FILM: Vilken är den bästa musikalen någonsin?

Gene Kelly - Singing and dancing in the Rain ...

Vilken är den bästa musikalen någonsin? 

American Film Institute har gjort sin lista över de bästa musikalerna någonsin --- alltså filmversionerna --- och där står det klart att musikaler kan handla om nästan vad som helst och till och med vara tecknade (!) --- och att 1980-talet var det sämsta decenniet för musikaler.

Många av dessa klassiker spelas fortfarande på scener runt om i världen. 

Grease har satts upp många gånger i Sverige, bland annat med Måns Zelmerlöv i John Travllotas klassiska roll! och nu är det Anton Hagmans tur att kanalisera sin inre John Travlolta. Premiär. 3 oktober på Nöjesteatern i Malmö. Lotta Engberg spelar Rektor Lynch!
Grease ligger förresten på en solid 20:e plats på listan. Musikelan som Grease parodierar, West Side Story, ligger däremot på en andra plats!

The Sound of Music går upp på Lisebergsteatern den 5 oktober. En enormt hyllad uppsättning av en av världens bästa musikaler genom tiderna. Och med en story som ligger helt i tiden --- att våga göra motstånd mot fientliga och giftiga tankar som plötsligt blir moderna.

Drottningen av musikaler!

Här medan följer hela listan med de bästa filmade musikalerna genom tiderna!  (Enligt AFI).
Det står helt klart att för att få en hit ska man ha slagfärdig musik och filmstjärnor med det där lilla extra. Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, Fred Astaire och Gene Kelly är med i mer än en film på den långa listan ... ! Ja, Judy Garland har rekordet!

Överraskning: Beauty and the Beast är den enda tecknade filmen på listan. Så i brist på filmstjärnor kan man ju alltid lansera en sjungade ljusstake! Be Our Guest!

The Sound of Music har premiär på Lisebergsteatern i höst!

Singin' in the Rain (1952)This musical set in Hollywood during the conversion from silent to sound films has Gene Kelly singing, dancing and splashing in puddles. Debbie Reynolds and O'Connor lend support in some of the most delightful song and dance numbers ever filmed.

West Side Story (1961)
The Romeo and Juliet tale gets resurfaced on the streets of New York with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, based on their breakthrough Broadway hit. The Sharks and the Jets mix it up for some of the most memorable dance sequences in film history.

The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Judy Garland's Dorothy Gale is transported from her black-and-white Kansas home to the colorful land of Oz via tornado. From here she journeys down the Yellow Brick Road and is helped by a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion on their way to see the Wizard. The Harold Arlen/E.Y. Harburg score is highlighted by "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

The Sound of Music (1965)
Julie Andrews is Maria, an aspiring nun who becomes governess to the Von Trapp family in this film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical. Maria falls in love with the children and their handsome widowed father just as Austria is being annexed by the Nazis. The film's songs include the title song, "Do-Re-Mi" and "Climb Every Mountain."

Cabaret (1972)"Willkommen" to 1930s Berlin and the Kit Kat Club, where mischievous emcee Grey holds court and American entertainer Sally Bowles, played by Liza Minnelli, lives life in divine decadence as the Nazis rise in power.

 Julie Andrews is the  supercalifragilisticexpialidocious nanny Mary Poppins!

Mary Poppins (1964)
This supercalifragilisticexpialidocious musical fantasy introduced Julie Andrews to film history as the magical nanny who at arrives at the home of Jane and Michael Banks via umbrella and teaches them that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. And she sings and dances with animated penguins!

A Star Is Born (1954)
Judy Garland's comeback performance highlighted this remake of the 1937 film in which a young film star's rise to fame coincides with the decline of her once famous, alcoholic husband.

My Fair Lady (1964)
Julie Andrews made this into a phenomenal hit on stage. Sadly she lost out on the main part when the musical was filmed ... But she did land the part of Mary Poppins and was awarded the Oscar for best actress! Plot: Professor Henry Higgins bets he can turn a flower girl into a lady just by teaching her to speak properly. Based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, Lerner and Loewe's celebrated Broadway musical comes to the screen with Hepburn celebrating her transformation with "The rain in Spain, stays mainly in the plain!"

