Post by The Mad Plumber on May 27, 2009 21:30:15 GMT -5
I can't quite produce a ranked list of the best musicals, especially since there are several musicals that I would like to comment on but haven't seen in many years. So, I'll just comment on a few notable musicals, whether they're the best or not.
Mary Poppins (1964)
I think Disney has a bad reputation in live action films; even works that seem to have a level of sincerity put into them manage to fall on their faces. I think that's one of the factors that makes Mary Poppins stand out. It's not also the best Disney live action production, but it might possibly even be the best of all of Disney's productions. The picture features at least fourteen songs produced by the Sherman Brothers, and I have to say that they are all memorable and many enjoyable.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
I can appreciate this film, but I really don't understand the cult following related to it. It's a very confusing picture and I'm tempted to say that there is very little spoken exposition occurring in it; the film segues from one musical number to another without intermission. I have to say that many of the numbers are extremely forgetable and not highly enjoyable. Perhaps numbers that I favor are "Time Warp", "Sweet Transvestite", and "Hot Patootie" which is performed by a defrosted Meat Loaf.
Labyrinth (1986)
Labyrinth is in many ways better than Rocky Horror, featuring a story, better songs, and production values. The instrumental music was by Trevor Jones while most of the songs were composed and performed by David Bowie, who plays the androgynous villain in the picture. I once read that Michael Jackson was considered for the part of Jareth; I think we dodged a bullet on that.
Cinderella (1950)
I didn't necessarily want to mention two Disney features as I felt one could speak for them all, but I felt Cinderella had a brilliant characteristic of musicals worth mentioning. It involves one scene where the titular character is singing "Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale" while doing nothing more than scrubbing the stairwell. "Nightingale" had nothing to do with advancing the plot of the story or telling the feelings and ambitions of the characters. Perhaps its one function was contrasting Cinderella with her stepsisters, with the former being the very definition of grace and beauty while the latter taking anything that is beautiful only to corrupt and spoil it. "Nightingale" served as a great example of the style of Disney musicals, where the music of the feature was seamlessly interwoven into the storytelling, so that you wouldn't notice between when characters were merely speaking or singing. I would say that Disney has had a good reputation with animated musicals, at least up to Beauty and the Beast; after that, the formula was painfully obvious. It almost seems that Disney has given up on the musical and, from what I was to understand, that didn't work out too well for them either.
Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)
Pink Floyd is probably more so a music video than a musical, but I thought I'd mention it anyways. I am to assume that 1982 is around the time that Roger Waters would be going his separate way from the rest of the group, and I'm wondering if this film had anything to do with that. Unlike the other examples, these weren't songs made for a movie; this was a movie made for an already existing album that probably can only be watched by the most die-hard of Pink Floyd fans. The value of the film is that it better illustrates what meanings were behind Roger Waters' lyrics to the 1979 album, which probably might have been needed since my mother believed that The Wall was about the Vietnam War. It's a scary film, featuring rioting crowds, Bob Geldof with his eyebrows shaven off, and actual skinheads. Probably the best parts of the film are the Gerald Scarfe animation sequences; it's a pity that they are not intergrated with the better songs of the album. The theatrical cut of the film lacked the somber "Hey You".
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Willy Wonka has some good musical scores, with my favorite being "Pure Imagination". However, I highly doubt it would qualify as one of the greatest musicals. I would qualify it as being "a good musical forgiving my inability to think of some better ones". The film was more spoken than sung, and I feel that the musical parts were very boxed in rather than interwoven.
Mary Poppins (1964)
I think Disney has a bad reputation in live action films; even works that seem to have a level of sincerity put into them manage to fall on their faces. I think that's one of the factors that makes Mary Poppins stand out. It's not also the best Disney live action production, but it might possibly even be the best of all of Disney's productions. The picture features at least fourteen songs produced by the Sherman Brothers, and I have to say that they are all memorable and many enjoyable.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
I can appreciate this film, but I really don't understand the cult following related to it. It's a very confusing picture and I'm tempted to say that there is very little spoken exposition occurring in it; the film segues from one musical number to another without intermission. I have to say that many of the numbers are extremely forgetable and not highly enjoyable. Perhaps numbers that I favor are "Time Warp", "Sweet Transvestite", and "Hot Patootie" which is performed by a defrosted Meat Loaf.
Labyrinth (1986)
Labyrinth is in many ways better than Rocky Horror, featuring a story, better songs, and production values. The instrumental music was by Trevor Jones while most of the songs were composed and performed by David Bowie, who plays the androgynous villain in the picture. I once read that Michael Jackson was considered for the part of Jareth; I think we dodged a bullet on that.
Cinderella (1950)
I didn't necessarily want to mention two Disney features as I felt one could speak for them all, but I felt Cinderella had a brilliant characteristic of musicals worth mentioning. It involves one scene where the titular character is singing "Oh, Sing Sweet Nightingale" while doing nothing more than scrubbing the stairwell. "Nightingale" had nothing to do with advancing the plot of the story or telling the feelings and ambitions of the characters. Perhaps its one function was contrasting Cinderella with her stepsisters, with the former being the very definition of grace and beauty while the latter taking anything that is beautiful only to corrupt and spoil it. "Nightingale" served as a great example of the style of Disney musicals, where the music of the feature was seamlessly interwoven into the storytelling, so that you wouldn't notice between when characters were merely speaking or singing. I would say that Disney has had a good reputation with animated musicals, at least up to Beauty and the Beast; after that, the formula was painfully obvious. It almost seems that Disney has given up on the musical and, from what I was to understand, that didn't work out too well for them either.
Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)
Pink Floyd is probably more so a music video than a musical, but I thought I'd mention it anyways. I am to assume that 1982 is around the time that Roger Waters would be going his separate way from the rest of the group, and I'm wondering if this film had anything to do with that. Unlike the other examples, these weren't songs made for a movie; this was a movie made for an already existing album that probably can only be watched by the most die-hard of Pink Floyd fans. The value of the film is that it better illustrates what meanings were behind Roger Waters' lyrics to the 1979 album, which probably might have been needed since my mother believed that The Wall was about the Vietnam War. It's a scary film, featuring rioting crowds, Bob Geldof with his eyebrows shaven off, and actual skinheads. Probably the best parts of the film are the Gerald Scarfe animation sequences; it's a pity that they are not intergrated with the better songs of the album. The theatrical cut of the film lacked the somber "Hey You".
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Willy Wonka has some good musical scores, with my favorite being "Pure Imagination". However, I highly doubt it would qualify as one of the greatest musicals. I would qualify it as being "a good musical forgiving my inability to think of some better ones". The film was more spoken than sung, and I feel that the musical parts were very boxed in rather than interwoven.