Student Blog: Musical Films You Should Watch This Summer

As of last week, I am done with school for the summer. No summer classes, no assignments. Just me, a shelf full of DVDs, and over 100 movies on the DVR (yikes). With so many movies to choose from, I'm bound to watch a movie musical at some point (and by some point, I mean I already watched one last week). In fact, I'm pretty sure I watch a lot of the same movies every summer, so it's pretty much guaranteed that I'll be rewatching some of my favorites. Since there's enough to make a list, I thought I'd share some musical films I'll be watching this summer that I recommend.

Jersey Boys

Clint Eastwood directed this 2014 adaptation of the Tony-winning musical, which tells the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. It's not the greatest film in the world, but its musical numbers make up for its flaws. Tony winner John Lloyd Young reprises his role as Frankie Valli and leads an immensely talented cast that also includes Erich Bergen, Vincent Piazza, and Christopher Walken. In addition to the stellar performances from the cast, Eastwood's direction and Tom Stern's cinematography are also fantastic. It's not amazing, but if you like the music, Jersey Boys is worth the watch.

The Producers

Tony-winning director Susan Stroman brought Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan's hilarious musical to the screen in 2005, with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick returning to play theatrical producers Bialystock and Bloom. Though it seems the musical doesn't translate well onscreen, The Producers is still a hilarious film. If you're a fan of the original film from 1967, it's really no different than that (except for the musical numbers, of course). If you're a fan of the stage musical, it's really no different than that, either. If none of that sells the movie for you, maybe you'd watch if I told you that Will Ferrell is in it? He's mainstream, right?

The Greatest Showman

I think when modern audiences hear the words "movie musical", this is the one they immediately think of. When it was released in 2017, The Greatest Showman became a box office success, grossing $435 million from an $84 million budget, so it's obvious that it struck a chord with people everywhere. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The story is inspiring (albeit incredibly inaccurate) and the songs are undeniably catchy. Hugh Jackman is also wonderful as P.T. Barnum. I just don't think it's as great as it could have been. I certainly enjoyed it when I saw it in theaters, and have since watched it several more times, but I know that I would have hated it if it weren't for the singing and the dancing. Thankfully, the singing and the dancing is so good that I can look past all the flaws. I don't really think I need to recommend this one since I'm sure most people reading this have seen it, but it's in my personal collection so I figured I would include it. It is pretty good, though. Even if you're not interested in watching the film itself, I recommend giving the soundtrack a listen. I don't think you will ever know what true joy feels like until you've gotten in the car and gone for a drive while blasting "From Now On" with the windows down.

La La Land

Winner of six Academy Awards, Damien Chazelle's 2016 musical tells the story of an aspiring actress and a struggling jazz pianist who fall in love while pursuing their dreams in Los Angeles. Well-directed, well-acted, and visually stunning, La La Land is not only a great example of filmmaking done right, but a great example of the musical film genre done right. Chazelle proved to be a brilliant visionary director with his feature debut, Whiplash, and completely blew everyone away when he followed it up with La La Land; he went on to become the youngest winner of the Academy Award for Best Director at the age of 32. With an award-winning score by Justin Hurwitz and wonderful songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, La La Land is a dazzling musical that you should definitely add to your watchlist if you haven't seen it by now.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

A couple months ago, I started collecting Blu-rays from Criterion, and one of my most recent purchases was the 2001 film version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Most of the films I've purchased from Criterion have been ones that I hadn't seen yet, and this one was no exception. I had only heard a few of the songs and actually had no idea what it was about, but I knew of it thanks to its cult status, so I decided to buy it and go in blind. I think it was a great decision, because I've watched it several times in the last few days and I can't get the music out of my head.

Let me summarize it to the best of my ability: After her former collaborator steals her songs and becomes a successful rock star, a genderqueer rock singer from East Berlin named Hedwig follows his tour city to city with her band, The Angry Inch, while pursuing a copyright lawsuit against him. Forced to perform in small restaurants to support herself and her band, Hedwig sings and tells her life story to anyone who will listen (mostly uninterested restaurant patrons).

It only took one watch for this film to take a spot near the top of my list of favorite movie musicals. Stephen Trask's score is phenomenal. John Cameron Mitchell (who also wrote and directed the film) is mesmerizing in the titular role. I'm not even two weeks into my summer break and Hedwig and the Angry Inch is already my favorite film I've watched this summer (that I hadn't previously seen, anyway). I'm looking forward to watching it again and again. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend checking it out.

In addition to these films, I'm also looking forward to seeing the highly anticipated adaptation of In The Heights, which is being released in just under a month. The promos look very promising, so I'm excited to see if it lives up to the hype. I also look forward to expanding my Criterion collection a little bit. It was just announced that Criterion will be releasing D.A. Pennebaker's documentary Original Cast Album: Company on Blu-ray and DVD in August, and I'm looking forward to adding that one to my collection.

What movie musicals are you going to watch this summer?

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