by Erin Franklin | Aug 2, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
The touring production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid has made its way from under the sea to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center this week, captivating both young and old audience members alike. Diana Huey stars as the irresistible Little Mermaid. This is Huey’s first national tour, and her perky, enthusiastic nature shines through in her performance. She has a strong, powerful voice and maintains a continuous mermaid-like presence on stage. Huey swims across, up and down the stage via a flight harness, making it a physically demanding role, yet Huey appears to do it with ease. Melvin Abston is also brilliant as Sebastian, the calypso-singing crab, and his rendition of “Under the Sea” is delightful, big and colorful. The cast has some impressive Broadway credits, including Jenniffer Allen as Ursula and Steve Blanchard as King Triton. Notably, Blanchard is recognizable in another Disney princess movie for his role as the Beast in Beauty and the Beast. The great surprise, though, is Jamie Torcellini’s portrayal of Scuttle (the seagull most famously known for revealing to Ariel that a fork is called a dinglehopper). Torcellini flies around the stage with a flight harness for most of the show before landing to perform an amusing tap-dance of “Positoovity” after Ariel gets her legs. The costuming by Amy Clark and Mark Ross is intricate and vibrant, and Charlie Morrison’s and Kenneth Foy’s Lighting and Scenic Design, respectively, is captivating as well, mesmerizing audience members. While this production does pay homage to the 1989 Disney film version, there are a few deviations from the film, such as Flounder’s awkward crush on Ariel, and King...
by Erin Franklin | Jul 10, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
The third time really is the charm with the latest Spider-Man saga. Spider-Man Homecoming is just what the fans wanted. It’s the nerdiest, and best, Spider-Man film to date, reaching $117 million at the box office opening weekend. Only Beauty and the Beast and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 have made more this year. The story opens right where Captain America: Civil War left off. This Spider-Man retelling doesn’t start from the beginning with Peter Parker’s legendary spider bite, but rather it covers a very specific time in Peter’s life as a 15-year-old highschooler, specifically during Homecoming season. Tom Holland is the Spider-Man comic book readers know and remember — epitomizing the kid inside the suit that made Spider-Man the unique superhero that he is. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark also brings a solid performance, serving as somewhat of a father figure to Peter Parker. Although the new souped-up Spidey suit Stark gifts Peter with is a little off-putting, as it seems the suit’s technology simply makes him into a mini-Iron Man, Holland still manages to show Spider-Man as his own, unique hero. Marisa Tomei, on the other hand, is quite different from the Aunt May readers will remember in the comic books. She’s more like a big sister to Peter, and Peter a kid brother. But it works. Gwen Stacy will forever be Peter Parker’s true love, and Emma Stone’s performance as Gwen opposite Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) is still the best portrayal of Spider-Man’s infamous other half, but Michelle (Zendaya) looks like a promising potential love interest in the next chapter of the Spider-Man...
by Erin Franklin | Jun 30, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
Oh brother — the Despicable Me franchise is back yet again with Despicable Me 3, and this time Gru has a long-lost twin brother, Dru. Despicable Me 3 is familiar yet fun at the same time. There’s the recognizable plot line of a long-lost twin when Gru (Steve Carell) finds out he has a twin brother, Dru (Carell), supervisor of the family pig business, which is merely a coverup for the ancient family history of villainy, much to Gru’s surprise. The two brother supervillains (or superheroes?) out on a quest together, mixed in with Gru’s three daughters’ amusing antics and his new wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig) discovering her role as a mom to the girls, makes for an absolutely madcap romp through Fredonia and the world of heroes and villains. Despite the critically unsuccessful Minions movie, the love-’em or hate-’em yellow fellows return, bent on returning to the glory days when Gru was a villain; therefore, they tempt Gru to try to push him back to his old ways before abandoning him when he refuses. The film starts with Gru and Lucy on a chase to stop Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), a former 80’s kid star seeking revenge on Hollywood after his TV show “Evil Bratt” was unceremoniously cancelled when he entered his teen years. For his evil plan, Bratt borrows an episode from his show which involves stealing the world’s largest diamond to destroy Hollywood. Gru, a changed man — and now a family man, for that matter — wants to stop this atrocity and employs the help of his twin, Dru. Meanwhile, the girls, Lucy and the...
