“Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.,” the Hawaii-lensed medical series, is expected to begin filming its second season May 16, with production on 10 episodes continuing through Aug. 23.
The series, focusing on Lahela “Doogie” Kamealoha, a 16-year-old prodigy portrayed by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, happens to have dual careers, as a medical doctor and teen-ager, whose roles conflict and provide both tension and comedy.
The sophomore season is reportedly introducing yet-unnamed recurring characters, including Blake, Ellis and Billy, to join the cast:
Blake is an Australian female, 20, who is athletic, gorgeous, a surfer on a pro tour and the expected roommate of Doogie’s love interest, Walter.
Ellis (first name, Marjorie), a female who may be of any ethnicity between 40 and 60, who is shrewd, critical and an expected antagonist, in the role of a member of the hospital’s board of directors.
Billy, a child between 9 and 12, has the innocence and sweetness of youth, to be featured in a storyline involving a dog named Pickles, who is injured and whose owners can’t afford a veterinarian for treatment, so Doogie gets involved.
The “Doogie” ohana: center, Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Doogie, with (left), Jason Scott Lee and Kathleen Rose Perkins as her dad and mom, and (right), West Tian and Matthew Sato as her brothers. Photo courtesy Disney.
The ongoing cast includes Jason Scott Lee, as Doogie’s father Benny, who operates a floral and shave ice truck; Kathleen Rose Perkins, as Dr. Clara Hannon, her mom and hospital supervisor; Matthew Sato as Kai, her older brother; Wes Tian, as her younger brother Brian Patrick; Emma Meisel, as her best friend Steph Denisco; Alex Aiono as Walter Taumata, her teen crush; Ronny Chieng, as the hospital’s Dr. Lee; Mapuana Makia as Noelani, a hospital aide; and Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, as Dr.Charles Zeller, an ally of Doogie.
Kourtney Kang is executive producer and creator of the series, based on CBS’ earlier hit, “Doogie Hoosier, M.D.,” which starred Neal Patrick Harris as the youth-teen doctor.
The names of the incoming actors have not been released. Meantime,
Season 1 of “Doogie Kamealoha” is streaming on Disney+.
The waiting game for ‘Magnum’
So Perdita Weeks, who is Julia Higgins, and Jay Hernandez, who is Thomas Magnum, have feelings for each other. On last night’s (May 6) final episode of CBS’ “Magnum P.I.,” he and she awkwardly but unexpectedly declared their love for each other, suggesting that their future together brings new bonds to the plate.
Love is in the air for Perdita Weeks (Higgins) and Jay Hernandez (Magnum). Photo, courtesy CBS.
So the die is cast.
But the cliffhanger is this: the network has not yet extended a Season 5 order, so the island-based story can continue. If the fall season does not happen, this would be one of the most abrupt and anxious way to say aloha, which in this case, is not hello, but goodbye.
Why? When? Go figure; a “go” is expected, but the tardiness is unsettling. Series star Hernandez has publicly stated he is unworried about the status, that an extension is forthcoming.
The show, now in its Friday night slot preceding the evening’s ratings champ, “Blue Bloods” (yeah, with the original Magnum, Tom Selleck), has been a steady ratings draw, holding its own but never bypassing “Blue,” which already has its 13 Season granted.
Can’t be that CBS has halted season orders for other shows; it just bestowed a Season 3 and 4 for Queen Latifa’s “The Equalizer,” a Sunday night hit. …
Unexpected oddities are part of the 2022-23 season on island stages, beginning this fall.
For starters, Diamond Head Theatre, which prides itself in being the Broadway of the Pacific, will be one show short – with five, not six productions – in its 2022-23 outing. But there’s a valid reason.
And Manoa Valley Theatre, often called Hawaii’s off-Broadway resource, will have one show too many in its 2022-23 slate. Six shows had been scheduled, but the theater has to schedule a seventh, apart of the season. Yep, there is a valid reason, too.
Diamond Head Theatre will actually be working from two venues in the coming season, with the first show on the slate, “Anything Goes,” opening in the current theater. They’ll skip on a holiday production this year (sorry, Santa), so that there will be ample time to move house, into the new theater facility, still under construction. They’ll welcome first viewers Jan. 2023, when DHT’s second show, “Cinderella,” is launched in the spanky new state-of-the-art facility. So this simply will be an extended intermission.
