Daniel-A

I'm looking to expand the Musical section of my DVD collection. I usually like all of them, the only one I remember not liking is Chicago. Though I really haven't seen that many.

One's I've liked a lot:
Moulin Rouge
Grease
Rocky Horror Picture Show
West Side Story
Singin' in the Rain
Phantom of the Opera (Movie never seen it in theater though I'm sure I'd love it)

Any recommendations for me?

littlefuzzy

• Annie (1982) - Look for the older version, not the Special Edition. Also, be aware that there were some framing issues in some of the older versions, which were corrected in later printings.
• Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
• The Band Wagon (1953)
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) - SE
• Easter Parade (1948)
• Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
• Holiday Inn (1942)
• The King and I (1956)
• Lili (1953) - Unfortunately, this isn't on DVD, but I would try to catch it on TV or rent it if all possible.
• Meet the Feebles (1989) - Be afraid, be very afraid...
• The Music Man (1962)
• My Fair Lady (1964)
• The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
• Showboat (1951)
• That's Entertainment I, II, III (1974-1994) - Watch this to see many of the classic moments from MGM.
• The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)
• White Christmas (1954)
• Yankee Doodle Dandee (1942)

Daniel-A

Thanks for the tips littlefuzzy. Any specific ones I should try out first?

littlefuzzy

Hmmm, since West Side Story and Singin' in the Rain are the oldest films in your collection, and you don't have a lot of romantic comedies, etc., you may consider most of those to be too old/sappy/girly to really enjoy... Although, many of the ones I mentioned may be slightly similar in style to Singin' in the Rain, which you did enjoy. I would suggest rentals on many of these first, just to make sure they are something you would enjoy.

The Music Man might be fairly close in some ways to Singin' in the Rain, and you might enjoy it quite a bit.

Do you remember Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or Annie from TV reruns during your childhood, along with The Sound of Music (which I didn't mention earlier?) If you remember any parts of these fondly, you should go with these movies next.

Fiddler on the Roof has a dramatic story behind it, and is one of the later films I mentioned.

I will finish up by recommending Yankee Doodle Dandy (or the WB box with Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Adventures of Robin Hood) as this is a great musical and story.

Daniel-A

Thanks for all the recommendations. Guess I'll open a free 2 week netflix and check these out. The main thing that gets me are good songs. After Singin in the Rain and Phantom of the Opera I just couldn't stop singing the songs. They were stuck with me for weeks (currently listenting to the London cast's CD).

Talkin2Phil

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg


Bye Bye Birdie

The Infidel

I second the recommendation of The Music Man. IMHO, the best musical ever.

rkndkn

I love "Hair" and "Velvet Goldmine". (The latter being the type of movie where music plays a central theme, not the type of movie where people break into song for no reason).

tasha99

That's part of why I love Velvet Goldmine. It's the only movie I ever bought the soundtrack to.

cerulean

In addition to those already mentioned:

Little Shop of Horrors
Gypsy
Mary Poppins
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
A Hard Day's Night

The That's Entertainment series is fantastic...sort of a sampler of the greatest musical numbers from MGM. I know people who don't particularly like musicals who really enjoyed these.

Cadmium

Kiss Me Kate

Giantrobo

Hedwig and The Angry Inch

Jazzbutcher

Can't believe no one has mentioned:
Guys and Dolls
and
On the Town

The Infidel

You know, the South Park movie qualifies as a musical. Stephen Sondheim himself praised it in an interview when the movie came out.

pdinosaur

if you like phantom of the opera, you should love these:





certainly the best of ALW (IMO), which one of these is better, i don't know. :P

also try the les mis anniversary dvd.

but the les mis and joseph dvds i do believe are performances and not film versions.

Giles

and this version of Jesus Christ Superstar IMO is better than the 1973 film version:



I also recently saw Godspell recently and quite enjoyed it as well.

Giles

and if and when it's gets released on DVD - I really love Ken Russell's The Boyfriend

Talkin2Phil

Tommy


Quadrophenia

woofman

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Dancer in the Dark (Bjork)

pdinosaur

i knew it was a matter of time.

and yes, dancer in the dark =

Xander

Oh my god no. While I'm not the biggest fan of the 73 version, I thought the version above sucked beyond the telling of it. Judas was horrible, and Jesus was so whiny. I can't remember more details, because I have blocked the experience from my memory.

On the positive side, Sound of Music is a good one. And while not really a "musical", Victor Victoria is pretty fun. You should also be able to find the Les Miserables concert on DVD. Not the musical, but they sing the music while acting out some of the story on stage. Not too bad.

Giles

I didn't think Jesus in the 1973 version wasn't that good either.
The 1973 version was dull, and quite frankly boring. This version has better singing - didn't really care for the garrish ending.

Question - I never saw a stage version of Jesus Christ Superstar, but I always thought that ending had the 'resurrection scene' - neither the 1973 or 2001 'film/video' version includes this... right?

Xander

Ted Neeley isn't my favorite Jesus, but I always liked the "screaming" approach he took to some of the scenes. Like I said, I'm not necessarily defending the movie version, but I thought it had WAY better singing than the newer one. Carl Anderson is the definitive Judas for me. Actually, the Australian cast revival recording that I've heard is pretty good. The Herod song in that one is wicked cool.

In the stage versions that I've seen, the ending

WarriorPrincess

My favorite musicals:

The Sound of Music
Beauty and the Beast (yes, the animated version )
Chicago (I know you dislike this one, no idea why)
Moulin Rouge
Grease
Grease 2 (mostly because I loved it as a kid)
Little Shop of Horrors
Mary Poppins
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
West Side Story (has no one mentioned this one yet?)
Into the Woods (twisted fairy tales - love it )
Les Miserables
Phantom of the Opera
Cats (trite, I know, but I love it)
A Chorus Line
The Music Man
The King and I
Annie (1982 cast)
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Damn Yankees
The Wizard of Oz
Pirates of Penzance

Ok, I'll stop - but if you haven't seen these, definitely netflix!!!

pdinosaur

cats isn't trite, it's empty. you spend like an hour and a half introducing characters, then 20 minutes later, it's over.

the source material was ... stretched way too thin. IMO, anyway.