I don’t like musicals. I don’t have a very specific reason why, but they always seem monotonous or maybe a little unnatural to me. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe it’s because I don’t have much of a singing voice. I may invite rage at this statement, but I didn’t like the Phineas and Ferb roller-coaster musical and I skip the singing parts in Disney movies (except High School Musical 2 – I’m not a psychopath). I do remember a specific dislike for Glee, which my family loved to watch, and I fell asleep during Mamma Mia. I think the first time I nearly enjoyed a musical was a crossover episode between The Flash and Supergirl. But I cringed throughout. I must, however, admit that I’ve never watched a musical at the theatre, and so this only applies to movies and TV. But I watched Childish Gambino’s “Guava Island” recently, and his take on a musical was unorthodox. I liked it, but I still cringed. I remember thinking that I didn’t find “Hairspray” all that bad. There was hope yet! So, I decided I would get out of my comfort zone and give musicals another chance. Surely there were a few out there I could watch. Or was I closeted musical lover this entire time? Tun tun tun!
After scouring the internet for the best movie musicals, and consulting a few friends, I narrowed it down to three musicals which I watched this week. The first thing I realized when researching musicals is that I had a very limited view of what a musical is and could be. The School of Rock is a musical! How did I not see it that way? On the other side of this, every biopic on musicians ever made is technically a musical. The field was quite broad. I had to pick movies that would represent what a musical was at the time, but would also be far enough out of my comfort zone to force me to go into it with an open mind.
I decided to create a few rules for how I would choose the movies:
- No Disney, Pixar or any other animation studio
- No biopics
- Only one movie from a particular era
- Only cinematic releases
- Singin’ In The Rain
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Thoughts on the movie as a whole: I must admit that before this I doubt I had ever watched a movie made before 1970. So, this was an introduction not only into an era of musicals, but into The Golden Age of Hollywood as a whole. The plot is that of a typical romantic comedy. The protagonist realizes he doesn’t like his girlfriend after pursuing her and meets someone new. This is fitted into the subplot of a movie studio attempting to make a musical to combat the success of the first talking movie, The Jazz Singer. I liked the nostalgic tone of the subplot and callback to the flamboyance of the “Roaring 20s”. I was also a fan of the use of the setting (a Hollywood studio) as both a prop and a meta reference to it in the musical numbers.
Thoughts on the musical aspects: This movie is likely what I had in mind when I imagined a typical musical from the style of the numbers to the over-the-top dance moves and the expected but spontaneous outbursts into song. They were not my favourite part of the movie. I felt every second. “Make ‘em laugh?” I felt like crying.
Favourite song: Gene Kelly’s iconic titular number obviously takes this one. I had never heard it before, but I have seen hundreds of references and have probably referenced it myself. In a movie filled with over-the-top moments, this is a very lowkey affair with only Don’s umbrella and a gutter used as props. It works perfectly. The entire number is the physical expression of the emotions you feel after being with that person that makes your heart beat just that little faster.
- Grease
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Thoughts on the movie as a whole: Grease is the kind of movie you lose yourself in, a musicalblockbuster. Ignore the middle-agers playing teenagers; ignore the fact that most of the characters are two-dimensional; ignore that there really isn’t any real conflict in the movie, just tension; andignore the fact that the tension just solves itself conveniently for a happy ending. Just enjoy the outrageous costumes, funky hair and John Travolta as a bad boy with a gentle heart. Did I enjoy it? Well yes, and no.
Thoughts on the musical aspects: I liked this despite myself, I thought that some of the individual performances were a chance for the characters to be honest with who they are and people’s perceptions of them. At other times, they were a chance to display backflips (omg so many), knee slides and leg splits. I wasn’t a fan of the dance competition, which took up a sizeable portion of the movie. Like I get it, it’s a musical.
Favourite song: “Summer Nights” performed by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. This is by far the catchiest song in the movie, and I found myself humming it and snapping my fingers long after the movie was over. The camera alternates between Danny and Sandy as they give their friends juicy details on their vacation fling. There’s even a cheesy shot of Sandy slowly fading in next to Danny as the duet comes to a close. John Travolta struggling with a note at one point makes it even more endearing.
- Moulin Rouge!
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Thoughts on the movie as a whole: In a word: spectacular! Set in “1899, the summer of love”using music from the 1970s, 80s and 90s, this movie is the epitome of ridiculous. It is 2 hours of melodrama, essentially a shortened telenovela. It shouldn’t work on any level. Yet it works on every level. It had me from the moment there was a conductor for the 20th century fox song right until the curtains came down.
Thoughts on the musical aspects: See above
Favourite song: “Elephant Love Medley” duet performed by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. I wonder how long it took for them to put this one together. It’s an argument between Christian and Satine, the former eschewing the power of love and the latter dismissing his naivety interlacing lyrics from several songs into one brilliant duet/conversation on a Parisian rooftopshaped like an elephant’s head. What more can you ask for?
Well there you have it. Another skeptic turned into a believer. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to break out into song a la Andre 3000 in Idlewild and would like to be left alone.