Movie Musicals

[Shades of Red]

Maybe I'm overly influenced by having just given my final exam in History of American Musicals, but... when has that ("very little spoken dialogue") ever been true?

 

It's been a few years, but I don't think Evita has much dialogue that isn't sung.  Other than that, I really can't think of any unless we're talking about operas.  I'm not very well versed in "older" musicals as I don't really care for "old" (read before early 1960) movies/shows/productions unless they're an opera (I guess the original "musicals").

[Julia]

I don't think the world needs a third South Pacific.  The last one with Glenn Close playing the young naive ingenue was bad enough, and I do have a soft spot for the original.  Digitize the original without the weird color filters, and rerelease that.  

 

Oh, I so wish they would do that. I've never understood those filters. Between that and the shot-to-shot shift of Mitzi Gaynor's shellacked "tousled" do, I've barely been able to follow the plot in that movie, let alone get lost in the story, and I know the play. 

 

I'd like to see a Show Boat which didn't strip out the ahead-of-its-time focus on white culture appropriating and trivializing african american art forms. I know the Whale movie touched on that, but it backed off the parallel between Magnolia and Julie, both headed down the same road for being drawn into some shiftless man's flowery fantasy of noble southern gentility.

[Rinaldo]

It's been a few years, but I don't think Evita has much dialogue that isn't sung.  Other than that, I really can't think of any unless we're talking about operas.  I'm not very well versed in "older" musicals as I don't really care for "old" (read before early 1960) movies/shows/productions unless they're an opera (I guess the original "musicals").

Thanks for the clarification! You're right about Evita, but it's an outlier as it was created first as a recording, and only later staged. I had been misled by your use of the word "classic," as the "classic period" of musicals is considered to be precisely pre-1960 (e.g., Berlin, Kern, the Gershwins, Porter, Arlen, Rodgers with Hart and then Hammerstein, Lane, Duke, Loesser, Lerner & Loewe, Adler & Ross, Bernstein, Moross, Willson), or alternatively up till 1980 (adding Bock & Harnick, Kander & Ebb, Sondheim, Schmidt & Jones, et al). There's plenty of spoken dialogue in almost all of those.

 

Wow, that was quite a list-dump, and nobody even asked me. :) I'll plead in my defense (again) that I just this afternoon gave the final exam (including listening) in my "History of American Musicals" course. (I also teach and write about opera by the way; I actually don't make a hard and fast distinction between the two forms, and don't consider it especially necessary or interesting to do so.)

[aradia22]

 

I don't think the world needs a third South Pacific.  The last one with Glenn Close playing the young naive ingenue was bad enough, and I do have a soft spot for the original.  Digitize the original without the weird color filters, and rerelease that.  And the world will probably howl at remaking West Side Story.  We also do not need another Gypsy.

The only South Pacific I could see working would be an earnest prestige-y period piece. You've got to be careful managing the tone in a movie. While there are still racial issues, it would be very easy to mishandle the messages in the musical and make the whole thing appear, well, less than sophisticated.

 

This is one of my blasphemous classic movie opinions but I would like a new West Side Story. With fantastic singers...and no dubbing. And actual Puerto Ricans. And less rubbing of grease on people's faces. 

 

I'm with you on Gypsy. I love Gypsy. But we don't need another one. 

[aradia22]

Look, I know they were cute at the Oscars but when did we have the vote where we decided that Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway would be our representatives in all future musicals? If I can't have Broadway talent (and really, why can't I?) then can we at least have different talent? The idea of them doing The Drowsy Chaperone isn't that appealing. Sutton manages to do those kinds of roles (Millie, Janet, Fiona) in a way that's so charming when in the hands of someone else it would incredibly annoying. She knows how to walk that line. One of Anne Hathaway's biggest problems is that she doesn't. I also feel like this is a musical that would suffer being adapted to the screen becoming neutered and closed off so that people would wonder why anyone liked it in the first place. That is, unless they could somehow make it into Clue for a new generation.

 

No new Little Shop of Horrors! Why!?!

