The Greatest Showman (Musical Movie)

Song sounds awful. Pasek & Paul are not who I would have picked for a circus themed musical, their work is very poppy and I would think it calls for something a bit more quirky and unconventional.

I like the cast though.

This seems to have been coming forever. I saw Hugh Jackman on stage in 2015 and he did few songs from this then - although I thought it was going to be a stage musical at that stage? Maybe I got it wrong.

It looks like Conchita Wurst is attached to this project in some way. Though clearly not as the bearded lady in the trailer!

Give 'em the old razzle dazzle Huge.



Oh, What A Circus

I was hoping for a bit more of a different soundtrack, its very commercially appealing. Still really looking forward to another musical movie to add to the collection.

So I can (finally) talk about this film now.

My sister and I were fortunate enough to catch the first ever UK preview screening of this approximately 2 weeks ago and I had to sign a document stating that I would not make any public comments/reviews until 20th December 2017.

The film; it's truly outstanding. Believe the hype. The colours, storylines, acting, singing and choreography. It have a very Moulin Rouge feel to it.

The music is so catchy; to the point where after one screening, weeks later I am still humming the songs.

To clarify, although this follows a similar storyline, the music is completely original and entirely different from the exiting musical.

In this film we see Barnum's early beginnings as a boy and where he first meets Charity.

There is a lovely scene where Hugh Jackman is dancing with Michelle Williams where she is wearing a mauve coloured dress and he dances her over the corner precipice of a building and when he 'lands' her back on her feet, the bedsheets hanging on the line are all swaying in time with the music.

We get to see Barnum's Museum of oddities and go inside it. Here he recruits his troupe- trapeze artists, a bearded woman, Tom Thumb (who doesn't say a lot but when he does he has attitude), heavily tattooed artists, a wolf boy, a tall man, a fat man, two albinos and and gang of others. Take note of a well dressed male member with a moustache dressed in blue who generally appears on the right hand side of the screen. At first all seems normal with this guy so you're thinking "Why is he here?" and when they all come together to finish a routine you realise that he has a third leg which he rests upon.

There is no Joyce Heath character as there is in the original musical and as referred to above, there is Tom Thumb. Although you do see elephants, none are referred to as Jumbo.

There are several storylines running throughout- Barnum's love for Charity and his family, Barnum's determination, as he started from nothing, the need to prove himself to his father-in-law, the need to afford ballet shoes for his eldest daughter. The affair with Jenny Lind is also touched upon. Finally there is the ever increasing attraction between Zac Efron and Zendaya, The song they sing whilst balancing on ropes is just brilliant!

Rebecca Ferguson as Jenny Lind is excellent- acting wise and vocally. Although the fact that her character is Swedish is often referred to, at no point does she sing or speak in anything than English (In my opinion) I thought she looked remarkably like Elena Roger.

Both Zac Efron and Michelle Williams vocally hold their own. Michelle Williams sings one solo song and duets with Hugh Jackman. Zac Efron duets with Hugh Jackman and (as referred to above) with Zendaya.

You get to see the fire that burns the museum down and the reason why it started in the first place.

To counterbalance all of the colour and wonderment there is also a character of a cynical reporter and towards the end its good to see him come together to gain a mutual respect of each other.

But Hugh Jackman really shines in this film as P.T. Barnum. Possibly because it's a different role or because of the vocal ranget but he sound nothing like he did in Les Miserables. He acts, sings and dances.

When it was screening I leant over to my sister and said "This is simply outstanding!". Later when we came out there were interviewing patrons in front of a green screen and my sister actually told there interviewer that the film was 'magical!'.

Honestly, I cannot rave about this film enough!

Yeah, saw that.

Love it!

Yeah - sorry, posted in haste and too late to edit. But enjoy!

Interesting feature on Sky Movies about this.
Hugh Jackman interviewed by Alex Zane included.

Jackman says back in pre-production when the team were looking for writers for the soundtrack Pasek & Paul lied to get into a meeting to get in. They'd claimed they were Tony nominated for their work on James & the Giant Peach (which hadnt actually made it to Broadway).

He also says Dear Evan Hansen will be making its way to London.

I hardly head to the movies over here but I think I might give this a whirl soon along with Coco. For the record - I gave La La Land a miss and still haven't seen it. I generally can't really get into movie musicals..

But I already have a problem or two with this, even before seeing it, and this is coming from a person who normally reserves judgement until seeing something.

I sampled the soundtrack, and as suspected from Pasek & Paul, the music is relentless, generic and sounds like an Apple commercial. And this is coming from a person who isn't necessarily a musical or music classicist and I enjoy an everyday pop song.

Also, Barnum was a true jerk to his wife and exploited human "oddities" for a profit, but in this filmed honored and rebranded as a champion for individuality...Kind of tasteless.

Hey, that interview was filmed in my home town of Sydney.

You can se the Opera House in the background with the ferries going past.

This is beautiful. She hits a couple of flat notes at the start but then grows into something really special once she steps out from behind the music stand. Thanks for linking.