Movie Musicals

[8893]

I will watch the thing on Sunday because I love the material and am curious to see what they do with it. Legend is definitely talented but, not to get all Cal Naughton, Jr., I picture my Jesus with more of an edge. Maybe he will prove me wrong.

Watched it with my oldest daughter last night. She knows the music from me playing it frequently, but she doesn't know the words (or the substance of the story) nearly as well as I do, so the first half was a little confusing for her because the sound was unbalanced, most of the leads weren't loud enough, and the thing seemed sort of chaotic and unfocused. And we both agreed that too many of the actors were too focused on singing and not enough on acting. I had taped it while watching the end of the women's final so we were thankfully able to fast forward through the many commercials for the first 3/4 of the show or so before we caught up, and it also allowed me to pause it and explain to her what was going on. We both thought Judas was far and away the best performance, and that Pilate was very good and Mary was decent. Cooper was thankfully fleeting; don't think he added much and gave a pretty flat read on Herod's song imo. I thought Legend was exactly as I expected: good vocally but lacking gravitas and edge.

After that clumsy first half, I thought it finished strong though, with Judas's final number the highlight, and a pretty neat ending in a flash of light that left the resurrection open to one's own thoughts.

 

[Kolumbo]

 

[dbmill]

I'm a little late to this thread, but I just got back from the final four in Columbus.

There are a bunch of well known musicals that I never got into, but there are also a bunch that I totally enjoy. Here we go on the musicals I can watch over and over.

I am a big sucker for virtually all of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers RKO musicals done in the 1930's. They may have virtually all the same plot, but between the music, the set piece dances, and with some of the supporting players such as Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore, it doesn't matter to me. These are all top of the line for me:

The Gay Divorcee
Roberta
Top Hat
Follow the Fleet
Swing Time
Shall We Dance
Carefree

A few of the Busby Berkeley Warner Brothers films from the early 1930's, the one's that featured kaleidoscope views of dancing girls:

42nd Street
Golddiggers of 1933 - Unforgettable closing number featuring Joan Blondell with "Remember My Forgotten Man".
Footlight Parade - starring James Cagney, who was quite the song and dance man when given the chance.

Yankee Doodle Dandy - Cagney as George M. Cohan. Great propaganda piece for World War II, and a great movie as well.

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum - I never thought that I would ever care about any film with Al Jolson in it until I saw this one. This film from the early 1930's is completely off the wall, and is well worth seeing for its musical weirdness. Great rhyming dialogue to boot.

The Wizard of Oz

"Cabin in the Sky" and "Stormy Weather" are two great musicals from the 1940's that feature all black casts, a rarity of those times. You have to get by some of the racist elements in these films, but the music and dance set pieces are outstanding.

Singin' in the Rain - I'm not generally a fan of the old MGM musicals, but this one is probably my favorite musical of all.

The Court Jester - I'm not a big fan of Danny Kaye, but he delivered the goods on this one. The best musical comedy that I have seen.

, Superstar - This one has really grown on me in recent years, it's one that my wife got me into, As mentioned before, Carl Anderson as Judas steals the show, but there are a number of other quite good supporting roles including Yvonne Elliman.

Mary Poppins

Fiddler on the Roof - Topal is certainly good, but I would have loved to have seen Zero Mostel doing this.

Blues Brothers

 

[Waquoit]

"Cabin in the Sky" and "Stormy Weather" are two great musicals from the 1940's that feature all black casts, a rarity of those times. You have to get by some of the racist elements in these films, but the music and dance set pieces are outstanding.

I just came across this from Stormy Weather yesterday. It's pretty great.

 

[dbmill]

I just came across this from Stormy Weather yesterday. It's pretty great.

That's one of my favorite sequences in Stormy Weather. Here's another favorite of mine from that film, with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson:

Bill Robinson - "African Dance" (1943)