The Revival of the Musical

08-07-2008 13:48

This week sees the release of new musical Mamma Mia, a big screen adaptation of the Broadway and West End show, that further highlights the new interest in this film genre.

Since the success of 2002's Chicago, starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellweger, which went on to win the Best Picture Oscar there has been a dramatic rise in musical releases as studios have realised that there is still an audience for them.

After the success of The Desert Song in 1929, which was the first screen operetta by Warner Bros and remained the biggest grossing film for a decade, the cinema became over-run with musical as The Show of Shows, Song of the Flame and Whoopee! all hit the big screen.

Although the market for musicals was becoming saturated stars such as Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly were some of Hollywood's most famous.

And although the fifties saw a drop in popularity, preferring instead to try and capture the era of rock and roll, the sixties produced some of the genre's biggest successes as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady were massive box office and Oscar successes.

In 1964 Julie Andrews won Best Actress for her role as the friendly nanny and My Fair Lady Won Best Picture, a year later The Sound of Music scooped Best Picture.

Despite this box office and Oscar glory studios began to avoid making the musical, instead using music from current rock and pop acts to cash in on the soundtrack aspect of the film industry.