At MVT, its secure six-show slate will have to accommodate the seventh title, since “Spamilton,” Gerard Alessendrini’s popular spoof of the hit musical that was slated this year, had to be bumped off the current calendar because of scheduling issues, one being the real “Hamilton” will be staged at Blaisdell Concert Hall, as part of a four-show “Broadway in Hawaii” season, this winter.
Complications and challenges aside, the new season will offer spectacles galore, some new, some familiar, reflecting the anything-can-happen, things-can-go-astray pulse of live theater. Ain’t it all exciting?
The early outlook from the organizations ready to roll with an agenda. We’ll report other seasons on other fronts, when they’re announced.
So here’s the schedule, so far:
Diamond Head Theatre:
“Anything Goes,” Sept. 9 to 25. Cole Porter’s musical comedy, about Reno Sweeney setting sail for England, amid a complicated love triangle that unfolds at sea. Besides the title tune, the score includes “I Get a Kick Out of You.”
“Cinderella,” Jan. 20 to Feb. 5, 2023. This is the Rodgers and Hammerstein version, not the Disney variation, about the cinder girl who becomes the belle of the ball, complete with glass slipper.
“La Cage Aux Folles,” March 24 to April 9, 2023. Music and lyrics, with book by Harvey Fierstein, is based on the Jean Poiret French play, about a nightclub with drag entertainment, owned by Georges, and starring his partner in life, Albin, featuring the “I Am What I Am” anthem that defines the show.
“Bodyguard,” May 26 to June 11, 2023. Based on a Warner Bros. film, with book by Alexander Dinelaris, and screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan. Essentially, a tribute to Whitney Houston, who played Rachel in the film, and includes the poignant and powerful “I Will Always Love You” signature. Held over by DHT since the early stages of the pandemic, but finally debuting.
“Beauty and the Beast,” July 21 to Aug. 6, 2023. This Disney classic, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, is an Oscar and Tony winner about Belle and a prince trapped under a spell as a Beast.
Manoa Valley Theatre:
“Cabaret,” the stage and film hit, Sept. 8 to 25. A Tony and Oscar-winning classic, with music by John Kander and Frank Ebb, based on a play by John Van Druten. Hits include “Wilkkomen,” “Don’t Tell Mama,” and “Perfectly Marvelous.”
“The Game’s Afoot, Or Holmes for the Holidays,” Nov. 17 to Dec. 4. A comedy by Ken Ludwig, mixing murder, mystery, and madcap mayhem in the spirit of Sherlock Holmes.
“The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” Jan. 12-29. Based on Charles Dickens’ unfinished novel where everyone is suspected of murder and spectators help decide the outcome.
“Tick, Tick … Boom!,” March 9 to 26. Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical musical, about an aspiring composer frustrated about his looming 30th birthday, and struggling to create a song to seal the deal. A Hawaii premiere.
“The Play That Goes Wrong,” May 11 to 28. A comedy in the show-must-go-on tradition, where things go askew before the final curtain. A Hawaii premiere.
“The Chinese Lady,” July 13 to 30. A tale of an immigrant from China, based on a true story, laced with history and humor. A Hawaii premiere.
“Spamilton,” a parody by Gerard Allensandrini of the Lin-Manuel Miranda Broadway hit, will have to be scheduled, date unknown yet.
Kennedy Theatre:
Mainstage productions:
“Form Within a Form: Echoes and Reverberations,” Nov. 11, 12, 18, and 20. One of two Mainstage works, this one assembling collaborative dance, music, mixed media, scenic art and costume design; described as Kennedy’s largest dance production assembling innovative and renowned choreographers from abroad and locally, with music and media reflecting themes of nurturing, nourishing, sustaining and transmission intended to transit through the senses and body.
“20,000 Leagues Deep, #hawaii_ascending,” Feb. 24, 25, March 3, 5. An immersive Theatre for Young Audiences production, also on the Mainstage, expressly for the young of heart, confronting the climate crisis in Hawaii, the Pacific and the world and intended to flag the obstacles and dangers in the battle for the planet. Directed by Alvin Chan.
