My Own Little World

In case you haven't talked to me in the past year, I love Hamilton . This Broadway musical makes me completely and entirely helpless whenever I hear it. It ranks among the best pieces of music I've ever heard in my entire life besides just being my favorite musical ever written.  One of the things that the musical's creator Lin-Manuel Miranda teased during the musical's development and performances was The Hamilton Mixtape , a compilation of multiple artists from the realm of popular music covering and reimagining various songs from the show. It was finally officially announced a month or so ago and released on December 2.  To be honest, the fact that Hamilton  itself is so untouchable in my mind made me really nervous for the mixtape. I don't think I've ever been more helplessly obsessed with any piece of music ever, and to see other people do these songs that mean so much to me and restyle them made me really apprehensive. I've memorized every...

I'm going to put two of my cards out on the table before starting this review. The first: Into the Woods  is one of my favorite shows from a musical standpoint. The second: I have never seen it performed in its entirety on stage. Now that those two things are out there, let's talk about this film. I knew from the second that Disney picked up this project that it had enormous potential. They, more so than any other studio, have done musical fairy tales right almost every time they make one. When the cast list started rolling out, I became even more excited for Into the Woods . Bringing in heavyweight talents like Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt instantly brought some credibility, while the musical talents of Anna Kendrick and others would bolster the film in that perspective. Then, my school's drama department announced that this would be our spring musical, I knew I had to go see it. From the very first line, I knew that the music would be done justice. The score was wri...