So hums a suit-clad Gene Kelly amid a veritable downpour in the 1952 film Singin’ in the Rain. His umbrella, proving useless to fend off water, becomes a prop to his tap dancing and puddle jumping. It’s one of the most life-affirming movie scenes (musical or not) in memory. As a kid, it made me want to tap dance, which I did for years before I realized I was no Kelly. Despite its exuberance, Singin’ in the Rain premiered against the gloomy backdrop of the Red Scare and the Korean War. It was set in 1927, the years preceding the Great Depression, and made for an audience that had lived through a dark time. Optimism arises when it’s most needed.
At their best, movie musicals evoke pure emotion, heart, or an undeniable energy. They’re the perfect antidote for a cruel and unusual world event. Like, say, a pandemic. This summer and fall, a slew of new releases promises to use song and dance to transport us somewhere else—far away from this world of social distancing and face masks and political polarization. To be sure, 2021 wasn’t intended to be the year of movie musicals, but theater delays ensured this confluence just so happened to come at the right time. And this isn’t the first time they’ve come to the rescue.
Technological advances during the early decades of cinema made it so that the movie musical could thrive when it was needed most. In the 1920s and ’30s, sound was introduced to film in the form of talkies, Technicolor created dazzling displays, and the studio system became the way movies were made. Production values went up, stars were born, and in just a few decades, Hollywood had wholly reinvented what movies could do by pairing song and dance onscreen in the most spectacular ways. During that same period, America witnessed the Depression and a brutal World War. For a nickel, one could spend hours taking in a cartoon, a newsreel, and a feature or two. Viewers craved escape, and the movies—turning away from the classic dramas—gave it to them.
This was the era of Top Hat (1935), a screwball comedy starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers that swept audiences away with its costumes and tap duets, and of Stormy Weather (1943), which, along with Lena Horne’s smooth voice, is remembered for showcasing some of the time’s leading African-American talent including jazz great Cab Calloway and tap legends Bill Robinson and the Nicholas Brothers. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes(1953), starring Marilyn Monroe clad in an unforgettable pink strapless silk dress while singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” catapulted the actress to stardom, and Singin’ in the Rain’s musical numbers felt like the definition of a utopia. The bottom line was all the same: to entertain through rousing vocals and dizzying choreography.
The musicals of 2021, however, offer something more. In their own way, they tell poignant stories from specific, contemporary points of view. The instinct, still, is to go big and communicate through song, which is arguably what we need now. They’re a potent reminder of the power of a good musical to unite us—around the turbulent relationship between a stand-up comedian and opera singer (Annette), a celebration of identity and community in New York City (In the Heights), acute feelings of high school anxiety and isolation (Dear Evan Hansen), struggles to make a name for yourself (tick, tick… Boom!), and dreams of becoming a drag queen (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie). These are musicals for the times, and no two are the same, or even remotely so. Yet, they all bring together music, dance, and color in ways that are reminiscent of other points in American history. Tickets might no longer cost a nickel each, but there’s value in sharing a dark space with strangers to be transported—and simply entertained—together, even if you can’t sing out loud.
As we stumble into a new “normal,” and back into theaters, I’m comforted by the idea of Ben Platt’s Tony Award-worthy voice in Dear Evan Hansen and Camila Cabello breathing new light into Cinderella. I’m ready for the Jets and the Sharks to face off in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake and for Jennifer Hudson to hit the high notes as Aretha Franklin in Respect. Give me song and dance; give me high-value production design and intricate costumes. After the year-plus we’ve all experienced, it’s time to succumb to the musical genre and let it whisk us into other worlds in the way that the best movies always have.
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