"The Greatest Showman" escape into the world of PT Barnum & Hachaliah Bailey and the Greatest Show on Earth

Who doesn’t love a good performance and a great show? These shows are incredible and touch masses of audiences. They drift you to a fantasyland where you can escape your reality and the mundane.  Growing up I am sure many of you who loved the circus were surprised to hear the news about Barnum and Bailey’s circus closing this past year. You would think with a successful show that lasted generations it would continue on and keep growing the brand and their legacy too. The Barnum and Bailey Circus, was founded in 1917, by politician, showman, and businessman, PT (Phineas Taylor) Barnum and Hachaliah Bailey. The circus was founded in 1871. PT Barnum who started out as a teenager working as a salesman for the Bailey’s show and eventually grew into a businessman and partial owner of the PT Barnum and Bailey Circus.

As I mentioned the last show was performed for the circus this year and came to New York City selling out Madison Square Garden, the Barclays Center, and gave their last performance. The show’s budget and costs of having animals travel along with them began to take a toll on the owners. Also the rising prices of travel and fees started to take a toll on the staff.  You would think it would continue especially for their younger audiences of children and young teens who love going to the circus and are animal lovers.

I think for me it stung and tore at your heartstrings a bit when you hear about anything from your childhood coming to an end. It brought me back to when I was a little girl and initially fell in love with entertainment too. Something about it was beautiful and magical to see the circus.  I hope I will have the same opportunity will be just as fortunate to give my future children the same experience too.

The millions of viewers who loved the show you know what a great performance can do for you and to you too. How it can affect a child’s imagination, their creativity, and their social skills too. I think any show can entertain you that captivated you much like this show is something that you just enjoy and you need to divulge into as well. A show like this probably should be brought back and established too. There is something magical, majestic, and beautiful about seeing these animals that are trained for hours actually performing and are able to do these amazing tricks and performances all in front of a live audience.

This movie takes a snapshot of how the circus first came to be and was first started by PT Barnum. It’s a time that takes you back to when it all began and when it first started for the businessman his vision and what he saw in the future for the circus. How it all came together and what it took to make it a success. The role of PT Barnum is played by triple threat, Broadway actor, and film actor, Hugh Jackman (“X Men Series”, “Les Miserables”, “The Prestige”, “Prisoners”, and “The Fountain”), Michelle Williams (“Manchester by the sea”, “My week with Marilyn”, “Dawson’s Creek”,  actress, singer, model,  Zendaya (Zapped, KC Undercover, Shake It Up, Spiderman: Homecoming_ , Zac Efron (Baywatch, Neighbors, Lucky One, That Awkward Moment, Dirty Grandpa, New Years Eve , and Neighbors2).  The film will debut Christmas week on December 20, 2017. Fans are already excited and getting prepared to watch there has been a lot of promotion for the film even Bloomingdales are in the on the action interviewing the cast and stars of the film. This is supposed to be 2017’s “La La Land” the only difference is this is based on a true story of two men with a common and beautiful dream and they made it a reality and will be two legends for the ages. The previews are breathtaking and gorgeous. So escape this Christmas to PT Barnum and Hachaliah Bailey’s world For more information visit http://www.foxmovies.com/ thegreatestshowman

The cast of "The Greatest Showman" 

Zendaya and Zac Efron in one scene from the Greatest Showman

Michelle Williams and Hugh Jackman in scene for "Greatest Showman"

A little nostalgia before we close out 2017....Saturday Night Fever and Grease 40th Anniversary celebration

Forty years ago the movie “Saturday Night Fever” the movie debuted on December 14, 1977. This movie is a phenomenon that everyone has known about for decades. I love to dance for years since I was a kid always aspired to be a ballerina or an entertainer. These movies,  were two of my sources that inspired me to get into music further and really enjoyed entertainment. I have grown up watching and seeing many movies, television shows, and many live concerts. These two movies definitely inspired me growing up wanting to learn more about music, songs, and this period of the 1970s the Disco Era. I remember I became so entranced with the movie. I remember giving all of my friends in junior high school the nicknames and character  names of the movie “Grease” that’s how much I loved it too. One of my cousins introduced me to the movie first I was about 11 going on 12 when she showed me and I was hooked actually.  She always knew from our parents I was interested in the arts, movies, and a creative field.

The first movie “Saturday Night Fever” is an absolute classic for New Yorkers who love this movie because it was filmed and shot right here in New York City in Manhattan and Brooklyn. There was no stage set or production set everything was very authentic to the city from street names, destination signs, and landmarks were well noted including the opening shot of the former twin towers.

The movie stars “Blue Eyes” with a cleft in his chin and charismatic dance moves and the ability to charm every woman in a nightclub is 19-year-old, Tony Manero who is a paint store clerk who lives in Brooklyn, New York with his family. He works very hard in the paint store but he feels a restless when he’s there. He knows there is something more to just selling paint every day to customers. He would rather be on the dance floor. He works hard and convinces his boss to even give him a raise.

He goes every weekend with his friends and he loves to turn up the fire on the dance floor. He has a strong presence but lacks one thing he doesn’t quite have the perfect dance partner yet. Many women throw themselves at him. They are all vying for his affections and attention. He eventually crosses paths with Stephanie on the dance floor and spots her he realizes he wants her and that she has just that special quality and dance technique he needs on the dance floor. They eventually begin competing with each other and also start developing feelings for one another in the film.

This movie has a soundtrack that is legendary and one of my favorites. The hit group of 1970s and 80s were “The Bee Gees” made up of Robin, Barry, and  Maurice Gibb. They had phenomenal hit songs from the 1970s you couldn’t ask for a better time and period of music too. They produced hits and wrote, “Stayin’ Alive”, “How Deep is your Love”, “Night Fever”, and “More than a woman”. These are songs that everyone knows and who grew up with during that time love and admire.  I know many millennials many not be familiar with these songs are timeless and well worth knowing too. So to the wonderful cast of the film dedicate this post to you and Happy 40^th Anniversary love this movie and if it’s remade or rewritten I know thry will have to top a classic.

Also in 2018 will be the 40^th anniversary of this classic film, “Grease” on June 16^th, next year. I wanted to include it now because I figured lets keep the Travolta Train going and honor him and the cast of Grease he along with Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Didi,                                                                                                             all were apart of the film and were apart of this classic I can tell you as a kid I probably watched the movie 1,000 times growing up. I think I even remember running home just to watch the movie from school. This movie I will definitely go into depth more as we get closer to the anniversary but I just wanted to add this one in too. Love the movie and cannot wait to see what the cast and everyone will have in mind of celebrating this one.                                                                                    

For more information make sure you watch the film it’s a classic restored and probably on dvd everywhere.

The Bee Gees in the 1970s were at the height of their career when the produced, composed, wrote the soundtrack of "Saturday Night Fever" in 1977.

I will follow up closer to the anniversary date-the movie debuted June 16, 1978 at the height of the disco era but the film was based in the 1950s. 

The original cast of Grease

Jeff Conaway, Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta, and Stockard Channing