Following Mamma Mia last weekend--well, technically following the Dark Knight and Wall-E on Sunday (Janie and I pulled a double feature) I was still caught up in the ABBA musical madness so I also watched "Muriel's Wedding" which, though technically not a
musical, was full of all ABBA tunes as well.

Apparently "Cinemania" here in St. Louis has 4 weeks in the summer where they have a free outdoor film series, and this year it's musical themed. Unfortunately I only found out about it this week, so I've already missed An American in Paris, Funny Girl, and West Side Story, but tomorrow is Moulin Rouge so I'm planning to make it to that one.

Anyway, all this musical business got me trying to think of my favorite. Which of course is near-impossible for me to decide. So I decided to list a few, in no particular order...cause even ranking those that made the list was too hard.

Since it's up for review tomorrow night, we'll start with

Moulin Rouge
I absolutely love the look of the film, but moreso, I love that Baz Luhrman recycled old pop classics and gave them a truly musical feeling, and managed to thread them into the narrative, so they weren't completely out of place.

"El Tango de Roxanne"

Grease
This movie does what every film/play/performance strives to do, and stands the test of time amazingly well. Generations have, and will continue to fall in love with this film for eternity.

"You're the One that I Want"

Chicago
another gorgeous film, another favorite tango sequence of mine...

"Cell Block Tango"

Mary Poppins
I love this movie so much, even searching for a clip to include was a major task. There are so many to choose from...Step in Time, Jolly Holiday, Chim-Chim-Cher-ee, Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious, Spoonful of Sugar...the list goes on. Regardless, I finally settled on one of my favorites (even though they're all favs)

"Feed the Birds"

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
I'm noticing a pattern, I seem to fall for the big dramatic (tango) numbers, and the gentle soft ones. Like this one.

"Pure Imagination"

Sound of Music
Though not my favorite Julie Andrews feature, no doubt her career-defining performance was as Von Trapp family's big voiced governess. Strangely enough, cause I again couldn't choose between songs like "So Long, Farwell", "Do-Re-Mi" or of course "the Sound of Music", I chose one that my beloved Dame Julie didn't sing at all. This song can be absolutely gorgeous if you've ever heard a real vocalist sing it.

"Edelweiss"

West Side Story
Romeo and Juliet transposed onto the gangs of New York. What more could you want set to some singing and dancing?

"Tonight (Ensemble Version)"

Wizard of Oz
My theme song at times,

"If I Only Had A Brain"

White Christmas
I love Rosemary Clooney, but Bing Crosby in semi-drag singing to her? That's the clip that wins.

"Sisters"

and for the more unconventional modern musicals:

Once
I think we all know how much I love this movie, this soundtrack, these performers (seriously, if you get the chance to see the Swell Season on tour, do it!)

"When Your Minds Made Up"

Cry Baby
Even Johnny Depp gets in on the cheesy-self-mocking-musical fun. And I love every bit of it.

"King Cry Baby"

Nightmare Before Christmas
The fact that memorabilia from this film still fill teen mall shops like "Hot Topic" and rock/pop/punk bands continue to release their covers of "This is Halloween" prove how much even the kids who are too-cool-for-school aren't too cool for this musical.

"What's This?"

Rocky Horror Picture Show
Epic. What else is there to say?

"The Time Warp"

Since I started with the movie I'm seeing next, I'll end with the most recent one I've seen.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch
...and the tranny movie marathon continues. This weekend I finally saw it after watching a short documentary on the history of the play/show. They had a big viewing/sing-a-long party a few months ago at Webster, but it was during finals and I had too much going on to make it.

The punk numbers were great fun (especially coming from a drag queen) and sounded like singles from a rock group, but I gotta say I really liked the softer touches like "Midnight Radio" and "Makeup (Wig in a Box)" even though they were the more typical "musical" sounding of the bunch.

How can you not love the transformation of a trailer into a stage and built-in sing-a-long prompts?

In case you noticed a few particular movies you were expecting, allow me to explain.
Even though they often make these lists frequently, I just can't put Disney films on here, when most of the songs in the films are actually quite racist, sexist, and ethnocentric. And then, I have yet to see Bette Midler's Gypsie or Barbara Streisand's Funny Girl, and I was never that into Annie or Rent, so most of these are just the ones that stick out most in memory.

My Space
My Tube
My Demo Reel