Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: Was Sister Act a musical comedy?
Elysa Gardner of "USA Today" gave the show three and a half out of four stars and said, "Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy may be less giddily profane, and thought-provoking, than "The Book of Mormon", but it has its own distinct and surprising charms. Composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater provide original tunes that nod cheekily, but with genuine affection, to that pop era while also propelling the story with a style and exuberance specific to well-crafted musical theater."
The tour of "Blithe Spirit", starring (newly titled) Dame Angela Lansbury, then went to London's West End in early 2014. This was accompanied by an appearance at a special cabaret (organised by co-star Janie Dee) at the Cafe de Paris, where Simon sang "Mad Dogs and Englishmen". When the West End performance ended, in June, he immediately went into the role of 'Emperor Joseph II' in "Amadeus", starring Rupert Everett. This was followed by BBC Radio appearances in Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett's "Good Omens", directed by Dirk Maggs and "Doctor Who" with Tom Baker.
After more than two years off screen, Taylor made her return television appearance on "In Melbourne Tonight" in August 1999, singing "I Want You Back". Taylor joined the cast of the Australian stage production, "Happy Days: The Arena Mega Musical" in October 1999. Taylor played Laura, a character created for the stage show, who was in cahoots with Jon Stevens' Frank (also an original character) to put the famous diner out of business. The music selected for the "Happy Days" production was almost entirely from the 1960s. Taylor's songs included "Stand By Me", "You Don't Own Me" and "Smell Him".
The musical opened in London's West End in 1986, and on Broadway in 1988. It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, and Michael Crawford (in the title role) won the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical. It is the longest running show in Broadway history by a wide margin, and celebrated its 10,000th Broadway performance on 11 February 2012, the first production ever to do so. It is the second longest-running West End musical, after "Les Misérables", and the third longest-running West End show overall, after "The Mousetrap".
The "New York Times" reviewer wrote of the Goodspeed Opera production of 2008: "If you’re going to make a stage musical out of a television show, 'Happy Days' is not a bad choice. All that cheerful white-bread 1950s innocence. All those instant audience associations with beloved characters and the actors who played them. The show won’t ever win a Pulitzer Prize (or the musical-comedy equivalent), but the Goodspeed Opera House’s bouncy new production delivers a pleasant if not transporting evening, and – most important – the Fonz (Joey Sorge) is cool" and "Michele Lynch's choreography is one of the show's real assets".
According to the show's official site, the "NY Daily News" wrote: "If you like GREASE you will LOVE Happy Days" – A powerhouse rock and roll trip down memory lane". However, TheatreMania.com panned the musical in 2007, calling it bland.
The theater opened in 1906 as the Shubert Theatre and is the oldest performance theater in the city. It was built by the Shubert Brothers who were credited with establishing New York’s Broadway theater district. The theater was their first venue outside of New York and was used for plays, vaudeville, concerts, burlesque and film. During its history, Director Cecil B. Demille put on a production and performers such as Mae West performed at the theater. The venue changed names through the years and was also known as the Star, the Lafayette, the Poché and the Civic. It closed in the early 1990s.
Terri Schuester (née Del Monico) is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series "Glee". The character is portrayed by actress Jessalyn Gilsig, and has appeared in "Glee" from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Terri was developed by "Glee" creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. She is introduced as the wife of glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). Her storylines have seen her experience a false pregnancy, attempt to adopt the baby of pregnant glee club member Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron), and become involved in a love triangle between herself, Will and school guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays).
Though not exactly labeled as such, there were early precedents for "television movies", such as "Talk Faster, Mister", which aired on WABD (now WNYW) in New York City on December 18, 1944, and was produced by RKO Pictures, or the 1957 "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", based on the poem by Robert Browning, and starring Van Johnson, one of the first filmed "family musicals" made directly for television. That film was made in Technicolor, a first for television, which ordinarily used color processes originated by specific networks (most "family musicals" of the time, such as "Peter Pan", were not filmed but broadcast live and preserved on kinescope, a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor – and the only (relatively inexpensive) method of recording a television program until the invention of videotape).
Before the episode's track listing was announced, Morrison hoped that his character, glee club director Will Schuester, would sing "Like a Virgin", believing it befit Will's relationship with guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury. "TV Guide" William Keck later confirmed that Emma would be involved in the staging of "Like a Virgin", with Mays' agreement that the song is "very appropriate and fitting" for her character.
