I finally saw the new adaptation of West Side Story, and this really caps off a great year for the movie musical. I mean, In the Heights, Tick Tick... Boom!, and West Side Story were tremendous. Even the, shall we say, less well received movies give me hope, like Cinderella, with Camila Cabello, and Dear Evan Hansen, which I have many thoughts about. After they were released there were no think pieces about the death of the movie musical. Everyone just moved onto the next movie musical.
Now there has been hate against movie musicals, that people just can't believe that people will break into song and dance. But people can suspend their disbelief for superheroes, and all the impossible things that happen in those movies, you can suspend your disbelief for a musical number. It's fun!
Also, you just can't get the emotional highs that you get in musicals that you can't get from other kinds of movies. From "96,000" to "Somewhere", and everything in between. And you don't get much better moments like Stephen Sondheim's voicemail to Jonathan Larson in Tick Tick... Boom! anywhere else.
Hopefully after the reception to both the good and the bad, studios will realize there is a market for the movie musical and greenlight more. Because I. Want. Them. All.
