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How do you feel about musicals?

daedal

daedal

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Hi, I've been exploring the forum for a few weeks now and I don't think I've seen much about musicals! I wonder if anyone likes them. And what about movies with just one or two musical numbers?
If you ask me I'll say I try to avoid them at all costs. But maybe they are just asking for a fanfix!
 
Umbrellas of Cherbourg is fantastic! So is singing in the rain, my fair lady, west side story, top hat. But I’d say start with umbrellas, and singing in the rain. They are totally different styles of musicals but are perfect movies.
 
They just aren’t my thing. I love some of the music. And I think some of the stories are great too. But when combined, it just totally takes me out of it. I think it’s because i like to be totally immersed in a movie and someone advancing the plot through a song and dance number is not how humans behave. But I can accept all sorts of other fantastical elements in other genres like fantasy or sci-fi, so long as they are consistent with the internal logic of the movie. So … 🤷‍♂️
 
There have been many, many adaptions of Dicken’s Christmas Carol, but the ultimate one for me is ‘Scrooge’ from the early seventies. It’s kind of a musical, in that there are songs, but it’s not like every character bursts into singing every five minutes or so. But because music is what emotions sound like, this version moves me more than any other Christmas Carol adaption. I also like ‘Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory’ for the same reasons.

So as long as there’s not too much singing, it’s fine with me. The only exceptions are those in which the story and setting appeal to me a lot - and even then I really have to be in the mood for it. I like the Victorian era, even more with a gothic setting. That’s why I also enjoyed ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Sweeney Todd’, though - like I said - I have to be in the mood. For the same reasons I’m looking forward to the movie adaption of ‘Wicked’ (which I saw twice on stage).

Contemporary musicals that aren’t concerned with (gothic) phantasy - like Lalaland and West Side Story - are of no interest to me.
 
I can’t believe I left off nightmare before Christmas !!! But also back to your original question Pinocchio only has like 2-3 musical numbers and they are believable for the plot it’s not people breaking out into song
 
I don't like many musicals, but I've done a few - Anna And The Apocalypse, Sound of Music, Willy Wonka (1971), and I'm playing around with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the moment. Mostly ones I watched as a kid and enjoyed parts of, but Anna And The Apocalypse is modern and pretty great if you haven't seen it.

My main complaint is when the songs get in the way of the story, so I tend to edit out any that aren't both compelling and flow with the story. For instance in Willy Wonka, as iconic as the oompa loompa songs are, they're very much "song breaks" to the narrative.
 
I love Streets Of Fire. It's not a musical, but music does play a big part in it. It's a "Rock & Roll Fable". If you want a movie with good original music, but without characters just bursting into song, I will always recommend this one.
 
Like any genre, musicals has its share of stinkers. But there are plenty of good examples.

A few enjoyable ones that jump to mind:
Holiday Inn,
Singing on the Rain,
The Sound of Music,
Blues Brothers,
High Society (inferior to the original Philadelphia Story, but the songs are catchy),
and several animated Disney musicals (anyone who doesn't smile at Robin Williams' singing as the Genie is cold-blooded or lying!).
 
lapis molari said:
Like any genre, musicals has its share of stinkers. But there are plenty of good examples.

A few enjoyable ones that jump to mind:
Holiday Inn,
Singing on the Rain,
The Sound of Music,
Blues Brothers,
High Society (inferior to the original Philadelphia Story, but the songs are catchy),
and several animated Disney musicals (anyone who doesn't smile at Robin Williams' singing as the Genie is cold-blooded or lying!).
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I love The Blues Brothers. With a couple of exceptions, they mostly work the musical numbers into the plot as performances. Though those exceptions—Think and, to a lesser degree, Shake Your Tail Feather—I suppose do qualify it as a musical. Another musical movie that I don’t really consider a musical is This Is Spinal Tap.
 
