TMS Discussion: Do Musical Stars Still Exist?

(MGM Studios / Warner Bros)

Way back in the olden, golden days of the Hollywood movie system—when talkies were replacing silents, Technicolor was one-upping B&W—film producers and studio execs wanted their global movie stars to have it all. Singing, acting, dancing, dramatic range, comedic timing and good looks. Naturally, you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who can pull off every one of these elements, but there some successes. Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Julie Andrews are a few of the bigger names in history. Contemporarily, the first major face I can think of who fits those prerequisites is Jennifer Lopez. She can get a movie to the top of the box-office, a song to the top of the charts and can dance her butt off. JLo is turning 53 next month, so much closer to her legacy years than up-and-coming. For the most part, celebrities in the 21st century are primarily separated by mediums. When harder edged rock music started overtaking the record industry by the late 1960s, traditional showtunes and pop standards were rapidly becoming old fashioned. Even Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry were considered ‘old’ by 1968. The fact that Barbra Streisand managed to breakthrough as a musical superstar during the counterculture and sexual revolution is pretty miraculous if you think about it.

A couple years ago, during Gilbert Gottfried’s podcast, actress Beverly D’Angelo talked about how in the 1970s you had to choose between acting and singing; since the movie musical genre took a huge dive by the end of the ‘60s. Not everyone could be like Barbra or Liza Minnelli unless your main interest was Broadway. Some might not know Beverly is actually skilled in both musicals and rock bands. You can hear her impressive vocal range in Miloš Forman’s Hair (1979), Michael Apted’s Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) and Harold Ramis’ Vacation (1983). Struggling to decide on either music or film, Beverly ended up choosing the big screen for her career by the time she hit stardom. I think this predicament is probably why Cher went straight to dramas [Mike Nichols’ Silkwood (1983)] and romcoms [Norman Jewison’s Moonstruck (1987)] when she crossed over as an actress after 15 years of success as a popstar. Similarly, the only times pop queen Madonna gave musical performances were Alan Parker’s screen adaptation of Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita (1996); and to a lesser extent Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy (1990).

(DreamWorks / Paramount Pictures)

Teen pop princess Britney Spears experimented with screen acting in Tamra Davis’ teen drama Crossroads (2002); while her peer Christina Aguilera’s acting effort was in Steven Antin’s big budget musical extravaganza Burlesque (2010) [also co-starring Cher]. Britney and Christina’s fellow bubblegum pop starlet Mandy Moore switched her main gig from singing to acting by the time Adam Shankman’s A Walk to Remember (2002) and NBC’s “This is Us” (2016-2022) rolled around. She did get the lucky chance of providing the speaking and singing vocals of Princess Rapunzel in Disney’s Tangled (2010) though. R&B/hip-hop superstar Beyoncé Knowles has made a few movie appearances over her career, including music industry themed period pieces, Bill Condon’s Dreamgirls (2006) and Darnell Martin’s Cadillac Records (2008). For men, former NSYNC lead singer Justin Timberlake has careers in both pop music and movie performances such as David Fincher’s The Social Network (2010). Hugh Jackman is starring musicals like Tom Hooper’s film version of Les misérables (2012) and the 1995 Sydney stage production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast when he’s not Wolverine in the X-men movies (2000-2017).

(MGM Studios / Warner Bros)

Will movie musicals ever be a regular genre again? Looking back, it’s pretty incredible Judy Garland and Julie Andrews were singing, dancing and acting for multiple projects on stage, film and TV for decades. Since musicals have become so niche, you really only see that kind of energy in professional theatre. We did get a brief stint with TV musical content through Fox’s “Glee” (2009-2015) and the CW’s “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” (2015-19). But that’s even more niche than film and theatre musicals. Singer-actresses Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth are steady working in film, TV and theatre; but their fame is primarily because of Broadway musicals they’ve starred in, such as Stephen Schwartz’s ‘Wicked’ (2003). I should note that while musicals have decreased as a screen genre, this does mean we’re getting less possibly bad musicals produced as well. As much as I enjoy Spencer Tracy’s and Clark Gable’s movie performances, there’s a reason operatic Jeanette MacDonald provided nearly all the singing in WS van Dyke’s San Francisco (1936). I personally would love to see musical stars be relevant on both screen and stage again, since I’m fond of the genre. But considering one of the biggest popstars in the modern world—Lady Gaga—is now also a screen actress, and Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born (2018) is the closest thing to a musical on her resume; it looks like flashy, fun, carefree, movie musicals are still not top priority in 2022.