The Web site Film in Focus asked Tony nominees Kerry Butler, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Heidi Rodewald and Stew, Kelli O'Hara and Adam Schlesinger to name their favorite movie musicals, and make some pithy comments about them.
Adam Schlesinger, Cry-Baby
Ishtar
This is Spinal Tap
Yellow Submarine
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
The Jerk
Kerry Butler, Xanadu
The Little Mermaid
The Sound of Music
Singin in the Rain
West Side Story
Annie
Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights
The Band Wagon
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
Chicago
The Little Mermaid
Singin in the Rain
Stew and Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Mary Poppins
Cabaret
A Hard Day's Night
My Fair Lady
Kelli O'Hara, South Pacific
Oklahoma
Grease
Carousel
The Sound of Music
Chicago
I'm very happy to see one of my favorites, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, make the list. (Stew and Heidi put it this way: Dark plus chocolate equals a devastatingly wicked confection. They also wrote that Rex Harrison is their favorite rapper.)
In some cases, the choices are based on a personal connection. It makes sense that Oklahoma native O'Hara would put Oklahoma on her list. The Sound of Music was a movie she watched with her family every year at Christmas. And Annie was the first musical that Butler says she ever auditioned for.
The choice that surprised me the most was the South Park movie. While I've heard of it, I don't think I've ever watched it. (I've seen a few episodes of the tv series but I'm not a huge fan.) Miranda describes it as "the best animated musical since Beauty and the Beast." Ok, I guess I'll have to check it out.
11 comments:
South Park, while supremely offensive, is very, very, very funny. And it's score was written by none other than Marc Shaiman (and Trey Parker).
"Blame Canada" came close to winning the Oscar for Best Song. But my favorite tune, which is hard to extract from my mind everytime I hear it is: "Uncle F***a."
What?! The score was written by Marc Shaiman, one of my personal musical theatre gods? Ok, it's going to the top of my Netflix queue!
Be prepared ... Be very prepared. It's about as vulgar and crass as you can get, but it is devilishly funny.
Ok, I'll be prepared. I have seen the tv show a few times, so I do have some idea, although I'm sure the movie takes the vulgarity and crassness to a new height!
My favorites musicals are "The Umbrellas of Cherborg", "The Young Girls of Rochefort" and "Dancer in the Dark". My all time favorite is "The King and I," but I'm also rather partial to "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" as well.
Thanks for the list, Sarah. I've never seen any of the ones you mentioned, except for "The King and I," of course. I remember watching it on tv when I was a kid, along with "Oklahoma" and "The Sound of Music."
Let's see . . . I managed to convince my mother to see this in theaters with me (I was 15), at a time when she couldn't handle me cursing in the least. Raunchy as it is, she left the theater astonished at the cleverness and the melodious sound (she's a huge musical theater fan), so yes, by all means, get it to the top of your NetFlix queue. Prepared or not, you'll probably love it.
Wow Aaron, what a very cool mom! I had to beg my parents for weeks before they'd let me see "Love Story," back in the day. And there were far fewer curse words. Perhaps I'll make it a triple feature with "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks."
Yeah, South Park is SOOO wrong and thus so right! (Team America is pretty funny too especially in their spoof of Rent).
Still, when it comes to tops, Sound of Music comes out tops. I still have to think about the others. Moulin Rouge? Hairspray? Dancer in the Dark? Mary Poppins? Cabaret?...
Aaron just made me feel very, very old.
I had to convince my parents to take me to see "Tommy." That was after they took my sister and me to see "Love Story" and were shocked by its contents, which I imagine would seem pretty lame compared to "South Park."
I also agree with Vance about "Team America" ... so wrong, and thus so right (especially Kim Il-Jong's solo and the Rent spoof).
Oh Steve, you're not old! You're just a young pup! Hard to believe that "Love Story" was considered shocking in its day. Luckily, I got to go with a friend. And I can't even imagine my parents taking me to see "Tommy." Although I do remember they took me to see "Oliver," which I loved. I'll have to put "Team America" on my list, too.
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