Sin #57: Modern Musicals

Ever since Al Jolson spoke the first words in a motion picture back in 1927 (with “The Jazz Singer”), Hollywood has had a dear affection for musicals. For a while they provided grand entertainment and audiences loved to see the elaborated choreographies backed up with catchy tunes. But then, they kind of fizzled out and musicals were deemed old-fasioned and corny, almost a relic from the past.

In 2001 there was a movie that single-handedly brought back the musical genre for a new generation. That was Baz Luhrmann’s “Moulin Rouge”, a movie that combined an ancient and well known story (the love affair between an artist and a dying prostitute) with several covers of modern pop songs; the effect was both delightful and awe-inspiring, finally there was a fresh take on the genre and the movie became a big hit leading to other movies to follow its example (a year later “Chicago” took home the best picture Oscar, although it pales in comparison to “Moulin Rouge”). Today, there are many musicals around the corner and most of them are stale and boring.

A few weeks ago I saw “Nine” from Rob Marshall (who also made “Chicago”) and was startled at the cast he managed to convince to appear in it; we have Daniel Day Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren…these are some very talented actors (especially Lewis who burned the screen in “There Will Be Blood” and is known to be an extreme method-actor) but they are all wasted in a lousy remake of a Fellini classic that features not a single memorable song. “Nine” resembles a fashion shoot; it’s all glitz and glamour signifying absolutely nothing.

A recent musical I did like was Julie Taymor’s “Across the Universe” that featured very well known songs from The Beatles to tell a love story in the hippie era. While not every cover is successful (I hated the “Let it Be” cover), the movie is powerful and visually inventive (especially during the “Strawberry Fields” sequence) and remains an entertaining tribute to the lasting power of The Beatles.

Some musicals, however, can be true endurance tests for audiences. Take “The Producers” for example; in the theater it became a massive hit and was even an integral part of season four of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (resulting in hilarious situations for its star Larry David) but as a movie the musical is a complete stinker. Not only are the songs pretty bad but the performances are outrageously awful turning people into grotesque caricatures; the film is a mess.

Coming back from a trip I saw another awful musical called “Dreamgirls” that managed to be a unique musical in the sense that the stars didn’t actually sing but rather screeched the tunes as if paid by the decibel level. Everybody praised Jennifer Hudson’s performance (she even won an Oscar for it) but I found her annoying and irritating not to mention unbearable. “Dreamgirls” is the kind of film that gives musicals a bad name.

I don’t have anything against the musical genre, in fact two of my favorite movies of the last decade were musicals (“Sweeney Todd” and “Once”) but those films had great characters and their songs defined their personalities and helped tell a good story. Movies like “Nine” or “Dreamgirls” don’t care about anything except the technical aspect of their musical numbers, turning the whole venture into a cold, frivolous exercise. Musicals went in and out of fashion once and we are seeing it happen again. Every time I sense something bad about to happen I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad…