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Musicals have always enthralled viewers, transporting them to another world, away from their real life worries. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has always been the beacon of true love and romance for generations! The new live action romantic musical starring youth icon Emma Watson and Dan Stevens is all set to release soon.
In 1991, the animated version wowed audiences and remains one of the most beautiful romances of all time. The film was a box office success, grossing $425 million worldwide. Beauty and the Beast received positive reviews; it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and became the first animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
In 2017, the story and characters audiences know and love come to spectacular life in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” releasing on 17th March, a live-action musical adaptation of the studio’s animated classic featuring an extraordinary ensemble cast, including: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Kevin Kline, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci with Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson.
Now that La La Land, a lovely musical has bagged many laurels at the recently concluded Oscars, and Beauty And The Beast releasing soon, here’s out top musical picks that are a must watch!
- The Sound Of Music- The multiple Oscar winning film was a major commercial success, becoming the number one box office movie after four weeks, and the highest-grossing film of 1965. One of Julie Andrew’s best films, the songs from the film such as ‘Do-Re-Mi’, “My Favourite Things” etc. are still considered the best movie songs of all time.
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My Fair Lady– Audrey Hepburn’s successful My Fair Lady is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a lady. The original Broadway, London and film versions all starred Rex Harrison. My Fair Lady has frequently been called “the perfect musical”.
- Beauty and the Beast (1991 Version)-The Disney film was a box office success, grossing $425 million worldwide. Beauty and the Beast received positive reviews; it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and became the first animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.
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Singing in the Rain–Singin’ in the Rain is a 1952 American musical comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. It offers a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to “talkies. Since been accorded legendary status by contemporary critics, and is frequently regarded as the best movie musical ever made.
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Westside Story– The passion and rebellion of West Side Story still lingers today. The musical, which is an interpretation of Romeo & Juliet told through the eyes of warring teenage gangs, debuted on Broadway in 1957 and continues to feel fresh with every revival and tour. The innovative show shifted the way musicals were staged, breaking apart rules of choreography and storytelling. One of its most thrilling contributions, however, are the lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, who had his big break with the show’s success and went on to write some of theater’s most challenging, moving and iconic pieces.
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The Wizard Of Oz-The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical comedy-drama fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and the best-known and most commercially successful adaptation based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The film stars Judy Garland. Notable for its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score, and unusual characters, over the years it has become an icon of American popular culture. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
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Chicago–Chicago is a 2002 American musical criminal comedy film based on the musical of the same name, exploring the themes of celebrity, scandal, and corruption in Chicago during the Jazz Age.The film stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger and Richard Gere. Directed and choreographed by Rob Marshall, and adapted by screenwriter Bill Condon, with music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb, Chicago won six Academy Awards in 2003, including Best Picture. The film was critically lauded, and was the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver! in 1968.
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Grease–John Travolta’s claim to fame, Grease is a 1978 American musical/romantic comedy film directed by Randal Kleiser and produced by Paramount Pictures. It is based on Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs’ 1971 musical of the same name about two lovers in a 1950s high school. The film stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway. Grease was successful both critically and commercially. Its soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second-best selling album of the year in the United States.
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Moulin Rouge-The famous 2001 Australian–American pseudo-pastiche jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It tells the story of a young English poet/writer, Christian (Ewan McGregor), who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman). It uses the musical setting of the Montmartre Quarter of Paris, France. At the 74th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Nicole Kidman, winning two: for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. It was the first musical nominated for Best Picture in 10 years, following Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (1991).
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Mary Poppins–Mary Poppins was released on August 27, 1964, to universal acclaim, receiving a total of thirteen Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture—an unsurpassed record for any other film released by Walt Disney Studios—and won five; Best Actress for Andrews, Best Film Editing, Best Original Music Score, Best Visual Effects, and Best Original Song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee”. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. Mary Poppins is widely considered to be Walt Disney’s “crowning achievement”, being his only film to garner a “Best Picture” nomination at the Oscars in his lifetime.
