THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

[mamaleh]

Zac and Hugh's well wishes seem to have done the trick: Pasek & Paul and co-writer Hurwitz did indeed triumph at the Globes. Well done, guys.

Ellen

[jo]

[jo]

Zendaya enjoying the snow near where they are filming -- not sure when the photo was taken.

[ruby]

Jan 9, 2017 18:26:34 GMT -5 jo said:

Zendaya enjoying the snow near where they are filming -- not sure when the photo was taken.

DUMBO- which is just as likely where she resides while working on this movie as actually filming under the Manhattan bridge. ( Down under Manhattan bridge overpass)

[jo]

Didn't Hugh bike through Manhattan Bridge in the mornings ( seen by a fellow cyclist twice) when they were just in rehearsals -- not many knew at that time that he must have been on the way to the studio location?

This was posted around mid-October.

Mary Cella
Verified account
‏@mary_cella 9m
9 minutes ago

I just kicked Hugh Jackman's ass biking up the Manhattan Bridge again, proving once and for all that a woman can front a superhero movie.

Maybe he no longer goes on his bike these days ... Although maybe part of the reason why he was biking to work was because he was advised by someone ( could it have been voice teacher Joan Lader?) that biking opens up the throat/lungs ( maybe because it is a form of aerobic activity?).

Btw, Zendaya has said in an interview that she is currently living in Brooklyn for the duration of the filming.

While Michelle Williams is also a permanent resident of Brooklyn with her daughter Matilda (Heath Ledger's daughter) - maybe that made Greatest Showman a more attractive filming proposition ... Michelle was once seen with her daughter on public transport on the way to Matilda's school.

I have always wanted to visit Brooklyn ( the Botanical Gardens, etc) but have only seen its periphery ( Peter Lugar's, The River Café) and some parts to and from JFK.


Jo

[jo]

Must have been their agent/casting call director ?

http://instagram.com/p/BPDMaKClWm7

[hughmanity]

http://instagr.am/p/BPGiiPNjVnL

Gotta love Hugh in period costume!

[jo]

Now he's really looking like a Showman

[jo]

The tweeter is probably part of the ensemble/cast, based on her previous tweets.

I had to look up the word -- Flackery refers to publicity and promotion.


Jo

[jo]

Another one -- Hugh must be enjoying himself

http://instagram.com/p/BPGixQ_Dok9

It looks like he is now wearing a hairpiece to approximate Barnum's look ( based on the two Instagram photos)?

I heard that they did rehearse the production number for a few days last week...and were filming the musical number when filming resumed this week.


What could have been a greater year for Hugh, performing- wise? A return to Broadway somewhere -- haha, wishful thinking on my part!


Jo

[jo]

Who's the poster

chadleat

Chad Leat Chad A. Leat, entrepreneur and retired Vice Chairman of Global Banking at Citigroup. www.chadleat.com

I wonder if he is part-financier for THE GREATEST SHOWMAN ?

Or part-owner of Steiner?

Or a neighbor ?

Or all of them


Jo

[jo]

Uh-oh --- no photos?


Facebook Page of the artist Annika Connor ( who seems part of the creative team) --


www.facebook.com/AnnikaConnorArtist/

[jo]

[jo]

[jo]

In case the Instagram photos get deleted

[jo]

Just a thought - I wonder if they curled his hair ( ala Curly)


He was wearing headcover (inside the car) in his message to Little Logan.


Maybe it is just a wig ( just like Valjean)?

Jo

[jo]

Why does this photo evoke the concert image of Hugh singing THIS IS ME





The song is not meant for Barnum, but maybe Hugh changed the composers/screenwriter/director's minds


Jo

[jo]

From one of the ensemble/cast --

Katrina Perkins ‏@katrinaperks 1h
1 hour ago

Day 3 on #TheGreatestShowman & we get a new #song ! Still #excited to hear the 1 of the last 2days! I am fired up to own this #soundtrack!