 

I used to love Miss Saigon because Lea Salonga and also... nope, that's about it. It didn't take me long to find it, well, let's say... questionable.

 

I think a really magical Wicked without boundaries (but also not just relying on a ton of CGI) could be interesting. If they committed to making it a movie and adapting accordingly I think there's a lot of room to have fun. I don't know if it would be worth trying to bring in more of the book as the two properties are very different but some parts of the story could be more fleshed out. Also, I'm sure Wicked purists would be horrified but cuts could be made. Dear Old Shiz? Dancing Through Life? Why is Fiyero's song so terrible? Maybe Stephen Schwartz could write him a new one.

[ancslove]

I actually wouldn't mind a remake of West Side Story, using the current production.  I just think that a lot of people would think it sacrilegious to redo a movie starring Natalie Wood.

 

Meant to say earlier, but I'm morbidly curious about the idea of making a movie of Cats.  I don't actually think we need a full movie - the filmed stage show was well done, and had Elaine Paige and Sir John Mills.  But I'm just trying to picture a real movie, with real singing, dancing cats.  Because there's no way you can take people and put them in those costumes and that makeup, and then take away the stage which makes it all a little less ridiculous.  

[Rick Kitchen]

 

I also teach and write about opera by the way

 

I'd love to take a course on opera.

[aradia22]

 

Meant to say earlier, but I'm morbidly curious about the idea of making a movie of Cats.  I don't actually think we need a full movie - the filmed stage show was well done, and had Elaine Paige and Sir John Mills.  But I'm just trying to picture a real movie, with real singing, dancing cats.  Because there's no way you can take people and put them in those costumes and that makeup, and then take away the stage which makes it all a little less ridiculous.

Like, normal cat size? Or human-sized anthropomorphised cats? Now I'm morbidly curious too. Though still not into ALW enough to care that much. Except imagine all the snark! It would be glorious...

[Shades of Red]

Thanks for the clarification! You're right about Evita, but it's an outlier as it was created first as a recording, and only later staged. I had been misled by your use of the word "classic," as the "classic period" of musicals is considered to be precisely pre-1960 (e.g., Berlin, Kern, the Gershwins, Porter, Arlen, Rodgers with Hart and then Hammerstein, Lane, Duke, Loesser, Lerner & Loewe, Adler & Ross, Bernstein, Moross, Willson), or alternatively up till 1980 (adding Bock & Harnick, Kander & Ebb, Sondheim, Schmidt & Jones, et al). There's plenty of spoken dialogue in almost all of those.

 

I can do the quotes part, but can't figure out how to attach the person who said it to the quote - sorry Rinaldo.

 

Instead of "classic" maybe I should have used "traditional" or "old fashioned"?  I'm of an age that it seems definitions of words have changed/evolved from the ones I learned in school and growing up.   BTW - that's really cool that you teach and write about opera.  Carmen introduced me to opera.    My mother says when I came home and talked about it you would have thought I had discovered the Beatles or an equivalent to them.  I had no idea about the history of Evita.

 

I despised Cats so know I would never go and see it in a film version.  It wasn't anything like I expected so I was very disappointed.  

[Jamoche]

(There's still no excuse for Brosnan on "SOS," though. I love him, but if that's an example of how the man sings he should never have been cast in a musical.)

I watched it with friends from my choir, and we were all wincing in sympathy for Brosnan (and just flat out wincing from his voice) - he had this look on his face like "you're going to fix it in post, right? Please tell me I'm going to be dubbed!"

 

And speaking of Streep and ABBA: an article on "Into the Woods" says:

 

If she could belt out ABBA tunes — as she had in 2008's Mamma Mia!, her biggest hit ever, grossing $600 million worldwide — she could handle Sondheim

 

Er... ABBA songs are fun, yes. Just about anyone (except poor Brosnan) can belt them out. Your typical Broadway star should be able to do that in their sleep. Was this meant to sound like damning Sondheim with faint praise?

[aradia22]

So Into the Woods came out. I probably won't see it in theaters unless the reviews are amazing. But now I get to wade through the opinions of all those people who "hate musicals." If you hate musicals we can never be friends. Why are you even commenting on this movie? Go away. #notsorry

[Milburn Stone]

I can do the quotes part, but can't figure out how to attach the person who said it to the quote - sorry Rinaldo.

