The Greatest Showman (Musical Movie)

Despite the DVD being released almost a month ago, this must still be doing good business on the big screen. One of my local cinemas, the 'sophisticated' one, has a showing on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday!

(And is also showing The Sound of Music tonight.)

Definitely, its the right space for it. The auditorium has the right dynamic with the seating in such a curve it bridges the gap between theatre and circus presentation.

Notice its called "The Greatest Show". There are many variations of this occuring country-wide, on varying degrees of professional and amateur scale. Some Live Orchestra to film, some various singers with orchestra, some various singers with track. Nothing actual official, just some very clever branding and licensing of tracks for performance.

And the success of the soundtrack continues
bbc.in/2yoFS4W

Hmm by the looks of it I think they are two different shows and it's just a coincidence! Cyclone Events are producing the one in Wrexham and I think they're a Wrexham based company putting on that production just in Wrexham whereas the other is a UK Tour concert. Either way, I'm not 100% sure how official either show is, which may explain no websites. They're both called 'The Greatest Show' as opposed to 'The Greatest Showman' and even though they both include songs from the film I think they're more tribute performances and concerts, the UK Tour has even said "performing your favourite hits from THE GREATEST SHOWMAN and more" so it might not just be Greatest Showman you get! If that's what you were expecting, then great, but it's definitely not the film on stage.

For those of you who haven't seen it this is the phenomenal Loren Allred who actually sings the song Never Enough in the film. This is a live vocal and is outstanding.

I have finally started watching it - and boy is it over-produced, too lavish and just so wrong.

The dissonance between the period setting and the musical style is just too jarring for me. The dialogue is clunky beyond belief.

I can see why 'This is Me' has found a home in popular culture - but the rest of them score is just empty.

No wonder it didn't get a better critical reaction.

I shall stick to Barnum - a better score, better characters and more heart.

Yes I love the soundtrack and it has now beat the number of weeks at number one for Saturday Night Fever.
This week sees The Greatest Showman soundtrack rack up a twenty first week at the helm of the Official Albums Chart.
Though its 21 weeks isn't consecutive, it's still a staggering feat; The Greatest Showman now matches the number of weeks spent at the top spot by The Beatles 2 albums With the Beatles and A Hard Days Night. 
Just eight albums have racked up more weeks at Number 1 than Greatest Showman, three of which are soundtracks from the 1950s when the Official Albums Chart was first launched, when for its first few years it was only a Top 5 or Top 10 and mostly comprised of soundtracks.
With the Motion Picture Cast Recording still flying high at the top, there's a classic album it could overtake in the coming weeks.  Adele's multi-million selling 21 album from 2011 achieved 23 weeks at the summit.
Still, the album has some way to go before it overtakes the longest-reigning Number 1 studio record, Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, which notched up a staggering 33 weeks at Number 1 between 1970 - 1971.
Albums with the most weeks at Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart
TITLE
ARTIST
PEAK
SOUTH PACIFIC ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 115
THE SOUND OF MUSIC ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 70
THE KING AND I ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 48
BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER SIMON & GARFUNKEL 33
PLEASE PLEASE ME BEATLES 30
SGT PEPPER'S LONLEY HEARTS CLUB BAND BEATLES 28
21 ADELE 23
G.I BLUES (OST) ELVIS PRESLEY 22
WITH THE BEATLES BEATLES 21
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT BEATLES 21
DIVIDE ED SHEERAN 20
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN MOTION PICTURE CAST RECORDING 20
MY FAIR LADY ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING 19
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 18
BLUE HAWAII (OST) ELVIS PRESLEY 18
THE SINGLES 1969-1973 CARPENTERS 17
ABBEY ROAD BEATLES 17
SPICE SPICE GIRLS 15
…BUT SERIOUSLY PHIL COLLINS 15
BROTHERS IN ARMS DIRE STRAITS 14
Surprising so many Soundtracks are in this list, how times have changed!

Finally got around to watching this after endless hype from friends.

I personally didn’t enjoy it at all. I found it garish and over-stylised to the point of parody - like watching a 1hr 45min music video or telly advert. The movie instantly reminded me of “Moulin Rouge”, which I also couldn’t get along with. It was also hugely popular and “accessible” with its saccharine dream-like cinematography and what in reality should’ve been a crapsack world of poverty now consisting of beautiful people singing on a soundstage.

It has been fairly well established that the movie has little to no relation to Barnum himself, his work, character or personal life. I was expecting more of a biopic, instead it was fiction very loosely inspired by his life and work.

The constant inexplicable anachronisms forced me out of the world, not into it. The costumes are all over the place, from modern case to attire more fitting the period. The music is modern and forgettable.

There is no flow to the story, there is a scene, then a stand-alone pop music video with little to do with the plot - or to pander to the target audience* - and repeat.

The performances are okay. I’m a little confused though. Barnum in real life didn’t even open his circus until his late 50’s/early 60’s. In the movie he is meant to be in his early 20’s, but Hugh Jackman looks in his mid 40’s... which is it?!!

Elsewhere, not a lot to say; the ensemble dancing is strong (even if the lame Britney-NSync choreography isn’t). Zac Efron plays Zac Efron with aplomb. There was far too much head wobbling, fist pumping and finger wagging for me. This brings me on to...

*the pandering. Oh boy. The movie came out in 2017. Thankfully we live in a time where we are at last trying to be more aware of equality in society. Equality to many people in real life - and certainly in this movie and others like “Hairspray” = sassiness. Just go to Pride. Or Brighton, my home city, where everyone strives to outdo each other in how “original” and “different” they are. We end up with everyone dressing and acting the same!!! This affected, decidedly chosen “sassy attitude” fad will eventually fade, but I didn’t enjoy the filmmakers trying to ride the zeitgeist to the extreme. Narratives about the quirky outsider with a heart-of-gold, who is misunderstood, not considered classically beautiful by the standards of the day, is extremely attractive to a certain audience. The audience project themselves onto the character and fantasise that THEY TOO can get the guy/win the dance/become prom queen etc. And find true happiness.

Off the top of my head, examples include;

Elphaba, Wicked
Natalie, Next to Normal
Tracy, Hairspray
Wednesday, The Addams Family
Eponine, Les Mis
Evan, Dear Evan Hansen

“This is Me” indeed.

So no, over-produced, forgettable and cynical tripe.

1*

My two young nieces absolutely adore the show because of the colours and “the beard lady is funny when she sings”.

Ask Adele, she’s knows all about that sort of thing.

I finally saw this movie a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. My biggest criticism is that the plot was very thin, but I thought it well cast (aside from Rebecca) and it has a few nice songs. It is overhyped, but for an original movie musical - something that’s been missing for a long time* - it’s great to see it have so much success.

*La La Land aside, obvs.