Some of the best-remembered and loved films from Hollywood’s Golden Age were musicals. Featuring the talents Gene Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Fred Astaire, films like “Singin’ in the Rain” and “White Christmas” are still held in high regard by film experts and casual movie fans alike. Hollywood has recently returned to the musical genre with “La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman,” and Disney’s slew of live-action remakes.
‘The Phantom of the Opera’ (2004)
In the early 2000s, my father worked as property manager for Michael Crawford, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s original Phantom. He vividly remembers when a film adaptation of the record-breaking musical was being discussed and how much Crawford wanted the part. Granted, he was no longer a young man, but neither is the fictional Phantom.There is a trend for younger actors portraying the titular character, such as Ramin Karimloo. The film may have had a lot to do with this trend, since it portrays the Phantom as an attractive man in his 30s, whose mask seems more like a dramatic fashion choice than a curse.
My father recalls how depressed Crawford was upon learning the part had gone to someone else, especially when his other starring roles were cancelled. The Broadway show that opened with Crawford in 1986 didn’t close until 2020. Dozens, if not hundreds of other Broadway performers have helped Webber “make the music of the night.” Many of them would also have been a fine choice to embody the Phantom on film.
Warner Bros. chose to cast movie star Gerard Butler. While a gifted actor, he hadn’t sung a day in his life. The producers considered three months of singing lessons ample preparation for his completely untrained baritone voice to tackle one of Broadway’s most challenging tenor roles in a musical that is nearly sung throughout.
‘The Greatest Showman’ (2017)
Jeremy Jordan, a lesser-known but immensely talented singer, currently starring on Broadway in “The Great Gatsby.” At one of his live concerts, he told a very interesting story about the film “The Greatest Showman.”
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the film’s songwriting team, had worked with Jordan before. In the early stages of the film’s development, they asked him to record demos of all Hugh Jackman’s songs, and he obliged. The next year, they invited him to a read-through for the film’s prospective backers to play the second male lead, Philip. Jordan agreed, though he’d have to fly from Los Angeles to New York City on his own time and money.
Disaster struck before the read-through: Jordan lost his voice to a sinus infection. Jackman had gone in for emergency nasal surgery the night before, making it impossible for him to sing without bursting his stitches. Although still struggling vocally from his recent illness, Jordan agreed to sing all of Jackman’s songs in addition to his own, while Jackman merely acted them out.
Anyone familiar with this film may remember the viral behind-the-scenes video of this event, in which Jackman decided he didn’t care about his stitches and started singing his climactic solo, “From Now On,” taking over for an unnamed singer, who was, of course, Jordan. It was an incredibly emotional moment, and the production was greenlit immediately.
Jordan continued singing with the chorus, but he was crushed when Jackman took over the song. While everyone else cried, hugged, and celebrated, Jordan swiftly retreated from the room, but not before he overheard a whisper that Jackman had just met with Zac Efron about playing Philip. Just like that, his involvement with the movie ended. Jordan was never really acknowledged for his part in bringing “the greatest show” to the screen.
Disney’s Live-Action Remakes
One of Disney’s favorite ideas is to remake their most successful animated features in live action.This is a perfect opportunity to bring today’s stage performers to the screen. Theater fans have begged for the stars of their favorite shows to play Disney princes or princesses. Before being remade, many Disney movies went to Broadway and were very successful as live musicals. Disney, however, fell to Hollywood star power, believing moviegoers want to see the stars on screen.
Most notably, 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast” was filled with actors from popular fantasy and sci-fi stories: Emma Watson of “Harry Potter” fame as Belle; Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the “Star Wars” prequels, as Lumiere; Ian McKellen, also known as Gandalf from “The Lord of the Rings,” as Cogsworth; and Luke Evans of “The Hobbit” trilogy as Gaston. Josh Gad, who plays the film’s LeFou, was the only Disney regular in the cast. While not a fantasy film veteran, Dan Stevens who portrays the Beast, is an actor, not a singer.
McGregor had starred in the jukebox musical “Moulin Rouge,” so he had some singing experience. McKellen fakes his way as the comedic clock, but Evans’s weak tenor voice is sorely lacking as the macho villain.
The most jarring performance, though, is Watson’s. As the leading lady and the character who sings the most, she’s hopelessly unqualified. Like Gerard Butler as the Phantom, she was given a crash course on singing in the months leading up to filming, then her singing was autotuned in post-production.
We “theater kids” would love a wider audience see some of our favorite stage performers in films. Hollywood, if you can hear us, thanks for bringing music back to films, but, for goodness’s sake, if you’re going to do it, do it right.
