Top Favorite MOVIE Musicals of All Time

by B Condon 2:05 PM

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

(1957 and 1963)

1957

What's my immediate answer when asked what is my favorite MOVIE musical (stage musicals for another post...), it will and forever will be Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. But the real question is which version? So many people remember the 1998 "review" version with Whitney Houston and Brandy, but I remember all I watched in the early 90s was the '63 version with Miss Scarlet from Clue playing the title character and many other great movie legends including Ginger Rogers and Celeste Holm.

1963

What people do not know about this wonderful little known musical is that it started out as CBS's competition against the live TV-meets-stage adaptation of NBC's "Peter Pan" starring Mary Martin in '57. Oscar and Richard both saw the 21 year old actress Julie Andrews playing Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady" and wanted to write music for the amazing actress, so after being hired by CBS for the live production of Cinderella, they immediately casted Julie Andrews to sing their whimsical little score. Julie Andrews plays Cinderella with grace and a little slyness to her character, but a lot of people enjoy Leslie Ann Warren's 1963 naive and bright-eyed representation of the fairy tale. I like them both!

As for the other components of both musicals, I would fuse '63's prince with Julie Andrews, '63's color and flawlessness minus all live flubs (the '57 prince had mixed the lyrics up at one point) with '57's beautiful simple sets and the stunning last spoken line that comes back to a lyric from "10 Minutes Ago" that makes your romantic comedy-obssessed ideals of romance just melt and make you giggle. "I have found her" will make your knees weak.

So which version do I love the most? It depends on the day really. Today, I would have to say the '63 with all its simplicity and my childhood love for twirling around in an old white dress pretending and singing along to the songs.  

Bride and Prejudice

Not completely a musical but not entirely 100 percent accurate to Jane Austen's vision of Pride and Prejudice, "Bride and Prejudice" is probably the most goofy and campy fun. The song sequences border somewhere between Bollywood-like situations and Hollywood-like influences. Even the director, Gurinder Chadha admits that the set up to the song "No Life Without Wife" was inspired by Grease.

Essentially a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice, four sisters are to be married off but the only difference is that William Darcy is American, friends with a very sexy and British Balraj (Naveen Andrews) and a business man hoping to bring his family's hotel business to Amritsar but ends up butting heads with the down-to-earth and unearthly beauty that is Aishwayra Rai-Chandha's Lalita to the point they end up falling in love.

The Producers

While the 1968 version is an essential for many Mel Brooks fans, I love the musical version far more than the original (even though, yes, Gene Wilder is considered a demi-God next to Kurt Vonnegut here in Iowa City). And there is two words why this version attracts me more: Nathan Lane. Wait, four: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick. Their bro-mantic chemistry is electric and even more hysterical in the blooper reel which I have to add to this post.

There may be some typical criticisms about this version: Will Ferrell (personally, I thought he was perfect), Uma Thurman and just overall preference for the '60s version. But Nathan Lane chews the scenery and is overall the best thing in this whole movie plus Will Ferrell's dorky eagerness just to be in a musical (in the commentary, director Susan Stroman points out Ferrell's dream of being musical like his father) just spills out every time he is in a scene. And isn't that the best part of a musical? The actors' enthusiasm?

While probably not everyone's absolute favorite musical, "The Producers" has some of the best moments (OK, yes, John Barrowman included; calm down, Whovians) including the little old ladies Nathan Lane interacts with, Lane and Broderick bromance, colorful cinematography and overall amazing talent out of Lane, Broderick, Ferrell and Gary Breach (especially Gary Breach). 

Godspell

Godspell is just an overall great musical whether it's based in 1973 New York or on an ageless timeless stage in a theater anywhere in the world. It's that kind of musical. I love both.

It's weird how I'm not Christian yet I find Godspell completely charming and even spiritually profound; a lot of people have disregarded it as a "hippy flower child" response yet have no concept of the face paint being metaphor for being touched by the divine.... or they're just Team Jesus Christ Superstar.

I am disappointed how Godspell has been received because of this but as soon as I hear that uncredited voice of God speaking, my brain just melts and I am immersed in 1970s New York where David Haskell as John the Baptist brings a group of people (some original Broadway cast members) out of their hum drum lives to discovering a nameless faith that eventually became Christianity. And like in the gospels, Jesus (fresh faced newcomer Victor Garber, yeah, the white-haired guy from the '98 Cinderella and Titanic) tags along and teaches them "the way of the Lord" complete with face paint that is symbolic of this faith and a child-like approach to becoming close to the Christian divine. The best part? Creator John-Michael Tebelak plays the voice of the "Pharisee Monster." More about him in my stage musical post.

