The Story of musicals

Theatre and songs have a long history. Ancient Greek theatre had songs. Shakespeare’s plays had songs and dances. They were considered a normal part of a show. Opera, of course, has a long, popular tradition. But the musical comedy started appearing in New York and London about 1870. These were shows with dialogue, a story, songs and dances. The songs were part of the story. When the first films with sound appeared, music was important. In fact, the first film with sound, The Jazz Singer (1928), was a musical.

The beginning of Hollywood musicals

plays = pièces de théâtre

songs = des chansons

shows = des spectacles

sound = du son

The enthusiasm of audiences was so great that in less than a year all the major studios were making sound pictures exclusively. The Broadway Melody (1929) had a show-biz plot about two sisters competing for a charming song-and-dance man. It was a hit and won the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1929.Hollywood released more than 100 musical films in 1930, but only 14 in 1931. By late 1930, audiences had been oversaturated with musicals and studios were forced to cut the music from films.The taste in musicals revived again in 1933 when director Busby Berkeley began to choreograph a number of films in his unique style such as 42nd Street (1933).

From the 1930's to the 1950's: the Golden Age of musicals.

audience = le public

so great = si grand

less = moins

a plot = une intrigue

to compete = être en compétition

won = a gagné

release = paraître, sortir (pour un film, un album, un livre...)

only = seulement

a director = un metteur en scène

taste = le goût

During the late 1940s and into the early 1950s, a production unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made the transition from old-fashioned musical films, whose formula had become repetitive, to something new.An American in Paris (1951), Singin' in the Rain (1952) are still very famous today.Singin' in the Rain was only a modest hit when first released. However, it is now frequently considered as the best film musical ever made. It topped the AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals list (a list of the top musicals in American cinema) and was ranked as the fifth-greatest American films in 2007.

The new musicals

made = a fait

old-fashioned = démodé

new = nouveau

famous = célèbre

a hit = un succès

the best = le meilleur, la meilleure

was ranked = a été classé

the greatest = le plus grand

ever made = jamais fait

The cinema made musical performers into international stars. Fred Astaire was a singer and dancer, who performed with his sister Adele and then dancer Ginger Rogers. He starred in more than 40 films. The Fred and Ginger pairing was particularly successful, resulting in a number of classic films, such as Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936), and Shall We Dance (1937).Other performers became musical stars such as Judy Garland, Gene Kelly or Cyd Charisse for examples.Tap dancing numbers in musicals were frequent. Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly were excellent tap dancers.Musicals had big budgets and introduced innovations like special effects.

Musical stars.

a performer = un interprète, un danseur, un showman

a singer = un chanteur

to star = jouer dans un film

tap dancing = les claquettes

tap dancer = un danseur de claquettes

The 1960s, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book and many other musicals were box-office successes and suggested that the traditional musical was in good health. However popular musical tastes were being affected by rock and roll and the freedom and youth associated with it.Elvis Presley, a rock'n roll singer, made a few films that have been successful such as Jailhouse Rock in 1957.By the mid-1970s, filmmakers used popular rock or pop bands as background music, partly in hope of selling a soundtrack album to fans. With the film Saturday Night Fever (1977), John Travolta became famous.The 1978 film version of Grease was a huge hit; its songs were original compositions done in a 1950s pop style.

From the late 50's to the 1970's.

good health = bonne santé

the freedom = la liberté

youth = la jeunesse

a filmmaker = un producteur de films

sell = vendre

a soundtrack album = une bande originale d'un film

huge = énorme

bands = groupes

background music = musique de fond

Productions of the 1980s and 1990s included The Blues Brothers,The Monty Python's , Footloose, Evita starring Madonna.Stars, and shows, went from Hollywood to Broadway ( New York’s theatre district) and from Broadway to Hollywood. Today, some musicals play for years and years in the theatre: The Phantom of the Opera (,playing continuously for 33 years in London and 30 years in New York), Cats, Les Misérables and The Lion King for example.Many animated films of the period included traditional musical numbers: Anastasia, the Prince of Egypt.

The 1980's and 1990's

shows = des spectacles

Disney's first musical success was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. At the 11th Academy Awards, producer Walt Disney was awarded an honorary Oscar.The most successful musicals of the 1960s were Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book, two of Disney's biggest hits of all time. Starting with 1989's The Little Mermaid, the Disney Renaissance gave new life to the musical film. Other successful animated musicals included Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Pocahontas from Disney, The Nightmare Before Christmas from Disney division Touchstone Pictures.Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King were adapted for the stage after their blockbuster success.

Disney and the musicals.

was awarded = a été récompensé an award = une récompense

stage = la scène

a blockbuster = une superproduction

a mermaid = une sirène

One reason for the continued popularity of musicals in the theatre in the U.S.A. is that it became a tradition for high schools to create productions of musicals. It’s estimated that there are more than 30,000 each year. Musicals are particularly popular because there are lots of different roles, so lots of students can participate. There are roles for people who can sing, dance, act, play an instrument, or a combination of those.The three Disney High School Musical films were about that tradition. And now high-schools produce the theatre version as part of their tradition!

Musicals in American high schools.

lots of = beaucoup

In the 21st century, movie musicals were reborn with darker musicals, musical biopics, epic drama musicals and comedy-drama musicals such as Moulin Rouge!, Chicago, Les Misérables,The Phantom of the Opera, Hairspray, Mamma Mia!, and The Greatest Showman.Disney also returned to musicals with Enchanted, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Winnie the Poo, Frozen, Moana, and Mary Poppins Returns. Disney produced a live action version of Beauty and the Beast, the first of this live action fantasy adaptation pack to be an all-out musical. Pixar also produced Coco, the very first computer-animated musical film by the company.

The 21st century

darker = plus sombre

a biopic = un film biographique

epic (adj) = épique an epic (noun) = une épopée

Director Damien Chazelle created a musical film called La La Land in 2016, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. It was meant to reintroduce the traditional jazz style of song numbers with influences from the Golden Age of Hollywood. It received 14 nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, and won several awards including the awards for Best Director, Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Original Song. Musicals traditionally start with a big “production number”: a song with lots of singers and dancers. In the modern musical La La Land , the film begins with a production number typical of modern Los Angeles: drivers in a traffic jam on their way to work start singing and dancing. The cars become part of the choreography.Click here to answer the questions of activity 1.

The 21st century

starring = avec en vedette / avec à l'affiche

drivers = des conducteurs

a traffic jam = un embouteillage

on their way to work = sur le chemin du travail