The Musical genre pushes the boundaries of onstage performances by immersing us through film techniques paired with song and dance. Movie Musicals take a lot of talent and dedication to make happen successfully, some movie musicals even go on to becoming stage adaptations and vice versa.
Movie Musicals often provide a much more intimate and close up look of the actors. Sometimes actors may be required to perform in confined spaces with much less room to interact as compared to the stage. Many theatre actors hired for screen notice these differences, see this link for more insight. Despite the challenges that musical theatre actors may face, the musical numbers never fail to amaze and provide as much room for them to move as required. The camera's can be limiting, especially when you want to get much tighter shots. It really depends on the directors vision.
The Musical genre falls into a simple category; they are story's told through song. The storyline itself, can ultimately be just as creative as if it were a full fledged film or tv show. Usually, this would not be the case, and the genre would probably have some sort of romantic plot line intertwined with the actual story itself. Movie Musicals will typically depend much less on special effects and hone in on camera movement technique as well as minimal editing.
With that being said, movie musicals tend to have the intensity of a live performance by musical theatre actors. It's over the top, and overdone! Actors keep the same emotional truth while also thinking on the spectacle of the performance and making it big.
Much of the advertising for Movie Musicals as a whole is done by just showing the big dance numbers and providing little to no information on the plot itself. Typically, the protagonist would have a dream or wish, that drives the story to unfold.
Moulin Rouge is a great Movie Musical example as well, because not only do they contain well known actors, the songs are well known and it's primarily a romantic storyline. The story is about a poor bohemian poet named Christian (played by Ewan McGregor), who falls for nightclub performer Satine (played by Nicole Kidman). Both the actors have incredible chemistry and their stage presence really shines through. Satine is coveted by a jealous duke and the story centers around Christian's realization of the prostitute contaminated underworld during the times of the bohemian revolution. The movie later went on to become a musical adaptation for the stage, see more on this Moulin Rouge; theatre vs movie comparison.
Take Chicago, for example, it was first greatly known as a musical inspired by Bob Fosse's dance style in the Broadway Play in 1975. Bob Fosse was a choreographer who coined the style "Fosse." This artistic dance medium requires so much precision to achieve, and it's beautiful. To get a glimpse at some of his work, have a look at these pieces choreographed by Bob Fosse. Although very unique in dance, the story remains a classic and stayed true to the original version for the stage. However, in order for the movie to appeal to larger audiences, the trailer had to include elements of the plot by mentioning components such as jazz, liquor, temptation, etc. They also had to mention big names such as Catherine Zeta-Jones (Velma Kelly), and Renee Zellweger (Roxie Hart). These marketing techniques may encourage fans of these actors to watch the show. This film still embodies the genre by moving the story along through song and dance and by keeping the plotline very similar to the original. This story touches on the darker side of the vaudeville era, where people would go to great extents for fame.
Mamma Mia, a jukebox musical, like moulin rouge, containing songs from Abba. It takes you through life in Greece experiencing a closer look at Sophie's (Amanda Seyfried) and Donna's (Meryl Streep) journey. Sophie is about to get married to Sky, but sulks in the thought of not knowing who her true father is. She finds a way to invite three contenders (Sam, Harry, and Bill) to her wedding in hopes of figuring out which one is the right fit. This movie contains several of Abba's iconic songs, and uses them so wisely. For example, in the scene where Sophie is gossiping with her friends about her mother's journal, they burst into song singing Honey Honey. The production that went into this show required much dependence on location, so that they stayed true to the setting in Greece to make it look believable. To learn more about the location,scouting click the link!
Many movie musicals may have dance numbers that were done in one take, like the opening of La La Land. This Musical was directed by Damien Chazelle and got nominated for several academy awards. Click on the following link to watch the La La Land opening scene. The first scene was filmed on a highway depicting performers singing and dancing around the cars. This movie was successful in conveying themes of love, dreams and aspirations, where viewers are exposed to the sad truths of Hollywood relationships. The movie has quite a few montages in there, but it's still classified as realism but magical.
A few other newer movie musicals are tick tick boom, and in the heights which were both directed by Lin Manuel Miranda. Tick tick boom is not a stage adaptation but it gives a closer look into a playwright Jonathan Larson (played by Andrew Garfield) who wrote Rent. It goes through the challenges of his life as he navigates through love and friendship while believing that he chose the wrong profession. More on tick tick boom. In the Heights was released in 2021, and was the film adaptation of the musical. It had many contrasting differences and you can see it tried to really take advantage of some editing techniques. In the Heights song example.
