Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago

The first words to be spoken in the history of cinema, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain’t heard nothing yet!” were from The Jazz Singer, released in 1927 by Warner Brothers. This historical film was to herald the cinematic genre of musicals that changed the face of cinema forever. The Singing Fool starring Al Jolson ? who gave us the memorable I’m sitting on top of the world tune ? followed, in 1928. A towering box-office record was created and held for 11 years. MGM produced The Broadway Melody, the first ‘proper’ musical to be awarded the Oscar.

By the early 30s, the song and dance had brought the moves alive. Producers realised the potential of this technique to move the story forward, and used it to the hilt. The Wizard of Oz, a 1939 MGM technicolour musical, was considered a masterpiece. The songs were adeptly interwoven into the narrative. At that time, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers created magic in their dancing shoes for musicals like Flying Down to Rio, Roberta and Top Hat.

The 40s witnessed a lag in the musical genre with only some varying takes on the jazz singer Jolson’s life. The 50s and 60s were the golden period for musicals. Richard Rodgers made the fantastical King and I with tracks like I whistle a happy tune and Shall we dance? Classics like Singing in the rain, Seven brides for seven brothers and The band wagon created music immortal. An American in Paris had a breathtaking 17-minute ballet sequence that was inspired by French art. This sequence is a milestone in the history of musicals.

In the 60s began the slow demise of the genre of pure musical, but not before it took some huge last gulps of life. My Fair Lady created massive waves in the world of cinema, doubling Audrey Hepburn’s popularity. The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews is one of the most popular films of all time. Needless to say, the soundtrack of this historic film is what the world swears by. The whopping box-office performance of this film led to its being called The Sound of Money!

By the end of the decade, realism was the new rage. The 70s saw the advent of the ‘motivated’ musical. The song and dance of Hollywood lost some of its spontaneity. Bob Fosse’s Cabaret featured onstage songs, which reflected the drama offstage.

With the slow death of the ‘musical’, rock--roll cinema drummed in. John Travolta, the teen idol became a national phenomenon with his grooves in Saturday Night Fever and Grease. In the 80s, Dirty Dancing left in its wake, dazzling numbers like I’ve had the time and Hungry eyes with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey doing the dreamlike waltz. This is the closest you probably come to the real thing, the musical.

There have been attempts to recreate the starry delight of the musicals with films like Moulin Rouge and Chicago. Though films to reckon with, they could not bring back the old charm, that feel-good factor, the rhythm which bounced off the screen into our hearts. Hollywood can now either be totally ‘you and me’ or completely fantastical. But it has lost the touchstone which made great musicals. Like Frank Sinatra said, “You can hang around for as long as you care to, waiting and hoping, but you’re never going to see their like again.”

Pooja Tolani