THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

 

Note: Up until now, this space has focused its writing on film to what happens on the screen and where that takes the thoughts of the viewer. Now and then, I’ve wanted to go back and talk about a film in a wider context – what it means in the pop culture lexicon, how it was influenced, and likewise what it stands to influence. These posts will be categorized ‘Reflections’ and begin with this piece. Feedback is welcome – Enjoy! (RM)

While many of us weren’t paying attention, a quiet phenomenon staked its claim to a patch of the cultural landscape. Just before the ball dropped on 2018, while most of us were feverishly awaiting (and then feverishly arguing over) THE LAST JEDI, a studio film quietly had a $4.5M opening weekend (Edit: TGS’s domestic opening was in-fact, $8.8M). That’s bad (Edit: even at $8.8, still bad). By any measure, a major production needs to make more money than that to avoid a swift death. Always. Ordinarily. Usually. Just not in this case. Instead of swiftly getting pulled from theatres, the movie was left to compete with the aforementioned Jedi – along with awards contenders of all shapes and sizes.

This is where things get strange: The movie – THE GREATEST SHOWMAN – took on all comers, and kept coming back for more. It has become a bonefide hit, grossing $230M worldwide (Edit: TGM’s worldwide take is now $320M). It has spawned one of 2018’s top albums. It has stayed in the top five at the box office for eight weeks in a row, and has its Oscar-nominated centrepiece song being tapped as the theme song for America’s Winter Olympic coverage.

And still – outlets like The New York Times seem baffled by its success.

So how did we get here? In short – a small but very vocal and devoted audience is having their moment.

 

 

The musical genre has had an incredible resurgence this century. Its fans were already deeply devoted – they might not have been ready to challenge Deadheads to a game of Red Rover, but they were legion. These are the kooky and creative girls and boys who whisper names like Sondheim and Webber the same way cinephiles do Hitchcock and Spielberg.

The resurgence, and the rising numbers in the ranks, come thanks to something of a renaissance in the genre at-large. After all, this generation of musical fans were born into a world of “Wicked”. They came of age with “High School Musical” and “Glee”. Their phones are loaded with the soundtrack of “Hamilton”. They wait at the stage door of “Dear Evan Hansen” night after night. Yes – they represent an age bracket, but they likewise inspire the fans that came before them. The old guard are seeing the joy for the medium coming from the vanguard, and they are remembering.

You know that moment when you started pulling great music from your parents’ music collection? It’s like that, but in reverse.

These wonderful weird-o’s are growing in number every day. They are flooding YouTube with cover versions and reactions, and stoking the Spotify playcounts. They’re staging recitals, going to summer camps, attending conventions. They are changing norms, working for inclusion, and letting their freak flags fly.

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN is their film, and is the sound of their movement and their moment put to screen, put to wax, put to paper, put to melody…or simply put.

 

Every moment requires a champion, and for this THE GREATEST SHOWMAN has tapped Pasek & Paul.

Never heard of them? You should. They’re a very big deal.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are award-winning musicians and lyricists. They’ve already worked on television shows like “Smash”, “The Flash”, and others that don’t end in a-s-h. They are the reigning top dogs on Broadway, having written the music for the Tony Award winning “Dear Evan Hansen”. Just twelve months ago, they walked the Oscar stage to collect trophies for their work on LA LA LAND…and they now stand poised to do it again. If they do, that will make them the first musicians to collect back to back Oscars since Alan Menken.

With Grammys, an Oscar, and Tonys on their mantles, they stand a very real shot at becoming the youngest EGOT recipients in history at ages 32 and 33 respectively. Pasek & Paul have five years to do it, so barring catastrophe, just call it a fait accompli.

Again – they’re a very big deal.

Oddly enough though, it’s the music of this film that’s been called into question. It’s been considered over-produced. It’s been tapped as lyrically simple – even lyrically silly.