But as for the movie and not so much the stage musical, Victor Garber is just beautiful in this movie; his face during "God Save the People" (movie version is my personal favorite over the more sped up original broadway cast version) is so earnest and beautiful, you understand how he became such a musical legend over the past decade. He stuns and rips up the "Pharisee Monster" with more rage and conviction than the original Jesus, Stephen Nathan, ever sang it on stage.

Favorite Moments in the movie over the musical? Everything that comes out of Jerry Sroka's improvisational-trained self,  By My Side, God Save the People, Bless the Lord, use of the freshly built Twin Towers, everything Garber and Haskell, All Good Gifts, and the list goes on and on but there are some songs that are better from the original stage. The best part of that is that Tebelak had a hand in the screenplay so nothing that happens in this movie is complete sacrilige.

Mamma Mia

I know, I know. And I know. A lot of people do not like this movie or this musical. It's  like what I said with "The Producers," some of the best modern musicals is watching modern actors who love the classic musical and they're just happy to be apart of it. Julie Walters, Christine Baranski, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgaard are the actors to truly immerse yourself in; and not so much the main story line drenched in ABBA tunes.

Meryl Streep's Donna was a "wreckless little slut," in her own words, when she was younger, resulting in her daughter, Sophie (Seyfried) as the result of one of the three flings she had back in the day. Except which one is her father? Sophie sends out her wedding invitations to the three men (Firth, Brosnan and Skarsgaard) that might be her father so she and her two friends can weed out who is her father only to discover this is a secret that Donna and her two friends (Baranski and Walters) are struggling to keep quiet.

Implausible? Yeah, probably, but the ABBA music makes it fun. Streep indeed sings amazingly the title track freaking out before seeing the three men she had romantic encounters with and immediately recaptures her connection with Sam (Pierce Brosnan whose vocals are a little difficult to swallow). While Brosnan might not have been the best singer but his chemistry with Streep is perfection. And that's what this musical is really about, fun and amazing cast chemistry. Can you say that about other films nowadays? And Colin Firth isn't wearing a shirt.

 

Sound of Music

Baroness Maria Augusta von Trapp's memoirs The Story of the von Trapp Family Singers somehow managed to translate to this childhood favorite musical that is known as "The Sound of Music." Now that I have experienced both of these mediums and have discovered Maria von Trapp as one of my personal heroines as a woman dealing with World War 2 and taking care of a gigantic family, the movie itself seems tamer compared to what she dealt with in reality.

Has Sound of Music become a little passe? Yeah maybe a little; but Julie Andrews's talent is all over this beautifully set musical. Against the backdrops of Salzburg and Bavaria, once you've read the memoirs, all the smaller elements pop out more than the tired plot of Disney-fried sunny Maria bringing retribution to a tired Sea Captain and his family of seven children. Once you are immune to Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer's rocky chemistry, you can see how amazingly brilliant the Baroness von Schrader and Max Detweiler (Eleanor Parker and Richard Haydn) are together in a dry Noel Coward manner of speaking to one another. And it is hysterical. I wish Haydn had more scenes in this movie.

Despite my personal relationship with the plot of the movie, the music will always be a little more important to me with my own personal relationship learning "Do-Re-Mi" from my great aunt when I was a little girl and that's why this movie is on my favorite musicals list. And also knowing "Edelweiss" was the last song Oscar Hammerstein ever wrote, it's heart wrenching. Sound of Music is probably a musical that I'm more emotionally invested in than one of my favorites, but, if it keeps the incomparable Maria von Trapp immortal, then OK!

Cabaret

Everyone knows the song but hardly anyone takes the time to watch this classic of a musical because it is slow and seething, albeit rather episodic like Christopher Isherwood's memoirs Goodbye to Berlin which the movie is based on.  What makes this movie isn't the story as much as it is the amazing seedy lustful cinematography that director and choreographer Bob Fosse does so well.

Most of the time I watch "Cabaret" or "All that Jazz" simply for this atmosphere... and the characters that embody Fosse's style a little TOO well... Minnelli and, of course, Joel Grey as the Emcee. It is because of Fosse's treatment of the Emcee that so many after himin the stage musical (Stamos and Cumming included) have struggled to get that "it" factor that Grey created in the film. Who doesn't love that leering moment after "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" when you see Grey smiling maniacally right into the camera slowly nodding his head?

