Jump to content

Musicals


goodeats

Recommended Posts

Ok, first, I think, to post a "help needed" in the non-food part of this wonderful site. I got into movie musicals as a child, and now I want to pass that love onto gelittleman. Not looking for animated musicals (like Aladdin, The Lion King, and the such).

I'm a bit stumped as to which musicals to introduce him to next. He has watched the following so far:

  1. Mary Poppins
  2. Bedknobs and Broomsticks
  3. Sound of Music
  4. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
  5. Pippi Lockstocking
  6. Wizard of Oz
  7. Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
  8. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I know, I know, I'm stretching it with this one)
  9. Annie
  10. Into the Woods
  11. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Singing in the Rain is definitely on the "must watch soon" list, but not sure when to introduce ones like Meet me in St. Louis or West Side Story and all. Definitely holding off on Sweeney Todd for a long while, though.

Thanks!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have a lot of patience with many movie musicals, except the ones with Fred Astaire in them. The Gay Divorcee? Top Hat?

1967 was widely viewed (at the time) as the year the Great, Old-Fashioned, American Musical died (it since made something of a comeback), mainly due to Dr. Doolittle being so heavily marketed (the "marketing" including lavish dinners for the Academy voting members, and who-knows what else) that somehow got it nominated for Best Picture at the 40th Academy Awards. To date, it remains, by far, the worst motion picture I've ever seen that was nominated for the Best Picture Award. It is horrible, and to be avoided at all costs.

One of the "key words" in your original post was "he." Because of this, I might take a pass on another picture from that same year, "Thoroughly Modern Millie," because it's one of the original "chick flicks." That said, it stars Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore, and Carol Channing got nominated for Best Supporting Actress - it's far superior to the tremendously bad "Dr. Doolittle," and I actually enjoyed it (all three actresses, by the way, are alive and well).

Regardless of how you slice and dice it, 1967 was a transitional year for American Musicals:

"New Book 'Roadshow!' Reveals How Three Giant Mid-'60s Hits Led Hollywood To Make A String Of Bad, Bloated Musicals That Doomed The Genre - Author Matthew Kennedy says that following the glorious period of 'Mary Poppins,' 'My Fair Lady,' and 'The Sound of Music,' it was all downhill with fiascos like 'Doctor Dolittle,' 'Paint Your Wagon,' and 'Star!' by jfarber@nydailynews.com

"AFI's 25 Greatest Movie Musicals Of All-Time" on afi.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One day...just not for a few more years.... I actually haven't watched it from start to finish--only caught bits and pieces....

You know what?

I'd only skimmed your post, and didn't realize it was for gelittleman - he might actually really *like* Dr. Dolittle because quite honestly, it's right at about his level. It's not "Best Picture" material, but so what? There-s a Pushmi-Pullyu, the Great Pink Sea Snail, etc. - it's rated "G" and it's perfect for children, although it's very long (152 minutes), so it will probably need to be broken up into two days. It even has the "Best Song" award for "Talk To The Animals."

For a child? Sure, why not? In fact, I think he'd be thoroughly bored by "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (which also has somewhat condescending Asian stereotyping). Go to that AFI Top 25 list, and consider "Singin' In The Rain" (actually, *I'll* watch that with you two), "West Side Story" if you don't mind choreographed gang fighting in the form of dance, "My Fair Lady" (which I'll also watch with you two), "The King and I", "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (war theme), "Grease" (some mature, sexual connotations, such as unwanted pregnancy), "Show Boat," and also don't forget "Bye Bye Birdie" and "White Christmas" which, believe it or not, contains the best-selling song of all-time, as well as Rosemary Clooney. I think it's wonderful what you two are doing, and hope you enjoy it now because you won't be doing it in ten years. :)

Why are you ruling out animation? I can understand wanting things to be human, but I'll take "Ratatouille" and "Monsters, Inc." any day of the week, even though they aren't musicals. What about "Jungle Book?"

A quick skim of "Best Musicals for Children" on amazon.com reminds me of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" with a small part by ... are you ready? Benny Hill.

Oh! I've never seen the movie, but "Little Shop of Horrors" is the only play I've ever seen three times in NYC (trivia: the original 1960 (non-musical) movie was one of Jack Nicholson's first movies - he has a bit part as a masochist in a dentist's chair (don't believe the DVD cover - he's in the movie for about three minutes, but that one scene would be inappropriate for children)).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One day...just not for a few more years.... I actually haven't watched it from start to finish--only caught bits and pieces....

I'll bet he would love "Oliver!"  Also, I don't think "Into the Woods" is for kids. Neither is "Avenue Q." although I don't think it has been filmed.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know what?