[jo]

Katrina Perkins ‏@katrinaperks 38m
38 minutes ago

When the dancers break into a spontaneous rendition of "I Believe I Can Fly" and you end up on @realhughjackman 's #snapchat #goodday #actor

[mamaleh]

Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus is closing after 146 years. I wonder if this will affect, for better or worse, the success of the movie:

www.washingtonpost.com/national/apnewsbreak-ringling-bros-circus-to-close-after-146-years/2017/01/14/672bfe94-dad0-11e6-a0e6-d502d6751bc8_story.html?utm_term=.c91a7894a072

Ellen

[carouselkathy]

I've been worried about animal rights in regards to THE GREATEST SHOWMAN. There may not be an audience for this film. The only plus is the music was written by the LA LA LAND composers and it has Hugh Jackman in a musical role. Critics may give it a look, but audiences? Ringling Bros. is gone because of poor attendance. I'm not very hopeful.

[jo]

Very informative historical account of life in the big top!

www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-big-top-comes-down-ringling-bros-circus-is-closing/ar-AAlSxkf?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=edgsp

Nowhere left to run away to: The final days of the circus

Associated Press
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By TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press


Ringling Bros. Circus to Close After 146 Years

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Goodbye to death-defying feats — daring young men (and women) on the flying trapeze, whip-wielding lion tamers, human cannonballs. Goodbye to the scent of peanuts and popcorn, the thrill of three rings, the jaunty bum-bum-dadadada of circus music.
Send out the clowns. The Big Top is coming down — for good.

See Ringling Brothers’ ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ Through the Years
On Saturday, officials of the company that owns the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced that it will close in May, ending a 146-year run that dates back to a time before automobiles or airplanes or movies, when Ulysses S. Grant was president and minstrel shows were popular entertainment.
What killed the circus? There are many suspects: increased railroad costs. Costly court battles with animal rights activists that led to an end to elephant acts — and the fact that some people didn't want to see a show without elephants.

But mostly, in an era of Pokemon Go, online role playing games and YouTube celebrities, the "Greatest Show on Earth" doesn't seem so great.

"It's been through world wars, and it's been through every kind of economic cycle and it's been through a lot of change," said Kenneth Feld, chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, owner of the Ringling Bros. "In the past decade there's been more change in the world than in the 50 or 75 years prior to that. And I think it isn't relevant to people in the same way."

© (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) A Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey clown juggles for fans during a pre show for fans Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017, in Orlando, Fla.

For a long time, the circus was more than relevant — it was the stuff that dreams were made of.
The first circuses were created in Europe; the American twist would be canvas tents that allowed mobile troupes to go to the far-flung audiences of the 19th century.

Phineas Taylor Barnum's traveling menagerie was wildly popular, while the five Ringling brothers performed juggling acts and skits in Wisconsin. Eventually, Barnum, the Ringlings and another performance-minded businessman named James Bailey pooled their resources and knowledge. Some of the early performances were merely zoos on wheels and a few human oddities, but over time, the acts became truly spectacular — attractions like Jumbo, touted as the world's largest elephant.

Sprawling companies traveled around America by train, wowing audiences with the sheer scale of entertainment and exotic animals. Deborah Walk, assistant director of legacy and circus at The Ringling — circus impresario John Ringling's mansion, art and circus collection in Sarasota — said that the circus' impact on small town America is often overlooked.

"That wonderful show that you can see in Madison Square Garden crisscrossed the country and ended up in San Francisco. And every place in between saw the same thing," she said.

"In the 1880s, especially, here you had this huge colossal canvas city that tracked across the country. It brought the wonders of the world to your door. You didn't have to go to Africa or Asia to see the animals."
The circus also heralded societal changes, she said. Women became performers around the turn of the 20th century (although there would be no African-American ringmaster until 1999 or a female ringmaster until 2016).
When the circus came to town, kids dreamed of running away to join it and its ever-changing roster of stars: the sad-faced clown, Emmitt Kelly; the daredevil trapeze act, the Flying Wallendas; Gunther Gabel-Williams, blond-maned and fearless in the ring with the big cats.

The circus was so important to home-front morale that President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave Ringling Bros. special permission to use the rails during World War II.

"The circus is the only ageless delight that you can buy for money," Ernest Hemingway wrote in a three-page essay for the Ringling Bros. program in 1953. "It is the only spectacle I know, that, while you watch it, gives the quality of a truly happy dream."

But as the 20th century went on, kids became less enthralled. Movies, television, video games and the internet captured young minds. The circus didn't have savvy product merchandising tie-ins or Saturday morning cartoons to shore up its image. After 1956, the circus no longer performed under tents, moving to arenas.



