Amy, Jack, and I loved this musical, based on the life and career of circus creator P.T. Barnum in 1800s New York with the theme of yearning for acceptance. Hugh Jackman has been wanting to make this for years and he's spectacular in the lead (he was last blogged for Logan), dancing and singing new, 21st century style songs written for the movie by the lyricists from La La Land. Michelle Williams (most recently in Wonderstruck) is sweet as Barnum's patient wife Charity--she can sing, too, but if you saw My Week with Marilyn you would know that. We already knew that Zac Efron (last blogged for The Paperboy) and Zendaya (at 21 years old she's been recording since her debut on Kidz Bop in 2010) can sing--they play Phillip and Anne. But did you know that she did all her own trapeze stunts and he did many of his? Here she is talking about it with Jimmy Fallon. Rebecca Ferguson (most recently in Florence Foster Jenkins) studied music, but the songs she sings in the role of Jenny Lind (known as the greatest singer of the time) are dubbed by Loren Allred (a contestant on The Voice). Props to the pipes of Keala Seattle (played Sharon in Ricki and the Flash) as Lettie, the bearded lady. And all of the above can act up a storm as well. The cast has nearly 200 people.
Michael Gracey, a visual effects supervisor, makes his directorial debut, working from a story by Jenny Bicks and co-written by her (she wrote 16 episodes of Sex and the City, ten of The Big C, and was series creator of Men in Trees) and Bill Condon (Oscar winner for adapting Gods and Monsters (1998) which he directed, nominated for adapting Chicago (2002) which he didn't; he also wrote Kinsey (2004) and Dreamgirls (2006), both of which he directed).
The sparkling cinematography by Seamus McGarvey (last blogged for Anna Karenina) is supplemented by the work of many special effects companies.
I was curious about the choreography, with many numbers punctuated by Jackman et al throwing their arms triumphantly out to the sides. La La Land had one choreographer and two assistants. This has Matthieu Leopold (three Dancing with the Stars final episodes to his name, two of which had the word "aerialist" in them), buried in the Stunts list. The early sequence with Jackman and Williams dancing on the rooftop with her skirt twirling is but one of many marvelous routines.
The songs are terrific and you can stream a playlist on youtube (until it gets taken down for copyright reasons). Before writing the lyrics to La La Land, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote a few songs for the TV series Smash, which I loved. Two of my favorites from this one are This Is Me (nominated for Critics Choice and Golden Globe awards so far), which is about unapologetically being yourself, and Rewrite the Stars, which is about taking control of your destiny regardless of society. Both final versions are included in the playlist above, but here's tape of a stirring studio rehearsal of This Is Me featuring Seattle. John Debney (who scored Home Again) and Joseph Trapanese (who wrote the non-N.W.A. music in Straight Outta Compton) provide some background music but you're unlikely to remember it. I don't.
The last Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus shows were in May 2017.
I think Broadway would do well to make this into a live stage show. Get Julie Taymor or someone to do the elephants! Perhaps the Rotten Tomatoes critics' average of 55 will be a deterrent. Broadway producers and you should pay attention instead to the audience average of 90%. The Hollywood Foreign Press has also nominated this for a Best Picture Musical or Comedy Golden Globe.
We saw this on Christmas day, the twelfth time the three of us have seen a movie on December 25. You know how I like lists, so here's our history: 2006 Dreamgirls, 2007 Walk Hard, 2008 Cadillac Records, 2009 Nine, 2010 The Fighter, 2011 We Bought a Zoo, 2012 Django Unchained, 2013 The World's End (streamed at home; our first choice American Hustle was sold out and that's the last Christmas we showed up without buying advance tickets), 2014 Into the Woods, 2015 Joy, and 2016 La La Land.
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