The Movie Musical Shakedown

For our season premiere, we deep dive into one of the best movie musicals in recent years, 2021's 'Cyrano', starring Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett and Kelvin Harrison Jr.

This week, Chris and guest host Ashley Griffin ("Stage Directions") take a look at a classic Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland musical. We discuss everything from Judy's star-making performance to the incredibly shocking end that's hard to watch in 2021.

This week, Chris and Nicole take a look at 1961's "Flower Drum Song". While not considered one of Rodgers & Hammerstein's classics, this movie is one of the few Hollywood studio films to feature an all-Asian cast. And while it might be a point of pride for many Asian theatre fans, that's not to say this film doesn't contain some issues as well.

This week Chris and Nicole take a look at a movie that features some incredible choreography sandwiched between infamously bad storytelling, 1954's "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers".

And we're back! After a hiatus, we're opening season 3 of this podcast with one of the most iconic and polarizing movie musicals of all-time, 1973's "Jesus Christ Superstar"! Given that Easter is right around the corner, and that we've already done "Godspell", we figured what better time to dip into this Andrew Lloyd Webber and Time Rice classic. Not to mention directed by Norman Jewison who also helmed "Fiddler on the Roof".

This week Chris and Nicole dig into one of the greatest movie musicals of all-time, 1972's "Cabaret". While Nicole doesn't like Chris's rating for Bob Fosse's choreography, there is no doubt that this is an equally entertaining and disturbing film.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of this vastly underrated classic, Chris and special guest, Ned Donovan, are deep-diving into one of their personal faves, "A Goofy Movie". They get into the incredible music, voice-acting and how watching this movie as a father was different than watching it as a teenager.

We've been putting this one off for a while, but it's about time we deep dove into 1973's "Godspell". An iconic piece of musical theatre, it's one of the few to be adapted before it had premiered on Broadway. Chris has a personal connection to the piece which he gets into as well.

This week Grace and Chris deep dive into one of their Disney faves, "Mulan". Both being Asian-American, this is a special one for both of them. They discuss the incredible voice talents, art direction and underrated music.

We're kicking off Season 3 of the Movie Musical Shakedown with one of the most iconic movie musicals of all-time, "The Sound of Music". Winner of 5 Oscars including Best Picture, this has easily become a family viewing tradition in many a households.

This week's episode was recorded live at BroadwayCon in NYC. Grace and I had a great time talking about one of our personal faves which is making its way to Broadway this spring!

This week, Chris and Nicole take a look a the 1971 classic, "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory". By far one our favorite movie musicals growing up.

This week, Chris and Grace kick off the holiday season by looking at 1992's "FernGully: The Last Rainforest". The film was one of the first major films to address environmental issues and almost 30 years later, Grace and Chris wonder if its message landed.

This week Grace and Chris dig into 2007's "Enchanted". This movie marked a return of strong Disney movie musicals and blended animation with live-action for a truly original story. We talk about everything from the outstanding Amy Adams, the music and all the "hidden Mickeys" throughout the film.

This week Grace and Chris dig into 2012's visually stunning epic "Les Misérables". Will Russell Crowe win the Russell Crowe Award? Who else was considered for some of these roles? Did the live singing help or hurt the film? We tackle all of it this week.

This week, Grace and Chris dive into 1986's "Little Shop of Horrors". Featuring one of the greatest comedic casts ever assembled, this movie went on to be nominated for two Oscars. We dig into everything from the songs to the special effects to the alternate ending.

This week Grace and Chris discuss Hugh Jackman's dream project, "The Greatest Showman". A movie that really should have worked better than the finished product. But we dig into everything from the film's casting, interesting music choices and generous historical take on P.T. Barnum.

This week, Chris and Ashley Griffin dive into 2014's "Into the Woods". This film which beautifully shot, is not without its flaws. We discuss everything from its questionable castings and disappointing changes from the original show.

We're kicking off season two of the Movie Musical Shakedown with the gigantic 2018 hit, "A Star is Born". The 4th and arguable best incarnation of this story, Chris and new permanent co-host Grace Aki deep dive into everything from Cooper & Gaga's chemistry, the music and answer some tough questions about the film.

This week we're deep diving into 1997's hit, "Anastasia." One of the great non-Disney animate move musical, this has become quite popular sparked the Broadway adaptation which turned out much different than the movie...