Primetime Series
“Chinee, Japanee, All Mix Up,” Sept —. An exploration of identity in Hawaii and in America. Directed by Reiko Ho.
“Memorial Day,” October. Set in 1992, at the height of the AIDS crisis, when a generation of infected men are dying amid prevailing anti-gay hysteria. A Hawaii premiere.
“Dance, Dance, Dance,” January. A play adapted on Haruki Murakami’s novel, set in Hokkaido, Tokyo and Honolulu, with a non-linear space-time warp, where dance is a metaphor to restore, rebuild, and rediscover life.
“Footholds,” April. A dance show featuring MFA and BFA student choreographers on the eve of earning their diplomas.
Late Night Series
Late Night Theatre Company, operated by students, though hosted by UHM’s Department of Theatre and Dance, will offer a yet-to-be-identified production set for fall, 2022. With the hallmarks of the genre: limited budget, minimalist tech elements highlighting student acting and directing skills, in the student-friendly late-night format.
Broadway in Hawaii:
Performances at Blaisdell Concert Hall
“Jersey Boys,” Sept. 13 to 25 .A biographical music, about the life and times of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, features all the yesteryear hits like “Sherri,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Walk Like a Man.”
“Hamilton,” Dec. 7 to Jan. 29, 2023. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning mega hit about Alexander Hamilton, told in hip-hop rap. A Hawaii premiere, in an unprecedented seven-week residency.
“Cats,” June 13 to 18, 2023. The Broadway classic, by Andrew Lloyd Webber, wstill the cat’s meow, is avpurr-fect “Memory”-maker, for a new generation of theater fans.
Broadway grosses, week ending May 1, 2022
Broadway grosses took a dip, with “The Music Man” and “Hamilton” retaining their No. 1 and No 2 status; at No. 3, “Plaza Suite” moved up the laddar.
The rundown, courtesy the Broadway League:
Show Name
GrossGross
TotalAttn
Capacity
%Capacity
A STRANGE LOOP
$415,275.50
5,611
7,376
76.07%
ALADDIN
$965,527.18
12,516
13,816
90.59%
AMERICAN BUFFALO
$528,846.30
4,630
6,008
77.06%
BEETLEJUICE
$875,738.60
7,336
12,816
57.24%
BIRTHDAY CANDLES
$286,387.00
3,924
5,816
67.47%
CHICAGO
$585,101.25
6,226
8,640
72.06%
COME FROM AWAY
$446,094.40
5,102
8,368
60.97%
COMPANY
$660,222.71
5,551
8,368
66.34%
DEAR EVAN HANSEN
$474,607.70
5,067
7,872
64.37%
FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE / WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF
$250,174.50
3,149
6,184
50.92%
FUNNY GIRL
$1,116,472.95
9,456
9,752
96.96%
GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
$131,956.50
1,683
2,994
56.21%
HADESTOWN
$851,687.00
7,004
7,344
95.37%
HAMILTON
$2,091,733.00
9,653
10,592
91.13%
HANGMEN
$294,033.00
3,567
6,416
55.60%
HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD
$1,095,952.00
9,183
12,976
70.77%
HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE
$311,030.00
4,305
4,459
96.55%
MACBETH
$970,737.00
7,313
7,357
99.40%
MJ THE MUSICAL
$1,226,825.10
9,369
11,096
84.44%
MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL
$1,419,844.60
9,904
10,400
95.23%
MR. SATURDAY NIGHT
$711,269.20
6,006
7,146
84.05%
MRS. DOUBTFIRE
$421,454.00
5,288
8,272
63.93%
PARADISE SQUARE
$206,561.80
4,260
7,848
54.28%
PLAZA SUITE
$1,656,073.60
7,693
7,800
98.63%
POTUS: OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE
Manoa Valley Theatre has announced it is postponing its planned “Spamilton” musical. So if you have season seats for the Gerard Allesandrini parody of “Hamilton,” it was to open in July but will be staged at MVT sometime next year, specific dates to be determined.
You may contact the box office to either receive a refund, or secure tickets to Lisa Matsumoto’s “Once Upon One Time,” the local pidgin musical parodying classic fairy tale figures with island orientation, that is not part of the current season, but a summer add-on attraction at the Kaimuki Performing Arts Center.
