The creator behind the hit musical Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is also behind the Broadway musical In the Heights, which was filmed with a cinema premiere in 2021. Steven Spielberg's reinterpretation of West side story and the high school drama Dear Evan Hansen are also film adaptations that can be seen on the white screen in year.
Filmmaker Desirée Garcia works at Darthmouth College in the United States and specializes in musicals.
- I'm not surprised by the plethora of musical films.
Musicals are in a way always relevant, but perhaps extra much in times of fear and anxiety as they offer a kind of comfort.
Musicals speak directly to our feelings of isolation, alienation and nostalgia for what life used to be like, says Desirée Garcia.
Addresses societal issues
Dear Evan Hansen is about mental illness and social isolation, while In the Heights depicts friendship and cohesion among Latin Americans in New York.
Musicals have addressed important societal issues since the 1930s, says Desirée Garcia.
- 30s films by Warner Bros. explicitly address issues of unemployment and poverty during the Depression.
During the Second World War, the musicals instead became patriotic and offered a picture of what we are fighting for.
The musicals from the 60s and 70s addressed the social problems of the time, says Desirée Garcia.
A groundbreaking musical was West side story which is about gang fights, racism and the American dream.
It premiered on Broadway in 1957 and became a movie in 1961.
- During the post-war period, there was a picture that everyone had their own home, their own car and that society flourished.
That West side story came in and said "no, it's not, the streets are dirty and the buildings dilapidated and we have big problems with hatred and discrimination in our society", was quite radical at the time, says Desirée Garcia.
New wave of musical films
The new wave's musical films instead reflect our time, says Garcia.
The creator of In the Heights, for example, portrays Latin Americans in a new way within the genre.
- I think Miranda intentionally shows different types of Latin Americans in New York, not just Puerto Ricans as in the West side story.
He also portrays Latin Americans who have already claimed the United States as their home.
They do not struggle to fit in, she says.
Desirée Garcia likens the musical to poetry and says that although the genre will never be as big as during the golden age of the 20s and 30s, it will always have an audience.
- Of course the musical shows real situations and characters, but at the same time it has the capacity to suddenly move us to another world, where the logic no longer applies.
It also has a special ability to convey emotions through dance and song.