Paul and Corey Cross the Streams

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  • 4.3 (6)
  • TV & Film
  • Updated Monthly

A bi-monthly podcast in which hosts Paul Pakler and Corey Pepper watch and review streaming content - so you don't have to!

  1. 6d ago

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E10 [DREAMGIRLS (2006)]

    Let's put on a show! It's season 8 for Paul and Corey Cross the Streams, and this season we're watching musicals. It's a singular art form with a dynamic history, and we get to listen to a lot of cast recordings... This week, Corey continued discussed of Motown, albeit in a legally-deniable way, with Dreamgirls (2006). The film was adapted and directed by Bill Condon from the 1981 Broadway show, which was originally directed by Michael Bennett, with music by Henry Krieger, and book and lyrics by Tom Eyen. The film was a box office smash and critical success, winning Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Sound Mixing. It's a star-studded cast, including Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, and Jennifer Hudson. And yet. Paul and Corey just did not like this adaptation. Corey, who worked bar at the original Broadway show and saw it hundreds of times, discusses the differences between the two versions and especially the power of seeing the show live. They also discuss why the film could have suffered from trying to satisfy its stars and expanding the story too much. And for as much as they don't agree with the common wisdom about Jennifer Hudson's performance, they were deeply impressed by Eddie Murphy and Beyonce's performances. They also discuss the musical's interrogation of respectability politics and art in the context of the early 1960s America, as well as misogynoir, colorism, and fatphobia. It's a far-reaching conversation. Enjoy!

  2. Jun 19

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E09 [THE WIZ (1978)]

    Let's put on a show! It's season 8 for Paul and Corey Cross the Streams, and this season we're watching musicals. It's a singular art form with a dynamic history, and we get to listen to a lot of cast recordings... This week, Paul continued along, and is now easing down, the Yellow Brick Road as he and Corey discuss The Wiz (1978). It's another example of a film adaptation of a hit Broadway show that radically reimagines the book and premise - for good or for ill. Paul and Corey discuss the historic exclusion of Black musicals from Broadway, as well as the conditions that led to a welcome influx of them in the early 1970s. They talk about the somewhat fraught pre-production, and the people (Geoffrey Holder, Stephanie Mills) and events that led to its rousing success. They also talk about how Motown Productions came to produce the film, some of the history of the company, and most especially the involvement of Diana Ross behind and in front of the camera. The Wiz (the film) was a critical and box-office failure at the time of its release; however, it found its audience and has become its own cultural institution. Paul and Corey discuss what works and what doesn't and how much of the blame can and should be attributed to having the film directed by Sydney Lumet(!) and written by Joel Schumacher(!!).

  3. Jun 4

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E08 [MOULIN ROUGE (2001)]

    Let's put on a show! It's season 8 for Paul and Corey Cross the Streams, and this season we're watching musicals. It's a singular art form with a dynamic history, and we get to listen to a lot of cast recordings... This week, Corey chose Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! (2001). This is the first instance where both hosts could not bring themselves finish the film in question. But not to worry they both had seen it when it came out (Corey liked it then, Paul hated it). And although they strongly rejected the film, both Paul and Corey respectfully unpack just what qualities and artistic choices Luhrmann and company made that led them to their positions, going so far as comparing the film to the French theorist Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle.

  4. May 19

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E07 [THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)]

    Let's put on a show! It's season 8 for Paul and Corey Cross the Streams, and this season we're watching musicals. It's a singular art form with a dynamic history, and we get to listen to a lot of cast recordings... This week, Paul chose perhaps the most influential American film - The Wizard of Oz (1939). A film so omnipresent in everyone's life that Corey couldn't even watch it. A film so ingrained in our consciousnesses that Paul and Corey don't even recount the plot of the film during the course of the episode! What they do discuss is...everything else. From L. Frank Baum's troubling op-eds to David Lynch to Friends of Dorothy to the conditions on the set to Judy Garland's life and career to how being on television every year almost made the film into a religious event. The episode could have gone at least an hour longer. An absolutely and transcendentally beautiful film that deserves all the praise it gets.