A few months after its United States release, "The Sound of Music" opened in 261 theaters overseas—the first American movie to be completely dubbed in a foreign language, both dialogue "and" music. The German, French, Italian, and Spanish versions were completely dubbed, the Japanese version had Japanese dialogue with English songs, and other versions were released with foreign subtitles. The film was a popular success in every country it opened, except the two countries where the story originated, Austria and Germany. In these countries, the film had to compete with the much-loved "Die Trapp-Familie" (1956), which provided the original inspiration for the Broadway musical, and its sequel "Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika" (1958)—both films still widely popular in German-speaking Europe and considered the authoritative von Trapp story. Austrians took exception to the liberties taken by the filmmakers with regard to the costumes, which did not reflect traditional style, and the replacement of traditional Austrian folk songs with Broadway show tunes. The film's Nazi theme was especially unpopular in Germany, where the Munich branch manager for 20th Century Fox approved the unauthorized cutting of the entire third act of the film following the wedding sequence—the scenes showing Salzburg following the "Anschluss". Robert Wise and the studio intervened, the original film was restored, and the branch manager was fired.
The Merry Wives of Windsor () is a 1950 East German musical comedy film directed by Georg Wildhagen. It was based on William Shakespeare's play by the same name.
Even Gillette parodied it once. "The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes" – the first of a handful of one-act plays he would write – was written for two benefits, and was performed for the first time at the Joseph Jefferson Holland Benefit at the Metropolitan Opera House on March 24. Holland was an actor who had been forced to retire the year before due to illness. The skit featured five characters: Holmes, Billy the page boy (played by Henry McArdle), the madwoman Gwendolyn Cobb (who had nearly all of the dialogue and was played by Ethel Barrymore), and the two "valuable assistants" who come to take the madwoman away. Its original title was "A fantasy in about one-tenth of an act", and the entire scene transpires in Holmes' Baker Street room "somewhere about the date of day before yesterday." Retitled "The Harrowing Predicament of Sherlock Holmes", it was performed again on April 14 for the benefit of the Actors Society of America at the Criterion Theatre (with Jessie Busley as Gwendolyn Cobb and McArdle again as Billy), and again at the Duke of York's Theatre in London when Gillette inserted it on October 3 as a curtain-raiser for "Clarice". Playing Billy in the curtain-raiser was young Charlie Chaplin. When "Clarice" was replaced with "Sherlock Holmes", Chaplin continued as Billy.
A comparison of how children interact with their brothers and sisters on such 1950s situation comedy television programs as "Leave It To Beaver" and "Father Knows Best" with those on such 1980s programs as "The Cosby Show" and "Family Ties" found that children interacted more positively in the 1950s but were more central to the main story action in the 1980s.
Doris Akers was born in Brookfield, Missouri to parents Floyd and Pearl Akers. She had nine siblings; Edward, Floyd, Evelyn, Marian, Donald, Nellie, Bernice, Harley, and Charles. The family moved to nearby Kirksville when she was five years old. She learned to play the piano by ear at age six and wrote her first song, "Keep the Fire Burning in Me," when she was ten years old. During the 1930s she formed a group with her siblings, Edward, Marian and Donald, who went by the name of "Dot and The Swingsters".
After "The Phantom of the Opera" became a smash hit in London in 1986, Lloyd Webber announced a Broadway production, and Yeston's Broadway investors backed out. Yeston, Kopit and Holder reluctantly shelved their plans for "Phantom" and went their separate ways for a time. When Kopit saw the Lloyd Webber version of "The Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway, he realized that the approach he and Yeston had taken was fundamentally different and that it could still work on the musical stage. A few years later, Kopit wrote the NBC miniseries "Hands of a Stranger", which was successful enough that NBC approached Kopit again. Kopit rewrote the script outline of his unproduced musical "Phantom" into a teleplay for a four-hour two-part miniseries entitled "The Phantom of the Opera" and sold it to NBC, with Yeston's blessing. It was filmed at the "Opera Garnier", and the only music used was opera music. It starred Charles Dance, Teri Polo and Burt Lancaster and premiered on television in 1990. Kopit said, "I told Maury to hold on. Maybe someone would see the miniseries, think it would make a good musical we'd be ready."
Carmen Cubana is a musical written by Kim Duddy (book and lyrics), Martin Gellner and Werner Stranka (music and lyrics). "Carmen Cubana" premiered at the Musical Sommer in Amstetten, Austria on 19 July 2006. The show is based on the story of Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. It remains close to the emotion of the opera with several themes from the opera heard through the show with a more modern feel. The BEAT4FEET music production and composing duo, Martin Gellner and Werner Stranka, created many new songs for the show as well as using a couple of songs from their own back catalogue. The book and lyrics were written in English (one song is in Spanish), and for the Amstetten production, the book was translated to German.
Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus (; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. In television comedy, she is known for her work in "Saturday Night Live" (1982–1985), "Seinfeld" (1989–1998), "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (2006–2010), and "Veep" (2012–present). She is one of the most awarded actors in American television history, winning more Emmy Awards and more Screen Actors Guild Awards than any other performer (eight of the Emmy awards were for acting, tying Cloris Leachman for the most acting Primetime Emmy wins; she has also received three Emmy Awards for producing).