 

Click the red quotation mark symbol in the lower right of the post, then click on the black bar that will appear at the bottom of the window, the one that reads "Reply to quoted post." Voila.

 

I too was confused by your definition of the classic musical as one having little spoken dialogue. I think a much stronger case could be made that the very best musicals--stage or film--including the classic ones, or traditional, or old-fashioned, whatever term you want to use--are those that have strong books. The reason Singin' in the Rain is (maybe) the best movie musical ever made is that besides having wonderful numbers, it's funny. Substitute just about any other contender for the title and you'll find a strong book or screenplay is a big part of the reason.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Milburn Stone

[cpcathy]

Christmas Eve day I asked my husband to go see Into the  Woods. He made a face, and refused to see it. By Saturday I had convinced him, but only because he was doing it for me. He REALLY enjoyed it. Same thing happened with Les Mis, which now I'm tired of. I think people who say they hate musicals need to see one or two musicals that really can do the trick for them. Not all musicals are for me, I can't watch just any musical.

[aradia22]

 

Substitute just about any other contender for the title and you'll find a strong book or screenplay is a big part of the reason.

Agreed. A good musical definitely needs a strong story. You can definitely separate the two and feel when a weak screenplay is pulling down a movie with fine musical numbers. I'm generally not that big of a fan of revues that are masquerading as actual movies with plots.

 

Christmas Eve day I asked my husband to go see Into the  Woods. He made a face, and refused to see it. By Saturday I had convinced him, but only because he was doing it for me. He REALLY enjoyed it. Same thing happened with Les Mis, which now I'm tired of. I think people who say they hate musicals need to see one or two musicals that really can do the trick for them. Not all musicals are for me, I can't watch just any musical.

Yay! Did you enjoy the movie, cpcathy? I would say that I'm a musical theatre fan and I don't enjoy every musical. Because I'm a human being with critical faculties. It's just so irritating for me when someone wants to write off an entire genre. Because you don't like singing? But you like music, right? One of the most annoying arguments is when you point out something really popular that most people like... for instance an animated Disney movie or The Wizard of Oz or something and someone says "Oh, but that's not really a musical." Shut up. 

[Shades of Red]

Click the red quotation mark symbol in the lower right of the post, then click on the black bar that will appear at the bottom of the window, the one that reads "Reply to quoted post." Voila.

 

Thank you :)

[cpcathy]

I did enjoy it, Aradia, I thought "No One is Alone" was going to be the undoing of me.

[Milburn Stone]

Shades of Red, now you just need to remember to put your reply outside the quote box. :)

[Julia]

Shades of Red, now you just need to remember to put your reply outside the quote box. :)

 

which, if your browser is being difficult, you can do by clicking on the

 

>_

 

symbol on the upper left hand side of the box and typing your answer after

 

 

which you'll find at the end of the stuff you're quoting.

Edited December 29, 2014 by Julia

[SilverShadow]

Musicals IMO are more a medium than a genre, because they can vary so much. I do kind of laugh when I see musicals universally characterized as fluff, because for every "Hey kids, let's put on a show" I can name five where at least one person is dead by the end credits, and more where there may not be a corpse, but some heavy themes are played with.

[Helena Dax]

Some  of  my  favourite musicals are Singing in the rain, Grease, My fair lady, Victor/Victoria... I also love Paint your wagon. No choreography and just one really good singer (Presnell), but I love the songs and the movie's hilarious, as free as Ben himself.  And this: I lived with a man who had two wives. Why can't a woman have two husbands? is one of my favourite quotes ever. 

[DollEyes]

 

Look, I know they were cute at the Oscars, but when did we have the vote where we decided that Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway would be our representatives for all future musicals? If I can't have Broadway talent (and really, why can't I?), then can we at least have different talent? The idea of them doing The Drowsy Chaperone isn't that appealing? Sutton [Foster] manages to do these kinds of roles (Millie, Janet, Fiona) in a way that's so charming when in the hands of someone else it would be incredibly annoying. She knows how to walk that line. One of Anne Hathaway's biggest problems is that she doesn't.  I also feel that this is a musical that would suffer being adapted to the screen becoming neutered and closed off so that people would wonder why anyone liked it in the first place.  That is, unless they could somehow make it into Clue for a new generation.

