Even if a show like On the Town was being adapted to film, which follows in the book musical tradition of Oklahoma!, the filmmakers would essentially strip the show of its book musical roots, keep a few of its catchier songs, and insert a bunch of new ones, turning it into the old school Hollywood dance musical. Once the stage began transitioning what a musical was to them, Hollywood was slow to catch up, still consistently producing these old school musical comedies a good decade or so after Oklahoma! became a smash hit. Intricate movement, whether performed directly in front of you or in a well-crafted frame, dazzles the eye, and for film, it was as if a music video had been placed in the middle of your film. The transition from the stage to the screen makes quite a bit of sense, particularly because each were enormously dance based entertainments. These are the kinds of shows the great Hollywood musicals of the studio system were molded after, from 42nd Street to Singin’ in the Rain to The Band Wagon. Prior to this form, musicals, or more precisely musical comedies as they were more commonly known, often were created as a collection of catchy, exciting musical numbers strung together by a threadbare, charming plot in order to get you to the next number. While it was not the first musical of this kind, it became exhibit A due to its immense popularity and outstanding critical reception. The musical by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist/lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II truly put in place what we think of as a musical, a story where the music is perfectly integrated into the material for plot, character, and emotion. Though it may seem quaint today, the seismic theatrical event that was Oklahoma! cannot be overstated. To understand what led to this decision, we need to take a step back and look at the history of the movie musical and the film climate of when Cabaret was made. Fosse made the deliberate decision to remove these numbers from the film, along with changing an immense amount of the show’s story, in his adaptation. Some songs were indeed diegetic, but there are also many songs that operate within the traditional book musical style. In Cabaret’s original stage origins on Broadway, this was not the case. Whether a song is performed by Liza Minnelli or Joel Grey on the stage of the Kit Kat Klub or simply being played on a record, a song exists as a song, as opposed to most book musicals where scenes and inner monologues are dramaticized through music. Every song in the film Cabaret is diegetic, meaning the music exists as music within the world of the film. Often, the film is labeled as “the musical for people who don’t like musicals.” While ignoring the obvious connotation of people not thinking it is “cool” to like musicals in that statement, the sentiment does ring somewhat true because the film presents storytelling music in an unusual way.
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