how not to sell a musical

[acroyear]

a movie version of a musical generally gives more confidence in the singing performances if you actually include singing in the commercial for it.  I know you can find actors who look good.  i know you can find actors who know how to talk.

but nobody goes to a musical for the spoken script.

case in point, the current TV teaser for Mamma Mia.  plenty of scenes of Streep and Brosnan, ALL TALKING, while flashing through scenes of the chorus doing random stuffs to the title song (which was Abba's least successful song in America, btw).  i'm not saying that nobody can sing on it - i'm saying that i don't know, and for a musical, that's a really bad way to make sure i remain apprehensive enough to not bother, particularly with so many other good movies i still need to see (like wall e, dammit).

Comments

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

The theatrical trailer I saw shows Meryl Streep singing briefly, and she's all right. I don't know why they haven't shown Pierce Brosnan singing because he has a *gorgeous* tenor with a baritone extension (he sang "The Parting Glass" on "Inside the Actor's Studio" and almost brought me to tears).

I don't know whether this will change your mind at all, but at least it's a little bit of additional info.

[spicyapplegirl.livejournal.com]

Must. See. Wall-E.

[dawntreader]

i thought the same thing. i heard the music for Mamma Mia the original in the trailer ... but no um... SINGING from the soundtrack. it made me wonder if the movie was actually a musical until they said the word "musical." so yes, i agree, it's a bad trailer!

at least with Chicago trailers, IIRC, they showed the actors singing. you couldn't hear it exactly, but you could *just* hear it over the voiceovers. you could also tell they were belting their guts out!

Listen to Apple.

[giddysinger.livejournal.com]

Seriously.

I mean, you really REALLY need to see this movie.

I mean you should skip out of work RIGHT NOW and hie thee hence to the nearest cineplex to remedy this problem. (Bonus points if you can get Teh Raven to play hookie and join you.)

If you are going to continue to show such bad taste by "staying at work" and "doing your job," then you should at the very least have the good sense to take your lovely wife out on a date TONIGHT to see it.

You need to see it, dude. It's better than The Incredibles.

Re: Listen to Apple.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

if you can get Teh Raven to play hookie and join you

therein lies the problem. yesterday was sheer exhaustion from the weekend, so early bed (but in her case, not early sleep). today she's taking bunny to vet (long overdue fixing time) and thus was up too early and will be home late and exhausted again.

tomorrow is a maybe...

Re: Listen to Apple.

[faireraven.livejournal.com]

If we wait until after the weekend, we can go see it with the discounted movie tix from Entertainment.com. :)

[thelongshot.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, it is more important what you DON'T see in a trailer as much as what you do see. For example, it should be a red flag that in most of the Hancock trailers that you don't see Charlize Theron's character, which from a lot of views was a pretty signifigant character in the film.

When you see omissions like that, you can pretty much assume that the marketing team is covering for a weakness in the film, which tells me the musical performances must be fairly weak. Course, considering how successful the Broadway show is, even with this weakness they probably can still sell the film without showing any musical numbers. That's probably what they are doing.

Film soundtrack:

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12872080

Available for streaming without charge ... this might help you decide. :-)

Re: Film soundtrack:

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

oh, there's no decision here - i'm not going to see it 'til "HBO". too many other movies higher on the priority list (walle, indy4, narnia 2, batman, ...).

it's just my rant on hollywood's particular form of bullshit - plugging a musical while hiding the singing. not even Phantom (i see your icon) was that stupid in its trailers.

Re: Film soundtrack:

[fiona64.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally understand ... especially with the costs of movies these days. I think we all have a priority list of sorts. Wall-E is great, as are Indy and Narnia.

FWIW, I'm streaming the film soundtrack right now ... and they have keyed the songs for Meryl Streep, thus putting Pierce Brosnan's gorgeous voice at a distinct disadvantage. :-/

Re: Listen to Apple.

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

or go to a matinee

Re: Listen to Apple.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

must be nice to have weekend afternoons with nothing to do but see a movie and/or ride rollercoasters at a park practically in walking distance. :)

but, sadly, not our scene. every moment this weekend is blocked for cleaning and prepping for the prepare for faire (if it hadn't already been booked for the now canceled fantasy ball). our first day with "nothing" won't be until the sunday the 20th after the yard sale.

i don't want to wait that long...

seriously, i've not done a matinee in almost 10 years, and i couldn't even name the film anymore.