by Erin Franklin | Jun 28, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider
Just down the road from Lipscomb University on Belmont Boulevard, the Sound Emporium holds a deep music history — a history that Lipscomb is now privileged to be a part of, too. Last month, the Sound Emporium was given to Lipscomb by former Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn as part of his $15 million donation to Lipscomb, the largest in school history. Lipscomb’s College of Entertainment and the Arts now bears Shinn’s name: the George Shinn College of Entertainment and the Arts. The Sound Emporium has housed acclaimed artists varying from Johnny Cash to Trisha Yearwood to Kenny Chesney. Lipscomb’s School of Music Academic Chair, Donna King, hopes this rich history will benefit Lipscomb students as they integrate into the workings of the studio this fall. “It’s kind of a pioneering venture,” King said, “because Lipscomb is not taking over the running of a studio and turning it into a Lipscomb studio and a student studio. I think what we’re doing is actually better; we’re sort of coming into partnership with this historic, active studio that is still very actively making recordings.” Lipscomb’s contemporary music program is just in its third year of existence, and King said a gift of this magnitude was never expected so early on in the program. Charlie Peacock, the school of music director, is an active Nashville songwriter and producer and has been for several decades. Peacock is currently on leave, but will be directing Lipscomb’s integration with the studio for the upcoming school year. “It’s very difficult for a young program like ours . . . we would be thinking far down...
by Olivia Waldorf | Jun 15, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
With a star-studded cast and an already large fan-base, Cars 3 is speeding into theaters. Lightning McQueen fans will buzz with excitement from the high energy movie. Before the film, a new Pixar Short was released called, “Lou.” This short film was written and directed by Dave Mullins and follows the school bully in learning to share by an unseen monster in the lost and found box. After this, the energetic opening scene to Cars 3 showed a daring Lightning McQueen zooming around the race track with a cheering crowd, closely followed by his friendly competitors. Suddenly, a new type of race car appears, taking over all the races and pushing the older cars into retirement. McQueen spends the rest of the film fighting for his rightful place within the racing community, refusing to give up what he loves the most. Long-time Cars fan Sinney Chan noted that one of the film’s best aspects was its focus on female and minority empowerment. “They added in a female statistical analyst and pushed the main female character, Cruz, into the racing spotlight. This made me really happy to see, and I hope a lot of younger girls got the message.” Upon release, the third Cars movie is already expected to hit the box office hard with around $60 million from 3,900 theaters in its opening weekend. The production of this film, directed by Brian Fee, started in the summer of 2014, and the previous director, John Lasseter, promised an emotional tone to the film. The beautiful landscape animation mixed with the touching plot line allowed for Lasseter’s promise to come true. As...
by Erin Franklin | Jun 2, 2017 | Arts and Entertainment, News Slider, Opinion
Wonder Woman is a breath of fresh air in a line of previously underwhelming DC films. Gal Gadot stars as the Amazon princess crafted by clay — her performance a triumphant achievement in portraying such an iconic character. Gadot brings both a strength and beauty to Princess Diana, who exhibits a relentless drive and desire to embrace her heroism rather than run from it. The origin story hearkens to the original classic superhero films such as Christopher Reeve’s Superman, and also somewhat parallels Marvel’s Captain America with its World War focus. The story is not particularly unique, but its emphasis on providing a heroine who the “world of men do not deserve” is new in such a male-dominated genre. The tale begins with Wonder Woman as young Princess Diana growing up on a peaceful island of only Amazon women who are adept at fighting and protecting their utopian community — a stark contrast to the way women are treated when Diana arrives in World War I London on a mission to stop the war. Gadot does an excellent job of mixing worldly innocence with classic superhero charm and skill once arriving in London, with Chris Pine portraying her sidekick and love interest, Captain Steve Trevor. Pine and the rest of the cast do an admirable job, but their respective characters remain flat and stereotypical, one of the few weaknesses of the film. Behind the camera is Patty Jenkins, who directs an atypical DC film focused on story, preferring to show the horror of war and fighting instead of its glorification. This is not to say that Wonder Woman’s fight...
