Sesame Street: 25th Birthday - A Musical Celebration!

Sesame Street: 25th Birthday - A Musical Celebration! Review

Everyone's invited as Sesame Street celebrates its 25th birthday! The whole family will want to sing along with this special hour-long collection of favorite Sesame Street songs, featuring "C is for Cookie," "Bein' Green," "Monster in the Mirror," and many, many more! Ernie sings a medley of Duckie songs, including "Do De Rubber Duck," "Put Down the Duckie," "The Honker-Duckie-Dinger Jamboree," and, of course, "Rubber Duckie." Big Bird leads the whole cast in a rousing finale of "Sing." You're sure to treasure this wonderful collector's edition of Sesame Street for years to come.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas Review

Texas madam miss mona and her sheriff boyfriend try to save her chicken ranch from a tv muckraker. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/07/2010 Starring: Randy Bennett Theresa Merritt Run time: 114 minutes Rating: R Director: Colin Higgins

High School Musical (Encore Edition)

High School Musical (Encore Edition) Review

High School Musical (Encore Edition) Feature

• Music video "I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You"
• "We're All in This Together"
• Behind the scenes Featurette

The Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical is a combination of backstage action and Grease without the unwholesome habits. Scoring record ratings at the time of its January 2006 broadcast, it's a smash hit with tween audiences (ages 6 to 10), but appealing for all ages. At a New Year's Eve party, Troy (Zac Efron of the WB's Summerland) has a chance meeting with Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) when they share a karaoke song. Lo and behold, when school resumes, they discover that Gabriella has just transferred to Troy's East High School, a campus divided into tight cliques of jocks, cheerleaders, brainiacs, and skater dudes. Eager to recapture the magic they'd discovered during karaoke, Troy and Gabriella consider auditioning for the school's upcoming musical, much to the dismay of the school's frost queen/theater goddess, Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody). Problem is, Troy is also the star of the basketball team and Gabrielle is being recruited to compete in the Scholastic Decathlon. Will they give up their cliques to start something new, or will they do as the show's first big anthem urges and "Stick to the Status Quo"? Well, this is a Disney movie, so maybe the sacrifices won't be that hard, and even the hints of romance are mild.

The bestselling soundtrack is catchy in that Disney-pop kind of way, mixing in a dash of hip-hop ("Getcha Head in the Game," punctuated by squeaky basketball shoes and other sound effects), salsa ("Bop to the Top"), and the endearingly hammy ("What I've Been Looking For" performed by Sharpay and her brother, Ryan, played by Lucas Grabeel). It's not hard to imagine High School Musical becoming a semi-staple for high school groups to perform themselves. DVD bonus features include sing-along subtitles; a 9-minute featurette discussing casting, recording sessions, and rehearsals; a multi-angle look at a rehearsal of "Bop to the Top"; and music videos for "We're All in This Together" and a song that didn't make it into the final film, "I Can't Take My Eyes Off of You," performed by Efron, Hudgens, Tisdale, and Gabreel. --David Horiuchi The all-new, smash hit Disney Channel Original Movie everyone is talking about is now available for the first time ever on DVD -- with never-before-seen bonus features that will rock your house! Troy (Zac Efron), the popular captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella (Vanessa Anne Hudgens), the brainy and beautiful member of the academic club, break all the rules of East High society when they secretly audition for the leads in the school's musical. As they reach for the stars and follow their dreams, everyone learns about acceptance, teamwork, and being yourself. And it's all set to fun tunes and very cool dance moves! Featuring the hottest talent, HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL celebrates the power of music in this hip, entertaining, gotta-get-up-and-dance movie. Own all the excitement and the exclusive extras available only on this Encore Edition DVD.

Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway

Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway Review

Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway Feature

• Actors: Will Chase, Adam Kantor, Michael McElroy, Rodney Hicks, Tracie Thoms.
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC.
• Language: English. Subtitles: English, French.
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only).
• Not Rated. Run Time: 165 minutes.

For passionate fans of Rent--the popular Broadway rock musical that updated La Boheme with electric guitars, steel drums, strippers, and drag queens--Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway is a must-have.Written and composed by Jonathan Larson (who died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm just before the show premiered), Rent follows an absurdly clean-cut gaggle of hipster artists who, after having been squatting in a run-down building for a year, are now being told they have to pay that rent by the building's owner, a former friend. At least, that's the plot point that launches everything; really, the musical is about modern romance, grappling with AIDS, and celebrating the creative spirit. This film documents the last performance of the Broadway production, which ran for 12 years. Though the aggressive camera moves and sometimes frenetic editing seem intended to make the film feel less stagebound, this Rent first and foremost captures the stage experience. The production's raw set and self-conscious theatricality (which highfalutin' theater folk might call "Brechtian") creates genuine show-biz razzle-dazzle and helps distract from some of the cliches in the musical itself. There are no famous faces (the closest is Tracie Thoms, who played the same role, the lesbian lover of a performance artist, in the movie version), but the cast is solid and exuberant, throwing themselves wholeheartedly into the show's unapologetically sincere paeans to life and love. --Bret Fetzer

Stills from Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway (Click for larger image)

Set in New York City's gritty East Village, the revolutionary rock opera RENT tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic. RENT is Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer and Tony Award winning musical, one of the longest running shows on Broadway.

Memphis: The Original Broadway Production [Blu-ray]

Memphis: The Original Broadway Production [Blu-ray] Review

BluRay release featuring the original Broadway cast! Winner of four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, and Best Orchestrations.Bursting off the stage with explosive dancing, irresistible songs and a thrilling tale of fame and forbidden love, this incredible journey is filled with laughter, soaring emotion and roof-raising rock 'n' roll.

Les Miserables: The 10th Anniversary Dream Cast in Concert at London's Royal Albert Hall

Les Miserables: The 10th Anniversary Dream Cast in Concert at London's Royal Albert Hall Review

A performance of Les Miserables by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, for a 10th Anniversary Concert celebration.

White Christmas (Anniversary Edition)

White Christmas (Anniversary Edition) Review

Two talented son-and-dance men (Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye) team up after the war to become one of the hottest acts in show business.