Musical Hell: The Magic Voyage

 After several years of Halloween-based reviews, it's time to take a look at October's other holiday focusing on horror and death. That's right, Christopher Columbus gets the over-sanitized kid's movie treatment in The Magic Voyage!

Know the Score: Revue Starlight, Takarazuka, and the Joy and Pain of Art

Happy Monday/Talk Like a Pirate/Queen's Funeral Day to one and all! Today's Know the Score comes to us via a Patreon request. While the Musical Hell review schedule is pretty much full to the end of the run, I'm always looking for requests for Know the Score, At the Source, and other projects. And if you're not subscribed to the YouTube, please do so! If I get 50,000 subscribers by December I'll do either the Star Wars Holiday Special or Santa Claus and the Ice Cream Bunny as a holiday riff!

In the meantime, enjoy a little bit of the background and themes of Revue Starlight!

Musical Hell: The Scarecrow

 Happy Labor Day! Support unions and have a look at this bad cartoon about a dancing scarecrow that wishes to be human.

At the Source: The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder

 New At the Source! Today we're talking about the play behind Hello, Dolly! which goes way back. And I mean WAAAAAAAAY back.

Musical Hell: S-Club Seeeing Double

 I'm back on schedule! (More or less, for the time being.) Just in time to give you another bit of pop music promotion from the mind that gave us Spice Girls and From Justin to Kelly. It's S-Club: Seeing Double!

Know the Score--Belle: Sub vs. Dub (And Why it Might Not Matter)

 Have you seen Belle yet? If not, you should. Have I done a video on Belle yet? Right now, as it just so happens!

What Comes Next

 I have been trying to find the right moment to say this, but I’m not sure there will ever be a right moment so I will just come out and say it. After over ten years of demon-based, bad-musical entertainment, Musical Hell has officially entered its endgame.

This decision was not made lightly, and was based on a combination of advancing age, increasing real-world commitments, the Internet’s steady shift away from snark-based reviewing, and most importantly a deep sense that I have done and said everything I can with the series. Few things are sadder to me than a creative endeavor which plods along in tired routine, well past the point of invention or relevance. I think it far better to leave while the parting may yet cause a pang, rather than wear out my welcome.

This is not goodbye immediately, nor is it goodbye forever. I want to fulfill my commitments to the generous people who have donated to my Patreon, as well as give Diva proper sendoff and closure. I have also made too many friends through this part of my life to abandon it entirely. My initial plan was to keep the series running through the end of 2023, but new adjustments to the schedule have shifted that a few months back. So the final Musical Hell Review will air April 2024, twelve years after the first.

From there, I hope to keep doing shorter-form “Know the Score” and “At the Source” videos, riffs, and whatever other projects strike my fancy (although these will likely be on a more sporadic schedule) as well as continue with my podcast work. My Patreon page will probably switch from a per-video to monthly schedule, with adjusted reward tiers and incentives.

Right now, I have about two or three slots for Patreons to request full-length review subjects if they have any last-minute demands to get in, but after that I will need to limit $10 tier rewards to Know the Score or At the Source. Alternately, I will gladly consider any requests for other video ideas you would like to see like reaction videos, livestreams, or other content.

I have been very blessed with what Musical Hell and Diva have brought me, and I thank you for all your gifts of support, assistance, and just taking a few minutes out of your day to watch me do this thing. I hope you will stay with me through the journey’s end and beyond.