Movie Musicals have Returned

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellwegger in Chicago helped revive the movie musical.

The movie musical has definitely made a comeback. Looking at recent releases and some movies soon to come out, it is clear that singing in a movie has returned. Where as, we are use to hearing songs as background, we are now hearing actors and actresses break into song more now than we have in decades.

The musical was, at one time, one of the biggest draws at the box office. When sound in film was invented, songs were right there to add to the movies. Through the 30s, 40's and 50's musicals were standard films being made alongside westerns, comedies and dramas. Musicals like The Wizard of Oz(1939), Yankee Doodle Dandy(1942), Meet Me in St Louis(1944), Easter parade(1948), Singin in the Rain(1952), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes(1953), White Christmas(1954) and High Society(1956) have become classics.

With the likes of Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and Fred Astaire bowing out in the 50's the musical took a downward spin. Still, musicals continued to be made, if not as often. The 60's had West Side Story, The Sound of Music and Funny Girl. The 70's had Cabaret, Lady Sings The Blues and Grease. The 80's had MTV.

MTV not only killed the radio star but it dealt a horrible blow to the movie musical. No longer did you have to watch a movie to see a song or dance performed. You simply turned on your television set to see Michael Jackson Moonwalk or Madonna Vogue or Janet Jackson do The Running Man.

For the most part, the only type of musical being made between the late 70's through the early 90's were biographical musicals like The Rose(1979), Coal Miners Daughter(1980), Purple Rain(1984), Sweet Dreams(1985), Pure Country(1992) and What's Love Got to do with It(1993). Sure there were the animated musicals like The Little Mermaid(1989) and Ferngully(1992) but the only time you saw a singer perform in a movie was to do one song like Belinda Carlisle in Swing Shift(1984) or Sheena Easton in Indecent Proposal(1993).

The past 10 years have seen a resurgence in the musical. Slowly, musical performances have slipped back into movie. In The Mask(1994), both Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz sing and dance. In My Best Friends Wedding(1997) there are several songs performed by the cast. Diaz and Ewan McGregor sing a song in A Life Less Ordinary(1997). Worth noting is that Diaz was in all of these movies. I think she is due for a complete musical.

In 1996, Madonna starred in Evita. Nearly every word in the movie is sung. In 2001 Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman starred in and sang in the very successful Moulin Rouge. The movie musical solidified it’s return in 2002 with the Oscar winning movie musical Chicago. With the financial and critical gold of Chicago, Broadway is being mined for other musicals. There was The Phantom of the Opera last year. The movie versions of the broadway musicals Rent and The Producers opens this holiday season. Look for Sunset Blvd next year with Glenn Close and Ewan McGregor.

The biographical musical is still around and flourishing. There was 8Mile(2002) with Eminem, De-Lovely(2004) about the music of Cole Porter, Beyond the Sea(2004) with Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin and Ray(2004) about the life of Ray Charles. Now there is 50cent starring in Get Rich or Die Trying and Walk the Line starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter.

The greatness of a musical is that it makes the movie more than just a movie. I never knew the words to Don’t Cry for me Argentina until I saw Evita. I have heard a lot about Rent but will never get to see the play so at least now I will know the songs and story. The Producers was the hottest tickets on Broadway with it’s original leads. Now they, Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, reprise thir roles for the movie. Will Ferrell joins the cast as a crazy Nazi playwright. No doubt the soundtrack to Walk The Line, will give Johnny Cash songs a resurgence in popularity.

Even if musicals are not your cup of tea, there are so many coming out that at least one is bound to appeal to you. From country music to Rap songs to Broadway torch songs to comedic songs, the movies have a little something for everyones musical taste this holiday season.