Movie Musicals

Movie musicals are my favorite movies to watch over and over. Chicago, Bells are Ringing, Guys and Dolls, The Producers, Hair are among my favorites.  I can't wait to get a copy of Hairspray! 

Chicago qualifies for me as one of the all time best movie versions of a play.   I think Catherine Zeta-Jones is magnificent.  While I enjoyed the play, because the music is great, the movie does a much better job telling the story.  I was lucky enough to be in New York the night the movie opened and was at the Zigfield Theatre for the opening.  The theatre was buzzing in anticipation that night.  And the crowd erupted in the greatest round of applause at the end of the film.  So, it's not just the movie and the music I love, but I get to think about that magical night.  Even standing in the cold waiting to get in seems like a distant memory.

If you don't know know the work of Judy Holliday, then you have missed out.  The story centers on the life of one person who works for an answering service (that's how people got their messages before voice mail, answering machines, etc).  Anyway, the main character, played by Judy Holliday gets caught up in the lives of a number of her clients.  Hilarity ensues.  Judy Holliday was one of those incredibly talented women who died too young.  This is one of her best.  When you discover how much you love her, check out Born Yesterday--not a musical but a great movie.

The musical of the Producers got a lot of really bad reviews, and perhaps it deserved them, I don't know, I'm biased.  I saw the play on Broadway and the musical is really just a filmed version on the stage play--with outdoor scenes actually filmed outdoors!  So watching the movie brings back the absolute delight of sitting in the theatre watching it on stage.  Watch the original 1968 movie with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder and just try to tell me that Nathan Lane isn't channeling the spirit of Zero Mostel in that opening scene.  Ok, maybe Matthew Broderick is over the top as Leo Bloom, but that was the whole point.  This is a movie about stereotypes, and when you look at it that way, it does a great job.

Yes, musicals can be light-hearted entertainment (Hair is hardly light-hearted, but it is entertainment), but they can also tell great stories and highlight great acting.  I fell in love with Treat Williams after seeing Hair.  If I had seen him before that, I don't remember.  But because they are such great entertainment, I can watch them over and over again and never tire of it.  The music makes me happy as I sing along in the privacy of my own living room.  What could be better?