 

  I respectfully disagree, for one reason: Les Miserables. Between the $150 million dollar domestic gross alone, Hugh Jackman's Golden Globe win/Oscar nomination and Anne Hathaway's GG and Oscar wins, those sound like great reasons to cast them to me. Not everybody's a so-called "Hatha-hater." She's not my favorite actress, but she hasn't subjected me to Kardashian-esque levels of overexposure, either, figurative or literal. When it comes to a movie's success, talent is important, but so is box office. Sutton Foster is talented, but she's best known on Broadway and maybe for Bunheads. If I were one of the producers of the film version of The Drowsy Chaperone, I would hire talented people like Jackman and to a lesser extant, Hathaway, who can attract a worldwide audience, not just a select few, for the leads.  As for the film version itself, I think a lot depends on the rest of the cast the script and the direction. If all those things work, then the film should, the way I see it.

[aradia22]

DollEyes: I understand why they're up for everything from a business perspective but I don't see why other names can't be thrown into the mix that would fit the parts better. If they refuse to hire pure theatre talent, there are still other actors with some singing ability who could be up for the roles. And sometimes the novelty of a big name trying a musical for the first time can get people into the theatre. 

[Milburn Stone]

So Into the Woods came out. I probably won't see it in theaters unless the reviews are amazing. But now I get to wade through the opinions of all those people who "hate musicals." If you hate musicals we can never be friends. Why are you even commenting on this movie? Go away. #notsorry

 

I saw it this afternoon.

 

See it.

[aradia22]

 

 

I saw it this afternoon.

See it.

Are you saying that for the movie or are you saying it for me?

[Rinaldo]

Again, I object to the idea that Anne Hathaway or Hugh Jackman lack singing ability or musical theater know-how. The record of their stage work shows otherwise. There's a history of movie actors being inappropriately cast in musicals, but those are not the names to use as examples.

 

The stage troupers seem to do better on TV. Norbert Leo Butz is on a series coming soon. Sutton Foster has another series about to start. Raul Esparza is of course already on L&O:SVU. Laura Benanti seems on the way to becoming a familiar face on the tube. But Kelli O'Hara has said that she's gone up for a number of pilots, and is generally told she needs to lose weight.

Edited December 30, 2014 by Rinaldo

[briochetwist]

Oops, thought I was on the theatre board....   Move along, nothing to see here.   

Edited December 30, 2014 by briochetwist

[Milburn Stone]

Are you saying that for the movie or are you saying it for me?

 

I'd answer that question--if I understood it.

[aradia22]

 

I'd answer that question--if I understood it.

Are you saying... go see Into the Woods because it's a good movie or are you saying go see Into the Woods because I would enjoy it knowing my weird and particular taste? We've already reviewed that I hold the unpopular opinion of kind of being over Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman doing theatre. Not that I was ever really into him doing theatre.

[vibeology]

Again, I object to the idea that Anne Hathaway or Hugh Jackman lack singing ability or musical theater know-how. The record of their stage work shows otherwise. There's a history of movie actors being inappropriately cast in musicals, but those are not the names to use as examples.

 

Sure, but that doesn't mean that these two are right for every musical theatre role out there and that's how Hollywood treats them. For example, I love Audra. She is a Broadway Queen, but you can't throw her in every single female role on Broadway and expect success. She'd make an awful Reno Sweeney. Her voice doesn't suit the part and she's not anywhere near the dancer Sutton is. And Sutton, for all her skills, wouldn't be able to pull off Bess even if you factor out race. 

 

That's the problem that Hugh and Anne get. They both are very talented but not every peg fits into every single hole. Now, I know that without big names Musicals won't get made into films. I don't expect Sutton Foster or Audra McDonald to get cast as the lead in a film, but it would be nice if Hollywood directors and producers would look at their own bodies of work and see that there are other people out there who can sing and dance besides Anne and Hugh. It would be nice if Hollywood was a little creative on this front.

