Movie Musicals: Could Do Better
Published on Monday 4th January, 2.30pm, Written by Carrie Dunn
In a review of the past decade, it would be easy to conclude that the first 10 years of the new millennium ushered in an era when the movie musical finally made a resurgence.
Moulin Rouge, Rent, Chicago, Dreamgirls, Hairspray, Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of the Opera London and Nine have all hit the big screen. And that’s not taking into account the immense popularity of High School Musical and the all-singing, all-dancing Disney offshoots.
Except I think I’d have been a lot happier if these movie musicals had been…well…you know…good. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy them. I do think, however, even the very best of the batch could have been a hell of a lot better.
Hairspray I adored. It showed off Zac Efron’s knack for light comedy, and Queen Latifah was amazing. But what was John Travolta’s accent supposed to be? And did anyone in the production team notice that the freedom march across town ran from dawn till dark over the course of one single song, making it the Longest Freedom March In The World Ever?
Rent would have been fabulous with its original cast ten years prior. As it was, it looked tired and old, with the luminous Rosario Dawson making her co-stars look haggard.
Then Dreamgirls – what the hell was it? A biopic or a musical? It didn’t know, and you couldn’t tell. However, it had the plus point of fabulous vocals from Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson. You don’t even get that redeeming feature in some of the others.
Gerard Butler admitted prior to the release of Phantom that he couldn’t sing, but apparently Andrew Lloyd Webber didn’t care about that. Nor did the Chicago producers, who cast Renee Zellweger as Roxie. Her vocals were adequate in their capacity to hold a tune, but put to shame by Catherine Zeta Jones, whose musical theatre training was evident.
The same problem reared its ugly head in Nine, where poor miming combined with what sounds like auto tune made the soundtrack a painful listening experience. Even Judi Dench, with her proud musicals history, ended up Rex Harrisoning her way through her number. I never thought I’d have selected Fergie as the stand-out singer from that particular cast, but she was – she had power, dynamics and emotion, rather than the feeble, vaguely melodic whispers emanating from everyone else.
So if the remakes of My Fair Lady and Carousel ever come about – as well as the adaptations of Les Mis and Miss Saigon – my wish would be for them to be directed by somebody who understands the artform of the musical. After that, the casting jigsaw, requiring the leads to be able to sing WELL, should just fall into place.
