MUSICALS!: The Thread

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > MUSICALS!: The Thread

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Magic Hate Ball posted:

Opinion: La La Land is a terrible musical. It misses a huge amount of opportunities (a discussion about jazz in a jazz musical wasn't made into a jazz musical number? what?), most of the songs are lyrically facile, and after a certain point it essentially stops being a musical at all.

I think therre is a type of old Hollywood film that felt more like talent showcases more than traditional musicals. The songs are more showpieces that may or may not be thematically related, but don't necessarily drive the plot forward. Singing is just one of the things being showcased like dance and drama. I feel like Lala Land is like that. But Lala Land is also on the whole a subpar movie with some really good dance and music sequences. The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend parody of the opening song now leaves it with no actual value for me.

I wish Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson was a movie not because it's very good, but it makes a nice trilogy of musicals with 1776 and Hamilton.

Timeless Appeal fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Jan 21, 2021

# ¿ Jan 21, 2021 21:01

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 02:06

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Magic Hate Ball posted:

There's just a big, plain difficulty of translating the medium of a stage musical, where characters can slip in and out of songs due to the fact that they're onstage and speaking and singing are two things that happen naturally onstage and in person, to screen, where everything is "real" in a way that we're not trained to expect from a stage piece.

I dunno if it's the reality that is the issue. Nobody loses their mind when Ferris Bueller talks to the audience or wonders if the narration in Casino is of like ghosts or something. Dramatic conceits exist in film as much as the stage.

It's more that the language is different. You have to work hard for a musical to not feel forced. I think a component of it is a live orchestra not being fully replaced with scores. An orchestra for even a bad musical has a buzz that is always keeping you on your toes. Film musicals need to be really good and lively with very clear themes for the actual songs to not feel like an abrupt shift. I think a lot of bad musicals can be identified from that feeling of 'IT'S SONG TIME NOW!"

With that said I'm a sucker for a well timed and thematically purposeful reprise in a score.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2021 22:48

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

I am very excited in twenty years to see Linklater's Merrily We Roll Along adaptation because:

--Linklater should have done a musical earlier.
--Merrily We Roll Along is good
--Sondheim should be adapted more often

# ¿ Jan 22, 2021 03:28

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Darko posted:

West Side Story is just missing too much energy in the dancing as compared to the stage play. The whole thing is about energy and power and emotion coming out in the dancing and songs, and instead we get much less powerful dancing and dubbed songs.

I think it really depends on the production. Really good productions of West Side Story can be pretty sexy and raw, but it's not always the case. I was interested in the new production that closed down because of Covid, but it really sounded like it failed to find modern relevancy. The racial and ethnic dynamics of the original are a bit antiquated.

I'm not sure how I feel about Spielberg's version.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2021 21:33

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Magic Hate Ball posted:

Into the Woods is such a weird, flaccid adaptation. It looks like it was shot in a forest behind Rob Marshall's house on his days off and makes me think he doesn't know how to shoot a musical number that isn't literally on a stage.

Disney producing Sondheim is a crime against humanity, but to be fair, Into the Woods has been pretty disneyfied over the years. The original production was famous for a Bid Bad Floppy Wolf dong.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2021 18:47

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Vegetable posted:

I got lots of love for Les Mis even if every other film buff hated it. I'm very on board with the idea of live singing.

e: seconding the rec for God Help the Girl. It's so much fun and I don't know another film like it.

Hottest of takes, I like Russel Crowe a lot in Les Mis. I understand why people who love Les Mis don't care for him, but I think the film adaptation smartly puts the character in front of the gravitas. Javert is such an uncomfortable square, a man who you can tell is searching for order because he doesn't even fully understand himself. And it's not like Crowe's a bad singer even his voice is untrained. His version of Stars is profoundly sad in a way I rarely find the song even if it's not the best performance.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2021 20:23

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Franchescanado posted:

Maybe this would be a nice exercise, and give me something for the OP: What would we say are maybe the Essential Musicals for a CineD Goon?

