Vicky Jenson Brings ‘Spellbound’ to Annecy, Treats the Audience to Alan Menken’s Original Songs
16.06.2023 - 03:56
/ variety.com
Marta Balaga In Vicky Jenson’s upcoming 3D animation “Spellbound,” the hills – of the magical kingdom of Lumbria – are alive with the sound of music. Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman, taking on royals-turned-monsters, John Lithgow, Jenifer Lewis, André De Shields and Nathan Lane are part of the voice cast as well. “Why a musical? People always ask that. In theatre, they say that when emotions are too big to speak about, you sing about them. And when they are too big to sing about, you dance,” she told the Annecy audience on Tuesday. “Emotions are big in this story. They are funny, exuberant, angry and heartbreaking.”
“Spellbound,” is a Skydance Animation and Apple Original Films production, and will be distributed by Apple+.
It follows princess Ellian who tries to keep her family together after a mysterious spell transforms her parents, the king and queen, into monsters. She also needs to keep it a secret and deal with the fact that her parents, now busy destroying the castle, don’t even remember her name. “Skydance is a pretty cool place to work at and one of the reasons [for it] is that they really want to make stories that resonate and mean something,” said Jenson, admitting she was drawn to this family that “goes through a difficult time.” “It may seem like a lot of fun to have a couple of monsters as pets, but it’s also hard, because they don’t know who you are.” Jenson, herself of “Shrek” and “Shark Tale” fame, treated the crowd to the very first listen of the new original songs by Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, performed by “West Side Story” star Rachel Zegler. “I like to think we discovered her, because we saw her videos on YouTube around the same time Steven Spielberg did. She
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