I'd only skimmed your post, and didn't realize it was for gelittleman - he might actually really *like* Dr. Dolittle because quite honestly, it's right at about his level. It's not "Best Picture" material, but so what? There-s a Pushmi-Pullyu, the Great Pink Sea Snail, etc. - it's rated "G" and it's perfect for children, although it's very long (152 minutes), so it will probably need to be broken up into two days. It even has the "Best Song" award for "Talk To The Animals."

For a child? Sure, why not? In fact, I think he'd be thoroughly bored by "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (which also has somewhat condescending Asian stereotyping). Go to that AFI Top 25 list, and consider "Singin' In The Rain" (actually, *I'll* watch that with you two), "West Side Story" if you don't mind choreographed gang fighting in the form of dance, "My Fair Lady" (which I'll also watch with you two), "The King and I", "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (war theme), "Grease" (some mature, sexual connotations, such as unwanted pregnancy), "Show Boat," and also don't forget "Bye Bye Birdie" and "White Christmas" which, believe it or not, contains the best-selling song of all-time, as well as Rosemary Clooney. I think it's wonderful what you two are doing, and hope you enjoy it now because you won't be doing it in ten years. :)

Why are you ruling out animation? I can understand wanting things to be human, but I'll take "Ratatouille" and "Monsters, Inc." any day of the week, even though they aren't musicals. What about "Jungle Book?"

A quick skim of "Best Musicals for Children" on amazon.com reminds me of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" with a small part by ... are you ready? Benny Hill.

Oh! I've never seen the movie, but "Little Shop of Horrors" is the only play I've ever seen three times in NYC (trivia: the original 1960 (non-musical) movie was one of Jack Nicholson's first movies - he has a bit part as a masochist in a dentist's chair (don't believe the DVD cover - he's in the movie for about three minutes, but that one scene would be inappropriate for children)).

It's remarkable how little my taste accords with what you suggest. I haven't seen quite a lot of the movies/shows that you mention, but of those I have, I actively dislike everything about "My Fair Lady" except the numbers sung/spoken by Rex Harrison, whose performance in this film roughly captures, I've always assumed, his stage performance in the same role. He's stupendous in the film, and everything else about the film is a failure, most especially including the direction and the production design, which are simply awful, but also Audrey Hepburn's stupefying performance. Stanley Holloway is rather good. George Cukor supposedly tried to get James Cagney to come out of retirement to play Dolittle, and boy would that have been a different film, and not necessarily a better one.

I also strongly dislike the film they made of "West Side Story". I once played Tony in a production of the play, so I know the play pretty well, and always thought it was pretty weak stuff, aside from the utterly brilliant score by Leonard Bernstein. But the film employs naturalistic settings in which the young hoodlums constantly break into dance, which just comes across to me as ludicrous. And Natalie Wood could never act, no, not if her life depended on it. She could barely even talk.

I've had a weak spot for "The King and I", only partly because of a relationship I had with a descendent of the king in question. I love Yul Brynner's performance. I saw him onstage in the first Broadway revival of the show in (I think) 1978. But it's not a very good film.

"Yankee  Doodle Dandy" is a too-worshipful George M. Cohan biopic more than it is a movie musical, but I love it because James Cagney. I love to see him sing and dance. One of Hollywood's most gifted performers, and I have loved his work uncritically for several decades.

"Singing in the Rain" is entertaining, but I find it wildly overrated, and I've always found it in some way painful to watch Gene Kelly on screen. I think i'ts because his work was so inferior to Fred Astaire's: Astaire made everything look easy, and Kelly made everything look terribly difficult.

The song "White Christmas" first appeared in the movie musical "Holiday Inn", twelve years before the movie "White Christmas". As an enthusiastic volunteer in the War on Christmas, I don't care much for either.

I saw the musical version of "Little Shop of Horrors" off-Broadway during its early-1980s run at the Orpheum Theatre in the East Village. I can't for the life of me remember why I was in New York, or who I went to the show with (I definitely went with someone). I suppose the occasion may have been an anarchist gathering in the Village in 1982 or 1983, which was also when I first saw the brilliant animated feature "Sinkin' in the Bathtub".

I think, on the whole, the demise of the big movie musical has been a positive development.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think, on the whole, the demise of the big movie musical has been a positive development.

Maybe, but these are recommendations for an 8-year-old child watching with his mom, both of whom celebrate Christmas - by all means, chime in with something better.

I saw the musical version of "Little Shop of Horrors" off-Broadway during its early-1980s run at the Orpheum Theatre in the East Village. I can't for the life of me remember why I was in New York, or who I went to the show with (I definitely went with someone). I suppose the occasion may have been an anarchist gathering in the Village in 1982 or 1983, which was also when I first saw the brilliant animated feature "Sinkin' in the Bathtub".

I saw it at the Orpheum three times *only* because I had three different guests, and I wanted to see them get the shit scared out of them by those little plastic strips that dropped down at the end of the play.

Also, for the opening number when the trio of girls popped up from behind the couch.

