Friday, May 1, 1998
Resculpting song, dance on silver screen
FILM: Director Nicholas Hytner explains why recent movie musical
attempts haven’t worked – and why he hopes his film version of
‘Chicago,’ starring Madonna and Goldie Hawn, will be the
exception
By Cheryl Klein
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The American movie musical is something of a cinematic dinosaur.
Not since "West Side Story" swept the Oscars nearly four decades
ago has an integrated musical (where the characters talk by way of
music as opposed to just singing in a song-friendly setting a la
"Saturday Night Fever") been undeniably successful.
But maybe it would be more appropriate to liken the genre to the
Loch Ness Monster – some believe in its existence, other deny it.
Still others say it’s some sort of hybrid mutation of the original.
For the latter, there’s "Aladdin" and "Anastasia." But for the Fox
Mulders of the musical world, there is "Chicago."
Director Nicholas Hytner is currently combining his film ("The
Object of my Affection") and theater ("Miss Saigon") backgrounds in
an attempt to revive the form that once gave us "The Wizard of Oz"
and "Singin’ in the Rain," but as of late has produced "Newsies"
and "Evita." The verdict is still out on the latter film. While
ignored at the Oscars, Madonna did garner a Golden Globe for best
actress in a musical or comedy. And the now vocally trained diva
will give it one more try in Hytner’s "Chicago." Goldie Hawn will
play
the fluffy Roxie Hart to Madonna’s Velma Kelly.
Star power aside, Hytner knows it’s a risk.
"Two years ago when they asked me, I said no," Hytner recalls.
"I totally believe in the stage musical as a form, but I didn’t
believe in the movie musical, and I thought, ‘I’m not in command
enough of the form to do it.’"
With two more films under his belt ("Object" and last year’s
"The Crucible"), the soft-spoken British director is easing into
his Hollywood role. His definition of what makes a musical is
strict, which will undoubtedly lend clarity to the production.
"Cabaret," for example, doesn’t count because Sally Bowles is
usually crooning to a night club audience rather than her
comrades.
The key, he stresses, is to believe it when the character breaks
into song. And did he believe "Evita"?
"To me it didn’t work. I didn’t know why they were singing."
Though rehearsals for "Chicago" weren’t underway at interview
time, Hytner feels both leads will capture some of the elements
that made ’30s and ’40s movie musicals box office successes.
"Goldie started her career as a show girl," Hytner says. Hawn
eased into the realm of musical comedy last year in Woody Allen’s
warm, quirky "Everyone Says I Love You."
As for Madonna, "She’s a great dancer, a good singer … The
great thing about ‘Chicago’ is nobody sings because they love
somebody else. Nobody sings out of principle. They sing out of
greed, lust, obsession with celebrity. All the bad reasons, which
is why it’s such fun and why it seems so apropos now.
"Madonna’s totally in that world. She totally understands that,"
Hytner continues. "And without going into a dissertation about how
Madonna’s been misunderstood all these years … ‘Material Girl’
was one of those classic instances of the intention being the
opposite of what people took from it. That was supposed to be spoof
of the concept of the material girl. But such was the spirit of the
Regan and Thatcher age that everybody took it for the opposite of
what it was."
Rather than merely filming a stage production, which is
essentially what some of the earliest movie musicals did, Hytner
wants to make use of the music video sensibilities that have worked
their way into film in the last few years. MTV homages include
"William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet," with its choppy shots and
magic-tinged backdrop and, to a lesser extent, the epic montage
that was the sung-through "Evita."
"The stage show (of "Chicago") is useless to me as a prototype.
It’s vaudeville. It’s quintessentially theatrical. To me, when I
realized there weren’t boundaries, I could start again, and Kander
and Ebb will start again with me," Hytner says.
The composer and lyricist will rework the score for "Chicago" to
make the transition between song and dialogue more fluid. But
enthusiasm and big names do not a box office profit make. In fact,
Hytner makes no pretense of understanding what makes audiences
embrace some movies while panning others, including "The
Crucible."
"There is genuinely no connection at all between quality and
commercial success," Hytner argues. "I’m not saying I can make
("Chicago") work. It might fall flat on its face. It will just be
fun to have a go."
Even Dana Scully couldn’t argue with that.