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Originally Posted by Danzig
just not my thing...too many viewings back in the day of 'the sound of music'?? my mother watched it every time it came on.....that and seven brides for seven brothers, the music man (she just loved robert preston).
when the musical sweeney todd came out, my daughter put it on. i couldn't watch it. she said 'but it's really good'. i told her i'm sure it was!
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Musicals are very hard to translate successfully onscreen. As Les Mis reminded me. Christopher Plummer referred to "The Sound of Music" as "the sound of mucus." He was not a fan.
I do love "The Music Man" a lot. Meredith Wilson (the author) wanted to play with sound leading into song, and it's really cool the way it works in the opening number- the salesmen all speak in the rhythm of the train chuffing along and how the sound of the books being stamped in the library leads into "Marian the Librarian." Great sound design. The Beatles did a nice cover of "'Til There Was You."
I've never made it through "Seven Brides." Long dance numbers on screen make me sleepy.
"Chicago" is a pretty darn good adaptation of a musical; I recommend that one a lot. And I liked the film of "Hedwig" though it's very, very different from the play (necessarily so).
I do think musicals written directly for the screen can be pretty great ("Singin' in the Rain," "Victor/Victoria").