But the real actress of this movie is also its winner for Best Actress, the American singer Sally Bowles, Liza Minnelli. Sometimes you forget why she made this musical so great and not just because of her amazing vocal genetics but the certain scenes that earned her that Academy Award: the scene after she gets stood up by her father, the fight with Brian Roberts (Michael York) towards the end, and just overall amazing acting genetics when she embodies full vulnerability versus the soapiness that this movie unfortunately lands on in the end. "Oh please don't cry, I'm no good whenever anybody cries," when she comforts Natalia Landauer (Marisa Berenson) she sounds so much like her mother it's truly frightening.  

Unfortunately, many modern viewers will find the movie slow and some of the dialogue towards the end a little soapy and I guess that is the main downfall of "Cabaret." While the real world becomes unreal under the influence of the Nazi's, you want to escape into the Kit Kat Club and the Emcee who satirizes the unrealness of the outside world; but that doesn't stop this whole "who's the Daddy" storyline towards the end before Sally gets the abortion. But, we always have the very edgy music for its time, excluding the Kander and Ebb staples of "Cabaret" and "Maybe this Time" but the others people often forget: "Two Ladies," "If You Could See Her," "Money Money" and the contextually frightening, "Tomorrow Belongs to Me."





Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Where did "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" come from? Everyone knows it was sung by Marilyn Monroe and influenced Madonna's "Material Girl" music video, but the Howard Hawks directed film "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" is probably more known for that song than anything else. And that saddens me, mostly because I have certain scenes memorized by heart.

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell star as two best friends and lounge act who run through men and set sail to Paris on a transatlantic cruise. Although it's the blonde that has a less than healthy approach when it comes to finding a man, she's a sly and proud gold digger although she never directly admits it despite her heart is geekily in love with Tommy Noonan's awkward Gus Esmond Jr. She even tells his father at the end, "Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn't marry a girl simply because she's pretty, but my goodness, doesn't it help?" That is the genius behind Anita Loos, the writer of the original play.

A lot of musicals have a push pull relationship between their songs and the dialogue, one is almost better than the other and in this movie, the music and the dialogue are completely equal. This is why I hold stage-to-movie adaptations in such high regard. And "Gentlemen..." is no different. Especially Jane Russell's dry voice is perfect for many of the one-liners:

Gus: "Dorothy Shaw, I want you to remember you're supposed to be the chaperone on this trip."

Dorothy: "Now let's get this straight Gus, The chaperone's job is to see that nobody else has any fun. Nobody chaperone's the chaperone. That's why I'm so right for this job."

"You know I think you're the only girl in the world who can stand on a stage with a spotlight in her eye and still see a diamond inside a man's pocket."

...and my personal favorite....

"I don't know how you do it, unless you put novocaine in your lipstick."

This movie is flawless and it's so sad that there are only five songs in the whole movie including one or two songs that didn't make it in post-production. But at least the ones that have remained are iconic, including "Diamonds..." but my personal favorites have always been the so amazingly gay sequence surrounding "Is There Anyone Here For Love," "When Love Goes Wrong" and "Bye Bye Baby."

Meet Me in St. Louis

If you have ever seen a movie where a director is literally falling in love with his star, you can notice it all over this lovely family-friendly movie. It seems whenever Judy Garland is on screen, she is either in a lovely soft focus or placed on parts of the set where it seems she is framed like a picture by columns or windows. This is the loveliest work Vincent Minnelli has ever achieved, at least when it came to his star and future wife.

Outside of Judy Garland's amazing portrayal as the second oldest sister in a family of five children, the Smiths are just a regular family from 1903 in St. Louis, Missouri before the World's Fair in the coming year that's "what everyone sings about and talks about."  The seasons come in and out, the sisters fight and make up, everything is normal until the Father has been transferred to a better job in New York around Christmas leading up to the original recording Judy's Esther sings to her distraught little sister, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" to reassure her that everything would be OK. The original scene and song was completely different: "Have yourself a Merry little Christmas, it may be your last, next year we may all be living in the past/Have yourself a Merry little Christmas, pop that champagne cork, next year we may all be living in New York."

This is a movie with a little of everything, reminding yourself how scary Halloween used to be when you were a kid, seen through the eyes of the amazing MGM child actress Margaret O'Brien, pushover older sisters, boy drama with the older girls, a nosy housekeeper (played by one of my MGM favorites and Ma Kettle, Marjorie Main), and a beautiful little known Judy Garland song, "Over the Bannister" that she sings to charm "the boy next door" another fantastic song.

