Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Of Stages and Screens

Yesterday we saw Dreamgirls. This is a not very good movie filled with remarkable performances.

I could tell the audience loved it, and yet, I wonder if they knew what they were missing. Dreamgirls (click that link for the Broadway show info) was originally a stage musical and much is lost in "opening it up" and transferring it to the screen.

Lost, you say? But audiences were applauding during the movie? And the critical acclaim is off the charts. What could they have possibly have lost?

Well, for one thing, the movie entirely misses the pauses, the extended silences, the full stops. This particular movie roars right along, never pausing, never hesitating for a moment. And in those moments you'll find everything. In the silence we see the tension, the anger, the fear, much more than in shouting, even more than the anguished solos. It's in that moment when it all stops that we really see the characters.

There are some remarkable performances. Eddy Murphy is amazing. And Jennifer Hudson was perfect. Beyoncé Knowles has really long arms. But performances, great costumes, even terrific music don't make a movie. Translating a musical to a movie is so difficult I can only think of a few that work, and most of them are simply filmed stage presentations. Yes, Fred Astaire could do it, but Fred Astaire could do many things that mere mortals can't.

So, yes, they were fated to fall short, but the direction and editing of this movie don't help. Jamie Fox looks like he can't really decide if he's really in a musical or not. And some of the transitions from dialog to singing are jarring. This late bunch of movie musicals seem to be directed by people that really don't get American musical theater. And don't get me started on "Moulin Rouge!" There was a detestable, ugly movie directed by someone that literally hates musicals.

I suppose there's simply that part of live performance that film can never do, and I say this as a great lover of movies. There is a thrill of witnessing a live performance. I don't know if you've ever seen a real, honest-to-god Broadway musical. Take, for example, the showstopper in Dreamgirls, "And I Am Telling You I Am Not Going." In the movie, Hudson nails it, but at its end she is nearly run over by the next scene. There's not time for a deep breath. On stage, well, they don't call it a showstopper for nothing. If you put Hudson on stage for that scene and song there'd be a moment where the hair on your arms would stand up, where you'd not only feel the deep anguish of the character, but you'd be aware that you were seeing something, really participating in it. And in that moment you'd realize just how good the performer is, better than you'd thought anyone could be. Then that would pass away as she brought the song to an end and the audience would be on its feet. The show would literally stop.

You can't do that in a movie, you tell me. Well, you'd be wrong about that. It could have been done, could have been better, but, then again, it would have been artificial.

I've done many plays and musicals (been a while, though). But I've never had a shot at a showstopper. My dream role: Nicely Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls. That roll gets to do all the fun songs, then, if done right, bring down the house with "Sit down you're rock'n the boat." Let me know if you're staging a version and I'll be there, checkered vest and all.