It is my practice not to decry movies before they’re on the screen. Particularly if they’ve just been announced, as Variety has just done with a new film about the life of P.T. Barnum. It’s slated to star Hugh Jackman and–it was announced–it’s a musical! Which I was fine with until the article said:
“Pic will have a contemporary musical score, and the studio is in talks with British singer-songwriter Mika to write music and lyrics.”
Good lord, why? There is a stupendous musical about Barnum called–wait for it–“Barnum.” In its original Broadway incarnation, it starred Jim Dale and Glenn Close. They’d have to tinker with the book to make it work as a film, but the songs are fantastic. It’s like saying, “We’ve decided to make a film focusing on the life of the Wicked Witch of the West and we’re going to Elton John to have him write a score.”
There’s a video version of it starring the Phantom of the Opera himself, MIchael Crawford, if you want to scrounge around a bit.
What a dumb-ášš waste of a great score to commission something completely new.
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