Musical - Hairspray

 

Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues. In 1962 Baltimore,Maryland, plump teenager Tracy Turnblad's dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight. She then launches a campaign to integrate the show.Hairspray is a social commentary on the injustices of parts of American society in the 1960s.

The musical's original Broadway production opened on August 15, 2002 and won eight Tony Awards out of thirteen nominations. It ran for over 2,500 performances and closed on January 4, 2009. Hairspray has also had national tours, a London West End production, and numerous foreign productions and was adapted as a 2007 musical film. The London production was nominated for a record-setting eleven Laurence Olivier Awards, winning for Best New Musical and in three other categories.

According to interviews included as an extra feature on the 2007 film's DVD release, theatre producer Margo Lion first conceived of Hairspray as a stage musical in 1998 after seeing a television broadcast of the original film. She contacted John Waters, who gave her his blessing, then acquired the rights from New Line Cinema. Lion contacted Marc Shaiman, who expressed interest in the project only if his partner Scott Wittman could participate, and Lion agreed. The two submitted three songs – one of which, "Good Morning Baltimore", eventually became the show's opening number. Based on their initial work, Lion felt confident that she had hired the right team.

Lion contacted Rob Marshall about directing the musical. At the time he was involved in negotiations to direct the screen adaptation of Chicago, but he agreed to become involved in the early development stages of Hairspray with the stipulation he would drop out if assigned the film. Marshall remembered Marissa Jaret Winokur from her brief appearance in the film American Beautyand arranged a meeting with Shaiman and Wittman. The two immediately felt she was right for the role of Tracy Turnblad but hesitated to commit without seeing any other auditions. They hired Winokur to work with them on the project with the understanding she might be replaced later. One year later, Winokur was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Certain she would lose the role if the creative team learned about her condition, she underwent a hysterectomy without telling anyone but her immediate family. The treatment and surgery succeeded, and Winokur returned to the project. Meanwhile, Marshall had started work on Chicago, and Lion hired Jack O'Brien and Jerry Mitchell to direct and to choreograph, respectively. Winokur was one of the first to audition for the role of Tracy Turnblad and spent two years preparing with voice and dance lessons. Tracy's mother had been portrayed by Divine in the original film, and Shaiman liked the idea of maintaining the tradition of casting a male as Edna Turnblad. Harvey Fierstein auditioned for the role with a "half hour vocal audition". He thought they were "pacifying" him, but he was told "they don't want anyone but you".

According to Shaiman, one song, "I Know Where I've Been", became controversial during the genesis of the score:

"This was ... inspired by a scene late in the (1988) movie that takes place on the black side of town. It never dawned on us that a torrent of protest would follow us from almost everyone involved with the show. 'It's too sad. ... It's too preachy. ... It doesn't belong. ... Tracy should sing the eleven o’clock number.' We simply didn't want our show to be yet another show-biz version of a civil rights story where the black characters are just background. And what could be more Tracy Turnblad-like than to give the 'eleven o'clock number' to the black family at the heart of the struggle? Luckily ... the audiences embraced this moment, which enriches the happy ending to follow, and it is our proudest achievement of the entire experience of writingHairspray."

Cast: 

Tracy Turnblad - Marissa Jaret Winokur

Edna Turnblad - Harvey Fierstein

Amber Von Tussle - Laura Bell Bundy

Velma Von Tussle - Linda Hart

Penny Pingleton - Kerry Butler

Link Larkin - Matthew Morrison

Motormouth Maybelle - Mary Bond Davis

Seaweed J. Stubbs - Corey Reynolds

Wilbur Turnblad - Dick Latessa

Little Inez - Danielle Eugenia Wilson

Musical numbers:

Act I:

"Good Morning Baltimore" – Tracy and Ensemble "The Nicest Kids in Town" – Corny and Council Members "Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now" – Edna, Tracy, Prudy, Penny, Velma, Amber, and Female Ensemble "I Can Hear the Bells" – Tracy and Ensemble "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs" – Velma and Council Members with Tracy, Penny, and Little Inez "The Madison" – Corny and Company "The Nicest Kids in Town (Reprise)"† – Corny and Council Members "It Takes Two" – Link, Tracy, and Council Guys "Velma’s Revenge" – Velma "Welcome to the '60s" – Tracy, Edna, The Dynamites, and Ensemble "Run and Tell That!" – Seaweed, Little Inez, and Detention Kids "Big, Blonde, and Beautiful" – Motormouth, Little Inez, Tracy, Edna, Wilbur, and Company Act II: "The Big Dollhouse" – Matron, Edna, Velma, Tracy, Amber, Penny, Motormouth, Little Inez, and Female Ensemble "Good Morning Baltimore (Reprise)" – Tracy "(You’re) Timeless to Me" – Edna and Wilbur "(You're) Timeless to Me (Reprise)" - Edna and Wilbur "Without Love" – Tracy, Link, Penny, Seaweed, and Ensemble "I Know Where I’ve Been" – Motormouth and Ensemble "(It’s) Hairspray" – Corny and Council Members "Cooties" – Amber and Council Members "You Can’t Stop the Beat" – Tracy, Link, Penny, Seaweed, Edna, Wilbur, Motormouth, Velma, Amber, and Ensemble