Blues brothers is great. Willy wonka, amd wizard of oz are also classics. Lots of great Disney musicals. There’s actually a movie called the man who hated musicals and in think nuts a musical lol
 
Generally no, though I would say Disney movies are boarder line and I like many of those. Perhaps it's my thought that with a movie I'm observing something happening vs in a musical which seems more attention seeking and shouting "observe me!". I don't care for attention seeking I guess.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I already saw some of them. I once was a fan of Tim Burton but the reason I don't go back to Nightmare Before Christmas and Sweeney Todd is because they are musicals. sadly I think Sweeney Todd is the most interesting story Burton ever adapted... I'm currently cutting out songs from the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie so I don't have to skip over them next time I watch it. I feel a little bit ashamed though to have Bowie in a movie and cutting out his musical numbers...
 
daedal said:
I'm currently cutting out songs from the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie so I don't have to skip over them next time I watch it. I feel a little bit ashamed though to have Bowie in a movie and cutting out his musical numbers...
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That's how I edit, my primary focus is my own rewatching/collection. There are always going to be hardcore fans of a particular movie that are unsatisfied with parts being cut, just have to stay true to your own style, edit by committee is just asking for an end product where no one is happy imo. I never question it - if it ruins the flow it goes, no matter how iconic the person or song might be.
 
I'm a bit fickle when it comes to musicals. I LOVE them live (I live pretty close to New York City and my wife and I try to see a couple of musicals a year), but I have to in the right frame of mind when watching a movie musical. The older ones I really adore with Fred Astaire, but I had no interest in Spielberg's West Side Story.

I have kicked around the idea of trying to edit out all of the musical numbers from Popeye since I enjoy mostly everything else but the musical numbers. Certainly not high up on my priority list, but the idea has crept up from time to time.
 
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Though I’ve never seen the original Poitier movie, it would be cool to edit Porgy and Bess to substitute the Miles Davis/Gil Evans music for the original score. Though you’d obviously have lips moving with no vocals.
 
kinnikuman said:
I can’t believe I left off nightmare before Christmas !!! But also back to your original question Pinocchio only has like 2-3 musical numbers and they are believable for the plot it’s not people breaking out into song
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I'm curious about Pinocchio, which version are you talking about?
 
daedal said:
I'm curious about Pinocchio, which version are you talking about?
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The animated Disney version - the only other versions in saw was the Tom hanks one that wasn’t very good and the del toro one which was okay
 
unfair said:
For instance in Willy Wonka, as iconic as the oompa loompa songs are, they're very much "song breaks" to the narrative.
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The songs motivate the way Wonka treats the children. So they might not propel the story, but they give it a bit more depth I think.
 
As with Blues Brothers as I stated above, Wonka justifies its musical numbers with context. You’re in a magical factory with Oompa Loompas, etc. Breaking into song doesn’t feel out of context like, say, a couple of rival street gangs breaking into song and dance numbers. For me, that matters.
 
ScottCrane said:
There have been many, many adaptions of Dicken’s Christmas Carol, but the ultimate one for me is ‘Scrooge’ from the early seventies. It’s kind of a musical, in that there are songs, but it’s not like every character bursts into singing every five minutes or so. But because music is what emotions sound like, this version moves me more than any other Christmas Carol adaption.
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"Thank you very much, thank you very much, that's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me!" Dark humor at its finest! The 1970 Scrooge is a sentimental favorite for me. It's the one I grew up with.

unfair said:
My main complaint is when the songs get in the way of the story, so I tend to edit out any that aren't both compelling and flow with the story. For instance in Willy Wonka, as iconic as the oompa loompa songs are, they're very much "song breaks" to the narrative.
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I'd argue the exact opposite. The Oompa-Loompa songs are the perfect example of songs perfectly intertwined with the narrative and essential to it. In fact it's exactly the same way in the book. The film does take a few liberties but that aspect is recreated very faithfully. A case can be made against the rest of the songs (and of course "Cheer Up Charlie" is objectively awful) but not against those.

As for me, it's like any other genre. You can find everything from masterpieces to stinkers. I certainly don't get annoyed by musical numbers by default nor would I normally wish them gone, unless they're bad numbers or songs by themselves (the aforementioned "Cheer Up Charlie"). The musical narrative or style is far from a turn-off for me, it's just its own thing.

I love the classics, Singing In the Rain is the GOAT, but my preference tends to go towards the offbeat ones, the likes of Phantom of the Paradise, Rocky Horror, or Little Shop of Horrors.
 
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