In episode 6 of the Filmed Live Musicals podcast, I chat with actor David Colston Corris who portrayed Maximus the horse in the recently released filmed live Disney musical Tangled, which was performed aboard the cruise ship Disney Magic. We chat about puppeteering, working on a cruise ship, and what it took to bring Maximus to life.
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, David has performed for audiences all over the world! National/International Tours: AVENUE Q (Princeton/Rod), RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER: THE MUSICAL (Coach Comet, Charlie-in-the-Box), CURIOUS GEORGE LIVE! (Freddy), and John Tartagila's IMAGINOCEAN (Dorsel). Cruise Lines: DISNEY CRUISE LINE (World Premier cast of TANGLED: THE MUSICAL (Maximus), FROZEN: A MUSICAL SPECTACULAR (Olaf, Duke of Weselton) and NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE (Nickelodeon Host). Regional Theaters: CASA MANANA, SAN JOSE STAGE COMPANY, THE HANGAR THEATRE, GEVA THEATRE CENTER. Theme Parks: WALT DISNEY WORLD, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ORLANDO, SESAME PLACE and STORYLAND. In addition to performing, David designs and builds puppets. He has also taught puppetry privately, regionally, and for shows and workshops at WALT DISNEY WORLD. David is an active member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. David holds a B.F.A. in Musical Theater from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Available now on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Overcast and more! Click here for links!
Check out behind-the-scenes footage from Oh My Disney of David puppeteering Maximus, and learn more about Tangled in the database!
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In a surprise move, it was announced in August that the new Broadway show Diana, a musical about the life of Princess Diana will be filmed live without an audience present and released on Netflix. The writers of Diana, Joe DiPietro and David Bryan, are no strangers to filmed live musicals. Their earlier Tony Award winning musical Memphis was filmed live and released in cinemas, and is now available on BroadwayHD. Although the recent London revival of Miss Saigon had a limited run in cinemas before it opened on Broadway, it is entirely unusual for a Broadway show to be filmed and released before it opens.
Streaming was already growing in popularity before the pandemic gave it a huge boost, and recent research suggests it’s here to stay. A recent Hub Entertainment Research report showed that live TV viewership has seen a rapid decline over the past 4 years, and video tech company Grabyo noted in August that spending on streaming services in the US has increased by over $1billion per month since March. Hub Entertainment Research found that 50% of US consumers now use online TV platforms as their primary mode of watching TV and Leichtman Research Group have found that 82% now have at least 1 subscription video on demand service, with the vast majority subscribing to Netflix, Amazon Prime, and/or Hulu. Importantly, Grabyo have also found that 85% of customers say they will keep their new subscriptions even when social distancing restrictions are lifted. Until theatre can resume business as “normal,” it is likely that more artists and theatres will film shows live in the theatre without an audience. This weekend, two new musicals will stream live from the UK. Production company Wise Children (Wise Children), will stream a new Christopher Dimond and Michael Kooman musical, Romantics Anonymous, and Southwark Playhouse (Wasted), will stream a new musical by Stuart Matthew Price and Timothy Knapman, Before After. What will you be streaming? Let me know in the comments, or on Twitter or Facebook!
In episode 5 of the Filmed Live Musicals podcast, Luisa chats with Brenda Braxton about the filmed live musicals When Hell Freezes Over I’ll Skate and Smokey Joe’s Cafe, the Tony Awards, working on The Good Fight, who Brenda would cast in a filmed live version of Chicago, and Act 2… Now What?.
Brenda Braxton is an award-winning actor, dancer, and singer who has performed around the world, and on multiple Broadway productions including the African American version of Guys and Dolls, But Never Jam Today, Dreamgirls, Cats, Smokey Joe's Cafe, and Chicago. Brenda founded Leading Ladies Just for Teens, the BBRAXTON Exceptional Grooming for Exceptional Men, and Act 2... Now What?. She is also the author of The Little Black Book of Backstage Etiquette. Learn more at www.bbraxtonact2.com. Available now on your favorite podcast app! If you like what you hear, please subscribe, and rate and review!
Looking for some more historical musicals? Here are 20 filmed live musicals, most of which are available to view online or on DVD, that are based on true events and real people. Listed in approximate historical time period order.
Jesus Christ Superstar Perhaps a bit contentious to some to call this “history” (my husband Aaron calls this one “interpretive dance history”), but it’s certainly historically driven and a story about one of the most famous people in history. There are currently two filmed live productions of JCS in the database — the 2012 arena tour starring Tim Minchin (Judas), Melanie C (Mary), and Ben Forster (Jesus), and NBC’s 2018 live for TV version (one of the best TV Live! musical events of recent times) that featured a starry, and multiracial, cast including John Legend (Jesus), Sara Bareilles (Mary), Alice Cooper (King Herod), Norm Lewis (Caiaphas), and Brandon Victor Dixon (Judas). The arena tour is widely available online, and the NBC production is available on DVD. Your Arms Too Short to Box with God Written by Vinnette Carroll (the first female African American director on Broadway), with music by Alex Bradford and Micki Grant, this musical tells the story of Jesus as told through the Book of Matthew. The musical was performed on Broadway three times between 1976 and 1982. It was most recently performed by Florida’s Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, where it was filmed live during a run that was cut short by the COVID-19 shutdown. The recording was released online for a limited time, but is not currently available to view. Wasted Produced in 2018 by Southwark Playhouse, this original “documentary rock musical” tells the stories of Brontë siblings, Anne, Emily, Charlotte, and Bramwell. An excellent archival recording of Wasted was released online for free as a result of the pandemic, and is available to view via Southwark Playhouse. Les Miserables Based on Victor Hugo’s historical novel of the same name, Les Miserables is not set during the French Revolution, but is based on the uprisings that took place a few decades later (as brilliantly described by Forbidden Broadway). Although the stories and characters in Les Mis are fiction, they are drawn from Hugo’s close observations of Paris life. The musical has been filmed live three times, the 10th anniversary concert, 25th anniversary concert, and, most recently, last year’s West End staged concert. All three versions are available on DVD, and the 25th anniversary and staged concert are available online.