  5. May 1

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E06 [GYPSY (2015)]

    Let's put on a show! It's season 8 for Paul and Corey Cross the Streams, and this season we're watching musicals. It's a singular art form with a dynamic history, and we get to listen to a lot of cast recordings... This week, Corey chose what is arguably the greatest book musical of all time, Gypsy. This is also the first time that Paul and Corey watch a live recording of a musical and, in this case, a revival - Gypsy: Live from the Savoy Theatre (2015). In the likely event that you haven't seen this film, we strongly recommend you watch before listening. It is streaming for free on Tubi. The show was first produced in 1959, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by Arthur Laurents. It was a star-vehicle for Ethel Merman, who played the original Mama Rose. The musical was based on the 1957 memoir, Gypsy: A Memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee (a famous burlesque dancer and entertainer). Before we get too much further in this episode synopsis, it must be said that the term was and is an unacceptable slur used about the Romani people. To the extent that the name of the show, the character, and the performer are what they are, we can understand them through a critical lens of culture, time, and consciousness, without endorsing or hand-waving. With that in mind, the show really does earn its reputation of being the King Lear of musicals. The nuance and depth of characterization is incredible. The songs stand the test of time. And in this production, the performances of Imelda Staunton as Mama Rose and Lara Pulver as Louise are astounding, while being surrounded by a cast of brilliant performers. Paul and Corey discuss the psychology of stage mothers and Mama Rose, societal expectations of women and the commodification of their bodies, and how heartbreaking Gypsy is in the way it creates dramatic opportunities for these hurting people try their best to love each other. It's a great discussion of an excellent musical and production!

  6. Apr 10

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E05 [GREASE (1978)]

    Let's put on a show! It's season 8 for Paul and Corey Cross the Streams, and this season we're watching musicals. It's a singular art form with a dynamic history, and we get to listen to a lot of cast recordings... This week, Paul wanted to pick a straight-down-the-middle classic. A crowd-pleaser. Grease (1978). Well, it turns out everyone loves Grease except for Corey. Although, that's not quite true. See, there are so many versions of Grease... So, Paul and Corey discuss the production history of the little show from Chicago that became the longest-running Broadway show (for a time) and conquered the world with the film and its soundtrack. Multiple revivals. Reality shows. Sequels and prequels. All that stuff. Grease (the film) is a Frankenstein's monster of a project, and, love it or hate it, it somehow came together into a colossal, beloved success. And the question that Paul and Corey discuss is "at what cost to the original script and concept?" It's a great discussion. (Paul had such a great time rewatching the film that he ran out and bought the soundtrack.)

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E05 [GREASE (1978)]

  7. Mar 26

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E04 [SWEENEY TODD (2007)]

    Let's put on a show! It's season 8 for Paul and Corey Cross the Streams, and this season we're watching musicals. It's a singular art form with a dynamic history, and we get to listen to a lot of cast recordings... Attend the podcast on Sweeney Todd! Yes, this week Corey chose the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp joint Sweeney Todd (2007). This adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's brilliant musical from 1979, was...bad. Which is too bad because the musical is one that Corey and Paul both love very much. In the episode, they discuss Stephen Sondheim's body of work and his singular style; the history of the archetypical characters of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett; Tim Burton's career (and artistic limitations); whether the musical is, as original director, Hal Prince, claimed and Sondheim disagreed, a satire of "the Industrial Revolution;" and most importantly why and in what ways this adaptation struggles with its source material. (A factory whistle blows)

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E04 [SWEENEY TODD (2007)]

  8. Mar 12

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E03 [GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933)]

    Let's put on a show! It's season 8 for Paul and Corey Cross the Streams, and this season we're watching musicals. It's a singular art form with a dynamic history, and we get to listen to a lot of cast recordings... It may be the Great Depression, but Paul and Corey are in the money! Yes, this week's episode is Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). Directed by Mervyn Leroy, music & lyrics by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, choreography by Busby Berkeley, and starring Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers, and Aline MacMahon (and more), Gold Diggers of 1933 was and is a classic of Hollywood musicals. However, Corey really didn't like it. The boys discuss sexism and the Male Gaze, the Hayes Code, spectacle and Busby Berkeley's impact on filmmaking, the reappraisal of musicals of the '20s and '30s that happened in the '70s, and even the Bonus Army.

    Paul and Corey Cross the Streams: S8E03 [GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933)]
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4.3
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A bi-monthly podcast in which hosts Paul Pakler and Corey Pepper watch and review streaming content - so you don't have to!

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