By Bradley Bowckett
Cult favourites, nostalgic classics, and modern masterpieces… Storyhouse Gems is back! Imagined and created by a member of the cinema team, Gems is closing out the year with its fifth season. Having explored chance encounters, reflected on masculinity, supported unlikeable women, and witnessed the very best of gangs in film, it’s time to book the best seat in the house for a night at the theatre with these movie musicals!
With the upcoming releases of Wicked and Joker: Folie à Deux bringing song to the screen, there has never been a better time to bust out those dancing shoes and warm up those vocal cords. Man-eating plants, a road of a very distinct colour, seasons of love, and an iconic duo in shades, this series of movie musicals will leave your toes in a toe-tapping flux, timeless tunes ringing in your ears, and paint an almost permanent smile on your face.
So, let’s pull back the curtain and see what movie musicals are coming to the big screen…
“Believe it, baby. It talks!” For a Halloween treat, we’re going downtown to Skid Row with Frank Oz’s Directors Cut version of Little Shop of Horrors (1986).
After a total eclipse of the sun, botanist Seymour Krelborn discovers a strange new species of plant life that feeds on something even stranger. The plant, ‘Audrey II’—named after his work crush—grows into a sweet-talking carnivore who promises Seymour fame, fortune, and the girl of his dreams. But there’s one catch: Seymour must keep feeding it… BLOOD.
Featuring a star-studded cast, including Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, and Steve Martin as the demented dentist of Skid Row, Little Shop of Horrors brings lan Menken and Howard Ashman’s instantly recognizable and iconic melodies to a gritty 60s urban backdrop, as morality engages in a losing battle to fame and fortune
Halloween just got a whole lot meaner (and greener) here at Storyhouse!
“We’re on a mission from God.” This November, we’re getting the band back together with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in the iconic comedy musical, The Blues Brothers (1980).
To save the home they were raised is going to take a whole lot of soul. Brothers Elwood and ex-convict Jake set out to get their R&B band back together. But with the police, Nazi’s, angry country singers, and a psychotic ex hot on their trail, will they make it to their fund-raising gig in time?
With a soundtrack drawn from the very best of blues, soul, rock, and pop, The Blues Brothers has become the ultimate movie musical. With action style car chases and explosions, star-studded cameos from Ray Charles, Carrie Fisher and Aretha Franklin, comedic lines that are embedded into pop culture and a soundtrack that goes toe-to-toe with any jukebox musical, The Blues Brothers has it all.
So, get your plain white toast, four whole chickens, a can of coke, and your very best sunglasses at the ready, because we’re about to see for “Tonight only, the Blues Brothers’ triumphant return!”
“We’re not in Kansas anymore!” This Christmas, we are going over the rainbow and down the yellow brick road, back to where it all began with The Wizard of Oz (1939).
When a tornado sweeps young dreamer Dorothy (Judy Garland) into a magical world, there is only one man who can help her get home, the mighty Wizard of Oz! On her journey, Dorothy makes new friends, each in need of the wizard’s help to get back the thing that is missing from their lives. But with a wicked green witch and flying monkeys plotting against them, will Dorothy ever make it back to Kansas?
The Wizard of Oz is the oldest surviving colour film, astonishing audiences with its now-iconic scene of Dorothy stepping from sepia-tone Kansas into the vibrant world of Oz; a true moment of cinema history. With its clever visual storytelling and genre-defining narrative, it’s easy to see why this film has inspired countless adaptations, including The Wiz (1978), Return to Oz (1985), Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), numerous stage musicals, and of course, the much-anticipated Wicked—a reimagining of the story from the perspective of the Wicked Witch, based on the hit Broadway and West End musical—set for release this November.
Now is the perfect time to remind yourself of the original story and witness Victor Fleming’s landmark family favourite film, back on the big screen, just in time for its 85th anniversary!
“Take me baby, or leave me!” To welcome in the new year and to close out the season we’re measuring a year in love with Christopher Columbus’ interpretation of Jonathon Larson’s Rent (2005).
Over a year of ups and downs, Rent follows a group of artists and friends struggling to survive and create a life for themselves in the thriving days of bohemian culture. With HIV casting a shadow over their lives, their dreams, losses, and loves become the true measure of time as they fight to leave their mark on the world.
With most of the original Broadway cast returning for the film, this Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical features starring performances from Idina Menzel, Rosario Dawson, and Anthony Rapp, among others.
Raw, emotional, and rocky, Rent is beloved for its honest portrayal of life in 1980s Manhattan during the HIV/AIDS crisis and for its diversity of homosexual love stories. There is no day but today to measure 525600 minutes and celebrate a year with us at Storyhouse.
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Storyhouse Gems is a monthly series of hand-picked, one-off cinema screenings featuring cult, classic, and contemporary film favourites programmed by a member of your Storyhouse Cinema Team.
Storyhouse Cinema is supported by Film Hub North with National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network.