To that, I say that the very best songs are more than sums of their parts. They are more than the phrases or the phrasing. The best music allows for inspiration and interpretation. Hell, some of the very best music is simple. Don’t believe me? Let’s consider a classic musical film like SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN. Sing its iconic theme song to yourself. Keep singing it. Please note the lack of complexity – also note the fact that you don’t care.

Pasek & Paul seem to understand this. They know that when it matters, they can go on some un-catchy, lyrically complicated, deeply moving tangents. They also know that when they want to, they want to, they can keep things simple and it will work splendidly. In short, they understand the power of music.

The best music – especially within the musical theatre and film genre – conveys emotion. Those emotions could be hope, despair, defiance, or jubilation. The best musicians know that in reality nobody spontaneously bursts into song to convey what they’re feeling, so they aren’t bound by trying to keep any of it “authentic”. They only need to get in the ballpark…and it’s a very big ballpark.

As far as those outfield walls can seem though, Pasek & Paul have become pretty darned good at hitting the ball clear out of the ballpark, and their fans love seeing them hit the longball.

 

 

Is that all it takes? A generation primed to fawn over key modulation, and two gifted artists with a pocket full of keys? Well, no – it’s still a movie, not an album.

Take, for example, the huge success of “This is Me”. The song is about being unashamed, uncompromising, bold, counting ones scars as war wounds not weakness. It’s an anthem that can be sung by any group or individual that feels like taking ownership of their lot and their lives. However, there’s an added context to the song that the film brings, that the soundtrack does not.

The inciting incident of “This is Me” does not come from the upper class that looks down on Barnum’s circus as grotesque, not does it come from the gathered protestors declaring them immoral. What gets the artists, acrobats, and oddities raising their flag and declaring they are who they’re meant to be…is Barnum himself.

It’s an ill-thought moment of impulse, it comes out all wrong, and while it seems like it’s meant to facilitate something greater, it’s nevertheless painful.

Story moments like this are important, because they illustrate how sometimes people on the same side can still screw-up. Politics can align, but opinions on action do not. This happens over and over in a world that is increasingly less “left and right”. A fictional version of who we were helps us understand who we are; further, who we want to be if only we could stop hurting people on our own side.

 

 

Such ideas are modern – modern ideas in a modern musical for modern times. Which is another reason why this film succeeds; there haven’t been many modern musicals made. Much of what had lit up movie screens in this century have either been new adaptations of established works (CHICAGO, DREAMGIRLS, LES MISERABLES) or films that use established music (MOULIN ROUGE!, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, MAMMA MIA!). Beyond a few selections like LA LA LAND, no new musical creations have lit up movie screens.

This means that whole swaths of musical fans – fans who are miles and miles from the theatres of Broadway – have had nothing new to feed their hunger. These are the people, after all, who tune in to live television productions of “Hairspray”, “Grease”, and “The Sound of Music” because it provides a fix. For a few hours, they see and hear the notes in new ways, and gain the context that a cast recording doesn’t provide.

So, if those fans are offered something never staged, and not adapted, but new in every way, why wouldn’t they support it and raise its profile?

 

 

When all of these elements come together, the alchemy is there for THE GREATEST SHOWMAN to become a long-burning, unexpected success. It draws from a deep well of talent, and rewards its audiences with well-executed sequences, uplifting music, and a positive message. It’s the sort of film that rewards repeat viewing, which is a luxury not usually feasible with original works.

Experiencing theatre is costly, and sometimes flat-out inaccessible. It’s an art form that fans spend large amounts of money on, and plan entire weeks around. Take a similar experience and drop it into multiplexes around the world? Perhaps the question shouldn’t be “how did we get here?”, but instead “why has it taken so long?”

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN is an example of what’s possible – top talent coming together to hit their marks and create an inspiring experience. If there is space on the cinematic landscape for films about bands of car thieves, young wizards, superheroes, and a trillion and one remakes…then there is room for original musical works like THE GREATEST SHOWMAN.

Not only is there room for it, but there’s a hungry audience for it…and they’re hungry for more.