Just gotta say, I’m a big musical theatre fan, and one thing that dismays me is the large number of ‘greatest hits’ musicals (Movin’ Out, er, the ABBA one, Moulin Rouge, etc etc) that seemed to be coming out the last few years. Bye bye to musical creativity.
I agree with you about that. They really seem to be doing safe stuff thaye can presell with a brand name – “Twyla Tharp does Billy Joel!” – and revivals with big names (though I did see Hugh Jackman’s “Oklahoma!” on TV and liked it quite a bit).
OTOH, speaking of Hugh Jackman, kudos to him for doing the Peter Allen show. And not everything on B’way is a revival – “Wicked,” “Avenue Q,” etc.
You know, I tend to take the Amazon amateur reviews with a grain of salt, but these are worse than usual. One reviewer gives one star because “Christ never really existed”. :rolleyes:
I have had the pleasure of seeing multiple stage versions of Superstar. Ranging from the original recording cast on tour in '71 or '72 (they hardly attempted to do any “acting”, they just stood on stage and sang with minimal interaction between the characters), to the most recent version last year (the national touring company of the 1999 revival version).
I hadn’t known that they had made a direct to video of the stage revival. I’m not a fan of the 1973 movie so I might have to check this one out. Thanks for the tip Max.
Well I seem to recall at least one more song and the title sequence is a charming dance number to Wishing, Hoping Praying. As far as the the singing has to be spontaneous, well that would take out quite a few musicals. Cabaret for instance. IMHO MBFW is a light musical. It wants to be a musical and it is a link in the chain of the revival of the musical.
Would anyone be interested in doing something similar to Johnny LA’s 007 film festival? We could pick a movie (methodology TBA), give ourselves X amount of time (a week? two weeks?) to give everyone a chance to watch it, then come back for a discussion of the film. Classics – idiosyncratic faves – amusing bombs – whatever.
The only problem would be accessibility – I live in a major city with a bunch of really, really good video stores, so it’s not a problem for me, but I realize not all of us are so lucky. Netflix sends when they send, right? You can’t put in a specific request for a specific time? We could make the “X amount of time” a month if that would help.
C’mon, guys, this would be cool – I recently saw Umbrellas of Cherbourg for the first time and would have loved to have someone to discuss it with.
What say you?
OK if we are going to accept “My Best Friend’s Wedding” then I must add another one of my current favorites, “The Guru”. Not only does it have some great musical numbers, but there is a very strong Bollywood influence too. It doesn’t hurt to have the hot hunky Bobby Cannevale kiss another hunky fireman character either!
As for your suggestion Twixter, I am all for it! I have Netflix here and ordering is easy enough for me. Those members who are not near a good video store may want to check it out. But who gets to choose the movie?
Hmm, supervenusfreak, I can’t help but notice that you chose not to dignify my “Triplets” proposal with a response. 
I was thinking that we could keep a list of regular members of such a group in the order they signed up (so I’d be 1, you’d be 2, etc.), and pick in that order. We could keep a separate thread for sign-ups, the membership list, and the announcements of films and dates. Then, as first picker, I’d announce my choice and give a date (two weeks? a month? hence) on which discussion would begin. I’d then write the OP – summarizing the film briefly and perhaps suggesting a couple of topics for consideration.
twicks, control freak extraordinaire, meditating on Neptune’s Daughter vs. Thoroughly Modern Millie for her choice
That sounds great. What movie to start with, Twickster? Thread starter’s choice.
::raises hand:: ooh! ooh!
please can I join? what fun! I’d love to be included in the watching/discussing.
Also, if you need any help with sign-ups and keeping track of things, I’m a fairly organized person…
-Em
Gene Kelly!!! sigh D’artagnan yummm
Oh I knew ALL the words to
Fiddler on the Roof
Paint Your Wagon-buzz off detractors I love the movie
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
The Music Man
Among others, the time I was in junior high school.
OMG! I love Julie Andrews! And Judy Garland!!!
hehehe no wonder I get along with gay guys so well 
My mother loved Singing in the Rain… I thought it was totally boring and pointless. I like musicals where the music furthers the plot not just provide an excuse to burst into song!
Ohhh Judy Garland… I spent such a large part of my teens watching her movies… and this was in the days before video!
