Calling all former (and current) theater kids and musical fans: 2021 is officially the year of the movie musical. After Broadway shut down completely back in March 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, musical theater has been slow to return in an in-person, live format. But this year, the movie musical saw a huge resurgence. Countless movie musicals that were scheduled to premiere in 2020 had their dates pushed back and more professionally shot stage shows hit streaming and movie theaters this year. After a year and a half without live musical theater, the movie musical is flourishing like never before.
The boom in movie musicals this year began in June with the release of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara AlegrÃa Hudes’ In the Heights on HBO Max and in theaters. The Jon M. Chu-directed adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical was a visual and magical realism spectacle. Although it was a box office bomb and suffered with fans due to its colorist casting and major story changes, the movie musical still performed well with critics.
In August, fans were treated to two movie musicals: Respect, a biopic of Aretha Franklin starring Jennifer Hudson in the leading role, and Annette, a new musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard. Both films were released live in theaters and on streaming through Amazon Prime Video, making them accessible to a wider audience as the Delta variant spread. Respect contains all of Franklin's greatest hits and follows her life from a young girl singing at church to gaining international fame for her powerful voice. Annette, on the other hand, is a psychological thriller rock opera that follows the crumbling marriage of Driver and Cotillard’s characters following the birth of their daughter -- who is portrayed as a puppet. The movie musical was composed and directed by members of the band Sparks.
September is similarly ripe for movie musicals. Cinderella, starring Camila Cabello in the titular role and Billy Porter as Fab G (the story’s Fairy Godmother), was released through Amazon Prime on Sept. 3 with a few new, original songs, which were even penned by Cabello and Broadway icon Idina Menzel, who is also in the film. In honor of the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, the pro-shot of Come From Away was released on Apple TV+. Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s musical is inspired by the true story of Operation Yellow Ribbon, where the tiny town of Gander took in thirty-eight downed planes after the 9/11 attacks suspended flights.
The West End hit Everyone’s Talking About Jamie is getting the movie musical treatment and will also be released through Amazon Prime on Sept. 17. The musical, written by Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MacRae, stars newcomer Max Harwood as Jamie New and tells the true story of the British teenage drag queen finding his place in the spotlight. On Sept. 24, the movie adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul Dear Evan Hansen will be released. Ben Platt, who won the Tony for his portrayal of the role, stars as outcast Evan Hansen as he finds himself trapped in a web of lies about being friends with a classmate who committed suicide. It should be noted, however, that the film is not performing as successfully as the stage musical.
October cashes in on the public’s adoration of the late Diana, Princess of Wales with the pro-shot biopic musical Diana on Oct. 1. The musical, written by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan, follows the well-known princess’ life as she marries into the British royal family and is thrust into the spotlight. It will stream on Netflix along with the movie adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s musical tick, tick... BOOM!, due for streaming release on Nov. 19. Finally, the Steven Spielberg-directed West Side Story rounds out the year of the movie musical with a theatrical release on Dec. 10.
All of these new and upcoming releases in the musical genre show that people are hungry for more musical theater in their lives. Now more than ever before, musicals are hyper-accessible for audiences that can’t fly to New York City to see the original cast on Broadway, or even see it on tour in the nearest city. The success of these movie musicals can pave the way for more than just film adaptations of shows; it could mean more professionally-filmed original Broadway casts getting released, too. And as Broadway slowly reopens, it only means more musical theater for fans everywhere.
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