Movie Musicals are Ashamed of Being Musicals.

Ok, I’ll be honest, over the last few years, we have had some truly appalling movie musicals released. From Cats, to the recent adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen, these have been meme-able at best and straight-up unwatchable at worst (Throwback to my Mum thinking we were halfway through Cats when we were just 10 minutes in at most). But why have these been so bad? I admit I may perhaps be somewhat biased due to my pure love for theatre, but for those who supposedly hate musicals as a consequence of these adaptations, they would perhaps be more enjoyable if they were openly and unapologetically produced as musicals. 

Casting Call

The problems first start in the casting of these adaptations. When adaptations cast entirely famous actors with little-to-no singing training, there are instant problems. Not only does this show that the producers do not trust the musical to perform well on its own merit, but it also sets the actors up for extreme scrutiny and criticism. Even casting professional singers to act in musicals is a risky move, as the songs in musicals require emotion behind them to succeed. Because of this, although mainstream audiences may be brought in because of big names, they will probably be presented with a performance that is mediocre because the performer simply is not trained in a way that tackles the material appropriately. 

Act 1: The Trailers

If you’ve seen the trailers for Dear Evan Hansen or even the most recent one for West Side Story, you’ll notice one thing about these musicals: There is almost no music. What is commonly found is an extremely cut-up version of one of the show’s ballads spliced up with dramatic moments in the plot with mumbled dialogue.

 Now, I understand that the idea of the trailer is to give the audience just enough to be interested in seeing the movie. However, if you are not familiar with the show that is being adapted you are probably unfamiliar with the spliced-up song that is being presented. Take DEH’s trailer for example; on top of its other questionable choices, the trailer sucked all of the life and momentum out of Waving Through a Window, arguably one of the most iconic songs in recent theatre history, in favor of bland dialogue interjected throughout and ruining the pacing. 

Sometimes it makes sense to downplay the musical aspect of a movie in the hope of enticing a mainstream audience and not just relying on theatre fans who already know the story. But if you’re ashamed of even presenting a musical as a musical in the trailer, neither audience is appealed to and both will end up disappointed. 

Act 2: The Problem is in the Producing

This is where the main problem lies. Firstly, musical movies should not be directed by people who do not like or understand what works for musicals. Tom Hooper is a prime example of this. I’ll try to keep this somewhat brief, as I could go on forever about Les Miserables and Cats, but they are two perfect and broad examples of why adapting movie musicals is so difficult. 

Firstly, there is a distinct lack of understanding from Hooper of how the music in musicals works. In every musical, songs are essential in moving the plot along and each song, no matter how redundant some may seem, has its purpose. So when you start to chop and change parts of the score entirely to fit the movie narrative you’ve decided on, it impacts the whole production. For example, both The Old Gumbie Cat and Macavity in Cats are entirely disrupted by the removal of the ensemble characters supporting the song. Not only is the score now incredibly flat and lifeless, but the intention of both songs is entirely scarpered. 

Additionally, if you force talking segments into an entirely sung-through score, as Hooper did in both Les Mis and Cats, the pacing and tone are once again disrupted. It’s incredibly jarring for the audience and actually is more disruptive to the suspension of disbelief the audience is participating in during a musical. By not letting the music stand on its own, as it has done successfully on stage for years, this once again shows how they don’t really want to produce a musical, but instead an Oscar-Winning movie. This is further highlighted by the gritty tone given to musicals to make them less campy and more Oscar-worthy. This is why ‘fun’ musicals now are rarely chosen for adaptations, and when they are, they are adapted in a way to downplay their fun aspects so that they can be taken more seriously. 

Curtain Call

It is not without saying that adapting musicals successfully is not an easy feat, especially when at the end of the day, box office results are what gets these made. Furthermore, there are some shows that simply cannot be adapted and don’t work off stage. Additionally, as much as I have criticized Tom Hooper, I appreciate the push for a live orchestra and singing in his productions (although I would appreciate them more if they were done ethically in a way that shows respect for the orchestra and the health of the singers, find out more in this video). This shows an attempt to pay homage to what works well in the stage shows, but is it enough? 

I can’t claim to know the solution for this problem with musical adaptations, especially now that audience perception of these has been so tainted in recent years. But with the success of pro shoots of productions such as Hamilton and Come From Away, perhaps this is the way to go for mainstream distribution of theatre that is unashamedly a musical. Although, I do know this for certain: Please stop casting James Corden in movie musicals. 

 What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!