"Chicago!"

Chicago?
Chicago?
I'm afraid I am totally unaware of this film.

The IMDB link give all the information -- the film is in post production but I believe there is a release date on the site:

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0299658

If "All That Jazz" is a big production number in the movie, I'll probably be satisfied. I loved the movie version of Ebb and Kander's Cabaret. (The Broadway soundtrack of Kiss of the Spider Woman has great music also.)It would be so great to see the musical come back to the screen.

On Moulin Rouge : All I can say is :-) WOW (-: That opening sequence has to be one of Modern Filmmakings Greatest . Style, technique & PizazZ !!!

chicago
Mr. Wizard, sorry,
I haven't seen this movie nor even seen it advertised.

I've seen it advertised but that's all.
On the other hand, Chicago is a toddelin' town.

Follow the links, Letty, as there's a trailer and a lot of information on IMDB as well as rottentomatoes.com and other movie sites. They certainly are hyping the film and never fear, "All That Jazz" is a very big number in the film, probably more so than on stage (where it is all too brief).

Link to Miramax site for the film which contains a link to Epic Records upcoming clips from the soundtrack (not up yet -- the link is also to the left for the soundtrack). Some of these sites are pretty lame in design -- aren't there any good site designers out there?

http://www.miramax.com/chicago/index.html

Films - Chicago
I did not actually enjoy Moulin Rouge as a musical because usually in a musical - new and provocative music is developed FOR the musical. One of the problems of Moulin Rouge was a lack of new music. Who wants to hear old rehashed songs, unless maybe in that old movie about the plant grown into being a maneater by a clerk, who accidentally cut his finger and when the plant got a taste of blood, that was it, the plant wanted more! WHAT is the name of that one, and oldies were played "on the side"
Compared to REAL musicals like The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Grease & some of the old greats by Rogers and Hammerstein Moulin Rouge was just a cheap second rate flick

Almost all the old classic musicals, especially in black-and-white, featured music not written for the film. Most of the Astaire and Rogers, and the highest rated musicals such as "42nd Street," "Singin' in the Rain," "An American in Paris," and "The Bandwagon." Nearly all the other musicals are from Broadway shows so that music isn't originally written for the film. There's literally only a handful of musicals where the music was written for the film. "Gigi" is one of them and "Phantom of the Paradise."
So, respectfully, "Moulin Rouge" is in the majority. Contrasting the period of Paris at the turn-of-the-century with contemporary songs I thought was inspired. "Come What May" and "Lady Marmelade" were written for the film and most of the orchestral music was also written for the film.


The film you're trying to think of is "The Little Shop of Horrors" based on a Broadway musical with mostly original music.

BTW, no matter what you think of the film, it was not cheaply made -- the recreation of the "Moulin Rouge" as a set is astounding and the featured peformers on many of the show pieces were hired to perform them especially for this film.

Oh, wonderful..... the trailer was great..... this is definately a movie that I want to see!!

I loved Moulin Rouge..... and Cabaret.....

OK Lightwizard - back at ya
Okay, so maybe a lot of old movies DID have music not originally written for the film, but ,amy did - you must admit........ I just didn't like Moulin Rouge. BTW thanks so much for sharing your memorybank with me, it WAS Little Shop Of Horrors, How could I forget that crazy name??
You are Snoopy, world reknown flying ace, sitting atop his aircraft with his scarf blowing in the breeze. I am enthralled at the very site of you.

Actually, I was a little dismayed at the Golden Globes throwing "Moulin Rouge" into the category of film scores with a far superior score for "The Fellowship of the Ring." It is a case of categorization and I should acknowledge that probably the second best score specifically written for a film was "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "Gigi" being the best. I also thought the Robert Wise "West Side Story" was leagues ahead of his "The Sound of Music," where some judicious editing would have vastly improved the film -- at times I felt like I was watching a travelogue. Not the first time Wise has ended up with an overlong film. It isn't one of the best Rodgers and Hammerstein scores, and was only moderately successful on Broadway -- my favorite being "Carousel" (which was a box office flop!)
In the film musical thread Jespah started, I advocated that film musicals should be divided into two seperate categories -- those adapted from Broadway musicals and those which are original. As Hollywood seldom had scores written for "original" musicals but borrowed from the repetoire of popular songs, this is even difficult to justify. Most people I've talked to who didn't care for "Moulin Rouge" was not because of the songs but because of the kinetic cinematic style. I must admit that there were times in the film I wished he'd nailed the camera down for a few minutes!
Then I realized -- this is how a show at the real "Moulin Rouge" plays out and maybe after a few chocolate martinis, one might enjoy it more (or maybe the green fairy can provide some absinth?)

Then there's the question of animated film musicals like "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King," both adapted for stage musicals.
They are really animated films with music and aimed at a young audience.