MVT secured the rights to the popular off-Broadway musical that wholly targets the “Hamilton” production and its central characters like Alexander Hamilton and King George III. Originally, MVY secured the rights to the show, under an agreement that stipulated that “Spamilton” could not be produced in a city where the original “Hamilton” had not yet been produced. And when the pact was signed, the actual “Hamilton” musical was not yet on the radar for a Honolulu run – in December of this year, at Blaisdell Concert Hall — so the outlook changed.
The New York “Playkill” for “Spamilton.”
“In accordance with the original producer’s agreement, and we believe the MVT audience experience will be greatly enhanced after having the opportunity to attend a live performance of ‘Hamilton,’ we have made the artistic decision to produce the Hawaii premiere of ‘Spamilton; in 2023, following the conclusion of the run,” said Kip Wilborn, MVT executive director, in a statement..
Wise move – I’ve seen ‘Spamilton’ in New York, in its early run off-Broadway, and it’s true that knowing the ins and outs of the hit show will enhance the appreciation of the humor that is Alessandrini’s signature. His satiric take is arrow-sharp, but the laughs and pokes are gentle and tend to mold the experience as an homage to Lin Manuel Miranda as an admired and worshipped Broadway super trouper.
Though many here have watched “Hamilton” that still is streaming on Disney+, experiencing the live original is truly a key to enjoying what’s in store in the parody. …
The month of May marks the formal first-year anniversary of my website, https://www.harada.com.
If you’ve seen some of the posts, mahalo for your interest. For others – it’s never late to join in.
While I experimented and posted articles, columns and reviews during a trial run in March-April of 2021, it wasn’t till May that the website’s theories and plans were fortified.
And here I am. Up and running. Surviving and surprisingly active.
It’s been a fun, productive first-year. It started as a whim, and slowly developed into a resource for mutual communication – via reviews, chatter, some reflection – with an audience mildly or keenly interested in the kind of stuff I used to pursue while fully employed (now retired) from the morning Honolulu Star-Advertiser, which, like it or not, became a one-daily newspaper town when fused with the evening Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which became the combined Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
A self-run website, I’ve focused on the Hawaii entertainment scene, with alternating coverage and attention paid to local music, Waikiki nightlife, Hawaii-based network television, selective movie reviews, Honolulu theater and general show-biz chit-chat.
The website emerged while Hawaii – and the world – was immersed and saddled with the COVID-19 pandemic, when movie-going in theaters and show-watching in clubs and showrooms halted.
Since then, I’ve been following acts and destinations rebound and return into action – think the likes of Henry Kapono and Blue Note Hawaii – as a sense of normalcy returned.
Broadway is all about the energy at Times Square.
Like others, I started returning to dine-in spots that reopened and took in movies initially with some caution and trepidation.
The one element that that I’ve not yet revisited has been travel. Over the decades, I wrote about some of my trips, normally hopping aboard an airplane two to three times a year. My principal destinations were Japan or New York City, where I would explore the charms of both Tokyo/Osaka and Broadway NYC.
Tokyu Hands, a place for crafters in Japan.
There were instincts and trends to examine, like the marvels of Daiso and Tokyu Hands in Japan, where the crafts sections were an attraction for me in Japan, and the mighty perks and charm of Broadway theater – notably, “Hamilton” the tantamount of all these endeavors – and discuss how difficult and expensive it has become to secure pricey seats especially in the show’s first year run with the original cast, led by creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. You’ve forgotten, but I’ll remind you: I simply couldn’t find tickets in the time frame of my visit at prices I could afford. So, gulp, I paid $750 per ticket (bought two, for my wife and me), in the next-to-the-last row in the Richard Rodgers Theatre and proclaimed that yes, this was astronomical, but worth it to see the original key players in all their glory. Risks matter .Ditto, money.
The Playbill for “Hamilton”
I happily wrote, a few years later, that I was lucky enough to catch two Island actors in “Hamilton:” Joseph Morales, from Honolulu, in the Chicago company, playing the titular lead role on Sundays, but now doing the Hamilton lead in a re-launched national touring company, and Marc delaCruz, from the Big Island, in the ensemble and understudying both the Hamilton and the King George roles in the Broadway company.