[DollEyes]

I agree that Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway aren't meant for every musical and that Hollywood should expand its choices where casting musicals are concerned. My point is that If I were a producer who was making a major musical, they would be on my shortlist, if they were right for it, that is.

 

Speaking of casting, according to the Playbill link from the previous page, there's a tentative remake of Little Shop Of Horrors with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead and I think he'd make a perfect Seymour. As for Audrey, Mr. Mushnick, Orin Scrivello DDS and the voice of Audrey II, I would cast Anna Kendrick or Zooey Deschanel, J.K Simmons, Zac Efron, Matthew Morrison or James Marsden and James Monroe Inglehart, who won a Tony for playing the Genie in the Broadway version of Aladdin, respectively.

[Sharpie66]

JK Simmons would be perfect as Mushnik!!  I love his singing voice (listen to the original cast recording of the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls; he's one of the guys singing "Fugue for Tinhorns"), but if he did get cast, the character doesn't sing, so I would miss out hearing him, darnit.

[Milburn Stone]

Are you saying... go see Into the Woods because it's a good movie or are you saying go see Into the Woods because I would enjoy it knowing my weird and particular taste? We've already reviewed that I hold the unpopular opinion of kind of being over Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman doing theatre. Not that I was ever really into him doing theatre.

 

Believe it or not, aradia, despite following your posts, I don't have a complete understanding of everything you'll like and everything you won't like. I can tell you that I'm no fan of the Anne Hathaway/Hugh Jackman school either, and this has nothing to do with Into the Woods. And I can also tell you that Into the Woods is a magnificent realization of the show, a film I imagine Sondheim must be extremely proud of and gratified by, and a film that anyone with an appreciation of Sondheim will enjoy.

[Sharpie66]

Speaking of Sondheim, does anyone think that the studios will ever make a movie version of "Assassins"? I'm thinking no--it's just too controversial for the movies. I could see HBO doing it, though.

[Qoass]

Some of my favorite musicals are Company, A Chorus Line and Pippin.  Would I like to see them onscreen?  Well... if the 1985 film version of ACL is any indication, maybe I'd be better off watching videos of the stage productions instead.  But, hey, somebody, try...

 

And going back to much earlier in the thread, I love For Me and My Gal which is the very first pairing of Judy Garland and Gene Kelly.  It's corny and maudlin but sometimes you just gotta go for corn (and maud?).

[Sharpie66]

I wish they could have done a faithful-to-the-play version of Pal Joey and put Gene Kelly in the starring role that brought him to Hollywood's attention, but sadly, that would never have happened at that time, since the lead character is an anti-hero and there isn't a happy ending in the stage version, both of which were changed in the movie starring Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth.

Edited December 30, 2014 by Sharpie66

[Rinaldo]

Speaking of Sondheim, does anyone think that the studios will ever make a movie version of "Assassins"? I'm thinking no--it's just too controversial for the movies. 

I don't think that's it -- it's too theatrical, in a way that doesn't translate to film. All these characters are presented in a transhistorical way (they all know each other, they keep meeting in anachronistic dreamlike situations, etc.), song follows scene in nonlinear revue-like fashion, there's no real story. (In some of those respects there's a similarity to Company, which will never be filmed either.) Also, there's not a movie-sized audience for it; even those (already a minority) devoted to Sondheim don't all love Assassins.

[aradia22]

 

 

Sure, but that doesn't mean that these two are right for every musical theatre role out there and that's how Hollywood treats them. [...] Now, I know that without big names Musicals won't get made into films. I don't expect Sutton Foster or Audra McDonald to get cast as the lead in a film, but it would be nice if Hollywood directors and producers would look at their own bodies of work and see that there are other people out there who can sing and dance besides Anne and Hugh. It would be nice if Hollywood was a little creative on this front.

