Re: Musicals as a Genre
Posted: May 1st, 2010, 1:37 am
I love this thread. I sometimes get bored with the iconic musical movie. Oklahoma, West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, and countless others are musicals to me. The continuous break from the plot to stage a music and dance number can be distracting. On the other hand many of those styled movies had the best composed music. Carousel, Oklahoma, South Pacific, West Side Story and the likes were magnificent creations.
But even Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly mostly savored the plots, with some exceptions. Deanna Durbin never made a musical. Her movies were stories with songs. My opinion is that when the entire cast breaks into song and dance it becomes a musical. Even Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powel made mostly storied movies with musical numbers but not musicals. The Genre in the record store will be "Musical" but it may not be. I love both styles but favor the singing star sings a song over the full cast song and dance.
Speaking of 1930s I find too much concentration on stupid comedy numbers with comedians like Joe E Brown or Leon Errol. They are usually too long and should have been cut or shortened in the movie. I enjoy the created main plots and comedy becomes an unnecessary fill in.
Another point is the background cast in the movies. I love it when the stars start to sing in a public place that people stop and look at them and eventually applaud when they finish. I do not like it when the crowd around ignores the singing like it never happened. It needs to be real. I love Deanna Durbin movies for just that reason. Everyone participates in hearing the song and applauds.
But even Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly mostly savored the plots, with some exceptions. Deanna Durbin never made a musical. Her movies were stories with songs. My opinion is that when the entire cast breaks into song and dance it becomes a musical. Even Kathryn Grayson and Jane Powel made mostly storied movies with musical numbers but not musicals. The Genre in the record store will be "Musical" but it may not be. I love both styles but favor the singing star sings a song over the full cast song and dance.
Speaking of 1930s I find too much concentration on stupid comedy numbers with comedians like Joe E Brown or Leon Errol. They are usually too long and should have been cut or shortened in the movie. I enjoy the created main plots and comedy becomes an unnecessary fill in.
Another point is the background cast in the movies. I love it when the stars start to sing in a public place that people stop and look at them and eventually applaud when they finish. I do not like it when the crowd around ignores the singing like it never happened. It needs to be real. I love Deanna Durbin movies for just that reason. Everyone participates in hearing the song and applauds.