The public grew conflicted about animal acts. Circuses without animals — such as Cirque du Soleil — were smaller and growing in popularity.

Animal rights activists put pressure on cities where the circus toured. Los Angeles and Oakland prohibited the use of bull-hooks by elephant trainers. Asheville, North Carolina, banned wild or exotic animals from performing in the city-owned stadium.

In 2014, Feld Entertainment won $25.2 million in settlements from groups including the Humane Society of the United States, ending a 14-year legal battle over allegations that circus employees mistreated elephants.
The initial lawsuit was filed by a former Ringling barn helper who accepted at least $190,000 from animal-rights groups. The judge called him "essentially a paid plaintiff" who lacked credibility and standing to sue, and rejected the abuse claims.

Kenneth Feld testified about the elephants' importance to the show at that 2009 trial.
"The symbol of the 'Greatest Show on Earth' is the elephant, and that's what we've been known for throughout the world for more than a hundred years," he said.

Asked whether the show would be the same without elephants, Feld replied, "No, it wouldn't."

© (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey performers are seen during a show Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017, in Orlando, Fla. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will end the "The…

© (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Ringmaster Kristen Michelle Wilson appears during a performance Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017, in Orlando, Fla. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum &…

And, it wasn't. Feld Entertainment removed the elephants in 2016, sending all 40 of them to their Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida. Ticket sales plummeted. The circus, already an afterthought for many, receded further in the public mind.

Jeff and Carol Fouse of St. Louis, Missouri, toured the Ringling Circus Museum on a recent day. They saw the old-timey diorama of the circus encampments. They shuffled past the colorful, sequined ringmaster costumes and peered into the rail cars that were once filled with clowns and elephants and even a pygmy hippo.


Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey performers begin a show Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017, in Orlando, Fla.

Then they squinted into the bright Florida sunshine. "I don't even know if there is a circus anymore," said Jeff Fouse, a 63-year-old engineer, tilting his head.

The Feld family, which bought the circus in 1967, has branched out and bought and created other large-scale touring shows, such as Disney on Ice, Marvel Live and Monster Jam. Each was specialized with characters and stories, but Feld made sure that each had a bit of the circus in them, as well. It was, after all, about the show.

But the circus, itself, was dying.

The Felds said they looked at scenarios and costs. They ran numbers and tried new things — an interactive phone app, ice skaters in the show, adding motorcycle stunts — but nothing worked.

The show will go on at smaller and more specialized circuses. But come May, after almost a century and a half of spectacular revels, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will vanish, like a big, colorful, improbably long dream.

Sixty-three years ago, in his circus program essay, Hemingway marveled at the way performers made stunts and tricks in the ring look so simple.

"It is all wonderfully easy in your dreams," he wrote.

Do check out the video clip from the article!


Here are some of the photos --

[jo]

How will this affect THE GREATEST SHOWMAN ?


I could be wrong, but I think the loss of the real circus could actually provide unexpected interest in and publicity for the forthcoming movie, especially so that THE GREATEST SHOWMAN is being released in 2017!


Curiosity, nostalgia, and a longing for old-fashioned entertainment, perhaps?!

Reliving history ( as has been done in so many movies), perhaps?!

Could this be the last time that they send in the clowns? That breaks the hearts!.
There might even be association with Sondheim's most universally popular song ( Send in the Clowns) with people, which might evoke interest in The Greatest Showman.


Re the film project --

*It has already made the list of some of the 2017 expected bigtime movie entertainment together with LOGAN and other superhero/fantasy movies! I have seen that in both USA and UK film blogs/media lists. In a way, the two Jackman 2017 projects are bookending the year, with two very different types of movies!

*The project is a musical -- and the word is that it is shaping to be a fantastic entertainment show. First, Pasek and Paul wrote the entire musical score ( they only wrote the lyrics for LALALAND -- the real sample of their work is THIS IS ME, the song about the so-called circus freaks). Michelle Williams has commented that she was really enjoying the dancing and the singing involved when they were in rehearsals! No offense meant to Lalaland ( which seems to have caught the romantic fancy rather than the excellence of the songs and dancing) but the emphasis for THE GREATEST SHOWMAN is that it is a return to the classic musical in the tradition of THE SOUND OF MUSIC and WEST SIDE STORY. That could be nostalgia and curiousity in a big way!

