La La Land and the Movie Musical Within the last few decades we've seen a huge resurgence in the popularity of the musical. With shows like Hamilton, Wicked, and Once, musicals have become more modern, edgy, and overall more accessible to a wide range of patrons of the arts. In this, the movie musical has also seen a regrowth in popularity – with reinventions of classic musicals like Hairspray (2007), Sweeny Todd (2007), and Les Miserables (2012) and original movie musicals like La La Land (2016) and Across the Universe (2007). Hollywood began as a place for musicals – from the release of the first feature length "talkie", The Jazz Singer in 1927, which featured seven songs and very little dialogue, these films were all the rage. Hollywood executives and studios alike prided themselves on the spectacle of the piece, dazzling audiences with elaborate choreography, beautiful scenery, and star studded casts. In 1930 alone Hollywood released over 100 movie musicals including The Vagabond King, The …show more content…
Everything is bright, warm, and playful. And ultimately, maybe that's it biggest success. Writers of the past have tried to fight the comparisons, often trying and failing to be completely original, La La Land revels in it's comparison by often, using shots and scenes directly from the most poignant movie musicals of the century (hello, Ryan Gosling channeling Gene Kelly in Singin' In The Rain.) And more importantly the film doesn't ust draw from musicals, it takes pieces from other genres. "Chazelle, who directed the Oscar-winning feature Whiplash in 2014, told Ew La La Land was inspired by everything from Los Angeles traffic and Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction to short stories from Ry Cooder and paintings by artists like David Hockney and Henri Matisse." [link:
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Show MoreSater, Steven. "Preface ." Sater, Steven and Duncan Sheik. Spring Awakening: A New Musical. New York: Theatre Communications Group, Inc. , 2007. VII-XV. Print.
Musical theatre has been around for quite a while. But where exactly did it come from? The book Anything Goes, written by Ethan Mordden looks to explore just that. From operas to musical comedies, Mordden covers the basic history of musical theatre and why it’s important for the world to know.
Stempel, Larry. Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theater. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010.
A hero can be defined as the main character in a story, and as the following film elements discussed induce one to think – not to mention the movie’s title- , that Thelma and Louise are the two main characters of this story. Courage and noble acts are other characteristics that will also be taken in account in order to better support the argument that these two women are indeed the heroes of this story.
Ostlere, Hilary. “Taming The Musical.” Dance Magazine 73.12 (1999): 84. Expanded Academic ASAP. Westfield State College Library, MA. 15 April 2005.
Gordon Hollingshead created The Jazz Singer. (Thanhouser) The Jazz Singer is the first sound film ever made. The movie is about a 13 year old boy named Jackie Rabirowitz. Jackie loves jazz, but his strict father doesn't share his passion.Instead Jackie’s father is a cantor at a synagogue. Mr.Rabirowitz would like his son to follow in his footsteps, but Jackie loves jazz too much to agree to his father’s terms. Jackie runs away from home, stopping only long enough to get a cherished picture of his mother. Years after he runs away,he meets a lady named Mary who is eager to help him with his career.
Motion pictures from Hollywood had taken Broadway’s place as the king of entertainment. The main reason behind this was that because it was culturally relevant and coming out with new flashy techniques such as Todd-AO and Cinerama.
Kenrick, John. Musical Theatre A History. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, 2008. Print.
RENT the Musical There's a scene in the new musical "RENT" that may be the quintessential romantic moment of the '90s. Roger, a struggling rock musician, and Mimi, a junkie who's a dancer at an S/M club, are having a lovers' quarrel when their beepers go off and each takes out a bottle of pills. It's the signal for an "AZT break," and suddenly they realize that they're both HIV-positive. Clinch. Love duet.
Musicals, a play in which singing and dancing are essentials parts that developed from light opera in the early 20th century. Now because of our technological advances musicals are able to come to life in movies such as the West Side Story. This is not the only change that has happened, there is also the genre of music used to tell their story. Hamilton is a great example of this change.
Rent. To most people it is associated with an apartment, house, or another object. This word rarely conjures pleasant memories, but more often annoyance and stress. However, when someone mentions rent to me, my mind races to some of the most memorable experiences in my life.
