Can it be true?! … Recent buzz in the Broadway and music world confirm that Judy Craymer, the brilliant creator of Mamma Mia!, a global smash hit musical, is taking on a new project. This time Craymer will be taking the beloved song of the pop band Spice Girls and working them into a full-fledged glittery musical spectacular! Though the news is not the second Spice Girls reunion that fans have been hoping for, the musical may promise to be a whole lot better!

Craymer seems to be a mastermind at taking popular pop music and turning it into a successful staged musical. Though her record stands 1-for-1 with turning the best of ABBA into Mamma Mia!, the fact that the ABBA musical has won critical acclaim and earned $600 million worldwide as a Hollywood blockbuster gives us overzealous confidence that the Spice Girls musical has great chances.

Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell persuaded Craymer to start work on the project in hopes that it will open in London in the next 2-3 years. The British producing will be collaborating with Halliwell and Simon Fuller (the former manager of the girls) to develop the musical show. Of course, Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham and the other girls will be adding their input along the way as well. The chosen name for the upcoming musical is Viva Forever and all of the pop group’s greatest hits will be featured in the show.

Craymer shares that her goal will be to create a unique celebration of the band’s music and capture the phenomenal impact they made on popular culture in the nineties. The Spice Girls were all about having fun, living life and laughing a lot – perfect themes for a joyful stage performance. Viva Forever is going to follow the same fictionalized style as Mamma Mia!; but Craymer assures us that audiences will get a full “sense of a story, about a group of women, that you knew was very much related to the music.”

The prospect of incorporating such pop classics as Who Do You Think You Are, Wannabe and Mama is very exciting for Craymer, but of course thinking about which music to include can’t start until the story is written first.

So until further progress is made, we are left dreaming and wondering if the Spice Girls will be playing any role on stage when the musical opens. Chances are high given that they can all sing, dance and act enthusiastically. We shall see…

Meanwhile, reminisce with use and listen to our favorite Spice Girl classic:

Can’t wait? Join us and listen to the Spice Girls’ Greatest Hits in the meantime.

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Legally Blonde: The Musical opened at London’s Savoy Theatre a couple days ago after past performance runs on Broadway and a U.S. Tour. It was up in the air whether London’s opinionated theater critics would embrace the kitschy, frivolous and over-enthusiastic musical which is a homage of American college culture and Greek life. Perhaps they would miss (or find very un-funny) many of the jokes parodying said culture which had American musical audiences guffawing over. To our delight, it appears that these fears were unfounded because most all of the London’s theater critic population are giving the Legally Blonde musical warm reviews and a positive reception.

The stage show is based on the 2001 comedy of the same name starring Reese Witherspoon. The musical’s narrative follows the film plot very closely; it tells the story of a beautiful, bubbly and (very) blonde sorority girl named Elle Woods who enters Harvard Law School to chase after the man of her dreams. Originally hailing from Malibu, California,  Elle starts her journey on a date with her steady college boyfriend, Warner, whom she is expecting to propose. Unfortunately, it seems that the anticipation of attending Harvard Law has pushed him to re-evaluate his future in favor of someone more “serious”… so he dumps her. Not one to give up so easily on something she wants, Elle puts her brains and originality to the test and surprises herself by also gaining admittance to the prestigious school in order to redeem Warner’s affections. From there, Elle embarks on a hilarious, vibrant, touching and fashion-filled road to discovering her inner strength while making others realize there is more beyond the blonde exterior.

The team of Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin developed the score for the musical with the book by Heather Hach. The producer of the London show, Sonia Friedman, was quoted as saying: ”Elle is a great role model for women. She shows that there’s nothing wrong with wearing pretty clothes and lipstick, while still being a strong woman.”

During previews in London, throngs of enthusiastic females showed their support for the musical and embraced the light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek humor of the show. Many of the critics admitted that despite themselves, they were charmed by the “sheer cheek” of the musical which seemed to know it was overdoing everything, yet reveled in the fact.

Daily Telegraph’s Charles Spencer said, ”I tried, I really tried to hate this show, but resistance is futile.” Paul Taylor from The Independent joins in his praising chorus by stating, “Oh my god, I’m like so totally going again.”

However, not all of London’s critics were won over as some deemed the musical “preposterous.” But even among the dissenters they all agreed that the stage version was better than the film.

