The movie musical is dead. Or, at least, the original
concept of the movie musical is dead. Starting out as a natural extension of
film’s stylistic origins in theatre, it was full of big grins and bigger dance
numbers about the ways of life and love. And then we started to get inventive
with the format, using it less as a means of showing the fantastical nature of
the musical and more to highlight it as a heavy contrast to the harshness of
reality. Through this, we’ve gotten some proper quality musical films as
Sweeney Todd, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Hedwig And The Angry Inch, Reefer Madness and a bunch of
others that wouldn’t even be conceivable as viable musicals back in the old
days. Now, as much as this evolution of the format has honestly worked out for
the best all things considered, maybe a bit of revivalism could help keep
everything in perspective. And thanks to rising star filmmaker Damian Chazelle,
it seems that we have just that for today.
