All tagged Movie Musical

Film Review – Does In the Heights Hit the Heights?

When audiences sat down in their seats at Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre in the spring of 2008, many were not quite ready for the electrically-charged piece of musical theatre they were about to witness. The then relatively unknown team of Lin-Manuel Miranda (music and lyrics) and Quiara Alegria Hudes (book) delivered several jolts of adrenaline into the arm of the American musical, infusing the more traditional form of this theatrical storytelling with the contemporary sounds of hip-hop and rap, as well as crafting a bilingual score (English and Spanish) of poignancy and potency. Director Thomas Kail staged the musical with a palpable urgency and an emotional thrust that propelled the show through its climax, and choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler provided movement that seemed to defy gravity and lift the show off the stage floor and into the ether. The musical I am referring to is of course In the Heights which has made its transition from the stage to screen some thirteen-years since it’s Broadway berth, under the direction of Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians).

Stage to Screen: The 10 Worst Adaptations of Musicals

What plays beautifully on the stage might not necessarily translate effortlessly to the screen. Move musicals that have been adapted from popular stage musicals do not always make the transition successfully. For every West Side Story, The King and I, and The Music Man, there is a musical that just didn’t work so well when Hollywood got their hands on it. Here are ten of the worst stage to screen journeys that make us wonder just what happened.

Movie Musicals that Deserve a Second Look

There are many movie musicals that were not perfect. For one reason or another, they just don't delight audiences the way big hits like Singin' in the Rain, The Sound of Music, or West Side Story do. That's perfectly fine; not every outing is going to be a hit. There are, however, several movie musicals that may have missed the mark, but managed to still have moments of beauty and magic. Today's column explores eight movie musicals that deserve a second look.