Musicals have long been a favorite for Hollywood. Though not as popular today as they once were, they can still rake in praise and box office returns when done right. The best recent demonstration of this would be Les Misérables' domination of the Christmas box office (nearly $430 million at the time of this article's writing), plus its astounding eight Academy Award nominations. So at this point, in honor of the genre's newfound modern day success, we'll review 10 of the best - or in some cases most unique - musicals ever made.
Honorable mentions... clearly we can't fit all the good musicals, so some that had to be cut out were Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, Les Misérables, and tragically Mary Poppins. Perhaps we'll make a follow-up to this list?
10. The Phantom Of The Opera (2004)
This was a difficult one to place, because as far as music goes, this is easily top 5 musicals ever made. But as far as the process of adapting it to the big screen, it left some things to be desired. So this spot seems a good compromise. But let's first look at the complaints, shall we? For starters, the directors chair was somehow offered to infamous president of the Ruiners Club, Joel Schumacher. After finally being content with the havoc he had wrought on the Batman franchise, Schumacher set his sights on destroying Andrew Lloyd Webber's beloved Broadway play. Adding in two pointless sword duels that had zero intensity, and add nothing to the film beyond giving the audience a good opportunity to use the bathroom or get more snacks or something. Fortunately though, the story is pretty well established already, so there was only so much he was able to ruin... The Good: The acting is top notch, for one. See, a major issue of seeing Phantom on stage is there is only so much emotion the actors can convey. Whereas on screen, we're treated to much closer views of the characters and the subtlety they're able to express. Also, the music is mostly the same, albeit a few minor changes (they shortened the title song! Scallywags!). The power of the Overture, the clever rhyme schemes, sweeping orchestral sounds... all still there.