Music Throughout the Ages

Musical films are films in which several songs are used throughout the movie to advance the plot. The musical film was a natural development of the stage musical. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theater; performers often treat their song and dance numbers as if there is a live audience watching. The 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s are often considered the golden age of the musical film, when the genre’s popularity was at its height in the Western world. Are these films making a comeback?

Classic Movie Musicals

Singing In The Rain

Singin’ in the Rain is a 1952 comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography. It offers a comic depiction of Hollywood’s transition from silent films to “talkies” or talking films.

The movie is frequently described as one of the best musicals ever made, topping the AFI’s 100 Years of Musicals list, and ranking fifth in its updated list of the greatest American films in 2007. In 1989, Singin’ in the Rain was also deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Guys and Dolls

Guys and Dolls is a 1955 musical film starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine. The movie was made by the Samuel Goldwyn Company, released by MGM, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. The film is based on the Broadway musical by Frank Loesser, who composed the music and wrote the lyrics. The plot is essentially based around the activities of New York petty criminals and professional gamblers in the late 1940s.

In 2004, the AFI ranked the song Luck Be a Lady at #42 on their list of the 100 greatest film songs, AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Songs. In 2006 Guys and Dolls ranked #23 on the American Film Institute’s list of best musicals. With an estimated budget of over $5 million, it went on to gross in excess of $13 million. Variety ranked it as the highest earning film of 1956. Guys and Dolls went on to gross $1.1 million in the UK, $1 million in Japan, and over $20 million dollars globally.

My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins so that she can pass as a lady. Higgins takes credit for Eliza’s success, but she realizes that she can now be independent and does not need him.

An Oscar-winning film version was made in 1964 directed by George Cukor and with Harrison again in the part of Higgins. Controversy surrounded the casting of Audrey Hepburn instead of Julie Andrews for the part of Eliza — partly because theater goers regarded Andrews as perfect for the part and partly because Hepburn’s singing voice had to be dubbed. (Marni Nixon sang all songs except “Just you wait,” where Hepburn’s voice was left undubbed during the harsh-toned chorus of the song but Nixon sang the melodic bridge section.)

The musical’s 1956 Broadway production was a smash hit, setting a new record for the longest run of any major musical theater production in history. It was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals. It has been called “the perfect musical.”

The West Side Story

West Side Story is a 1961 film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. It is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, adapted from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It stars Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris.

Jerome Robbins, who had directed the stage version, was responsible for planning and directing all music and dance sequences in the film, as well as all the fight scenes. The action was filmed largely in Los Angeles on sets designed by Boris Leven, although the film’s opening sequence was shot on the streets of New York City, mainly in the area where the Lincoln Center campus of Fordham University now stands.

The film was released on October 18, 1961 through United Artists. It received praise from critics and the public and became the second highest grossing film of the year, domestically. The film won ten Academy Awards in its eleven nominated categories as well as a special award for Robbins, including Best Picture. The soundtrack album made more money than any other album before it.

Movie Musicals Today

High School Musical

High School Musical is an Emmy Award-winning American television film. Upon its release on January 20, 2006, it became the most successful Disney Channel Original Movie ever produced, with a television sequel High School Musical 2 released in 2007 and the feature film High School Musical 3: Senior Year to be released theatrically in October 2008. It will be the first Disney Channel Original movie to have a theatrical sequel. A fourth installment, High School Musical 4, has been announced to be in the writing stages.

The film’s soundtrack was the best-selling album in the United States for 2006. With a plot described by the author and numerous critics as a modern adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, High School Musical is a story about two high school juniors from rival cliques – Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens), a beautiful and shy transfer student who excels in math and science. Together, they try out for the lead parts in their high school musical, and as a result, divide the school. Despite other students’ attempts to thwart their dreams, Troy and Gabriella resist peer pressure and rivalry, inspiring others along the way not to “stick with the status quo.”

The soundtrack was released on January 10, 2006 by August 2006 more than 3 million copies have been sold. It was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA. In 2007, the soundtrack got into the Guinness World Records for “Most hits from a soundtrack in the US Chart simultaneously”. Nine tracks were simultaneously in the US Hot 100- a world first.

