I am tempted every time I see my own band not listed in the weekend outlooks, but I also feel it takes away from the integrity of the site if I stared posting about my group’s upcoming shows. On the other hand, since one can always post anonymously and pretend that one is just a well-wishing friend, this may be a more honest way of doing it.

I just wonder what everybody thinks.

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The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative will be screening the film For Life, Against the War…Again to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Iraq War.  The movie is a collection of twenty-five short films by contemporary directors as they address the continuing conflict in Iraq.  Running time is 90 minutes.  Screening starts at 8pm TONIGHT (Thursday, 04/10).  $5 at the door.  The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative is located at 209 Monticello Road, over the 9th Street Bridge in Belmont.  434.984.5669.

The original For Life, Against the War was a similar film project released in 1967 that focused its lens on the Vietnam War.  Here’s hoping there won’t be a third installment.

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If you’re a fan of the indie-hardcore band Fugazi and you still haven’t made any plans on how to spend your Monday night, then you might want to listen up.  WTJU Rock and Roll Move Night is presenting Instrument:  Ten Years with Fugazi, a documentary film directed by Jem Cohen, tonight in Room 011 in UVA’s Olsson Hall.  The film begins at 8pm and it’s FREE.

 Here’s one reviewer’s take on the film:

Instrument is striking for multiple reasons. One–it is simply beautiful to look at and undergo. Two–it is tremendously, unrelentingly, human. No bright-light celebrity rockstars need apply. Three–the fans play a large role in this film-about-a-band.

Jen Stauffer of the web-zine h2so4

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Virginia Film Festival announces that its 2008 theme will be “Aliens!” Human fascination with extraterrestrial life has always amazed me. Human treatment of “aliens”; whether they be another one of earth’s races or from the planet Xenog involves a fear of the unknown, making assumptions and creating our own conclusions about something different from ourselves.

Hopefully the festival will call upon Roy Wagner, who teachers “Fantasy and Social Values” at UVA to discuss some of the cultural reasons behind people’s fear of the unknown.

There will be a lot to play with in the Virginia Film Society’s 2008 theme. The Society’s artistic director, Richard Herskowitz, explains:

The prominence of the immigration issue in this year’s election inspired us to tackle this theme. There is a rich history of films about the alien-ness of immigrants and outsiders, including science-fiction films like ‘The Brother from Another Planet’ and dramas like ‘El Norte.’ And there are many great filmmakers, from Luis Bunuel to Ang Lee and Mira Nair, whose frequent border crossings and perpetual alien-ness, it can be argued, have sustained the vitality of their work.”

We are very excited over at MUSE about this upcoming events. What alien movies have meant something to you? What would you like to see at the festival?

[Read more about the announcement]

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