Also, I had one of these sweatshirts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^ Ah, but "Make'Em Laugh" has one of the best choreographies in Singing in the Rain. And also, apparently the movie version of Into the Woods was revamped to be more accepted by a wider-range of audience. His stepmom and dad watched it with him, so I don't know. I think I'm going to catch the show at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse this Sunday, if anyone wants to join me.

As for animated musicals--little man will naturally gravitate toward them, so it's a no-brainer that we will watch them. Which is why I was asking for the old classics, because I know there are bound to be some that I will miss on my list.

As for condescending Asian profiling, there is no other classic-profiling than The Flower Drum Song, which, ironically, produced one of my fave R&H song's, "I Enjoy Being a Girl."

Don, you are welcomed to come over--I will let you know when we watch them.

I never got into The King and I--that one I found very off-putting, even if it was Yul Brenner. And at 8, it's great he misses major issues, such as the one talked about in Grease, but that one he watched with his stepmom and dad, as well as the much-forgotten Disney musical, the Newsies. (Can you believe Christian Bale was in that?!) But this does mean that I'll get him to watch Grease 2 with Michelle Pfeiffer at some point, too.

White Christmas and Holiday Inn are on this year's Christmas-watch list. At some point, Anchors Aweigh and I think, Follow the Fleet will be on the list, too.

I still can't believe my mom let me watch Benny Hill as a 6/7 yo, but it was a nice cameo in Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang.

Definitely adding Little Shop of Horrors and Yankee Doodle Dandy to the current list (love James Cagney!), with Showboat on a "watch later" list. Also Bye Bye Birdie and My Fair Lady (although, I prefer Gigi more, I think...).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Singin' in the Rain was a huge hit with my kiddo from a very young age.  It's funny with some slapstick and terrific dancing and singing. There are a couple songs I could skip, but overall it's wonderful.

The TV musical of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is really excellent, and is a funny show with great songs, not Disney princessy (my son liked it a lot when he was younger).  It stars pop singer Brandy, who was surprisingly good; Whitney Houston, who I was mixed on; and Bernadette Peters, Paolo Montalban, Victor Garber, Jason Alexander, and others who were terrific.

Another excellent one:  the TV version of Annie, from the early 2000s, if that's not the one you watched with him.  Rob Marshall directed it, and he's generally a wonderful director. Great choreography, great singing - I personally liked this version Annie much better than the one from the 80s, though some people love that one.  Victor Garber again, Audra McDonald, Alan Cumming, Kristen Chenoweth, and Kathy Bates (!) as Miss Hannigan.

My son also liked Kiss Me Kate, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, Into the Woods (there's a filmed version of the Broadway play with Bernadette Peters and others, a fantastic cast - your son might like to see that and compare w/the movie - I liked both), Little Shop, Les Miz (we took him to the play when he was your son's age - depends how you feel about the Lovely Ladies scene and how much he'd understand), On the Town, Oliver!, and the filmed stage version of Oklahoma! with Hugh Jackman.

I highly recommend a book by Ty Burr:  The Best Old Movies for Families.  He recommends older movies for various ages (all ages, tween, and teen).

http://smile.amazon.com/Best-Old-Movies-Families-Watching/dp/1400096863/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444147807&sr=1-1&keywords=ty+burr

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For recent movies:  Hairspray was well done, and MTV filmed a stage production of Legally Blonde.  Either now or in a couple years if that's better for your kid.

Look here for more filmed stage musicals:  http://www.playbillstore.com/brmuplondvd.html

One of the Les Miz anniversary concerts might be good if the full movie would be too much right now.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is good for this age.

They've filmed Billy Elliott, which I didn't realize (I never saw that one and would like to)

Shrek the Musical (stage version) actually has some really good songs and performers - it's Sutton Foster and Brian D'arcy James, with a score by Jeanine Tesori (composer of Fun Home, Violet, the musical of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Caroline or Change, and other strong shows).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One day...just not for a few more years.... I actually haven't watched it from start to finish--only caught bits and pieces....

Believe it or not, I just saw Rocky Horror for the first time this past weekend. I also saw The Princess Bride for the first time from start to finish. Rocky is definitely not a kids movie.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also saw The Princess Bride for the first time from start to finish.

Inconceivable! ;-)

They've filmed Billy Elliott, which I didn't realize (I never saw that one and would like to)

Billy Elliott, starring Jamie Bell, was better than I expected it to be.

I forgot to add Newsies! to the list. Christian Bale. I like the stage musical scored soundtrack a bit better in this case, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They're broadcasting the musical of Billy Elliott on PBS on Friday the 23rd. Not the movie w/Jamie Bell, but the stage musical, broadcast live from the West End (I think on Great Performances).

This Friday they're showing Show Boat (stage musical, not the movie) on Live From Lincoln Center -- Vanessa Williams, the extraordinary Norm Lewis, Fred Willard (?), and others.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...