Thought of a couple Musical Revue suggestions for Dung Beetle: Stage Door Canteen and Hollywood Canteen. I see the former is on DVD while the latter is VHS only.
One of the albums currently in very heavy rotation chez twicks is Caetano Veloso’s A Foreign Sound, the Brazilian superstar’s first all-English CD. (It opens, BTW, with “The Carioca,” from Flying Down to Rio, but I digress.) There is a lot of seriously wonderful stuff on the album, but one of the absolute highlights for me is his version of “Something Good.”
“But here you are, standing there loving me, whether or not you should…”
Thanks Jeff (and everyone)…I’m making a list.
I also wanted to nominate How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. I saw it as a stage production and it blew me away. The movie version didn’t work because the actor who played the main character was just revolting! Some good songs, though.
I love musicals; I’ve just got back from an excellent performance of Guys & Dolls by the Southampton Operatic Society - truly fantastic - the only very slight flaw was that not everybody pulled off very convincing accents in the spoken parts, but I’m more than willing to forgive that in the light of the tight choreography, the excellent comic timing and generally brilliant dinging.
I also recently saw Cats at the Southampton Mayflower and was so impressed, I may try to catch the tour again when it comes back down to Wimbledon.
Three quarters of my DVD collection comprises musicals - from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to Fiddler On The Roof.
I’ve also performed in a couple and I’d really like to do more (I have one scheduled for the Autumn); if I had more spare time, I think I’d be trying to join some regular group or something.
You know, nothing spoils my enjoyment of a musical more than sub-par dinging. 
Ooops. Singing, obviously (although the dinging wasn’t entirely bad either).
Since we’re defining musicals somewhat loosely here, I’d like to add one of my favorites: The Blues Brothers. The songs may not be original, and the style of the movie - action-comedy - isn’t really traditional “musical”, but how many musicals can boast performances from Aretha, Ray Charles and James Brown?
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned the film version of THE KING & I (Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr). I loved that film. . . and never failed to burst into tears during “Shall We Dance.” Yul Brynner had to be the sexiest screen god ever, in the day.
I just saw EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU the other night on HBO and I’ve got to cast the disagreeing vote here. It sucked. Big time. The singers couldn’t sing. They seemed self-conscious through the whole mess. Awful. Awful. Awful. (Except for the last Goldie Hawn, Woody Allen scenes with wire work along the Seine.)
I am still blown away by ALL THAT JAZZ, CHICAGO and tons of others. And for those who have trouble with WEST SIDE STORY, consider the era in which it was made. They were simpler times.
A Musical lover checking in here. I prefer to see a musical live rather than on film because when everything clicks into place on stage, when the actors actually develop a synergy, the adrenaline washes out to the audience in a way that can never be duplicated by film. Some films do come close though, like Chicago recently.
I found the AFI Top 100 Songs interesting and a great conversation starter. Everyone has an opinion, which is the reason these lists are put out … to stimulate interest in films.
Favorite Musical: West Side Story
Though not really family fare, I HAVE to mention that South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut was also a musical! And a brilliant one at that! The “La Resistance” medley starts out parodying the cheesy “Miss Saigon” style and ends up being an homage to West Side Story, both musically and visually! And Satan’s song is a dead ringer for a cheesy Disney ballad. Priceless.
To summarize (and to add on…):
On Broadway:
Wicked
Avenue Q
Urine Town
Boy from Oz
The Producers
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Aida
Lion King
From the Stage:
Oklahoma!
Jesus Christ, Superstar
Godspell
1776
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Pajama Game
How To Succeed in Business
The Music Man
The Wiz
Threepenny Opera
Caberet
Showboat
The King and I
My Fair Lady
Camelot
Hello, Dolly!
Brigadoon
The Sound of Music
Cats
Evita
Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Chicago
Miss Saigon
Guys and Dolls
Flower Drum Song
Pippin
Oliver!
