Musicals are often a polarizing topic. People either love them or hate them, and even those that love them are critical of on-screen adaptations of their favorite stage shows. Hollywood doesn’t have a great track record of adapting musicals from the stage to the screen in a way that works, and many movie musicals of the past have been criticized for not having that certain something that makes the onstage musicals feel so special and unique.
That is, until 2021, which apparently became the year where Hollywood figured out how to make a good movie musical. There had been exceptions tothe bad adaptation cursein the past (with films likeThe Sound of MusicorChicagobeing successful and beloved), but they were few and far between. Not only were there a lot of musical movies that were released in 2021 -In The Heights,Dear Evan Hansen,tick, tick…BOOM!,West Side Story, and evenEncanto(which wasn’t derived from a stage play, but is a musical movie nonetheless) - but for the most part, they were well done and loved by both critics and audiences. Is this a sign that the genre is going to be revived and continue to thrive in the coming years? Has the curse been broken?
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There are a lot of complicated factors that go into adapting a stage musical to the screen. The stage is a very different medium than film, and a lot of changes need to be made to the presentation of the story to make it work on screen. Musical movies often fail tocapture the magic of live theater, and ground the musical a little too much. Movie musicals that lean into the inherent camp and heightened reality that makes a stage musical what it is are often the most successful at translating their respective stories to the screen.
The Musicals That Succeeded…
In The Heightsis a great example of this. There are oftenfun added visualsduring musical numbers that aren’t based in the real world, like graphics that fly around the characters' heads, or the staging of “When The Sun Goes Down”, where Nina and Benny dance on the side of a building in a dream-like sequence.In The Heights, while being a story about very real and relatable issues, really leaned into the fantastical nature of a musical, which perfectly captured the energy that one would feel as an audience member watching magic happen in a theater.
West Side Storyalso does this very well, mostly due toSteven Spielberg’s visual influenceas a director. He implements a lot of sweeping wide shots that give a sense of the scale of the story, and includes big dance numbers where the audience can see everyone dancing in a big group, rather than cutting to a bunch of close-ups during a dance scene (which is a mistake that movie musicals seem to inexplicably make all of the time). Part of the fun of seeing a musical on stage is getting to watch big dance numbers, and it seems like the movie musicals of 2021 finally figured out how to capture that same feeling on the screen.
Even a movie likeEncantomanaged to capture the feeling of a stage musical, likely due to the heightened nature of animation (and perhaps a bit to Lin Manuel Miranda’s influence). The musical numbers are theatrical and choreographed beautifully, and it’s easy to picture how it could translate to the stage. Disney is usually pretty good at making a compelling musical, butEncantois definitely a standoutfrom their catalogue over the past few years. They’ve always set the standard for animated musicals, and despite their other flaws, no other studio has really managed to keep up.
…And Those That Did Not
Not every movie musical of 2021 was a success, of course.Dear Evan Hansenin particular drew a lot of criticism from musical theater fans for being somewhat lackluster, as well as for the choice to put a nearly 30-year-old Ben Platt in the main role (as a teenage high school student) just because he originated it on Broadway. The movie seemed to be unwilling to let itselfbe different for a film format, and the refusal to recast the main role is evidence of that. Ben Platt’s version of Evan already exists in the Broadway version (aka the most well-known one), and it would have been great to see what someone else brought to the role.
A Passion For Musical Theatre
What was most exciting about other movie musicals this year was how they brought lesser-known actors into the spotlight by giving them the chance to shine on screen.West Side Storydid this by casting unknowns- like the magnetic breakout performance from Rachel Zegler - or actors that were mainly known for theatre (outside of Ansel Elgort as Tony), andIn The Heightshad a very similar casting process, with only a couple of original cast members making their returns in each case (Olga Merediz and Lin Manuel Miranda inIn The Heightsand Rita Moreno inWest Side Story).
tick, tick…BOOM!was the other big movie musical of the year, and cast mainly theater actors - other than Andrew Garfield in the lead. This in itself was an interesting choice because up until this point, he wasn’t really known as an actor who sang or did theater. However, he so perfectly captured the energy needed for a musical in his performance that it’s really a wonder that he’s not more known for theatrical performances. Andrew Garfield brought the absolute perfect amount of theater kid energy to the role of Jonathan Larson, and it’s one of the main reasons the film works so well.tick, tick…BOOM!is also a love letter to theater in general, especially the “Sunday” number that included a slew of cameos from famous Broadway actors. The movie was able to capture why so many people latch onto musical theater, and felt like it was made specifically for those people.
The key to a successful movie musical is just to lean into the musical-ness of it all, and to play up the theatrical and fantastical elements. Musical theater works best when it’s made by and for those that love it, and it seems like Hollywood has finally clued into that over the last year. Hopefully they continue to put this kind of passion and creativity into future musical adaptations, because this is definitely the right direction to be trending in. A lot of these moviesmay not have been as successful at the box officeas the newest MCU releases, but they are beloved by fans and critics, and that alone should be enough to encourage creators to keep making things that show their love for the genre of musicals.