Thanks for making my point more eloquently than I did. ;)

 

Speaking of casting, according to the Playbill link from the previous page, there's a tentative remake of Little Shop Of Horrors with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead and I think he'd make a perfect Seymour. As for Audrey, Mr. Mushnick, Orin Scrivello DDS and the voice of Audrey II, I would cast Anna Kendrick or Zooey Deschanel, J.K Simmons, Zac Efron, Matthew Morrison or James Marsden and James Monroe Inglehart, who won a Tony for playing the Genie in the Broadway version of Aladdin, respectively.

Just going off of his SNL performance of Make Em Laugh I wouldn't pick JGL. I don't think he has that sweet, warm tenor... and there are plenty of guys who do. I do not see Anna Kendrick or Zooey Deschanel in that part at all. Even if they wouldn't be doing an Ellen Greene impression nothing about their appearances says Audrey to me. I am confused about where you're drawing the line between Mushnik and Orin but I agree that James Marsden could be surprisingly great as Orin. 

 

Believe it or not, aradia, despite following your posts, I don't have a complete understanding of everything you'll like and everything you won't like.

I don't expect you to. i don't even have a great grasp of my own taste. Maybe it'll happen in the next 10 or 20 years. I just wanted to qualify the point because the quote made me think you were addressing me. :)

 

Speaking of Sondheim, does anyone think that the studios will ever make a movie version of "Assassins"? I'm thinking no--it's just too controversial for the movies. I could see HBO doing it, though.

 

Some of my favorite musicals are Company, A Chorus Line and Pippin.  Would I like to see them onscreen?  Well... if the 1985 film version of ACL is any indication, maybe I'd be better off watching videos of the stage productions instead.  But, hey, somebody, try...

 

 

Yeah, I think we're probably not far away from a filmed stage production/concert version but I doubt they'd go with a movie. It's not even just the subject matter. It's one of those musicals that doesn't seem like it'd make a clean jump to film. I think the structure and story might throw off a lot of those "I hate musicals" people. You've got a lot of characters who aren't super developed held together by a theme and a narrator. Which yeah, is kind of Into the Woods but it's still much more conventional in Into the Woods, especially with the Baker and his wife anchoring things. I don't think John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald are as successful at grounding the story in Assassins.

[Bean421]

How have I missed this thread?! I'm so nervous about the adaptation of The Last Five Years. I've heard a snippet and I just am not impressed with Anna Kendrick in this role. One of my favorite movie musicals is Throughly Modern Millie. It's slow in parts but I love how campy Julie Andrews was in that role.

[aradia22]

Hello, new friend! I'm a bit worried about it too but then I'm not familiar with the musical so I'm not attached to any version of it. 

[Milburn Stone]

 

I don't expect you to. i don't even have a great grasp of my own taste. Maybe it'll happen in the next 10 or 20 years. I just wanted to qualify the point because the quote made me think you were addressing me. :)

 

I was addressing you. I was recommending the movie of Into the Woods to you because you were on the fence about seeing it.

 

But that's not because I knew you'd love it. Only that I knew that you should.

[aradia22]

 

 

I was addressing you. I was recommending the movie of Into the Woods to you because you were on the fence about seeing it.

But that's not because I knew you'd love it. Only that I knew that you should.

Ah. I'll see it eventually no matter what. Well, I shouldn't say that. I still haven't seen Les Mis. But is it something that really needs to be seen in a movie theater? Because I feel like I have bad luck with musicals that aren't animated at the movies. The last musicals I remember going to see are Phantom, The Producers, and Nine. 

[Milburn Stone]

But is it something that really needs to be seen in a movie theater? 

 

If you're asking me (and I guess you are), I would say the answer is yes. The film is visually impressive. And it practically goes without saying that it's a movie in which sound quality is of paramount importance. The theater we saw it in Chicago had a big screen (for these days) with great picture and sound. This definitely enhanced the experience.

[Rinaldo]

I'm out the door to see Into the Woods this moment. (I was visiting family all last week, so no chance before today.) I can't really call myself someone who loves musicals if I don't go, and I want to in any case.

[Milburn Stone]

I look forward to your review, Rinaldo.

