# Tell me about (movie) musicals **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 12, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982 "2013-01-12T19:33:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/41 "2013-01-14T17:45:34Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I just want to add to this that if you’re just going to watch it on DVD on your couch some night, please don’t bother. Looked at from a purely objective viewpoint, Rocky Horror is an incredibly bad film with an incredibly good soundtrack. It’s only in the total experience of a midnight showing that RHPS transcends its deliberate schlockiness. > > Although I do absolutely recommend the soundtrack for stand-alone listening. Best damn soundtrack from an utterly horrible movie ever. I beg to differ. I’ve seen it about a dozen times on VHS/DVD and I’ve never seen it in a “midnight showing” capacity. It’s obviously not _The Wizard of Oz_ or _Gone With The Wind_ but I think it’s a fun movie with a fun cast and premise. You don’t need the live hoo-ha to enjoy it at all. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/42 "2013-01-14T17:46:09Z")
Newsies. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/43 "2013-01-14T18:29:32Z")
If you don’t mind musicals that are films of the staged production, I strongly recommend “Passing Strange”. Small cast playing multiple characters, the songs move the story along as much or more than the dialogue, great music, great story, etc. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/44 "2013-01-15T15:22:39Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Cabaret** , directed by the great Bob Fosse, had all its numbers set on a stage or in a venue where singing would come naturally, an attempt to make a more “realistic” musical. But don’t let that faze you. It’s a great movie, and the drama offstage is designed to contrast with the music onstage. It also has probably [the most chilling song ever written](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEhHeILa3HE) (stay to the very end to find out why). I thought you were going to link to “Tomorrow Belongs to Me”. Both are creepy as hell in a genre that is usually fairly sunny. (When I was a kid, the movie of Cabaret gave me nightmares. I thought it was a horror movie for a while.) But it did lead me to read Isherwood’s _I Am a Camera_/ _Goodbye to Berlin_ trying to understand it. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/45 "2013-01-15T15:53:04Z")
Another filmed stage production you might want to check out is Pippin. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/46 "2013-01-15T17:09:16Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > I thought you were going to link to “Tomorrow Belongs to Me”. Both are creepy as hell in a genre that is usually fairly sunny. You’re right about “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” but I think the twist at the end of “If You Could See Her” seduces the audience to the MC’s point of view – until the last line horrifies you. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/47 "2013-01-15T17:15:03Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > My GF loves old musicals. I occasionally watch a bit of with her, but I’m usually just sitting there doing something on my computer (like reading the SDMB). > > Why are so many musicals about show business, or the making of _other_ musicals? Is it just a cheap excuse for all the singing and dancing? > > What are some musicals you would recommend for a straight dude who’s not really that into musicals? If it’s any kind of help, I enjoyed _Hedwig & the Angry Inch_, _My Fair Lady_, and _The King and I_, while I did not care for _Chicago_ or _West Side Story_, and I hated _Moulin Rouge_ and _A Star is Born_. The Sound of Music (You have no heart whatsoever if you don’t like this one) Guys and Dolls - Marlon and Frank. Need I say more? The Music Man - Shirley Jones…yessss! with a young Ron(nie) Howard. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/48 "2013-01-15T17:17:09Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The 25th anniversary Phantom of the Opera, recorded at Royal Albert Hall, is absolute perfection! I beg to differ. The lead’s vocals sound like the owl from My Cousin Vinny. No thank you, I’ll take the New York or LA Productions. ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/49 "2013-01-15T17:19:42Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > ~gasp!~ In that case, I got plenty of nothin’! I saw what you did there…and nothin’s plenty for me. Oooooooh, just thought of an idea for a thread…Nope…been done… Porky’s and Bess ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/50 "2013-01-15T17:22:14Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > You’re right about “Tomorrow Belongs to Me,” but I think the twist at the end of “If You Could See Her” seduces the audience to the MC’s point of view – until the last line horrifies you. Agree with this 100%. You’re just kind of lulled into a nice, agreeable, amusing little ditty, more or less completely forgetting just where and when the thing is set, and then the last, whispered line…BOOM! It’s like a slap across the face and you have that moment of “Oh, my god!” Kander & Ebb are/were incredible. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/51 "2013-01-15T18:54:53Z")
