Part of Your World in Japanese – From The 2026 Little Mermaid Musical in Maihama, Japan

In August, Japan will be getting a new version of The Little Mermaid musical. It is a very well-liked story and versions of it have been staged over the years but this production looks very special (if you like that kind of thing!). I always enjoy listening to familiar songs in other languages, to see how different they sound and feel. This is an incredibly sweet rendition of Part of Your World, sung by Rina Tachibana, where Ariel sings with a gentle sense of longing and wonder, capturing the same emotional heart of the original while giving it a soft Japanese theatrical style.

The new production is based at The Maihama Amphitheater, a live performance venue located in Maihama, an area in Urayasu near Tokyo. It sits close to Tokyo Disney Resort.  How does this all come about? The Disney–Shiki Partnership is a long-term licensing and production collaboration between The Walt Disney Company and Shiki Theatre Company, one of Japan’s biggest theatre companies.

In simple terms, Disney writes and owns the musicals (like The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Frozen), and Shiki is the Japanese company that stages and performs them in Japan. They translate the shows into Japanese, cast local performers, and run long-term productions in dedicated theatres across cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya.  In this case it is the Maihama Amphitheater.  Take a look at Part of Your World below – and if you are anything like me, you are probably weighing up a visit to Japan in August!

Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis: The Musical

Sometimes, you don’t realise that you needed something until you have experienced it.  That encapsulates my thoughts on Metamorphosis: The Musical.  Yes, as you may have guessed, Kafka’s 1915 novella about the fate of poor Gregor Samsa has been given a fresh take by a pair of self-confessed “sock-wranglers”, Christian and Eric of Sockz Studio.  Yes, it's a musical. Yes, it is acted by socks.

And yes, it may not be quite what Kafka had in mind - but people have argued about Metamorphosis and how its meaning should be deciphered for over a century. I personally prefer the Nabokovian interpretation of the original. Rather than a deliberation on the psychological impact of a father complex, I see Metamorphosis as a metaphor for the artist's fight to survive in a society full of narrow-minded people who gradually undermine him.  And if you are a Kafka purist, you may well see The Musical as the final nail in that particular coffin.  And then some. 

However, if you don’t mind the classics being tampered with (or in this case, mauled, tickled, twisted and generally socked about) and you like a story told through song, then this is for you.  Personally, I place this right up there with A Muppet Christmas Carol.  It’s fun, frivolous, fabulous and it doesn’t mess with the source material to the extent of giving it a happy ending... Ah, well, maybe it does do that.  Yet still, however, nevertheless, don't you think it is about time that poor old Gregor Samsa had a little fun?

Watch the film below - it'll sock you out.

Dreams of the Last Butterflies

This almost defies definition but Dreams of the Last Butterflies is certainly this – something very special. Combining poetry, song, dance, and flame throwing among other things, this performance-film had me spellbound from start to finish.  It is a dark ‘faerie tale’ written and directed by Zina Brown and is told by the last of the butterfly queens (wonderfully –quite ravishingly - performed here by the actor-dancers).

The last of the queens tells the story of her many species, how one by one they are disappearing from the world because of human intervention.  Yet she is herself ultimately captured and the future of butterflies looks bleak…

Dreams of the Last Butterflies has wowed people at festivals across the world and has already won over ten awards. It was created in partnership with Saving Species.

HIV: The Musical – Starring Martin Freeman

If you are a fan of Martin Freeman at his most deadpan and droll then settle back for you are in for a treat.

Here he plays a struggling writer who has finished his play about people in the Sudan living with HIV and is now looking for a producer.  He finds one but before very long his earnest and intense work has been transformed in to a frivolous, über-camp West End musical.

HIV: The Musical also stars Julian Barratt as the monstrous Myles, every aspiring writer’s nightmare.  It was written and directed by Joseph Patrick and Tim Woodall. 

How to Avoid Clichés in a Student Film by Using Them

Film students are always, always told by their tutors to avoid certain things but, quite often, they fall in to the trap of misusing and abusing any number of tired and not-to-be-trusted movie making tropes and mistakes.  The list might include tedious on-screen text expositions, filming on campus, using friends as actors – and many, many more.

Laurel Powers, a student at Columbus College of Art and Design decided to make a musical short filled with all the student film clichés she could come up with in just under three minutes.  There may be more errors of judgement to be made than just those that appear in  A Student Film (although there are quite a few) but she enters in to it with something approaching mischievous glee (quite infectious too) – and one can only hope that was how her professors received the final piece. After all, to render the unoriginal fresh once more is something of a feat - and we can all list professional directors who can't seem to manage it (or are too lazy to do so) - so hats off to Laurel.

Key & Peele: Le Mis

Key and Peele still don’t seem to be very well known outside of the US – and that’s a great shame but something that I am sure will change in the near future.  The popular American comedic duo here takes on Les Miserables – and those of you who have seen the movie or the musical will get this completely. 

The villain of a historical epic struggles with the fact that this epic also happens to be a musical.