No./ 4 2021: the year of the musical
Jazz-hands jamboree: it’s an all-singing, all-dancing year at the movies.
Illustration: Russell Moorcroft. Shutterstock, Marco Vittur
FILM TRENDS ARE cyclical — one decade the Western is everywhere; next it’s deader than Liberty Valance — but even by those standards, the movie musical is back in a big way. The coming months will see heavy-hitting Broadway adaptations including Steven Spielberg ’s West Side Story, Stephen Chbosky’s Dear Evan Hansen and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tick Tick… Boom! — not to mention recent efforts such as Jonathan Butterell’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, In The Heights, Vivo and Leos Carax’s Annette. The musical has conquered Hollywood quicker than you can say “Suddenly Seymour”. But why now?