If someone's come in here, see's the OP and thinks it's overwhelming or too historical, and then they see "La La Land sucks", and they're sitting there thinking "I've never seen any musicals except for some Disney animated films. What should I watch? Where do I start?" What would you recommend them?

Most popular or common answers will go in a list in the OP.

I would say that Little Mermaid absolutely should be listed as an Essential Musical. It really refined the idea of the animated musical.

Rocky Horror Picture Show is essential for defining the notion of musicals as being indie and subversive

I feel like Once is a film that doesn't get enough love. It's oddly a stage musical adaptation of a film that really surpasses the film. But still, I think there is a genre of low key, earnest mumblecore musical that I wish it had sparked.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2021 04:07

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Magic Hate Ball posted:

I think it was the Broadway revival that was live-streamed, yeah (it's an easy video to...find...), and I heartily recommend all the other Sondheim Broadway videos as well, particularly Sunday in the Park with George.

That makes me think: Who has criminally been in too few film musicals, Mandy Patinkin or Raul Esparza?

# ¿ Feb 1, 2021 21:16

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Franchescanado posted:

I watched West Side Story cuz I'm trying to go down a Sondheim rabbit hole. I've seen Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, and I've seen the 1982 filming of the 1979 production with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn, and I've seen Original Cast Album: Company. Is there a good resource for watching more filmed performances of his works? I checked Kanopy, which doesn't have any of his that I can tell. Hoopla has the 1993 TV adaptation of Gypsy with Bette Midler, and the 2015 stage production from the Savoy Theatre with Imelda Staunton. Hoopla also has the 1991 Into The Woods from American Playhouse.

Where can I find others? I really want to see a performance of Assassins, which apparently got a new performance which was streamed in April, but I can't find that easily. Are any other film adaptations of his plays worth watching?

The 2006 Revival of Company with Raul Esparza is up on Youtube. I actually prefer this version a lot more than the original cast. There is a VHS or Beta, not sure, version of Assassins from 2004 floating around that is incredibly low quality which is a shame because I saw that production live and it was great. But in general, youtube is the answer.

I think A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is worth watching. Also, you probably saw it, but in any case that you did sleep on it, A Marriage Story very much wears its inspirations from Company on its sleeve including doing two full music numbers from it. One of which is loving gutting.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2021 13:31

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

While we're sharing Sondheim footage, I really, really wish there was a Sunday in the Park with George film in the 80s with Patinkin. It's not my favorite Sondheim play, but this song sang by Patinkin has always been so haunting for me.

In more happy news, there is a film version of Follies coming. It's being directed by Dominic Cooke who's more of a theater person but apparently made a decent spy thriller released last year called The Courier that I never heard of.

# ¿ Jun 28, 2021 23:34

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Here is a trailer for Annette. A weird musical with Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, and music by the Sparks.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2021 03:25

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

I loved Westside Story. The thing is gorgeous and incredibly relevant in how it deals with ideas of whiteness.

But Tony was incredibly miscast. Rachel Zegler did such a great job with her take on Maria. She just feels authentically like this eighteen year old girl looking for romance who is quiet but mischievous. Similarly the Jets really did authentically feel like dirtbags. It's really hard to imagine him as having been the lead of the gang. I feel like Tony should be really intense, but clearly trying to do better and control himself.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2021 15:01

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

I think even then his physicality isn't really utilized that well. Like I'm sure that's true, but Chino, Riff, and Bernardo just have a lot more gravitas to their characters. But while they're elevated musical characters, I can relate to them.

Tony in my mind should feel like he's always hanging from a thread, always just a bit too intense, always ready to get back into a brawl, but he's really, really trying to be a good guy.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2021 02:56

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

He looks like an attempt to clone Val Kilmer that went terribly wrong.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2021 03:40

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Golden Bee posted:

Where can I find a list of the verbal parts that lead into great songs? I was thinking of a bit where I make a CD of just those parts with no singing.

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# ¿ Feb 2, 2022 03:54

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 02:06

Timeless Appeal: May 28, 2006

Bumping this thread to proudly declare... the Matilda musical is pretty good!

# ¿ Feb 27, 2023 02:21

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > MUSICALS!: The Thread