Pacific Overtures
Sondheim’s 1976 concept musical is set around Commodore Perry’s first visit to Japan in 1853. The musical was filmed live for Japanese television during its original Broadway run. The film has not been officially released since its initial television airing. The King and I Rodgers and Hammerstein’s sumptuous musical is based on the true story of Anna Leonowens, a Western woman who was invited by the King of Siam to Bangkok to tutor the King’s children. The 2015 Lincoln Center revival directed by Bartlett Sher, and starring Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe, and Ruthie Ann Miles, was filmed during its West End transfer at the London Palladium, and is available to watch on BroadwayHD. Newsies Newsies is loosely based on the real-life events of the newsboy strikes of 1899 in New York City. The 1992 movie musical directed by Kenny Ortega and starring Christian Bale was a cult classic, and in 2011 Disney adapted the title into a stage musical. Although originally not intended to be a Broadway musical, the show also became an audience favorite, playing just over 1000 shows on Broadway before embarking on a national tour. The tour was filmed live in Los Angeles, and is now available to view on Disney+. Ragtime Based on E.L. Doctorow’s historical fiction novel, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s epic musical is about the United States coming into its own, told through the stories of three different families in New York at the beginning of the twentieth century. The International Festival of Musical Theatre production was filmed by the BBC in 2002, but is unfortunately not available to view. Ernest Shackleton Loves Me This multimedia musical that tells the story of Brooklyn-based avante-garde composer/artist/mom who finds inspiration in the early 20th century explorer, leader, and hero Ernest Shackleton. Filmed live during its off-Broadway run at Second Stage and is available on BroadwayHD. Funny Girl Another biographical musical, Funny Girl is a slightly-fictionalized account of real-life vaudeville star Fanny Brice. With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill, and book by Isobel Lennart. Barbara Streisand created the lead role on Broadway, and starred in the 1968 film adaptation. The acclaimed Menier Chocolate Factory production starring Sheridan Smith was filmed live during its run at the Manchester Palace Theatre in 2017 and is available on Digital Theatre and BroadwayHD. Golden Bricks and Ruby Shoes Still in development, this original song cycle by British writers Gillian Pencavel and Patrick Moore, was inspired by a news report about the FBI assisting in the recovery a pair of stolen ruby slippers made famous for their appearance in The Wizard of Oz. The song cycle was performed at a scratch night at Belfast’s Accidental Theatre and streamed live. Allegiance Actor George Takei was reportedly moved to tell his own story after watching Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Tony Award winning musical (and Broadway debut), In the Heights. As a child, Takei and his family were among the 120,000 Japanese-American citizens incarcerated in camps on American soil during World War II. Although Allegiance is told through fictionalized characters, the events and stories are inspired by true events. Allegiance was briefly available to stream on Broadway on Demand in June this year, and is also available on a collector’s edition DVD. V for Victory Still in development, V for Victory explores the lives of a group of friends in the resistance against the German occupation of Jersey during World War II. The plot and characters are an amalgam of true stories and events which writer Dries Janssens wanted to share after learning of Jersey’s little-known part in the war. V for Victory was performed at the Stockwell Playhouse in 2018, and is currently available to view on YouTube. The Rat Pack: Live from Las Vegas This British musical recreates a performance featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr, at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in the early 1960s. The Rat Pack was filmed live during its West End run and is available on DVD (region 1 & 2). Fun Home Based on cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic novel/autobiography of the same, Fun Home is a re-telling of Alison’s grappling of her own self-realization as a lesbian in relation to her father’s not-so-secret, though unspoken, homosexuality. With a book by Lisa Kron and music by Jeanine Tesori, the Broadway production was the first to win a Tony Award for Best Original Score with an all-female writing team. Victory Gardens Theater in Chicago released an archival recording of their 2017 production during the COVID-19 shutdown for a limited time. Taboo Set during the New Romantic period in 1980s England, Taboo interweaves autobiographical elements from the lives of Australian artist Leigh Bowery, and music sensation Boy George. The original London production was filmed live in 2003 and is available on region 2 DVD. Fela! Fela! was based on the biography Fela: This Bitch of a Life! by Carlos Moore. Fela Kuti was an influential Nigerian musician who created Afrobeat, politically and socially driven music that blended African harmonies and rhythms with jazz and funk. Sahr Ngaujah originated the title role on Broadway, and reprised his role for the London transfer at the National Theatre. Fela! was filmed live and broadcast in cinemas as part of NT: Live in 2011. It is not currently available to view. Keating! the Musical This satirical Australian musical follows the political rise and fall of “the Placido Domingo of Australian politics,” of Paul Keating, who was Prime Minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. Filmed live at the Seymour Centre in Sydney, the musical is available on DVD. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Inspired by the BBC documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie tells the story of a gay teenager who lives in a Yorkshire council estate and dreams of becoming a drag queen. The musical was filmed live on the West End and broadcast in cinemas. It is not currently available to watch. Passion Project in Concert Composed by performer and songwriter Angela Sclafani, Passion Project is a song cycle about twelve unsung women from history who sing to their great loves, the object of their careers. The women represented include an aviator singing to her airplane, an acrobat to her tightrope, and an astronomer to her comet. Filmed live at NYC’s Green Room 42, Passion Project is available to view on Facebook. |
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