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Meet Me in St Louis

Asked to define the MGM musicals of the 1940s and 50s, which launched the genre into the stratosphere, film critic Manuela Lazic says: “Those films are gorgeous to look at, usually in Technicolor. And they have impeccable dancing, very romantic plots, and they’re escapist.” They are also, she says, “the work of a producer called Arthur Freed, who started as a songwriter and was a big fan of Broadway musicals.”

Freed had a hand in many, many hits, including The Wizard of Oz, Annie Get Your Gun and the smash hit Meet Me in St Louis, starring Judy Garland. It has a mere whisp of a plot, but it’s so beautiful, upbeat and full of classic songs (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, The Trolley Song) that it’s the ultimate example of a golden age musical.

Singin' in the Rain

Often called the greatest musical of all time, the 1952 classic Singin’ in the Rain set a blueprint for the genre that’s still being imitated today. “It’s very meta,” says Manuela Lazic. “It’s about actors struggling to make it. That’s part of the appeal. It’s about having dreams.”

Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly in the classic Singin' in the Rain.

It follows three actors (Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor) trying to make it in 1920s Hollywood as the industry goes from silent movies to ‘talkies’. As Ellen says, it defines the optimism and determination to overcome adversity that is part of so many musicals. “It’s right there in the title, that defiant joy,” she says. “It’s about singing through the rain.”

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Made in 1964 by French director Jacques Demy, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg follows two lovers (Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo) trying to make it against the odds in Paris.

“It refracted elements of the classic Hollywood movie through the 1960s prism of the French New Wave,” says Mark. It’s a lesson in gorgeous style, with candy-coloured imagery, pristine costuming and, as Little White Lies editor David Jenkins says, “the most incredible wallpaper you’ve ever seen.” It took that MGM Technicolor look and showed how far you could twist it.

New York, New York

If early musicals had mostly been about optimism and dreams coming true, Martin Scorsese’s 1977 cult classic New York, New York brought in a bit of darkness and cold reality. It stars Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli as two jobbing musicians in a distinctly seedy New York.

“A lot of those classic musicals were about making sense of modern life, living in an urban environment and showing it’s exciting,” says Lazic. “But the reality of New York wasn’t really in line with that. [New York, New York] is about the clash of the musical and the reality of New York.” It’s of a piece with 1972’s Cabaret, another film that married big songs with sombre pessimism.

The Little Mermaid

As Mark says, for many, many years “the screen musical was being kept alive by Disney animation”. The first Disney animated musical was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. The studio had a strong run up until the 1967 release of The Jungle Book, but then things went a little off the boil, with lots of misses, until The Little Mermaid heralded a new Disney golden age in 1989.

“Musicals from the Disney renaissance, there’s a crispness and exactness to how they’re directed and edited,” says Rachel Bloom, star of the musical TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The Little Mermaid brought a level of craft back to animation, which we’re still enjoying today with films like Frozen and Encanto.

High School Musical

Now don’t turn your nose up. Disney’s High School Musical may not be as artistically accomplished as other movies on this list, but it introduced a whole new generation to the joy of the movie musical. Released in 2006, it tracks a teen romance and stars a young Zac Efron in the lead role.

“I remember really clearly watching the High School Musical films and thinking Zac Efron is the modern Fred Astaire,” says Mark. Ellen adds: “Disney replaced MGM for training up these kinds of multi-hyphenate stars. You also have Zendaya (who debuted in Shake It Up) and Selena Gomez (who was in Wizards of Waverly Place).” High School Musical is important for heralding a new brand of musical star.

La La Land

The 2016 Oscar winner, about two young dreamers seeking fame in Hollywood and finding love along the way, is a spin on the traditional Hollywood musical. It has the bright colour, the tightly choreographed numbers, and the big emotions, but it also has a melancholy, very 21st-Century edge.

“It’s winking and nodding back at the past in a very modern way,” says Mark. If there’s such a thing as a ‘realistic’ MGM musical, then this is it.

Emilia Perez

Jacques Audiard’s unique film is sort of the culmination of almost 100 years of musicals. It’s a sign that musicals can now be about absolutely anything. Karla Sofia Gascon stars opposite Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez as a Mexican gangster who wants to undergo gender-affirming surgery to start a new life as a woman.

It has songs about surgery and political corruption, sung with the same verve and pizazz seen in films like Singin’ in the Rain and Meet Me in St Louis. It shows the genre has no limit.

Discover more from Mark and Ellen's foot-tapping adventures in musicals by listening to the episode in full.