Little Shop of Horrors
Bye, Bye, Birdie
Kiss Me, Kate
Candide
Company
Into the Woods
Assassins
Sunday in the Park with George
A Little Night Music
Sweeny Todd
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Gypsy
Carousel
Phantom of the Opera
A Chorus Line
Annie
The Fantasticks
Grease
From the Movies:
An American in Paris
West Side Story
Singing in the Rain
Wizard of Oz
Paint Your Wagon
Neptune’s Daughter
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Summer Stock
Meet Me in St. Louis
The Harvey Girls
Easter Parade
On the Town
Anchors Aweigh
Paint Your Wagon
Nashville
South Park: BLU
Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Parapluies de Cherbourg, Les)
Robert and Elizabeth
Victor/Victoria
Everyone Says I Love You
Tommy
The Wall
Stage and Movies (young and old) that, ahem, appropriate songs to create a Musical:
Moulin Rouge
Movin’ Out
Momma Mia
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
All That Jazz
Gold Diggers of 19XX
42nd Street
Top Hat
Footlight Parade
Chicago is my favorite musical, far and away. I love the era, the music, the costuming, and especially the subversiveness of the story–there are no “heroes,” no love story, and the theme of infamy being interchangeable with celebrity is just as appropriate today as ever. Plus, the movie is probably the sexiest non-porno movie I’ve ever seen, and everyone in the cast did an amazing job. (Funny story: a bunch of kids I went to law school with saw it, and hated it because it “portrayed lawyers in a negative light.” I loved it for that reason!)
I liked Moulin Rouge but didn’t love it–my complaint is that by choosing recognizable snippets of popular songs, Luhrmann missed the point of a musical by not allowing the songs themselves to be more meaningful to the story. The actors were very good in it, but to me, it felt like one of those commercials for “Greatest Hits” compilation albums that plays you five-second hooks from songs (usually just the title being sung) and nothing more.
I have great love for Little Shop Of Horrors, and was overjoyed to find a used DVD copy for $4.99 at a Gamestop store. Probably some teenager bought it, expecting a horror movie, and traded it in at the store, aghast that he bought a MUSICAL and worried that he might turn gay. :dubious: It was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and I still get a kick out of it every time.
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut has yet to be recognized as one of the greatest comedies of the last 20 years, an intelligent and scathing satire on morality and censorship, and a terrific musical with wonderful and witty songs. The creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are musicians and songwriters, and they “get” what musical numbers should be about. The Simpsons, which South Park is always (unfairly) compared to, has never done a musical sequence that even comes close to South Park, IMO.
Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You was in many ways a failed experiment, but I give Woody credit for trying out a genre he obviously enjoys. Plus, I was impressed by the singing of two of my favorite actors, Edward Norton and Tim Roth.
Other than that, I like Fiddler On the Roof and Singin’ In the Rain. Donald O’Connor was awesome, and Gene Kelly was the greatest… a man’s man, so much cooler than Fred Astaire.
Oh, in so many ways.
:eek: Really? I feel so naive…
Is everyone else looking forward to the opening of De-Lovely next weekend as much as I am? Kevin Kline, Jonathan Pryce, and a songlist to die for. There was a quote in a magzine (sorry, don’t recall which one) from one of the young singers (sorry, don’t recall which one, but it might have been Alanis Morisette) saying, “You know, I think people are going to be surprised at how many of the songs they know.” No, you wet-behind-the-ears little twit, the target audience worships Cole Porter and knows exactly what songs he wrote. (BTW, who is this John Barryman who’s singing Night and Day?)
Gotta figure out now which of my suitors I’ll allow to escort me to this next weekend… 
Does that mean what I think it means? Is that a joke? I’ve never heard any allegations like that before.
I am! I am!!
And if you have a leftover suitor, send the boy my way!!
Thanks! And thank you, moriah, for the list!
LOL. Am so looking forward to it. May make it a double feature and see the Stepford Wives too.