Your Thoughts on Musicals

I still don't get the snobbery towards musicals. Yes, there are some that are just for the money, but in the good old days, you had everyone involved with the film at the top of their game, which is why they scooped lots of Oscars.

A musical is like any other genre of film, it has some good and some bad. In very recent years unfortunately the majority of musicals have been pretty bad.

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PeterVincent hit the nail on the head in my view, though Westside Story is the only musical I've seen a great many times and will continue doing so.

Some people say they can't get into musicals because nobody goes around singing and dancing from out of nowhere in "real life". In other words, they're too unbelievable. Many of these people's favorite movies are about super heroes and zombies. Whether you believe that's a disconnect or just plain irony, it shoots down their reasoning. Then there are people who somehow believe that you have to be gay to like musicals. That's been a popular cliche for decades, and lord knows, you don't want to come out and say you like musicals because it implies something about your masculinity. However, a cliche is still a cliche, and even if some have a basis in a kind of truth, cliches still aren't reality. What's the difference if you sing a metal song or "Singin' in the Rain" in the shower?

All musicals are basically an intensifying of a real life experience. The characters are so full of their emotions and experiences that normal daily life cannot express them. Musicals are pumped-up reality. If you have some prejudices which prohibit you from enjoying them, then OK, but it's your loss for dismissing an entire genre. There are some powerful musical dramas out there as well as the musical comedies. Then, if you really cannot stand a movie unless it's realistic (which probably makes you delusional for thinking such a thing exists), go and try Cabaret. Nobody just breaks out in song and dance from out of nowhere. It's all done on the job. Even the one boy who starts a crowd singing outdoors does it as part of his "job".

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All good points mark f. Stereotypes are Cliches on steroids.

I haven't even yet seen Cabaret, though I've read Isherwood's Berlin Stories. I'm gonna have to watch it.

The musical is still a fairly under explored genre for me I have to admit. I recently watched and absolutely loved Singin' in the Rain though. And I loved Grease as a kid but I've not seen it for years. Mary Poppins is good fun, and I love some of the great Disney musicals (Lion King, Beauty and the Beast etc).

West Side Story was a little hit and miss for me but there were some moments of it I loved.

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I think if anyone tells you they hate all musicals they are lying (that is to say that you hate all of the classic Disney animated films).

PeterVincent hit it on the nail. It's like any genre there are good musicals and bad ones.

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I hate most musicals.

There are a few exceptions, but I stress the word few. And, again with few exceptions, I hate classic Disney animated films BECAUSE they are musicals.

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Too bad that Lindsey Buckingham and Tom Petty never wrote the songs for a musical.

I like some of the old ones from the 40's and 50's, Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney made some good ones. Also Singin in the Rain, Oklahoma and many others from that era were good. Most newer musicals leave me cold, there were a few good ones like Xanadu, Little Shop of Horrors but for the most part they are crap.

Yeah, then maybe I'd like more musicals. Or maybe there'd be just more Buckingham and Petty songs that I don't like.*

I plan to go see Les Miserables when it hits the theaters. But I also expect not to like it.


*Not that there are many of those. Actually there are only two Lindsey Buckingham songs I don't like (Oh Diane and Flying Down Juniper)
and I can't actually think of any Tom Petty songs I dislike.

My wife and I saw it on Broadway (second row) during our honeymoon. It was great but I'll wait to see it before I decide how well they do the movie.

^Well considering I didn't even like the Les Miserables with Uma Thurman, Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush (which isn't a musical), I don't think anything about this one will really impress me. I'm only planning on seeing it because I will watch Russell Crowe in absolutely anything.

I love musicals; always have always will. I was a big drama club nerd in high school and I tend to like all that singing and dancing that others find so corny. Musicals are a different movie experience for me. More interactive, I guess. Also, I feel like they have a really high re-watch factor. I never get tired of Funny Girl.

Mark made a great point about people not finding them realistic. Escapism can be a great thing and musicals are no less realistic than a movie about time travel or space aliens.

I love musical films, but I can't take sitting in a theatre watching musicals on stage, for me it seems to comes across as incredibly cringeworthy. Always been like that for some reason.

My all time favourite is an animation, I absolutely adore the songs:


A Nightmare Before Christmas

Musicals are like poems: when they're good, they're great. When they're not, they're freakin' terrible.

I like musicals... whether it be watching them as a movie or seeing one on broadway. In highschool I was IN the school musicals all four years as well as varsity showchoir so music, vocal especially, is very important part of me life-thus important to me. It all has to do with the believability of the characters and their emotion.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC is so good to me, everyone played their part perfectly. Some others, new and old, that I like:
WEST SIDE STORY
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
WIZARD OF OZ
MULAN RUGUE
There are more but those are the immediates that pop into mind. Other than those, I love DISNEY--their songs are so catchy!

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So when exactly did your heart turn to stone?


Forgot to mention a couple. Hedwig and the Angry Inch I suppose you could call a musical and I love that. However I forgot my no.1 favourite musical - South Park: Biggere, Longer and Uncut!

Case in point: Singin' in the Rain and Mamma Mia .

I like disney musicals and The Wizard of Oz, if it qualifies. Sound of Music is watchable as well.