When I first watched Chicago at the movie theater, I was not fully satisfied. I wanted more, so I went back to get some and watched it six more times with different friends and family members! Last summer during a visit to my native Mexico City, I had the opportunity to watch drag queens perform several numbers from the movie-musical. They did an amazing job, without surpassing the outstanding performances of the actors in the film. Last year, I visited NYC for the first time and indulged in the rows of the Ambassador theatre experiencing Chicago, the Broadway musical, and because I had seen the movie many times before, I knew all the songs and dances by heart. I loved it, but it was actually the movie that influenced me to become a “Chicago fan.” The movie is based on the 1996 Chicago revival of the original musical version of 1975. It was thrilling knowing that the making of the musical into a mainstream production would increase its accessibility and widen its distribution into all the corners of the world; now there is no excuse for people not to experience Chicago, and though not everyone can go to Broadway to see it, just about anyone can indulge themselves in this dazzling movie in the comfort of their homes. In addition to a fantasy world of singing, dancing and Vaudeville, the film also provides a narrative that is explicitly presented through Roxie’s point of view, creating a counter human side to Roxie’s fantasy world so that the audience can easily identify and engage. Chicago is a must see film for anyone who likes to spoil themselves with an outstanding award-winning musical composed of a catchy plot, truly superb acting, commendable direction, and a clever soundtrack.
The Jazz Singer created a new advancement by introducing the first talking film. The article 1920s Movies mentions “The production of The Jazz Singer in 1927 did much to change the industry’s perception of talking pictures. The technology had advanced little in the previous five years, but the production was the first feature length talking picture to feature a star singer and actor, Al Jolson, speaking and singing on screen.” The Jazz Singer was the first film to incorporate speaking techniques in a cinematic setting. “The Jazz Singer is a special historical landmark as the first Hollywood feature film in which spoken dialogue was used as part of the dramatic action” (Carringer 28). In addition, The Jazz Singer was the beginning of a new technique that is still used in today’s society. “They talk of it today with awe, because in 1927 it was as though men had landed on the moon. The shaky, abrasive voice of the movies had been heard for the first time. Talkies had been born” (Higham 72)....
The Lion King musical is a well-known musical that has taken the stages of Broadway, West End and the rest of the world by storm (The Lion King, 1997). Regarding the process of the musical, Artistic Director Julie Taymor’s first thoughts for choosing the Lion King as the next big thing on stage, was classed as ‘impossible’ due to the film’s lack of theatrical material (The Lion King, 1997). Therefore, staging this particular work contained a great deal of uncertainty and the need for taking huge risks. Taymor (1997) suggests how ‘the Lion King was the worst idea possible to create a stage show.’ It has become evident that a number of significant barriers had to be overcome to secure the practicality of the production. In view of this controversy, this dissertation will critically analyse the success of the Lion King by exploring two significant aspects that have helped to make the musical a success. Firstly, the essential components that make up this theatrical production will be explored and secondly, the roles of each producer within the Lion King and their combined and individual influences they have had from the production will be evaluated. By analysing these two central themes, this paper will show how and why this musical has developed and achieved its phenomenal success.
It all involved actors doing dramatic and overly animated movements to attract the eyes of the audience. Live music was provided by musicians in the theaters; and to narrate the story of the film, words and titles were written to pop up in the film. Charlie Chaplin was an English actor who was one most famous and known in silent films. This era was very big for a while, but they then began to diminish around the late 1920’s. In 1920, Warner Bros. was just a small company looking for ways to expand. So they took a chance on the idea of talking films when they heard of a device called the Vitaphone going for sale. It was a sound-on-disc system that had no interest from the bigger film industries. In 1926, Warner Bros. deputed their first release of film with sound of Don Juan. This became a major breakthrough, earning Warner Bros. millions of dollars and spreading to theaters all over the country. By next year, they came out with their second sound film, The Jazz Singer. This era was the birth of the “talkie”, causing an increase of audience members coming back into the cinema. By 1930, silent film was a thing of the past (The history of movies). Because of the introduction of sound into film, this created new genres such as action, documentaries, musicals, westerns, comedies, horror movies, etc. Now as time goes on, not only is sound added on, but color begins to as well. Around the