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Posted: |
Dec 6, 2021 - 12:54 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Director Andrew L. Stone had a predilection for dramatizing the lives of famous composers, beginning way back in 1939 with THE GREAT VICTOR HERBERT, which starred Walter Connolly as the famed operetta composer. Stone ended his directorial career with two gargantuan flops--SONG OF NORWAY (1970), which put the life of of Norway's greatest composer, Edvard Grieg, to music, and THE GREAT WALTZ (1972) which did the same for Austria's Johann Strauss II.
Along the way, Stone directed the contemporary musicals HI DIDDLE DIDDLE (1943), which had June Havoc singing two songs and Pola Negri singing Wagner opera arias, and SENSATIONS OF 1945 (1944), which had a song score by Al Sherman and Harry Tobias and had the participation of the big bands of Woody Herman and Cab Calloway.
But the best and most enduring of Stone's musicals is undoubtedly 1943's STORMY WEATHER, the all-Black musical starring Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Bill Robinson, and Fats Waller.
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Although Sidney J. Furie may have been fired from 1980s THE JAZZ SINGER, he got his licks in (so to speak) in the musical genre. In the 1960s in Britain, he directed two of Cliff Richard's pop musicals, WONDERFUL TO BE YOUNG! (1961) and SWINGERS' PARADISE (1964). Then, in Hollywood, he helmed the Diana Ross success LADY SINGS THE BLUES (1972), in which Ross played Billie Holiday.
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While the thread about Norman Jewison's FIDDLER ON THE ROOF adaptation was one of the impetuses for this thread, we should not neglect Jewison's very next film, and only other musical, the 1973 adaptation of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR.
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Gene Saks shared a long-term professional association with playwright/comedy writer Neil Simon, directing many of his plays on Broadway and doing the film adaptations of many of them. Of the eight films that Saks directed, four were of Simon plays, including BAREFOOT IN THE PARK (1967) and THE ODD COUPLE (1968).
But Saks also directed two musicals. The first was 1974's MAME, a decent adaptation marred by poor casting of Lucille Ball in the title role. Saks' last directorial assignment was the television adaptation of BYE BYE BIRDIE, starring Jason Alexander and Vanessa Williams. The filmed production aired on ABC on 3 December 1995. The show has taken some critical heat, but I recall liking it just fine when I saw it those 26 years (!) ago.
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One of the more unusual examples (and certainly one of the more unusual end results) is Popeye, directed by none other than Robert Altman.
There's probably enough music sung in NASHVILLE to qualify that as an Altman musical too.
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Writer-producer-director Frank Pierson has directed only four theatrical features, having spent much of his time in television. Of those four features, only one was a hit, and it was a musical--the 1976 version of A STAR IS BORN, with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. The $6 million production was the #2 film of the year at the box office, grossing $112 million in the U.S. alone.
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John Badham had a 50-year directing career, but only one 20-year stretch of it (1976-1997) was spent in feature films. Badham's second feature, and only musical, was #5 at the box office in 1977, grossing $90 million. It was SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER.
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Famed stage producer-director Hal Prince directed only two feature films. One was a musical. It was the 1977 film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Diana Rigg. Price also directed the filming of the national touring company of Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD, which aired on PBS' "Great Performances" series in 1982.
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Director Mark Rydell (THE REIVERS, CINDERELLA LIBERTY) directed two films that qualify as musicals--both with Bette Midler. The first was THE ROSE (1979) in which Midler played a self-destructive rock star. The second was FOR THE BOYS (1991), with Midler and James Caan as a song-and-dance team who entertain the troops during World War II.
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John Landis directed two musicals: THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980) and its sequel, BLUES BROTHERS 2000 (1998). Landis also directed the Michael Jackson music video "Thriller" in 1983, as well as later Jackson videos.
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Did Franklin J. Schaffner (PLANET OF THE APES, PATTON) ever direct a musical, you may ask? Why, yes, he did. To his everlasting shame, he directed the Luciano Pavarotti musical YES, GIORGIO in 1982.
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Choreographer Patricia Birch made her feature film directorial debut with the 1982 sequel GREASE 2. It was the only feature she ever directed.
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Joel Schumacher`s version of The Phantom of the Opera truly beautiful on film so glad my favorite director got to do it,rest easy Joel Schumacher
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Who can forget Vincente Minnelli? Although today Minnelli may be more famous for his long string of top MGM musicals, .....
CABIN IN THE SKY!
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