This is another movie musical where dialogue and music is equal. My favorite moments include "Over the Bannister," "The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song," Judy Garland's stunning deep red Christmas gown, the Christmas party drama that results in Judy's character dancing with her grandfather, producer Arthur Freed vocals and songwriting abilities on "You and I," and everything Marjorie Main.

That Thing You Do

This movie was forced on me as a teenager as one of my brother's favorite movies, I do find it a great '90s necessary evil. Complete with a 60s-inspired soundtrack ranging from pop to soul to jazz, that is what "That Thing You Do" actually is about: 60s music the rise and fall of fame. And yeah, a Beatlemania of sorts.

Guy Patterson, a relatively popular jazz drummer is hired by a yet to be named band that includes Lenny (Steve Zahn), T.B. Player (Ethan Embry), and lead singer Jimmy (Jonathan Schaech) as well as groupie and eventual love interest for the drummer, Faye (Liv Tyler). Soon they have a sped up hit song, named The Wonders and find themselves signed to Playtone Records (and changing managers to Tom Hanks's Mr. White). and climbing the Billboards and fame to only be a one hit wonder and it all comes crashing down.

The soundtrack is neo-60s perfection including all the Wonders four songs "That Thing You Do,"  "All my Only Dreams," and my favorites "Dance with me Tonight," "Little Wild One," and a different band's song "I Need You (That Thing You Do)." A portion of the Wonders songs were actually written and sung by the Fountains of Wayne boys Mike Viola and Adam Schlesinger. Tom Hanks, the most liked man in Hollywood had co-written a few songs in the soundtrack as well as having directed and written this relatively popular movie that encompasses the famous 90s kids problems hashtag. It's still a damned good movie.





Summer Stock

A lot of people name their favorite Judy Garland movie as "Wizard of Oz" and don't know much more about the famous legend other than small snippets of her life. This, next to "Meet Me in St. Louis" is my favorite Judy Garland musical. And although this is one of her later MGM movies where she infamously became difficult to work with and for, it doesn't show in the movie at all other than an obvious cut and jump to the iconic "Get Happy" sequence which was shot a few months after production when they didn't have their hit song.

Judy's Jane Falbery and Marjorie Main's Esme, her family's housekeeper of many years, have been the only two on the family farm for a long time and struggling to keep it afloat. After her father's farm hands quit, Jane buys a tractor that would ensure a faster harvest only to come home to a theater company camped out on her lawn. Her sister, Abigail (Gloria de Haven) brought her boyfriend and theater troupe leader Joe (Gene Kelly) and his whole cast to have a barn showing before they move their show back to New York City. Jane reluctantly lets them stay, only if they help out since she is short some assistance but finds herself slowly succumbing to show business as well as a blooming attraction to her sister's own boyfriend!

I just love this movie and it's one of the few MGM musicals where the supporting characters kind of steal the spotlight, sans Marjorie Main of course. Her back and forth's with the sherriff at the end is perfect as well as my favorite scene where she stands guard between the men's and women's sleeping quarters in the barn complete with holding a shot gun while she sleeps that serves as everyone's alarm clock. Classic. Phil Silvers plays Joe's spastic and hysterical second in command who causes most of the issues that happen, including crashing Jane's tractor into a tree.

I just love this movie, the acting, the lines, Judy, Majorie, Phil Silvers and even Gene Kelly is reasonably likeable! His "You Wonderful You" reprise involves possibly his best dancing including using sound effects like ripping a newspaper, a creak in the floor and his overall tap dancing epicness. Even though Gene Kelly was second choice to Mickey Rooney (the attempts of making an older Mickey and Judy "let's make a show" movie they did so well when they were younger), Kelly made the role more believable in a romantic way.

We could never see Rooney and Judy getting cozy like that or leaving an impression on Judy's Jane. This is probably one of Judy's better lovestruck moments in a movie and she looks beautiful as she sings my favorite "Friendly Star" as you realize that Joe has got under her skin like no one ever has. And somehow, this feels different than any other Judy film. I feel Summer Stock hit a new level in Garland as an actress and I don't know how to describe it fully. Maybe because she was at the most reasonable weight she was ever at. And she looks beautiful as curvaceous but that awful hairline is the one criticism I even have on this whole movie! Push the hairline forward and Summer Stock would be the perfect musical.

Notable Mentions: All that Jazz, Camelot, Chicago, Dreamgirls, Easter Parade, Empire Records, Flashdance, Kiss Me Kate, Love Me Tonight, A Prairie Home Companion, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Singin' in the Rain