TV Serie - America's Next Top Model

Hello folks, today we will talk about a TV series that I love ... America's Next Top Model is a competitive reality show, created and presented by supermodel Tyra Banks. The first season premiered on May 20, 2003 and was one of the most watched programs of the UPN, which was till then presented the program. The seventh season served as the opening for the CW network programming, the union between the UPN and Warner Bros. channel. The theme at the beginning of the program is sung by Tyra Banks and produced by Rodney Darkchild Jerkins. Banks co-produced the program with Ken Mok and Anthony Dominici. In Brazil, the reality is transmitted by the cable television channel Sony and Netflix. We also had a Brazilian version: Brazil's Next Top Model.
Each season of the show starts with 10 to 14 girls models apprentices, who live for three months in a luxurious home and undergo tests of photography, runway, video, performance and personality. Generally, one is eliminated per episode, except in rare cases where there is a double elimination or an elimination episode does not have.
During the episode, the girls receive cryptic messages from her mentor Tyra Banks through so-called "Tyra Mail", the challenges they bring tips or photo shoot / video.
The winner of the challenge of the week wins a prize always interesting, like visiting family, jewelry, clothing, or benefits that keep them ahead of other competitors. In some cases, the winner of the challenge is a real job, to be published in a magazine or on television.
At a certain point of the program, the remaining girls are traveling internationally known for the fashion culture of other places, like France, Jamaica and Thailand.
The end of each episode, the girls go to the Judge Room, where they are analyzed by fashion gurus, who, along with Tyra, decide who will be eliminated.
In the finale, the two remaining girls record a commercial for CoverGirl, take one promo photo for the same (a promotional photo for season 3 CoverGirl began as the commercial started at 4) and still parading in a super fashion show, which serve as tests for judges announce who will be the winner.
Until season 12, the program was to award a contract with international modeling agency Elite Model Management, a $ 100,000 contract with CoverGirl cosmetics company, and even the cover and six pages of a fashion editorial in the journal Seventeen Magazine. Seasons in 13:14, the agency was replaced by Whilhelmina Elite Models. In season 15, the agency chosen to reward the winner was IMG Models, and this will also appear in Vogue Italia and Beauty In Vogue, as well as the classic $ 100,000 contract with CoverGirl.
In previous years, the winners had contracts with Ford Models with IMG Models, the cover of Marie Claire and ELLE Magazine.
Well, I just watched the fifteenth season, and the beginning of the tenth Friday. The perticipantes the fifteenth were: Ann Ward, Chelsey Hersley, Anamaria Mirdita, Terra White, Sara Blackamore, Rhianna Atwood, Lexie Tomchek, Kacey Leggett, Kendal Brown, Esther Petrack, Liz Williams, Chris White, Kayla Ferrell, Jane Randall, the winner was Ann Ward and Chelsey Hersley second.

Ann Ward was my favorite, she looked very frail and never imagined she would be the winner. On the runway, Ann was a disaster, is very off balance, but the photos were exceptional, would not say it was her, but someone else had she had within herself.

So, hope you enjoyed!

Film - 27 Dresses

Jane Nichols (Katherine Heigl) has been a bridesmaid for twenty-seven weddings. One night when she is attending two weddings almost simultaneously, she meets Kevin Doyle (James Marsden), who helps her home but disgusts her with his cynical views of marriage. He finds her day planner which she'd forgotten in the cab they shared. Meanwhile, Jane's sister Tess (Malin Åkerman) falls in love with Jane's boss George (Edward Burns). Tess pretends to like the same things that George does so that she can get him to like her. Despite loving George herself, Jane does not reveal the truth and the courtship progresses rapidly. Soon the new couple announce that they intend to marry in only three weeks.

The reporter who agrees to cover their wedding for the society page turns out to be Kevin, who writes wedding announcements under a pseudonym. Having looked at the contents of Jane's planner before returning it, he then decides to use the contents as material for a piece on the "perennial bridesmaid" and hopefully be promoted to writing investigative pieces about "real" news.

Jane is unaware of Kevin's intentions, and when he asks to interview her for his column on Tess, gets her to try on all 27 bridesmaids dresses in her closet. He takes pictures of her in all of them and sends them with the completed article to his boss. As they get to know each other because of Tess's wedding, Kevin begins to think that Jane is not as one-dimensional as he thought, and asks his editor to hold his article so he can "fix" it.

When Kevin finds out that Jane is getting her sister's marriage fixed with the man she loves,he rebukes her.Jane agrees for 1 drink with kevin and ends up getting drunk. Kevin's editor runs the article anyway on the front page of the Commitments section.when next morning Jane comes to know about it,Jane feels betrayed and is furious at him. Tess then gets angry at Jane for giving Kevin material about her, whom he describes as a bridezilla. The fight escalates when Jane realizes that Tess destroyed their late mother's wedding dress to make her own gown.

Despite the fight, Tess still asks Jane to make a slideshow to show at her engagement party. Jane decides that George should know the truth about Tess and instead runs pictures of Tess with other men, eating ribs, and holding a cat by the tail - in short, doing all the things she had told George that she never did. After Pedro, the young Hispanic child that George mentors, tells the crowd that Tess had him cleaning George's apartment for money, George breaks off the engagement.

Later at work, George tells Jane that he appreciates her because she never says no. Remembering that Kevin once said the same thing as a criticism, Jane quits and admits she only stayed at the job because she was in love with George. She discovers after an experimental kiss that she no longer loves him and decides to meet Kevin. She announces in front of the entire crowd at a wedding that he is covering that she is in love with him.

One year later at Jane and Kevin's wedding, George and Tess meet again. All 27 brides she helped, as well as Tess and Casey, her best friend, are her bridesmaids, and they are wearing the dresses she wore.