Rent

Rent is a 2005 film adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. It details the struggles of a group of young friends in the East Village area of New York City in the late-1980s, early-1990s. The film, directed by Chris Columbus, had six of the original Broadway cast members reprising their roles.

After an introduction with the cast singing “Seasons of Love”, the film opens on Christmas Eve, 1989, with apartment tenants (including two friends and roommates, Mark and Roger) expressing their anger at suddenly being asked to pay the rent, which had previously been waived by their friend. Benny, the landlord and former roommate of Mark and Collins, who has married into a wealthy family, offers to give Mark and Roger free rent again if they can convince Maureen (Mark’s ex-girlfriend) to stop her protest.

It had the third-highest grossing opening weekend for a Broadway musical adaptation, surpassed only by the 2007 version of the film Hairspray and The Phantom of the Opera, released the year before. The film earned $10 million in its opening weekend, before going on to gross a total of $31 million US at the box office, short of recouping its $40 million dollar budget. Despite this, the film has since earned a cult following.

Across The Universe

Across the Universe is a 2007 musical film directed by Julie Taymor, produced by Revolution Studios, and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was released in the United States on October 12, 2007. The script is based on an original story credited to Taymor, Dick Clement, and Ian La Frenais that incorporates 33 compositions written by members of The Beatles.

The film stars Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, and T.V. Carpio, and it introduces Dana Fuchs and Martin Luther McCoy as actors. There are cameo appearances made by Bono, Eddie Izzard, Joe Cocker, Salma Hayek, and others. The film plot relates the interweaving stories of several characters set against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s. The arc of the storyline spans from the early innocent part of the decade to the politically-charged later years of the decade.

The film’s end credits identify a total of thirty-three separate Beatles compositions featured in the film, either in their entirety or in part. All of these songs were written and recorded between 1963 and 1970 by the members of The Beatles. Twenty-nine of them are compositions that are officially credited to the songwriting partnership of Lennon-McCartney (sixteen are customarily attributed primarily to Lennon as a writer, and ten are customarily attributed primarily to McCartney). Three are credited to George Harrison. One title (”Flying”) is a 1967 composition credited to all four members of the Beatles (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey).

Notable film critic Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times was extremely positive towards the film, giving it four stars, calling it “an audacious marriage of cutting-edge visual techniques, heart-warming performances, 1960s history and the Beatles songbook” and calling Julie Taymor an “inventive choreographer”.

Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls is a 2006 American musical film, directed by Bill Condon and jointly produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures. A period piece set in the 1960s and 1970s with a primarily African-American cast, Dreamgirls is adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name. The musical was based on the history and evolution of American R&B music during the eras of doo-wop, soul, the Motown Sound, funk, and disco. In addition, the stage musical contains several allusions to the lives and careers of Motown Records act The Supremes, a connection the film version expands upon. Dreamgirls follows the lives of Effie White, Deena Jones, and Lorrell Robinson, three young women who form an R&B singing trio from Detroit, Michigan called “The Dreamettes”.

The film adaptation of Dreamgirls stars Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson, who won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Effie White. The film also features Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose, Keith Robinson, Sharon Leal, and Hinton Battle. Produced by Laurence Mark, Dreamgirls was adapted for the screen by director Bill Condon from the original Broadway book by Tom Eyen and the Broadway songs by Eyen and Henry Krieger. Four new songs, composed by Krieger with various lyricists, were added for this film.

Dreamgirls received eight 2007 Academy Award nominations covering six categories, tied for the most of any film for the year. The film’s nominations included Best Supporting Actor (Eddie Murphy), Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson), Best Achievement in Costume Design, Best Achievement in Art Direction, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, and three nominations for Best Song (”Listen”, “Love You I Do”, and “Patience”). In addition, Dreamgirls is the first film in Academy Award history to receive the highest number of nominations for the year, yet not be nominated for Best Picture. The film’s failure to gain a Best Picture or Best Director nod was widely viewed by the entertainment press as a “snub” by the Academy.