An American in Paris (1951)
Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron fall in love to the tunes of Gershwin - "I Got Rhythm," "Our Love Is Here To Stay" and "S'Wonderful" - in postwar Paris. The film's legendary finale, the 17-minute ballet, was both daring and innovative in 1951.

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Vincent Minnelli's nostalgic musical picture-post card follows the lives of the Smith Family in four seasonal vignettes as they wait for the 1904 World's Fair. Judy Garland's enduring renditions of "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" are just two of the film's many memorable songs.

Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis.

The King and I (1956)
The East and West collide in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical based on the true story of a 19th century English school teacher who teaches the children of the very stubborn, yet forward thinking, King of Siam. Getting to know each other is a hard- earned lesson, etc, etc, etc!

Chicago (2002)
A razzle-dazzle song and dance extravaganza based on the Broadway musical. A couple of murderesses get away with the crime and claw their way to celebrity in 1920s Chicago...and all that jazz!

42nd Street (1933)
This quintessential backstage musical stars Keeler as the girl whose career begins when she stands in for the leading lady ("You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!"), and saves the show from closing. It was the first film to feature choreographer Busby Berkeley's dizzying overhead shots of dancers in kaleidoscopic patterns.

All That Jazz (1979)
This is Fosse's semi-autobiographical, highly stylized musical of a pill-popping director/choreographer torn between too many women and "Death," beautifully embodied by Lange. 

"It's showtime, folks."

Top Hat (1935)
This was the first original screenplay specifically written for Rogers and Astaire, who "meet cute" in a London hotel and dance along the canals of Venice. The film contains some of Irving Berlin's most memorable hits, "Cheek to Cheek" and "Isn't This a Lovely Day to Be Caught in the Rain?"

Omar Shariff and Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl.

Funny Girl (1968)
Barbra Streisand, in her film debut, is Fanny Brice, legendary vaudeville comedienne whose career blossoms as her personal life falls apart. Adapted from the hit Broadway musical, Streisand wowed audiences as she chased after Nicky Arnstein singing "Don't Rain on My Parade" and lamented his loss with Brice's iconic "My Man."

The Band Wagon (1953)
Film actor Fred Astaire is washed up in Hollywood and heads to New York to resurrect his career, this time on Broadway. With enduring standards like "That's Entertainment" and "Dancing In The Dark", Comden and Green take a light-hearted look at how an ill-fated concept, an updated Oedipus, becomes a musical smash.

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
James Cagney sings and dances his way through the patriotic songs George M. Cohan composed in the early years of American vaudeville and musical theatre. Songs like "Over There", "It's A Grand Old Flag" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy" inspired generations when the world was at war.

On the Town (1949)
A trio of sailors on leave in New York City romance three females during a triple date to the Empire State Building, in this exhilarating on-location musical directed by Stanley Donen and hoofer/star Gene Kelly, featuring Leonard Bernstein's "New York, New York."

Grease (1978)
A love poem to the 1950s, this nostalgic musical follows the exploits of seniors at Rydell High - particularly Olivia Newton-John's Sandy, an innocent teenager who falls in love with John Travolta's Danny, a greaser from the wrong side of the tracks. Based on the Broadway musical, the film's songs include "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Summer Nights."

Grease is the word!

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Marriage is in the works for eldest son Keel (for Jane Powell) and his six younger brothers, amidst amazing athleticized choreography.

Beauty and the Beast (1991)
This animated musical is based on the classic fairy tale of the girl who is trapped in the castle of a hideous beast but eventually falls for his unusual charm. The film's musical highlights include the title song and the show-stopping "Be Our Guest."

Guys and Dolls (1955)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz's romantic musical was a tale of two gamblers, Frank Sinatra's Nathan Detroit and Marlon Brando's Sky Masterson (in a musical?) who bet on the chances of romance between Sky and local prim missionary Jean Simmons.

Show Boat (1936)
James Whale's original, classic black-and-white version of the 1927 Oscar Hammerstein-Jerome Kern musical set in rural Mississippi River towns, with the inimitable performance of Paul Robeson as Joe singing "Ol' Man River."

Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Set in late 19th century Paris, Luhrmann's striking fantasy is a reinvention of the Hollywood musical. Nicole Kidman is a consumptive nightclub singer, desired by the world's most wealthy suitors, but it is struggling writer Ewan McGregor whom she loves. Some of the greatest American standards are sung by Kidman and McGregor.

Beauty and the Sheep.

Facts About the Selections for the Top 25 Greatest Movie Musicals:
The top 10 films were: Singin in the Rain (1952), West Side Story (1961), The Wizard of Oz (1939), The Sound of Music (1965), Cabaret (1972), Mary Poppins (1964), A Star is Born (1954), My Fair Lady (1964), An American in Paris (1951), and Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

The earliest film on the list was: 42nd Street (1933) (# 13), while the latest film was Miramax's Chicago (2002) (# 12) (followed closely by Moulin Rouge! (2001) (# 25)

The studio with the most musicals was: MGM (8) including: Singin in the Rain (1952) (# 1), The Wizard of Oz (1939) (# 3), An American in Paris (1951) (# 9), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) (# 10), The Band Wagon (1953) (# 17), On the Town (1949) (# 19), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) (# 21), and Guys and Dolls (1955) (# 23); the next highest was Warner Bros. (4) including: A Star is Born (1954) (# 7), My Fair Lady (1964) (# 8), 42nd Street (1933) (# 13), and Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) (# 18), while Twentieth Century Fox had the following four musicals also: The Sound of Music (1965) (# 4), The King and I (1956) (# 11), All That Jazz (1979) (# 14) - shared with Columbia, and Moulin Rouge! (2001) (# 25)

There were only two Disney films on the list: Mary Poppins (1964) (# 6) and Beauty and the Beast (1991) (# 22), with only one Paramount film - Grease (1978) (# 20), one United Artists film - West Side Story (1961) (# 2), one Allied Artists film -Cabaret (1972) (# 5), one Miramax film - Chicago (2002) (# 12), one RKO film - Top Hat (1935) (# 15), one Universal film -Show Boat (1936) (# 24). Columbia had two pictures on the list: All That Jazz (1979) (# 14) shared with Twentieth Century Fox, and Funny Girl (1968) (# 16)

Films by Decade:
1930s: The Wizard of Oz (1939) (# 3), 42nd Street (1933) (# 13), Top Hat (1935) (# 15), and Show Boat (1936) (# 24)
1940s: Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) (# 10), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) (# 18), and On the Town (1949) (# 19)
1950s: Singin' in the Rain (1952) (# 1), A Star is Born (1954), (# 7), An American in Paris (1951) (# 9), The King and I (1956) (# 11), The Band Wagon ( 1953) (# 17), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) (# 21), and Guys and Dolls (1955) (# 23)
1960s: West Side Story (1961) (# 2), The Sound of Music (1965) (# 4), Mary Poppins (1964) (# 6), My Fair Lady (1964) (# 8), and Funny Girl (1968) (# 16)
1970s: Cabaret (1972) (# 5), All That Jazz (1979) (# 14), and Grease (1978) (# 20)
1980s: none
1990s: Beauty and the Beast (1991) (# 22)
2000s: Chicago (2002) (# 12) and Moulin Rouge! (2001) (# 25)

Be Our Guest!

Judging Criteria for Selecting the 25 Greatest Movie Musicals:
MUSICAL - A feature-length American film* in which music and lyrics significantly advance the plot, develop character or are otherwise integral to the film narrative. *AFI defines an American film as an English language motion picture with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States. AFI defines a feature-length film as a motion picture of narrative format that is typically over 60 minutes in length.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE - Musicals that have left an indelible mark on the history of the moving image - through innovation in song and dance, visionary narrative devices or other groundbreakingachievements.
CREATIVE IMPACT - Musicals with songs that evoke the memory of its film source, thus ensuring and enlivening both the music and the movie's historical legacy.
LEGACY - Musicals that continue to inspire artists and audiences alike.