> [@mack](#): > > Another filmed stage production you might want to check out is Pippin. A good though frequently forgotten musical, the film was decently made. Nobody mentioned [Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Horrible%27s_Sing-Along_Blog) yet? It is silly, and makes fun of all the classic mad scientist/evil overlord type memes, and the old high school young love musicals. I frequently throw it on when the god-sprogs are over. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/52 "2013-01-15T20:48:50Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I dislike big dance numbers. I typically dislike watching people dance in general, so watching dozens of people dance in unison doesn’t improve the experience for me. > > I prefer that the music move the story along, as opposed to people singing just because musicals are supposed to have music in them. > > As for story, I want the movie to have one, and I want that story to not just be a flimsy excuse for song and dance numbers. Musicals about other musicals seem to be the worst offenders in this respect. Sounds like all of the Muppet movies. Movin’ right along. . . ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/53 "2013-01-15T22:38:51Z")
I think you are going about this all wrong. Instead of looking for great musicals that nothing else can live up to, you should find a terrible, rotten musical so afterwards all others will seem great. It just so happens…I have just that musical. **At Long Last Love** staring Bert Reynolds and Cybill Shepard. It was directed by Peter Bogdonovich. Yes, two actors who had never done a musical up to that time, directed by a director who had never done a musical…ah, it was truly awful. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/54 "2013-01-15T22:45:19Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > I think you are going about this all wrong. Instead of looking for great musicals that nothing else can live up to, you should find a terrible, rotten musical so afterwards all others will seem great. > > It just so happens…I have just that musical. **At Long Last Love** staring Bert Reynolds and Cybill Shepard. It was directed by Peter Bogdonovich. Yes, two actors who had never done a musical up to that time, directed by a director who had never done a musical…ah, it was truly awful. And a total and complete waste of Madeline Kahn, which is really the bigger sin. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/55 "2013-01-15T22:50:52Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > I think you are going about this all wrong. Instead of looking for great musicals that nothing else can live up to, you should find a terrible, rotten musical so afterwards all others will seem great. > > It just so happens…I have just that musical. **At Long Last Love** staring Bert Reynolds and Cybill Shepard. It was directed by Peter Bogdonovich. Yes, two actors who had never done a musical up to that time, directed by a director who had never done a musical…ah, it was truly awful. Alternativdely, you could watch **Man of la Mancha** , with its non-singing cast\* headed by Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren and non-musical director. \*except for the Barber, who’d played the role on Broadway, and James Coco, who’d briefly done it on Broadway. They embarass the rest of the cast. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/56 "2013-01-15T23:04:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Alternativdely, you could watch **Man of la Mancha** , with its non-singing cast\* headed by Peter O’Toole and Sophia Loren and non-musical director. Ahhh and the concept behind this musical. Truly wonderful! Its sureality .. taking place in a dungeon, yet not. Watching Sophia Loren was especially sad. She actually looked guilty about taking part in this film. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/57 "2013-01-16T00:47:42Z")
It’s been years since I saw it, so I can’t tell you how much dancing is involved, but Carousel has some truly magnificent music. Bonnie Rait’s dad played Billy Bigalow on stage, and his 'Soliloquy" is incredibly moving – a young man, about to become a father, and terrified at the prospect – and is almost spoken rather than sung. It’s on YouTube somewhere. Check it out. And now, from the sublime to the ridiculous: the “Once More With Feeling” episode of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_. Yes, it’s a musical episode, but it is one in which at least four separate major season-long (and a couple of series-long) plot threads are advanced in the songs. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982/58 "2014-07-29T13:56:42Z")
It’s been a while and I’ve seen a bunch of these movies so I thought I’d do an update on what I’ve seen: I enjoyed _State Fair_ and _Singin’ in the Rain_. I liked _Oklahoma!_, although I did not like the dream sequence in the middle (I found it particularly hilarious they very conspicuously traded out the main characters for stand-ins, I assume so they didn’t have to teach the main actors how to dance). _Sweeney Todd_ was just okay. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really like it either. I didn’t like _Carousel_. The story was ludicrous and pointless. I liked _Fiddler_, though it was extremely long and the ending was somewhat unsatisfying. I didn’t like _An American in Paris_. It started fine, but ultimately the story was a pointless buildup for the big dance number at the end. I didn’t really care for _Cabaret_. I just don’t like Liza Minnelli. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-movie-musicals/646982.md?page=2)