Are Musicals Moribund?
Posted by anastasia on 01-17-2006I'm sure I've blogged here before about "Fame" being one of my favorite movies of all time. I definitely went through a phase in my tweens where I worshipped musicals, acting out scenes from "Grease," "Grease 2," "A Chorus Line," "The Wiz" and of course "Fame." I did see "Footloose" over 10 times and played the soundtrack to death on my record player. That phase peaked for me with Prince's "Purple Rain" (it was just to hard to act out). I tried out for various high school musicals (my audition song was always "Nothing" from "A Chorus Line"), but I had a pretty limited range and no clue how to sing without straining my voice…It haunts me in my karaoke stints to this day.
I came across this article on Zap2it.com about the Disney Channel's new original movie "High School Musical," which appeared to lament the fact that today's teens didn't really grow up with the same amount of high school musicals as my generation did. From the story:
"There was a time, back in the '80s, when it seemed as if every other kid was wearing leg warmers, a leotard or a ripped sweatshirt and wanted to be a dancer. And why not? With the releases of 'Saturday Night Fever' in 1977 and 'Grease' in 1978, dance was back in a big way on the big screen.
The subsequent decade then produced 'Fame' (1980), 'Flashdance' (1983), 'Footloose' (1984) and 'Dirty Dancing' (1987). All were exuberant musicals that took dance numbers off the stage and the soundstage and threw them out in the street.
…As time passed, young moviegoers' tastes turned to special-effects-laden blockbusters, gory slasher films and raunchy comedies. On television, song and dance became more about MTV than Broadway."
I'm just not sure that this perceived lack of love for musicals by today's teens is really a trend. Tween and teen girls continue to flock to see "Wicked," and "Rent" is still beloved by many musical theater kids now in their 20s. Movie musicals began their comeback with "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago" followed by "Rent" and "The Producers." "Dreamgirls" is being made into a movie right now. Also, The Outkast musical "Idlewild" could also be a big hit with teens. I think the more visual stylized movie musicals that feel different from the stage will continue to do better than those that more closely resemble their Broadway counterparts.
And it seems like there were at least a few "teen girl dreams of being a dancer" movies in the past several years like Save the Last Dance and Center Stage. "American Idol" thrives on young people's aspirations to sing on stage (Diana DeGarmo was just cast in the Broadway production of Hairspray). The Disney Channel movie may just be tapping into the same love of musicals that many younger teens and tweens still have vs. reviving it.
Related:
January 17th, 2006 at 8:49 am
I do think the musical as we know it is moribund, BUT I also think it's ripe for a comeback. "Moulin Rouge" and "Idlewild" point in the right direction… musicals have got to move beyond the sing-song cadences of Broadway. That sound is just so dated.
Personally I am waiting for something that borrows elements from Bollywood — where, of course, the musical is alive and well.
January 17th, 2006 at 9:42 am
I think the musical has just changed from the completely feel good type that we're used to in "Grease" or even back to stuff like "Oklahoma" or "State Fair" to one's that are a little more lamentable, like "Moulin Rouge" where you know one of the main characters is a goner from the start.
The original point of the article seems to be based on the high school musical though and how that's not around as much anymore. Which makes sense. Our parents grew up on Rodgers & Hammerstein and that's who was teaching the Creative Arts class at our high schools. Now, with a different set of teachers, they're getting a different kind of Creative Arts experience.
January 17th, 2006 at 10:49 am
I don't use the term "musical" for 'Fame' (1980), 'Flashdance' (1983), 'Footloose' (1984) and 'Dirty Dancing.'
To me, a musical is a movie like "Grease" where the singing is symbolic of what the characters are saying or thinking.
January 17th, 2006 at 11:26 am
Did you guys read julia and katie's post Broadway Babies? I don't think the high school musical is dead at all. I think a new generation is rediscovering some of the old standards as well as annointing new classics (like Wicked, Moulin Rouge, etc.). When I was at Clark Atlanta speaking recently they were mounting a production of Fame (I was so jealous).
Also — Grease the movie, had just as much in between dialogue as Fame. And while the songs in Fame weren't necessarily singing dialogue, they were song by the cast. Footloose and Dirty Dancing were much more like "dancicals."
It will be interesting to see if Bollyhood takes hold with American teens, the movies I thought might resonate like Bride and Prejudice kinda flopped.