Tracking such accomplishments is my mission; sharing that kind of achievement is my privilege.
My Show Biz column, which was part of the daily paper for 45 years before I retired in 2008 (and appearing for another dozen years as a freelancer), has been the primary venue for my reportage. It’s hard to believe, in retrospect, that I posted more than 170 Show Biz columns since this website was launched. Can’t begin to count or accurately assemble the number of print columns filed over the decades.
Column logo
As part of the mission of the website, I periodically take nostalgic strolls down memory lane – 14 so far, and counting — to reflect on old traditions of growing up in Hawaii and remembering such stalwart musical greats and popular venues now gone, too. People like reminiscing about the fave places they frequented, whether it was the Civic Auditorium for early-era rock shows championed by budding entrepreneur and show presenter Tom Moffatt, Char Hung Sut for manapua, or Bea’s for custard pie.
Thus, life issues have been part of the plan, sharing and comparing aches and pains of transiting to seniorhood.
In a sometime frivolous but popular mode, I’ve posed questions in a Just Asking feature, tackling such matters as why Libby’s corned beef still comes in a tin can with a key or seeking responses from readers to list songs with Monday in their titles or wondering how folks are coping with high gasoline prices.
I’ve also shared my decades-old tradition of creating lapel pins for Valentine’s, Easter, Halloween and Christmas, and during the pandemic, the pins landed on many facemasks around town
My Hawaii-themed note cards.
My other craft interests have appeared on the site, like my Wild Cards notecards comprised of such designs as aloha shirts, musubi, sushi, pandemic-related face masks, and just recently, a bunch of postcard-inspired Hawaii notecards. Perhaps I will try to make some of these creations available to the public for purchases. Till now, it’s stress-busting recreational fun to produce these cards, even if card-sending has become nearly extinct in favor of, sigh, emailing.
The website would not have been part of my game plan, were it not for tech whiz Ryan Ozawa, who emailed one day asking why I didn’t have my own site but proceeded to register my name to make the impossible possible. So a huge mahalo to Ryan, who was the one who pushed the button (and me) to kick off the proceedings. And please, Ryan, when your hectic pace subsides, please let me know how much I owe you for keeping the site. up and running.
And to followers and friends, old and new, thank you for your interest and support. I toiled long and hard back in the day, but the current jolt of busy-ness has been the best panacea for a retiree with some pain issues who still adores activities and creativity to keep the ticker pumping.
Twice, as a matter of fact, in two parts and a season apart.
That’s director Jon Chu’s plan to convert the movie version of the Broadway musical, “Wicked” — which still is drawing audiences in New York — into a two-parter.
So the long-anticipated screen rendering, which will star Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, as Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, respectively, will be watched with bated breath. Either the plan will be a thunderous hit or a thudding dud.
Putting it another way: this will be the longest “intermission” for one movie divided into two, an industry first.
Ariana Grande
If nothing else, it’s a worrisome situation, and a trial balloon, particularly since movie musicals lately have become financial failures, despite rave reviews and clearly an indication of a withering audience base, largely because it’s the elderly folks who generally watch musicals but have stopped going to the cinema, partially because of the shutdown of theaters and made going back harder with time.
Cynthia Erivo
Most youths, however, are not musical fanatics, perhaps not since “Rent,” which had the rock beat that spoke to them like no other show.
You can’t fault Grande and Erivo, in this prequel to “The Wizard or Oz” story. The division of one into two doesn’t seem practical. Chu isn’t doing a sequel or a prequel; it’ one story, and he’s altering the dynamics by making it into two. The roles were famously created by Kristin Chenowith and Idina Mendel on the Great White Way,
Chu, in a Twitter post, declared that the pandemic-delayed musical, wlll be a two-parter, the initial part premiering as a Universal Pictures project on Dec. 25, 2024. The second wave will arrive a year later, on Dec. 25, 2025, hopefully without health and world issues intervening.
Split perception: Part 1…
“As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of ‘Wicked’ into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” Chu wrote in a statement.
…followed by Part 2.
“As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one ‘Wicked’ movie but two!
“With more space, we can tell the story of ‘Wicked’ as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.
Chu has not been paying attention to the fate of high-profile, hit musicals of the recent past, that have struggled at the box office despite positive media reviews. Interestingly, the last film Chu directed was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning inspirational “In the Heights,” which was a grand, dance-fueled homage to the Puerto Rican Washington Heights locale in New York, but the marketing failed the product. It streamed on HBO Max but also played in movie houses to enthusiastic reviews but dreadful attendance, with a meager $44 million gross world-wide.
Then there was director Steven Spielberg’s high-budget interpretation of the music of Leonard Bernstein’s Oscar-winning “West Side Story,” with lyrics, if you recall, by Stephen Sondheim. While Ariana DeBose as the new Anita earned a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, the film was one that couldn’t generate crowds. In simple terms, it was box office bomb: An artistic winner, but a box office loser. The film grossed only $75.9 million globally, when it needed $300 million to break even.
The reflection on why or how both award-winning resources seemed to assert that audiences weren’t keen about movie musicals anymore is debatable. But these song-and-dance fests appeal to the older generation, which rarely support filmed musicals anymore.
The last big Hollywood film musical was the Hugh Jackman-led “Les Miserables,” an undeniable hit as a staged musical, which grossed $441 million world-wide. The title is routinely staged in theaters, occasionally rebooted on Broadway, so it has built-in followers, a plus nowadays for filmed movie musicals.
Clearly, there are varying theories about why musicals don’t attract movie fans. One, it has to be a hot attraction. Remember the movie version of the stage musical, “Hamilton,” was held hostage for more than a year, but was delayed as a theatrical product and released at the height of the pandemic as a streaming title for Disney+, where show creator Miranda has his hands and toes in assorted Disney endeavors. The streaming was a great shot for Disney+, which earned huge numbers of new fans, possibly folks who couldn’t afford to see “Hamilton” on stage because of the unaffordable premium prices that plagued the show for several years.
Initially, 7.8 million watched the “Hamilton” stream, reaching 3.9 million households, upping Disney+ subscribers to 60.5 million. These figures are from secondary sources, since Disney remains mum about its hits or misses. Since a Disney+ membership also included Hulu and ESPN access, the deal was, simply, “affordable.”
Miranda, of course, continues to pump up his creativity at the Mouse House, the most recent being the unexpected streaming hit, “Encanto,” with the unintended runaway hit song,”We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” a title that wasn’t submitted for Oscar contention yet evolved into the first Oscarcast show to feature a full-fledged performance of a non-nominated tune, because, well, it would generate high viewership. (The actual reason: Van Morrison, by choice, declined to perform his nominated song because he was on tour, so there was a time slot for another song, and Disney, which owns ABC, opted to wedge in “Bruno,” and it worked.)
The upcoming “Wicked” is based on the Broadway show, adapted by Winnie Holzman, adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.” It runs for 2 hours and 45 minutes, with a 15-minute intermission, so one wonders how many more minutes, or hours, Chun will need to package the drama the tunes into halves. The music and lyrics are by Stephen Schwartz, who will provide the screenplay for the film, and it’s quite possible he could create one or two more tunes, to justify extra running time while yielding a dose of freshness. Producer Marc Platt, who produced the stage show, will also produce the movie and its two halves and might certainly seek a larger budget to justify two parts vs. one.
Traditionally, it’s old hat for for movies to offer sequels, prequels, and more spin-offs than imaginable; think of George Lucas‘ “Star Wars” back-and-forth franchise, along with the blockbuster “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark” series, the “Superman” remakes and sequels, the “Spiderman” brand with different lead webb-makers and even the “Jurassic Park” dinosaur adventures that still keep roaring along with the unending Marvel superhero adventures that ride the crest periodically. Like the “Batman” bounty, no need to label ’em 1, 2 or 3. Those classic “James Bond” and “Pink Panther” comedies were never sequels, merely different tales built on a centerpiece character popular with movie fans. Ditto, the “Fast and Furious” catalogue. You can scour for more similar films that gave birth to another film or a third.
But this two-part “Wicked” endeavor is a first to split one resource to configure a Part 1 and Part 2. Presumably, the whole will be sliced into two, running times to be determined, but a second installment won’t be a sequel, but will be a conclusion of the storytelling. “The End’ still is two years away. …
