Looking at the history of film, some of the most successful movies are in fact musicals. Dripping in technicolour, with extravagant sets, huge dance sequences, and catchy musical scores – the Hollywood movie musical was an exciting spectacle. Later, a Broadway-to-Hollywood pipeline formed, giving audiences some of the most widely acclaimed films of the 20th century. My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music expertly translated their contents from stage-to-screen, both utilising the new possibilities available to them with the film medium. Maria was able to actually twirl on the iconic hill situated in the Austrian Alps, singing out the titular number. 

Although the Golden Age of musicals is long past, there is still the odd stage-to-screen adaptation dotted throughout film history, which is critically acclaimed. Take the brilliant 2002 adaptation of Chicago, which impressively collected six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The popularity of these films show that there is still space for musicals in Hollywood. 

This leads onto the recent confusion surrounding the 2024 adaptation of the Broadway musical Mean Girls – it was not advertised as a musical. With this lack of accurate advertisement, fans of the original 2004 cult-classic of the same name, took to social media to bash the adaptation and the actors, as they believed it was yet another film remake. This marketing decision is baffling, as audience members who are unaware of the original stage material, only realise what they have paid to see is in fact a musical, once the film has begun. One fan of the musical even created their own version of the film’s trailer titled, ‘Mean Girls 2024 But It’s Advertised As A Musical’. 

Aside from this marketing issue, another dilemma is the adaptation downplaying the musical aspects within the film, which disappoints the cinemagoer who is in fact a fan of the musical source material. With Hollywood’s tendency to cast actors who are not from a musical-theatre background, I was initially impressed by the casting of the highly talented Reneé Rapp, allowing her to reprise her role as Regina George. However, as a fan of the musical since the OBC recording was released in 2018, I was personally disheartened upon listening to the film’s soundtrack. Some of my favourite songs were either cut short, or removed completely. In the songs that do remain, the rich Broadway orchestrations have been altered in favour of a more radio-friendly pop sounding score. There seems to be a lack of focus on who the intended target audience is, neither quite tailoring to the mainstream audience or the theatre fans. 

To end on a more positive note, in recent years, there have been some truly wonderful adaptations, such as Tick, Tick… Boom!, In The Heights and The Color Purple, which all draw upon the spectacle element of a musical. These adaptations expertly incorporate the beautiful Broadway orchestrations alongside the utilisation of the film medium to create fanciful and visually exciting sequences for the big screen. With this in mind, we can’t lose complete faith in the future of movie musicals! 

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