The magic of song and dance

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in a scene from La La Land.

With the arrival on-screen of the new La La Land the public has been reminded of the long legacy of Hollywood and 'song and dance'.
With seven Golden Globe awards at the January extravaganza it is apparent that La La Land has brought the movie musical back to the fore.
But has it ever gone way? Probably not.
The movie musical has usually followed a theatrical production of the same name and has been around since movies began - in fact, the first 'talkie' was The Jazz Singer which featured Al Jolson (and later, Neil Diamond).
Some have been extremely successful - the dance routines of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, the Singing in The Rain of Debbie (Tammy) Reynolds, Julie Andrews' The Sound of Music, Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn's My Fair Lady and many others. Some have battled to reach the heights of their iconic stage productions and among these have been Mama Mia, Lloyd-Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, and the oft-panned version of the G & S show, The Pirates of Penzance.
But what attracts one to the musical genre? Perhaps a shortcut to emotions in a really profound way that kind of catches you off guard (Les Miserables - stage version), perhaps the general absence of violence (How bad was the villain in Carousel?), perhaps that the characters feel like real, flawed people (Rent?) or perhaps it is pure escapism.
The movie musical generally has advantages over the stage production - it can sweep the scenery in a way the stage production cannot (The Sound of Music), the costuming and sets can be excessive and full (The Wizard of Oz), the scenes can be filmed and filmed until the director has the 'perfect scene'.
The stage musical does not have these advantages but it has something the film musical can never have - the reality of the moment!
Broadway and the West End continue to play to packed houses with actors who know their craft thoroughly and who have the ability to act and re-act immediately to a situational dramatic moment. While the movie musical is set in its screen production, the stage production is different every night.
No two productions on stage are ever the same. The actor has to be both knowledgeable of the character and the script while ready to improvise at any moment, as so many of us have found - a line that has been incorrectly delivered requires covering and re-scripting back to the storyline without an audience realising that any 'boo-boo' has occurred, a forgotten line in a song must immediately be corrected in the same harmonised manner that the song needs, a miscue with lighting or scenery must be adjusted without a scene being compromised - all a part of a live production. And those skills are vital and necessary in any live production.
But both forms of the musical - film and live stage - give the audience characters that live with them forever - characters such as Dorothy, Mary Poppins, Professor Henry Higgins, Jean Valjean, the Jets and the Sharks - everyone has their favourite - even Richard 'Dick' Turpin! [maybe].
La La Land is a must-see for the musical fan and is just the latest in a list of must-see movie musicals. Some of the most successful movie musicals have been:
¦ TOP HAT: featuring Fred and Ginger.
¦ THE WIZARD OF OZ: featuring Judy Garland, munchkins and the three characters that Dorothy and Toto meet.
¦ SINGIN' IN THE RAIN: featuring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor.
¦ WHITE CHRISTMAS: featuring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.
¦ OKLAHOMA: a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic.
¦ OLIVER: the brilliant adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel.
¦ CABARET: featuring Liza Minnelli and Michael York.
Visit the Embassy for La La Land - then check Midweek to see what Amdram's major musical is this season ... it may be a 'major-general' of a real live stage production!