[Sharpie66]

I was watching the tv broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors last night, which kicked off with a tribute to Al Green. Even though I love and adore the Talking Heads and their cover of "Take Me to the River," when the performers on tv last night were singing that song, I didn't have the Talking Heads in my head, but rather the version sung in The Commitments.

 

I had no idea that the soundrack from that movie had stuck in my head so firmly as to have Andrew Strong supercede David Byrne!

[Constant Viewer]

Rinaldo,  just curious but what if any readings do you give your students in your "History of American Musicals" course or opera course?  I would love to take a course like that but am pretty much burned out on school thanks to Graduate school. 

 

On topic,  I loved the "Thoroughly Modern Millie" movie with Julie Andrews, but I think I prefer to the stage version so if they ever have a remake I would like it based on the play instead.  

[BatmanBeatles]

 

On topic,  I loved the "Thoroughly Modern Millie" movie with Julie Andrews

For me it would have been better without Carol Channing.

[aradia22]

A win for Into the Woods. http://www.broadway.com/buzz/179018/hollywood-will-listen-into-the-woods-celebrates-biggest-movie-musical-opening-ever/

[Rinaldo]

Rinaldo,  just curious but what if any readings do you give your students in your "History of American Musicals" course or opera course? 

As textbook, we use Larry Stempel's Showtime. For a subject that is taught rather widely these days, you'd think there would be a wide choice of textbooks, but there really isn't. Most books on the subject are too incomplete in their outlook, or too opinionated to be useful for beginners to read. It's a tough balance: obviously you want writers of such books to have opinions and care about the subject, but that shouldn't affect their coverage of it. Anyway, Stempel's book has been my choice since it appeared in 2011 (I adopted it before the author did!). 

 

Beyond that, there are two scripts we read in detail -- we assign roles and read them out in class, using a recording for the musical numbers: Of Thee I Sing (George & Ira Gershwin, George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind) and Company (Stephen Sondheim, George Furth). We spend time on others too, of course, via audio and video recordings. Two which get a full period are My Fair Lady and Gypsy (for the latter I use the Bette Midler telefilm, as being the only film of any musical which follows the stage version word for word, note for note). There's a list of musical excerpts (provided streaming on their course site) that they must recognize as to source and authors.

 

I don't teach an opera course. I'd like to, but there are others who have priority on it here.

[Rinaldo]

I look forward to your review [of Into the Woods],  Rinaldo.

Well, only because you asked so nicely... :) This isn't what I'd call a review, just a brief reaction.

 

It works well. Rob Marshall found an appropriate cast and a way to present it that seems organic to the film medium. Its story and meaning come through, as they do in a good stage production. He had the sense to engage James Lapine to adapt his own libretto as a screenplay, and Jonathan Tunick for orchestrations. Of many excellent performances, I'd single out James Corden and Emily Blunt as the Baker and his Wife, Chris Pine as Cinderella's Prince, and Christine Baranski as the Stepmother. Of the movies of all-Sondheim musicals, I find this easily the best (an admittedly low bar, as Forum was pulled to pieces, Night Music doomed by several initial choices worst of which was Hal Prince as director, and Sweeney Todd undeniably having a distinctive vision but losing too much of the show's soul for me).

 

I could cite half a dozen bad choices, but they're mostly brief or local. A recurrent problem for me with these filmings is that my favorite moments are often the musically ambitious numbers (the "Kiss Me" quartet in Sweeney, the Act I finale, particularly "Ever After," here), and those are the first to be excised. I was very happy that after a rather unresolved fadeout on "Children Will Listen" here, the actual Act II finale was performed under the headshot-style credits (also a nice choice), even including Cinderella's very last "I wish."

 

I do wish parents would think twice about bringing very young children to this -- it's bound to be upsetting for them -- and I hope future stage productions won't make (unauthorized) changes to make their show "more like the movie"... but I suppose that's their lookout. I had a very good time, in any case, and may even try to get to it again before it leaves theaters -- but at a show that I can be sure won't have kids. Or selfish pigs of young mothers like the one in front of me, who texted repeatedly despite all admonitions not to.