What write one post not 80 little ones?
HAH!
I so forgot A LIttle Night Music! I had the Broadway version on VINYL!
I think I wore the grooves all the way through
My mother introduced me to it … and then I explained things she missed in the lyrics to her… darned know it all kid!
I’d be interested, primarily because your mention of Cherbourg caught my attention; it’s my favorite movie musical of all time. (My favorite stage musical is Sweeney Todd, which has never been adapted for film, though a video crew caught a New York performance a while back; the tape is available for rental but hard to find. Check your indie shop.)
Oh, and from the OP, Moulin Rouge and Astaire for me.
I’ve only seen Sweeney Todd live, but amazon is selling this DVD edition.
I’m also in, if we do a “film festival” type thing.
LOL. Sorry Twickster but I am not familiar with that one. Jayjay probably is though and he probably can even get the sheet music for it too. Plenty of time for practice before the next gathering.
As for the movie suggestion, sounds good! I am very familiar with many movies old and new. Two weeks sounds like enough of a time to get the movie and see it. Or we could split the difference and make it three. Saw a very fun movie last night, “Nine Dead Gay Guys”. Kind of a gay version of the new style of british crime drama ala “Lock, Stock, and 2 Smoking Barrels”.
That would be the one.
AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Songs is on right now. I really am disappointed. There are so many wonderful songs that have been left out, (we’re down to #20) and … I’m sorry. #19. “Someday My Prince Will Come”?? Don’t get me wrong, I like the song, but I don’t think it belongs in the top 20. Nor do I think Cabaret should be as low as 18.
Okay, here we go, folks. According to AFI, the top 20 songs in the movies. Y’all will be up long before me, I’m sure you can start the tearing apart without me. I’m goin’ to bed. Disgruntled and grumbling.
20 Some Day My Prince Will Come
19 Cabaret
18 I Could Have Danced All Night
17 Evergreen
16 Dancing Cheek to Cheek
15 My Heart will flippin well Go On. I have not the words. Please, let’s just move on.
14 People (Who Need People)
13 Diamonds Are A Girl’s Friend (both the Marilyn and Nicole’s versions)
12 The Man That Got Away, from A Star is Born. Judy’s version.
11 – I missed it, was getting more soda, sorry.
10 The Sound of Music
09 Stayin’ Alive. No. I refuse to acknowledge it. I’m just reporting it.
08 The Way We Were
07 When You Wish Upon A Star
06 Mrs. Robinson
05 White Christmas
04 Moon River
03 Singin’ in the Rain
02 As Time Goes By
01 Somewhere Over the Rainbow
I’m in, to the extent that my local video store’s stock allows!
They actually have an excellent selection of subtitled (not dubbed) Western films, the main problem is just finding where a particular video is. Aside from the typically Byzantine Japanese movie categorization system, this shop always seems to be reorganizing things or setting up special displays. But I think one of the current displays is actually one for musicals, so that may be my hunting done for me!
Oh, RealityChuck mentioned Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You upthread, and I’d like to add that I also think it’s worth seeing (although hardly anyone has!). Certainly not one of the great movie musicals of all time, but better than one might expect and pretty funny too. At least if you find the idea of a bunch of nurses and pregnant women dancing around a hospital hallway to the tune of “Makin’ Whoopee” to be funny, and I must confess that I do. 
Here’s a question for everyone: do “dance movies” count as musicals? I’m talking about the many movies out there that have numerous scenes with the main characters dancing but none with them singing. I rejected “dancicles” as true musicals in my thesis, but I will admit here that this was at least partially because I didn’t want to have to sit through Dirty Dancing again. I do think both song and dance are important components of a musical, yet I’d personally be more inclined to consider a non-dancing movie to be a musical than a non-singing one.
It’s rare for movie musicals to move me as much as stage musicals do – there’s something about seeing performers in real life that just can’t be duplicated on the screen.
That said - I do love movie musicals in my own way…
*Seven Brides
The King and I
Showboat
A Little Night Music * (and I must admit that the best rendition of “Now, Later, Soon,” I’ve seen is the movie version)
*Meet Me in St. Louis
My Fair Lady
Sound of Music (and “Something Good,” in the gazebo scene, is awesome).