Movie Review- Mrs. Santa Claus (1996)

Way back in July, Walmart had Christmas movies for sale for Christmas in July. After browsing the movies, I found a few that I wanted, but the one I wanted to see the most is Mrs. Santa Claus.

Mrs. Santa Claus is a made for TV musical movie staring Angela Lansbury, Michael Jeter, Terence Mann, and Charles During. The music is by Jerry Herman, costume design by Bob Mackie, and choreography by Rob Marshall.

The movie is about Mrs. Claus, the wife of Santa Claus, who helps run the workshop and . Frustrated by her husband’s lack of insert about her help and the lack of acknowledgement for what she does, she decides to take matters into her own hands and sets out to test a new flight plan she developed for her husband’s Christmas Eve run using the sleigh and reindeer. While flying, she runs into bad weather and lands in New York City. There, she stays in a boarding house until after the reindeer have time to rest. She encounters people who have different ideas, religions, and feelings about Christmas.

The movie is well done and is in the style of a Jerry Herman musical, such as Hello Dolly. The pacing of the story is very smooth and would make a great stage musical as it does for a movie musical. The music, written by Jerry Herman, is catchy and well written, but, in my opinion, isn’t as catchy as the music he wrote for Hello Dolly and Mame. The costumes are beautiful and the musical numbers are well choreographed. Angela Lansbury is wonderful as Mrs. Claus and, as a fan of Angela Lansbury, I’m happy to see her in this movie again. Musical theater actor Terence Mann (Known for playing Inspector Javer in the original Broadway cast of Les Miserables and the Beast in the original Broadway cast of Beauty and the Beast) is also in it, as is Charles Durning (The Sting) and Michel Jeter (Evening Shade), two stage and screen actors that also stared in Broadway shows. Continue reading “Movie Review- Mrs. Santa Claus (1996)”

Movie Review: Holiday Inn (Broadway 2016 Pro Shot Version)

In a previous Blogmas post, I reviewed the 1942 movie Holiday Inn. In 2016, a theater musical version of the movie premiered on Broadway. In the 75th Anniversary edition DVD set I purchased of Holiday Inn, a pro shot version of the Broadway musical production was included as well as the 1942 movie.

Since it was included in the DVD set, I decided to watch the Broadway musical version and review it as well. Continue reading “Movie Review: Holiday Inn (Broadway 2016 Pro Shot Version)”

Movie Review: Holiday Inn (1942)

When I began preparing for this year’s Blogmas, I decided to focus on reviewing movies in order to have post already prepared and scheduled without worrying about writing a new post every day. One of the movies I debated if I should review is the 1942 movie of Holiday Inn. 2020 is not a great year and, after the social unrest and Black Lives Matter movement gaining more attention and traction than ever before, I didn’t like the idea of reviewing Holiday Inn. Out of all the Christmas movies in my movie collection, Holiday Inn is one of the most controversial because of a blackface routine in the movie. Although I, a white woman, felt hesitant to review this movie, I still felt like I wanted to talk about it in a movie review.

Continue reading “Movie Review: Holiday Inn (1942)”

More Favorite Musicals for the 2019 Holiday Season

Ok, I need to admit something. I’m running out of post ideas for Blogmas. None the less, I felt inspired talking about my favorite holiday musicals so I decided to talk about them for another day!

Yesterday, I listed all my favorite musicals for 2019. Along the way, I forgot to list some of my favorites, including the well known holiday musical White Christmas. *hangs head in shame* Fortunately for me, I can save my internet face and list some more musicals I love to watch during the holiday season. And, since I’m writing this post in such an impromptu fashion, I can honestly say I will probably forget to list some more holiday musicals. Still, I hope I list musicals that everyone can enjoy watching!

As with my previous post, which can be seen here, I am only listing the musicals that can be seen in movie form and can either be downloaded, streamed, or purchased on DVD or Blue Ray. Continue reading “More Favorite Musicals for the 2019 Holiday Season”

Favorite Musicals for the 2019 Holiday Season

So, Cats the musical is out in theaters and so far it’s not very well liked. As a musical theater fan, I wanted to share a list of musical theater shows that are available on DVD, Blue-ray, digital download, or on streaming services that would be great to watch during the holiday season. Or, if you hate the 2019 movie version of Cats, to detox from the trip to the movie theater. Continue reading “Favorite Musicals for the 2019 Holiday Season”