Justin's Theatre Reviews

FOUR YEARS. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOVIE FOR FOUR YEARS!!! I was there through all the press releases and have been impatiently waiting for this movie to come out for what feels like forever. Since Disney announced that they were doing this film in 2013 or 2014, I went crazy. "Beauty and the Beast" is my favorite Disney movie of all time. Not only is it my favorite Disney movie, it is one of my favorite pieces of entertainment. It is one of my favorite movies and one of my favorite musicals. So, this film had a lot to live up to for me, with expectations that were already incredibly high. So, after literal years of waiting, I finally saw the live action version of "Beauty and the Beast". And folks,...it was amazing. The film was just pure Disney magic and it delivered in nearly every way possible and I LOVED it. It is not perfect, but this really is a phenomenal film. In this review, I am going to go really in depth. If you have yet to see it, please don't

  Look back at my review for the film version of "Evita." Notice how I say that the role was much bigger than Madonna was. Madonna simply didn't have the talent or power to play a role such as Eva Peron and as a result, the entire film went under. Eva Peron is a role that must be carefully cast or else the show will suffer. That can also be said for "Into the Woods", the only difference is that everyone must be very carefully cast because even if one cast member can't be up to par with the material, then the show can suffer majorly, especially seeing how "Into the Woods" is an ensemble show and the entire principal cast has a role of pretty much the same size. Also, "Into the Woods" (or anything Stephen Sondheim for that matter) is a TOUGH SHOW. The music is very precise and not only do you have to be a great singer to be a lead in the show, but your acting has to be equally as good because in any Sondheim show, you have to invest in the

   "It's magic, you know! Never believe it's not so!" is what was going through mind while I was watching the national tour of "The Illusionists", a very high profile magic show that stuns the audience with it's crazy tricks and ridiculous (in a good way) stunts. This show had magic tricks that ranged from card tricks to underwater escapologist tricks. Almost every single trick was very impressive and memorable.    Executing the tricks was a very creative ensemble of characters including The Trickster, Jeff Hobson, who hosted the show and did a wonderful job doing the more simple tricks and picking on audience members. My favorite part of the show were easily the mind reading tricks, which were done by the Deductionist, Colin Cloud. The Inventor, Kevin James, did some of the more visually elaborate tricks, which I enjoyed very much. Of course, I have to give a shout out to the Escapologist, Andrew Basso, who's escape act surely won over most of the