I just saw "Moulin Rouge" on DVD last night. What a loud mess! Great sets, brilliant acting, sexy costumes. But it was a letdown. Is the film musical officially dead?

dear God I hope not I LOVE musicals.Gene Kelly is one of my hero's.Aren't they meant to be filming a version of chicago with Catherine Zeta Douglas.

A lot of people would say that the film version of Evita is proof that Hollywood musicals are surviving. I'm not sure about that. (Mind you, I liked the movie.) I think that Evita is proof that different factors are now needed to make movie musicals successful. Evita was an interesting mix of performers: a well-known but non-singing actor (Antonio Banderas), an international pop star (Madonna), a lesser-known pop singer (Jimmy Nail, who played the nightclub singer) and a well-known musical theater star (Jonathan Pryce).

Seems to me that the trend now is towards previously non-singing actors making movie musicals; not just Ewan and Nicole in Moulin Rouge, but also Alicia Silverstone and Kenneth Branagh in Love's Labor's Lost, Edward Norton and Goldie Hawn in Everyone Says I Love You, etc. Whereas, in the great days of movie musicals, actors who were known for their singing and/or dancing abilities made film after film in which they sang and/or danced--Fred & Ginger, Nelson & Jeannette, Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye, etc etc etc.

There are so few movie musicals, now, that there aren't many actors who make themselves a reputation as movie musical performers--Nathan Lane, Max Casella and Jim Broadbent come immediately to mind, but Lane and Casella are still primarily stage musical performers and Broadbent does non-musical films right alongside the musicals.

To sum up: Hollywood musicals are not dead, but have morphed. YMMV.

I've not seen Moulin Rouge, but after seeing clips of it from the Academy Awards, it is ranking near the top of my list of things to rent.  I did see Evita, however, and enjoyed it a fair bit.  Then again, Southpark: The Movie is billed as a musical as well (which I've also not seen...) so I guess that one would definitely be classified as "morphed."

Kryllith

PS.  Of course, one of my favorite movies is spawned from a musical... The Pirate Movie

PS.  Of course, one of my favorite movies is spawned from a musical... The Pirate Movie

Is that based on The Pirates Of Penzance?!

Musicals aren't dead. They just keep on getting stupider. Although I have to admit, I've never liked musicals that much in the first place. There are a few that I like such as Moulin Rouge, Evita, Grease, and Annie. I don't know, I've just never gotten into musicals. And please don't ever mention that one musical about singing and dancing gang members around me. You know the one I'm talking about. It had Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno in it and it's quite popular. I just want to scream when people talk about how great it is. http://www.clicksmilie.de/sammlung/aktion/aktion005.gif