Judge for yourself and enjoy the song, “Serious” performed by the original Broadway cast. (It’s the scene where Warner attempts to get “serious” about life and his future.)

Legally Blonde: The Musical first opened on Broadway in April of 2007. It ran for a year and a half before closing in October 2008. Currently it is playing in London’s Savoy and is on a U.S. Tour.

If you like what you saw, consider owning the DVD (for only $9.99) or obtaining the Original Broadway Soundtrack for $14.99. OMG!

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Earlier in October, Andrew Lloyd Webber unveiled his global press launch of The Phantom of the Opera’s upcoming sequel called… Love Never Dies.

The launch took place in London’s West End where Webber gave a little introduction on how this idea for a sequel came about. He also introduced the much anticipated two leads for the original cast of Love Never Dies: The Phantom will be played by the dark and handsome Ramin Karimloo (who’s currently playing the Phantom in London’s West End production) and the role of Christine will be portrayed by Sierra Boggess (who played the part of Miss Daae in the Las Vegas production of Phantom). The launch wrapped up with a sneak video performance of one song by the Phantom in the sequel called, “Till I Hear You Sing” performed by Karimloo. (We’ve included the video for you to enjoy below the article.)

We’re hotly anticipating this spectacular sequel to the major Broadway hit… but there’s also an underlying sense of worry and wringing of the hands. The Broadway nation loves The Phantom; there’s no denying that. It’s all at once the most uplifting, beautiful and saddest story ever told. Yes, there was a cliffhanger at the end of the musical leaving audiences wondering what exactly became of the Phantom – but I’m sure audiences could have lived in suspense indefinitely. It was such a powerful story that tied up in a nice satisfying package.

Hence, our grim concern on what Love Never Dies means for us and how things will all play out. Frankly I can only think of one moderately successful musical sequel production. That would be The Talk of New York which was the follow-up to George M. Cohan’s Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway. The actor Victor Moore played Kid Burns in both productions and the sequel remained popular for 20 weeks or so.

This sequel’s success is the exception to the rule. Otherwise, Broadway is littered with epic sequel failures – many of which were so poor performing that they closed within weeks. William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker was a moving play about Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan. Gibson’s sequel, Monday After the Miracle, depicted what happened to Keller and Sullivan 20 years later. Apparently no one wanted to know.

Similarly, Bring Back Birdie which is the sequel to the 1960s fun hit Bye Bye Birdie hit a wall. This musical ended after only four sad performances. We can also refer to Annie 2 and others to see that this musical sequel business is very risky and often-times turns out for the worse.

Nonetheless, Webber’s confidence in his Phantom continuation story inspires us. We’re holding onto our optimistic hopes that this sequel will buck the trend and reach phenomenal heights. We’re eagerly anticipating the world premier in London at the Adelphi Theatre on March 9, 2010. The second production will open in New York on November 11, 2010 and then move to Australia in 2011.

Webber shares that Love Never Dies will involve all the original characters we fell in love with in The Phantom; the only new addition will be Christine and Raoul’s young son. The story is set 10 years after the Phantom’s mysterious disappearance from the Paris Opera House. We learn that he is alive and well living overseas in the fairgrounds of Coney Island in America with Madame Giry and her daughter Meg. He’s risen to prosperity amongst the freaks and oddities around Coney Island and has become somewhat of a mogul. Though he should be content with this new life where he can live above ground as opposed to below, as the title suggests the Phantom still clings to his eternal love for Christine. He lives waiting only to be reunited with her and plots to make this happen.

Taking 18 months to complete, this sequel story is obviously centered on obsession, passion and intrigue. Webber is extremely happy with the casting for the production and describes the romantic tension between the two leads, Karimloo and Boggess, as so intense it’s at times “unbearable.”

From the audience perspective, we wonder exactly what’s in store for our favorite characters? Apparently it will be similar to a Beauty and the Beast story with many twists. Could this mean that our beast will finally win the beauty’s love? Time will tell.

Please enjoy the video of the “Till I Hear You Sing” song number from Love Never Dies:

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1. Love Never Dies: Updates from the cast We’ve been periodically checking up on the progress of Love...
2. The “new” title song from “Love Never Dies” The title song for the upcoming Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Love...

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