Underrated musicals not musicals · 12:05am Sep 1st, 2022
So it's hard to completely classify what I mean here, but basically movies that are sort of not traditional musicals? I guess? So no film adaptations of stage plays or films that are specifically billed as musicals, such as Sound of Music and stuff like that. Disney stuff doesn't really count either, because, especially the Renaissance films, we've heard every song a million times.
So... I hope that makes sense. Anyway, my picks...
The original Wicker Man.
Not the Cage "not the bees" nonsense, the '70s version. If you didn't know that the Cage film was a remake, watch the original. Heck, watch the original anyway. It's a detective horror thriller musical, and all of those parts come together and make a great movie.
O Brother Where Art Thou?
Grew up listening to the soundtrack. From the minds of the Coen brothers of Fargo fame (as well as Homer, I guess) it's honestly one of their best, and certainly their most underrated.
The Prince of Egypt.
It's better than the vast, vast majority of Disney films and could go up against peak Pixar. Fight me.
Baby Driver.
Hear me out. It isn't a musical in terms of any real original soundtrack, but the music plays such a fundamental role in the movie that it was written around the sound track that Edgar Wright had chosen for it.
One musical that I bet most people have never heard of is Cannibal! the Musical. It's put out by Troma Enterprises and was directed by Trey Parker (while still a student at the Univ of Colorado). And he wrote it with Matt Stone. Matt and Trey also star in it. This was before they got together to make South Park.
So if you'd like a dark horror comedy and are South Park fans I recommend that you check it out.
The Wicker Man - The Musical. The mind boggles. Next, Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Ice!
I LOVE the original "Wicker Man." Celtic music in a creepy thriller? YES PLEASE! And Christopher Lee singing in that magnificent voice of his? How can you say no?
I've got two for you. Shout out to my cuddle buddy for turning me on to the equal parts hilarious, legitimately moving (I cried I admit), and incredibly cleverly and elegantly constructed musical Twisted.
ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/038/662/679/5068926fb15ddd97fee66a86eca5a1e3_original.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.0.2&w=700&fit=max&v=1663783534&auto=format&frame=1&q=92&s=a6745a877e269ebbad89626af371ec10 It simultaneously parodies Aladdin, Wicked (Obviously), and the Disney Corporation in general, while still standing solidly on its own merits as well, chronicling the hapless pragmatic and utilitarian Jafar's frustrated attempts to improve the lives of his constituents in the face of, well, you'll have to see. Just read the glowing comments in the trailer:
Then you can watch the entire thing on Youtube for free:
Then you can watch this video pointing out how brilliant its construction is here:
Second one is The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, which got slept on due to the pandemic, but is every bit as good as the first, again exploring familiar relationships through several layers of meta, and a full fledged musical. Here's the trailer:
and the standout track:
Highly highly recommend both!
Oh, a third! Before Hamilton, where Hip Hop is used to tell a historical story, there was Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, where a historical story is used to tell a 2000s emo/punk concept album. (that is to say the music as a style parody is great but the story is way less detailed and cohesive and polished than in Hamilton) shout out to my ex I'm still good friends with for turning me on to this.
Standout song:
playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL13222FB159C4B271
a regional theater staging:
And analysis of the broadway version: