A musical can be non-musical
ON STAGE OR THE SCREEN: SHOW DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A SINGING-DANCING-TAPPING AFFAIR Music in the movies can be larger than life or not obvious at all.
There are musicals, and then there are musicals. And just like real men eat quiche, so too, do real men watch musicals. After that very un-woke comment let’s correct the statement. Musicals are fun, entertaining and even people who like bighair music can enjoy the unbearable lightness of Mary Poppins, the crazy of Hair or the Abba tribute Mama Mia.
Musicals can be larger than life and it doesn’t have to be a singing-dancing-tapping affair, either. Musicals are also not the exclusive domain of the stage.
A musical can be a non-musical, too.
Director Baz Luhrmann made one. It was called Romeo and Juliet and starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes as the star-crossed lovers caught in the feud between the Capulets and Montagues.
It was the rock-and-roll version of the Shakespeare classic, and the marriage between performance, the urban darkish setting and an incredible soundtrack not only made the story accessible to an entirely new generation, but even ye-olde-English sounded lyrical on top of a streaming music bed.
Romeo and Juliet was not a traditional musical, but a melodic film. It was screened in 1996, but is still watchable today.
Probably two of the finest musicals to hit the big and small screen came from director Alan Parker Jnr, who also, incidentally, created the visual indigestion that so brilliantly accompanied Pink Floyd’s epic The Wall.
Parker recreated Evita and starred pop icon Madonna opposite real actors Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce.
The film delivered a soundtrack and a performance by Madge that nobody thought she was capable of after flops like Desperately Seeking Susan and Who’s That Girl? But she did it, Parker did it and Antonio Banderas showed the world he could sing, too. Wildly entertaining and worth a lounge-reprise at any time.
The story of an Irish band, The Commitments, was another genius Parker project. Generations could be fooled into thinking singer Andrew Strong was the original performer of Mustang Sally.
It’s a sweaty, grimy look at a band of passionate artists and their journey. And the music is, well, phenomenal. Here there’s no singing in the rain. But a lot of dancing in the street, so to speak.
Little known but well worth an exceptional couple of hours, is The Million Dollar Hotel. The film, co-written by U2’s Bono and starring Mel Gibson and Milla Jovovich isn’t quite a musical, but a somewhat bizarre, artistic palette underpinned by electro-synth music performed by the band.
Forget the narrative. The music is incredible and shows what four lads from Dublin are capable of. Notably, The Ground Beneath Her Feet was inspired by the Salman Rushdie novel of the same name.
But what would a few thoughts about music be sans a tribute to Pete Townshend, front man of The Who.
He created Tommy. It was first a book he co-authored and paired with the release of an album called Tommy. Thereafter adapted to stage.
It would also be a carnal sin to omit The Rocky Horror Show, and particularly the movie. The show is so unpolitically correct that I really hope it survives the wokeness of the 21st century.
Alan Parker Jnr brought us The Wall and Evita