If you're not already familiar with the Step Up franchise, it's kind of a delectable fluffy dance equivalent to the prime time soap opera or a Nicholas Sparks novel. Just as you don't watch Gossip Girl for the acting (it's the fashion) or read Nicholas Sparks' books for the mind-bending (it's the mush), Step Up is good for just one thing — the dance.
I compulsively see every dance movie that hits theaters IN theaters. Stomp the Yard I paid premium popcorn prices for twice. So you can bet your rear end that mine will be ensconced in red velvet this weekend, not least because my favorite character from Step Up 2: The Streets has been promoted to protagonist in the third installment — Step Up 3D.
Moose, a mop-headed, scrawny lighting design student at the fictional Manhattan School of the Arts, runs off to NYU to pursue engineering but keeps on dancing on the DL in a Brooklyn warehouse-cum-melting pot for artistic outsiders.
But we're not here for plot. The Chicago Tribune reports that the choreography pays some homage to old-school musicals, borrowing moves from Singin' in the Rain for a number danced to Fred Astaire's original "I Won't Dance." And 3D glasses will surely add to the experience of those single-take sequences I so appreciate.
Why has no one thought of this before?! If sword-launching is more epic in 3D, surely so is a grand jeté.
Fingers crossed that Channing Tatum makes a cameo for the franchise that made him a star — most lately in a Nicholas Sparks movie. Ah, we come full circle.
Legendary rockers Styx and Kevin Cronin, lead singer of REO Speedwagon, will team up to co-headline the “Brotherhood of Rock” tour in 2025, which will include a stop at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands on Friday, June 6.
The large, 40-city tour will take place over three months, starting in Greenville, South Carolina on May 28, and wrapping up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 24.
In addition to Houston, the tour will go to Austin on June 4 and Dallas on August 1. It will include special guest Don Felder, former lead guitarist for the Eagles, at all dates.
Fans can expect some of the greatest rock anthems of all time, including “Renegade,” “Keep On Loving You,” “Come Sail Away,” “Can't Fight This Feeling,” and “Hotel California.”
Styx and Cronin (as part of REO Speedwagon) first toured together in 2000 and in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks, coming together to form the Rock to the Rescue 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. This will mark their sixth time joining forces on the road.
2022 was the 50th anniversary of Styx's self-titled debut album, but they have yet to slow down. The band released their 17th album, Crash of the Crown, in 2021. Of course, not everyone is a fan, as this classic clip from The Simpsons illustrates.
REO Speedwagon's recording days appear to be done, with their last album coming out in 2009, but the main group of five has been together since 1989. On this tour, Cronin will be joined by REO's lead guitarist Dave Amato and drummer Bryan Hitt.
General tickets for the tour will go on sale starting on Friday, December 13 at 10 am at LiveNation.com.
Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets in the U.S. beginning on December 9 at 10 am through the Citi Entertainment program.
Styx and Kevin Cronin will be offering VIP packages via their own exclusive pre-sales beginning on Tuesday, December 10 at 10 am, as well as at LiveNation.com.
