Ryan McNeilI’m not entirely sure why, but I seem to suddenly be surrounded by musicals. Last weekend I watched MAMMA MIA!…next weekend I’ll be seeing the stage production of “Avenue Q”…interspersed with that, was a long conversation with a family member who’d just come back from an NYC trip full of Broadway productions. They’re following me I tell ya!
Musicals seem to be wickedly polarizing lately – people either love ’em or hate ’em. Given the fact that I went to a school for the arts, and the fact that I’m marrying a theatre geek, I land more towards the “love ’em” category.
They don’t all do it for me – I find many of the classics overblown and overlong. As for the modern musicals, there’s many that I feel have done the genre more harm than good (I’m looking at you DREAMGIRLS and PHANTOM). However, just like every other genre, I’ve got my favorites.
So now that “Take a Chance On Me” is finally out of my head, and before it’s replaced with “The Internet is For Porn”. Allow me a genre-specific top five…
#5. HAIRSPRAY (2007)… This rollicking love letter to the generation of change has one of the catchiest over-all soundtracks on this list, and does indeed make you want to get up and dance. It gets bonus points for building on the stage production and turning every room used for a scene into a set unto itself. Of all the modern adaptations, it also gets high marks for the best song added for the screen (the fun-as-a-barrel-of-monkeys “Lady’s Choice”). The absurdly bad casting choice of John Travolta prevents this from climbing any higher on this list.
#4. SWEENEY TODD (2007)… I know, I know, two from one year, but what can I say – it was a good year. This tale of the demon barber isn’t your typical musical – it doesn’t leave you with tapping toes and melodies stuck in your head. It’s much more gothic and lyrical. In many ways it’s much closer to opera than it is to musical theatre. However, as far as a stage-to-screen transition, it’s the one that achieved the most. Tim Burton took Sondheim’s classic, made it darker, more lyrical, and even more violent. Gorgeously shot in shades of grey, with the occasional douse of red, it’s a movie I believe was misunderstood and might hopefully age into something more appreciated.
#3. SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952)… You didn’t think I was going to name all modern movies, did ya? It’s one of the greatest films ever, and perhaps the best movie about making movies. “Make ‘Em Laugh”, “Good Morning, Good Morning”, that glorious title song…so many of these songs endure rather well considering we’re almost sixty years removed from Gene Kelly splashing in the puddles. What sets this movie musical apart from so many others of its vintage is the fact that it was written as a movie musical. It was a bit of a rarity then, and is even more of a rarity now. If you haven’t watched it in a long time (or ever – a criminal act if ever there was one), give it another watch, I dare you not to be in a good mood when Donald O’Connor jumps through the wall.
#2. CABARET (1972)… Here’s a theory for you to argue amongst yourselves: Had screener DVD’s been available in 1972, CABARET beats THE GODFATHER for Best Picture. It is that good, and holds up better to home viewing. The last musical of the classic age, it has it all: amazing direction, two legendary performances, some of the best songs of the genre, and what’s best – an underlying message with teeth, which is a bit of a rarity in the genre. While I am the furthest thing from a fan of Liza, her sleazy sexuality in this movie is something to behold. Funny thing though – even with all the raves that followed the revival a few years back starring Alan Cumming, I wouldn’t want to see this one get remade for all the liquor in the Kit Kat Club.
#1. MOULIN ROUGE! (2001)… Take a jukebox loaded with some of the best songs ever written. Drench it with a lavish palette of reds, golds, blues, and green. Now crank it all up the the level of a third grader on four Jolt Colas. Oh, and centre it all around a gorgeous love story. What you get is a movie that is second to none, and a template for what the genre can be in the hands of the truly daring. Another movie that easily could have won Best Picture in it’s year, and the exception to the rule that a film badly delayed is a sure-fire sign of a mess. I mentioned that the genre is love-it-or-hate-it, and nowhere is that more evident than Baz Luhrman’s opus about freedom, beauty, truth, and most of all, love. Many people I know have had a hard time getting past the especially spastic opening 45 minutes, but for those like me who endured, we believe that this daring film is a symbol of what “could be” in the hands of a director and studio that truly believe in pushing the genre to new heights. What ices it for me as the top of my list, is how this spectacle of a movie ultimately boils down to one poetic point; The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return.
You didn’t include Hedwig???… the wedding is OFF!
😉
Lindsay.
South Park: BLU. 😀
“You didn’t include Hedwig???… the wedding is OFF!”
Any of you dear readers have a couch I can sleep on?
Here’s what I’m wondering about musicals. Do films like The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Fiddler on the Roof count?
I say hell yes they count. If a film features more than one character singing more than one sing, it’s a musical. Or something like that. Those are movies with long, drawn-out musical numbers – plural. If they aren’t musicals, then neither is Moulin Rouge.
They absolutely count, and I considered them all while making this list.
I take it those would be three of your five…which leads me to wonder what yourt other two would be.
Kudos on the Moulin Rouge love. For all the hype that one’s received, I still think it’s underappreciated.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of Avenue Q! Sadly, I missed it when it was here.
Am I terrible for mentioning “Grease”?
When I was a kid, it was one of the movies I used to watch CONSTANTLY with my sister and then we’d run around singing all the songs…
Right along with that one was also White Christmas… Ahhh, to hear Bing Crosby sing.. At christmas time, there is nothing better… Oh! My sister and I used run around singing the song “Sisters” from that movie too 😉
Sorry, Ryan, but you’ve got to be seriously CRAZY…you didn’t include Grease.
No, Hedwig, Little Shop, or Westside *throws up the gang-sign*?!
Naw, man…That ain’t right, man.
How about Once? I’m also partial to the Astaire/Rogers flicks. And My Fair Lady. And I was once in a production of Guys and Dolls, so I’m pretty close to that one.
You know what? I think I’ll have to formulate a list of my own one of these days.
In an unrelated note, every time I visit your blog, I get “The Dark of the Matinee” stuck in my head. Good thing I like Franz Ferdinand.
“In an unrelated note, every time I visit your blog, I get “The Dark of the Matinee” stuck in my head. Good thing I like Franz Ferdinand.”
Haha – me, too. Eventually, this will bother me…but not yet.
“Once” came *this* close to making my list, but I’ve started regarding it as something more than a conventional musical. Without trying to sound too pretentious, for me it’s off in a category all its own.
Good call though!
As for all the others mentioned, they are all solid movies – yes, even Grease – the five on my list just do a little bit more for me.
Thanks for all the comments gang!
Great list!!
I think musicals have to actually include dancing as well, which would oust Once – even though it is a spectacular film.
I loved Dreamgirls! But I knew every line of it before seeing the film, so that may have made the difference.
One of my fave musicals of all time is Jesus Christ Superstar. I love the 70’sness of it and that it has songs in a lower range. Simon Zealot’s ftw.