Upon returning to England, he earned a living as a jazz and skiffle musician in London clubs. An accomplished guitarist and pianist, in the 1950s, he jammed with the Vipers Skiffle Group at the 2 I's club in London with his friend Tommy Steele. Pratt can be seen jamming skiffle on a 1950s Pathé News clip with other musicians of the era including members of the Shadows. A successful songwriter, Mike collaborated with Bart and Steele on many of Steele's early hits in the late 1950s and early '60s. To enable Steele to start to film his life story, co-writers Steele, Bart and Pratt, wrote twelve songs in seven days. A Steele-Pratt collaboration, "A Handful of Songs", originally a hit for Tommy Steele in 1957, became the theme tune to a long-running Granada Television children's programme of the same name in the late 1970s. They also contributed to the writing of the song "Rock with the Caveman". Bart and Pratt received the 1957 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Little White Bull". He won a further Ivor Novello award for "Handful of Songs". In 1961, he wrote the music and lyrics for "The Big Client", a play which was produced at the Bristol Old Vic from 28 November 1961.
On June 8, 2010, ABC Family premiered "Pretty Little Liars" – a teen drama based on the series of young-adult mystery novels by Sara Shepard. "Pretty Little Liars" quickly became ABC Family's flagship program, frequently breaking ratings records; by 2014, "Pretty Little Liars" had ranked among the five most-watched scripted series on basic cable among multiple female age demographics, and the second-highest rated cable series among females 12–34. Throughout the year, ABC Family as a whole experienced its highest year-to-year primetime viewership among viewers in the 12-34 and 18-34 demographics. With 4.9 million viewers across its first broadcast and an encore airing, the 2011 premiere of "Switched at Birth" surpassed "Secret Life" as the most-watched series premiere in network history.
In late 1976, Strickland and Wilson returned to Athens in search of further employment. The two joined the B-52's when they, Wilson's sister Cindy, and Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider of local protest band The Sun-Donuts, formed the group in an impromptu musical practice session after sharing a tropical flaming volcano drink at a Chinese restaurant. They played their first concert in 1977 at a Valentine's Day party for friends. The band's quirky take on the new wave sound of their era was a combination of dance and surf music set apart by the unusual guitar tunings used by Wilson.
On 11 May 2007, it was announced that she would be joining the cast of "EastEnders" as Roxy Mitchell, alongside Samantha Womack who played Roxy's sister Ronnie Mitchell. Of her role, Simons said: "I've always watched "EastEnders" and it's been my dream to become part of the Mitchell family." Simons temporarily departed from "EastEnders" in late 2015 (the character departed from screens from 1 January to 4 May 2016), allowing the actress to take part in a Snow White pantomime at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, over the 2015/16 Christmas and New Year period. In August 2016, it was announced that Simons had quit "EastEnders" along with Samantha Womack and that they would be both departing in an "explosive" storyline in 2017. Her on-screen character Roxy Mitchell drowned in a swimming pool in an episode broadcast on New Year's Day 2017, along with her sister Ronnie.
Lavender appeared as Monsignor Howard in the West End theatre production of "Sister Act the Musical". The musical opened at the London Palladium on 2 June 2009, and ran through to October 2010. In January 2011, Lavender appeared at the Slapstick Silent Comedy Festival in Bristol. Lavender introduced "Sherlock Jr.", a 1924 silent film directed by and starring Buster Keaton.
Steven Suskin of "Variety" gave the show an unfavorable review: "New tuner has various assets that place it comfortably in the feel-good entertainment category, and might have launched it to the top last season or even three months ago. But timing is everything. "Sister Act" comes in on the heels of a handful of musicals, including another disco-beat film adaptation ("Priscilla Queen of the Desert"), and comparisons are not favorable. The Broadway version of 'Sister Act' is glossy, but seems like a worn set of tires repatched too often."
"The Times" critic, Benedict Nightingale rated the show three out of five stars, observing that "a rather sweet, sentimental film has been hyped up, coarsened, given what — were the Palladium flown to Times Square — we'd call the big, brash Broadway treatment . . . There's less deft comedy, but much more music, most of it indebted to the 1970s, where the action is now set. That lets Alan Menken, the composer, have a lot of catchy fun with period rock and disco."
"Sister Act" was one of the most financially successful comedies of the early 1990s, grossing $231 million worldwide. The film spawned a franchise, which consists of a 1993 sequel, "", and a musical adaptation, which premiered in 2006. A remake of "Sister Act" is in the works. On December 7, 2018, it was confirmed that Regina Y. Hicks and Karin Gist were hired to write the script to "Sister Act 3" to be released on Disney+.