It's difficult, the more one looks at it, to classify Luhrman's "Moulin Rouge." It may be an acquired taste. Luhrman is an artist to reckon with and what I was really pleased with is that he regenerated new audiences for movie musicals -- something nobody had been able to do for three decades! "Evita" has to be given some credit for attempting the feat but it didn't do well at the box office. I hope "Chicago" will help with the reversal of fate for the filmed musical and we'll see some talented directors give us more of a good thing. Perhaps someone will put together a film with all original songs but we could also get another disaster like "Lost Horizons" (Burt Bacharach on tranquilizers).

musicals
Yes, I agree it is tough to pigeonhole Moulin Rouge as a musical, my problem with it - truly was that I was just bored to tears. It seemed so
completely predictable. Beautiful young bordello girl falls in love with penniless guy, wants the duke's $$$, probably dies in the end of consumption (TB) and yada yada yada. I love the music from The Sound of Music - in part because I have always sung the Do Re Mi song to all my 3 grandchildren. And Mary Poppins has a wealth of terrific kid songs in it.
Jade and I know all the words to Feed The Birds, A Spoonful of Sugar,
Supercalifragilistic********, as well as Do Re Mi. So it is a sentimental attachment in part - although I still think that the musical score was excellent.

I feel it's tough to classify "Moulin Rouge" as being anything like any of the film musicals of the past -- maybe "Can Can" would be close but only because it is a similar mileau. Why would anyone concentrate on the story? The poet returns to Paris where he was once in love with the star of "Moulin Rouge" who was "rented out" to a rich Duke in the decadant design of the Svengali-like owner and comes to her untimely death a la Camille? Just a framework for the grand production numbers - the Apache dance is my favorite. By the time Rodgers and Hammerstein got to "The Sound of Music," they were at that point of copying themselves. "You'll Never Walk Alone" became "Climb Every Mountain" and so forth. The story is so well known and certainly not that original in the love story (plus they took some real liberties with the true story). By the time they got to "Flower Drum Song," it all became very mechanical, although I have a soft spot for that musical having seen it in an LA opening at the old Philharmonic Hall. You can name throw away songs in those last musicals but you can't in "Oklahoma," "Carousel" and "South Pacific." There's not much in the way of dancing in the musicals you are trying to compare MR to. Are you not that excited about dancing? The best musicals for me have nothing to do with the story (and "Singin' in the Rain" had a great story premise) but the dancing in the big production numbers -- not even the singing and last, the story. If "Mary Poppins" has a story, I don't remember it.

"Cabaret" is the only filmed musical that has depth to the story, with "Carousel" a close second. Although none of the Sondheim musicals have been done as feature films, they could have a field day, once again, with New York City as the background in "Company". "Cabaret" revolutionized the musical and I feel "Moulin Rouge" is more in that tradition, albeit without the more fascinating storyline.

West Side Story
I clearly remember seeing West Side Story for the very first time. My mother had just left my father (for 3 days lol) and we were in a theatre
in Philadelphia. It was the most mature film I had EVER seen and I was
in love with it, and with all the characters. And the MUSIC - good God, it was really good, was it not? I was taking piano lessons at the time, and even though my piano teacher was extremely strict about my ONLY playing classical music, she DID break down and let me work on some
of the sheet music from West Side Story (only after I threatened to quit)
A very similar thing happened to my 3 daughters when Grease came out. They knew all the songs by heart, they watched it over and over - thanks to videotapes. IF such a thing was available when I was a kid, which I doubt, I was not aware of it. It was on the tv in the past year, and I watched it, but it just was no longer the same. The "Jets" and the
whatever the other gang called themselves seemed silly. But the music
is still wonderful, and the choreography was really quite good also.

WSS is Robert Wise's masterpiece from a musical theater masterpiece by one of the most eminant music makers of the last century, Leonard Bernstein. I also love "Wonderful Town" (a great story -- "My Sister Eileen") and "Candide" (talk about profund source material for a story!) "Candide" could be a great movie with the locales -- Toledo, Spain, South America, et al. I really enjoy the taped stage presentations of the Sondheim musicals -- "Sweeney Todd," "Sunday in the Park with George."

Chicago
Well, by the way when is Chicago due out on the screen? I will have to make a point of getting to see it. I love great movies and musicals, don't you? I used to think that it was a form of escapism.....but that was in my much younger days, as a workaholic, before I did realize that I was IN CHARGE of my entire life, and that I owed myself some kindness, some warm fuzzy stuff, some hobbies, some fun, some of anything my little heart desired. I have really learned well, great student when it comes to being good to me...I think. I hope so anyway because I have certainly put a great deal of time and money (emotional therapy to get past the horrible trauma that was called my childhood) I got me self a playstation 2 AND DVD player at a pawn shop about 2 months ago, and I currently am trying to play my way thru Crash Bandicoot 2/ Wrath of Cortex. I NEEDED to learn to play, still. My darlin 6 year old grandson has all the other Crash games, in fact he is the one who turned me on to PS games. I think perhaps he was my loving, caring momma in another lifetime somewhere