Why Is Hollywood Afraid Of Movie Musicals?

 I have seen quite a few articles on this topic, as well as YouTube videos from Kathrine Steele, Mina Le, and Dan Murrell, and I highly recommend you look into those and watch the videos mentioned, or read the articles on the subject. I wanted to open with a preface because though I am not the first one to say this, I wanted to throw my hat in the ring with the amount of content on this topic being produced. With that out of the way, I am left with but a simple question. Why is Hollywood afraid of movie musicals? 

Decades ago the same studios that would put out "Singing In The Rain" and "The Sound Of Music" to recent entries like "La La Land" and "In The Heights" are now releasing trailers that hide the fact that their movies are musicals. "Wonka", "The Color Purple" and "Mean Girls" have been the center of a new conversation as of late, not the quality of the films, but rather the fact the advertising hid the musical nature of these movies. From trailers alone most of these films looked like just plain reboots of these classic stories or franchises, and only in articles, interviews, announcements, and smaller forms of advertising were they shown to be what they really are. The wording in the posters and small hints in the posters shield the public from its true intent. Someone like me who is expecting a musical because they did the research beforehand and were looking for musical movies due to my love of musicals is very different than someone who gets jump scared when the cast starts breaking into song. Which boils down to one word. Expectation.

Expectation for many when they see those trailers is to know what they are going into and not beshow tricked. Many reactions to the recent release of Mean Girls show people shocked and feeling tricked at finding out it is a musical at midnight hour. Trailers and posters place either small snippets or even just small hints that are easy to miss until someone who did not follow the press on the film finds out it is a musical the hard way. Over this past weekend, countless complaints were posted online of people thinking this was a simple reboot and were curious only to see the main cast break into song. People go in expecting one thing and are given something completely different, thus already painting a negative view of the product and the studio that gave it. Thus the musical that was being made is left out to take the brunt of the blame when it underperforms and is blamed by the studio for "oh it was a musical, therefore no one wants to see those", or is disliked for existing as a musical or not advertised as such. It is like the waiter being blamed for bringing you a bad dish when the chef didn't make it right, and the menu did not state all the ingredients. 

Movie musicals have not been performing well lately, "In The Heights", "Dear Evan Hansen", and "West Side Story", just to name a few have not been box office runaways. In fact, they have been labeled by many as disappointments. Some advertisers have even believed that outright showing something as a musical will turn people away at the door. Even Disney's recent outing with "Wish" proved to not bring people in the way, classic animated musicals used to. But that film is a whole other story in terms of why it failed. Still "Wonka" did not show it was a musical and hid the fact and is now performing well, what is being said of "Mean Girls" and "The Color Purple" is still to play out and we can only wait and see. 

I think that studios should just be open and show the musical movie is in fact a musical, make something on a smaller budget just for the theather kids. The fact that people who love musicals have evolved into a derogatory, less than statement, acting as if people who like musicals are something to be ashamed of, baffles me. I think studios should just make a musical movie that caters to musical fans, or use pro shots as a wide release instead of a limited release format. The way horror movies or crime dramas don't appeal to everyone doesn't mean they stop getting made or hidden from what they are, so why musicals?

I feel as if this is unfair to the musicals themselves as well as the people who worked hard on making them. I feel like the audience and those who worked really hard, shooting a musical movie, end up losing the most. The studios need to be up front with the public and let people know what they are putting their money towards to decide, not letting social media or someone else test the waters by going and telling people about it. 

I think movie musicals need a couple big hits to show everyone their importance, and perhaps "Wicked Part 1" will be that movie. A big musical whether animated or live-action shows the public but also more importantly the studios their validity. The importance of being honest and giving the public honest expectations of what they are paying for. Not trying to use different wording or edit a trailer to hide what a movie is, just to boast big opening weekend numbers. I think someone who does not want to see a musical should know if something is a musical or not, and just let the musical theater lovers have their movie. The world is wide enough for both theater kids and nontheater kids alike.  

From Stage To Screen: An Introduction To Change

 At the time of this post, Mean Girls opens this weekend. No this post is not being written in 2003, the musical version has now been given a big screen adapatation, where it was orignally made for streaming platforms. I will not being seeing the film on opening weeked but I do plan on  watching it, and how it technically inspired this blog to be what it is now. Where I am exploring filmed musicals from TV to movies, pro shots, made-for-TV musicals, and everything in between. Looking into that, I was surprised when this movie was announced and wondered to myself, "Why make movie musicals and not just film pro shots?"

Waitress recently got an excellent pro shot that was aired in the movie theathers, Hamilton, before it was put on Disney Plus, was slated to be a pro shot that aired in Theathers, and Newsies was a pro shot aired in movie theaters on multiple occasions before being put on streaming. Waitress was even so successful in its limited run that they added another week of showtimes. I did not get to see in the movie theater as the showtimes were only once a day, and they were spaced out to inopportune times. It made me ask myself as stated earlier, why not just air the pro shot as a regular movie? It was performing so well, so why make it a limited event? Why do they keep making movies with non-theater-trained celebrities? well for that last one, it is to bring in as much revenue based purely on a name as possible, hoping status will make a box office smash.

Now this post is not addressed to movie musicals that are not based off of any previous source, so no La LA La Land or Greatest Showman today, those will be talked about at another time, or even the promise of bringing things like that to the stage. I am talking purely about when a popular musical, say West Side Story is suddenly made into a feature film, cutting content, changing the story, and sometimes even adding new songs.

One of the strongest examples I can use is In The Heights which is night and day, for better and for worse, a complete far cry from the stage version. With some changes being good, and some being baffling. Cut songs that were not the strong point of the show, and some of the strong emotional focal points of the stage show were left on the cutting room floor. Overall leaving a mixed bag of emotions, loving some changes and questioning others. 

Both have their positives and negatives, seeing a pro show means that someone can discover or rewatch a show in its original form at any time or anyway, replicating the live theater experience when needed. A movie can change course and add things that make it stand even ahead of what it came from, making the movie the prime example of something someone can also watch over and over, whenever, to feel the joy that musicals bring. 

Movie versions sometimes can change something for the better, but most times you may find they can change too much. Movie adaptations have the pressure of that latter word. Adaptation. Having to live up to something beloved and critically acclaimed, while not just being what someone saw on stage. But for some who can not see a stage show, this is the only version of the source material some people may ever see. That is why I am going to use this blog to go through both, to see the good and bad of a TV series, a single episode, a pro shot, and a film. To see what is done well, and what isn't, what is better on the stage, and what works on the screen. Whether the material is new or a new spin on something we have seen. If a performance was aired on TV, filmed before a live audience, or made for cinemas across the world. This is From The Stage To The Screen, and welcome.