

Others might have cashed in after a holiday home run like that, but Ferrell seems to have exercised some discernment before jumping into another seasonal romp.
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In addition to the committed leads, there are comedy gems from Christmas Past (Sunita Mani), Christmas Yet-to-Come (Loren Woods with Tracy Morgan’s voice), Pasek and Paul’s easily digestible pop ballads and Octavia Spencer’s lovely singing voice.įerrell has already written his Christmas movie legacy with “Elf,” which is somehow turning 20 next year. Perhaps that’s because it is just so stuffed with everything else: If one part doesn’t totally work, there’s plenty else in the four-quadrant buffet to sample. At times, it feels like you’re watching a live show that wasn’t rehearsed with camera movements and cuts beforehand, doing a disservice to the songs, the dancers and sets.Īnd yet, though “Spirited” comes up short as a musical, it is still pretty enjoyable.
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The most egregious sin, though, is the fact that no one seems entirely sure of how to shoot a big, choreographed dance number effectively. But that is the paradox of “Spirited,” which wants to be everything to everyone. You’d also think that if you’re going to make a big movie musical, a genre that it seems every top filmmaker dreams of getting a chance to do, that you wouldn’t feel the need to have someone make a joke about it every time another character is about to burst into song. The sincerity isn’t necessarily a bad thing: If you’re going to make a holiday-themed musical on Apple’s dime, you might as well go all out, right?

With songs by “The Greatest Showman” duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, big ensemble dance numbers choreographed by Chloe Arnold and special effects galore, “Spirited” it is a maximalist affair that spares no expense in its heart-on-sleeve efforts to entertain. The boys are left to contend with Grandma, with Bella and her secret romance, and with Louie, her brother, a small-time hoodlum in a strange new world called Yonkers.The devil works in public relations in “ Spirited,” a new spin on “A Christmas Carol” starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. He is financially strapped and taking to the road as a salesman. Bella is 35 years old, mentally challenged, and living at home with her mother, stern Grandma Kurnitz.Īs the play opens, ne’er-do-well son Eddie deposits his two young sons on the old lady’s doorstep. When the ship is taken over by pirates–led by the fearsome Black Stache, a villain determined to claim the trunk and its treasure for his own–the journey quickly becomes aīy America’s great comic playwright, this memory play is set in Yonkers in 1942. At sea, the boys are discovered by a precocious young girl named Molly, a Starcatcher-in-training who realizes that the trunk’s precious cargo is starstuff, a celestial substance so powerful that it must never fall into the wrong hands. They know nothing of the mysterious trunk in the captain’s cabin, which contains a precious, otherworldly cargo. The Boy and his mates are shipped off from Victorian England to a distant island ruled by the evil King Zarboff. Climb aboard for the Neverland you never knew. Presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). Thru September 3 Peter and the StarcatcherĪ Play by Rick Elice, Music by Wayne Barker, Directed by John Kish. CTC is a membership organization, where all aspects of productions, on and offstage, are created by volunteers. Founded in 1978 Cascades Theatrical Company (CTC) entertains audiences in a delightful, intimate theatre with amazingly talented local actors / actresses, directors, stage and costume designers.
