Everybody’s Talking About Movie Musicals

by Eleanor Reid

It’s never a movie musical without glitter or jazz hands and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie features both! 

The newest addition in a long line of movie musicals has finally reached our screens. It was released on the 17th of September on Amazon Prime and has received fantastic reviews so far. Based on a true story, the film follows our lead Jamie New, a gay teen in High School, dreaming of a life as a famous drag queen. We watch as he faces challenges from his school, classmates and family but continues to strive for the life he’s dreamt of. Filled with feel-good musical numbers as well as tear-jerkers, it’s a heartfelt and passionate film about love and acceptance. 

Movie musicals are often hit or miss. It is common for musicals to have already gained a following before the plan of it hitting the big screen has been made and because of this they are heavily critiqued before the film is even out, due to what songs were cut or who was cast as the lead. 

However, movie musicals have an important role within theatre and I don’t think they receive enough credit. Firstly, they allow for accessibility as theatre tickets can be very expensive and when going with a friend or family member, they can cost hundreds of pounds. Although there are cheaper tickets available, they tend to sell out once the tickets are released so they can be difficult to obtain. Not only are tickets expensive but not everyone has access to a local theatre and not every local theatre will feature shows that appeal to all audiences. In my experience local theatres tend to host comedy acts, concerts, or pantomimes rather than musicals, plays, ballet or opera. So, to have the chance to see upcoming shows you need to travel to a nearby city, adding to the expenses. Therefore, the creation of the movie musical has led to an easy and accessible way to connect with theatre. 

Since it has allowed for theatre to become more accessible it is also helping to create new fans from those who otherwise would be uninterested. The theatre has an air of grandiosity and was once only available to the wealthy and those privileged enough to attend. Although that is a more outdated idea, a YouGov poll from 2018 found this mentality is still believed. Just over a third of the UK would consider going to the theatre “posh” with 76% claiming that opera is “posh” and 72% saying the same about ballet. When each category within the poll was broken down to how age changed our perception of which activities were deemed as “posh” the biggest difference presented itself in theatre, which is viewed as posh by 58% of 18–24-year-olds. The creation of movie musicals helps to break down these harmful stereotypes, particularly one which features a young teen in Sheffield living with his working-class single mum – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie! The younger generation is the future of theatre and to be able to reach them it must be easily accessible and allow them to see themselves in the characters.

With one of the next big movie musicals being Dear Evan Hansen, in which Ben Platt plays the lead as he once did when he originated the role on Broadway, I think a new wave of theatre fans may emerge. Similar to Everybody’s Talking About Jamie the story is full of self-discovery and love, though much darker in tone as it features themes of grief, mental health and loss. In addition to Dear Evan Hansen, we have the long-awaited West Side Story by Steven Spielberg, a classic musical with, hopefully, a fresh take. With a release date set in time for the Christmas holidays, it is guaranteed to have families watching and maybe then, somewhere, a newfound love of theatre will be born. 

Love them or hate them movie musicals have grown vital to theatre. They draw in audiences, create a newfound buzz of excitement and are responsible for a large amount of new theatre enthusiasts. Although we may cringe at the thought of our favourite musical being made into a film starring James Corden, we must take a moment to appreciate them and the new wave of appreciative fans, who just might have discovered a new passion. 

Photo credit: (Tickets photo) Igor Ovsyannykov on Pixabay and Guillermo Casales on Unsplash (West side story)

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2018/02/09/what-are-poshest-cultural-activities

ST.ART does not own the rights to any images used in this article.