*The final script has been written by Oscar winner Michael Arndt ( whose work for Original Screenplay won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine and was also nominated for Adapted Screenplay for Toy Story 3...and has written the scripts for blockbusters like Star Wars:The Force Awakens and Hunger Games), with some inputs from Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon ... and again the word from someone who is involved in the project is that is is a homerun! It is a biopic, not just an emphasis on the circus entertainment, and the focus could be equally on the man and the  famous showbiz entertainment attributed to him. It is NOT an adaptation of the first musical BARNUM ( of Jim Daley and Michael Crawford known mostly to theatre fans) either.

*It has a very strong cast --

Hugh Jackman, known for his musical talent ( Les Miserables and Broadway) is leading the cast and portraying the showbiz impresario P.T.Barnum, a role that seems perfect casting for Hugh ( not just for the triple-threats but for Hugh's known showy performer rep -- one instance of which was his famous 2009 Oscars hosting!). And btw, he is also known as Wolverine

Michelle Williams plays Charity Barnum and she brings the acting gravitas ( 3 nominations and maybe a 4th one for Manchester by the Sea) but who can also surprise people who did not know that she was Sally Bowles in the Broadway reprise of CABARET. Could Hugh-and-Michelle  be this generation's Fred-and-Ginger!  Hope so!    Rebecca Ferguson (who plays the Swedish nightingale Jenny Lind, whose concerts was a highlight in Barnum's showcases...and also involved in a rumored romantic relationship with Barnum) may not be universally known but she was a strong surprise in the last Mission Impossible Cruise movie. She is Swedish and very beautiful and she has a musical training background.

Okay, what will make this movie appeal to the younger more hip generation?! Zac Efron -- whose High School Musical series have left a permanent imprint on young minds ( who are now in the much-desired movie demos of younger adults) and whose new movie Baywatch with Dwayne Johnson will be shown mid-year. Zendaya, also another Disney baby, plays the trapeze artist who attracts the romantic interest of ringmaster Efron! Btw, Hugh has a social media base in Instagram of over 9 million. Zac has over 20 million and Zendaya has over 30 million! Were they cast for their popularity alone Wait for the dramatic story that evolves around them in THE GREATEST SHOWMAN.  And  these two young cast members both have the musical and dancing chops!

What about the Broadway community -- the workshops for this movie initially involved Broadway actors, one of whom will be in a featured role in the film and will likely lead the singing for THIS IS ME, Keala Settle. It is likely that smaller roles may have also been won ( especially in the singing and dancing ensembles) by other Broadway performers ( remember that Instagram clip showing them greeting Hugh on his birthday?).


*It is being positioned as "family entertainment", with a release date on Christmas Day! The movie is both produced and distributed by a major studio FOX, the first one in decades by a major studio! Expect the full ( commercial) support from FOX, especially so that it will be one of the first movies that will be completely attributed to the leadership of new Chairman Stacey Snider.


*Talking about Wolverine -- if LOGAN proves to be a very successful commercial and artistic hit -- THE GREATEST SHOWMAN ( Jackman) could very well ride on the popularity of LOGAN ( also Jackman) , especially so if that is Hugh Jackman's farewell movie for the role of 17 years!




The movie is more than just a circus movie -- it promises to be an entertaining story of a man for whom the word show business must have been invented! That it is set in a timeline of a man whose popularity lasted 146 years could provide a strong spark of interest! It was probably a good call that the new title is THE GREATEST SHOWMAN and not THE GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH!

Hope FOX splashes the drama and spectacle as much as they do for their other blockbusters!

That the movie is told in a big film production by a major studio at a particular time of the year ( the holiday season) could prove to be a strong  attraction to movie audiences and to the awards community alike



Jo

[jo]

This me brings me back to a few weeks back when I saw a Las Vegas troupe come here for a visit in a production called LE GRAND CIRQUE.

I was invited by my sister to watch it with her and her most important guests, her two little granddaughters!

After the show, I asked her 6 year-old granddaughter, an American-born young girl who continues to live in America, if she liked what we saw! She replied : "YES!!" ... And when I asked her which part was her favorite. Her reply: "All of it!!"

Btw, our young relative does enjoy the trampoline herself


Hope THE GREATEST SHOWMAN is rated at most with a PG-13!


Jo

[jo]

Hey, The New York Times is on the trail on the evolving boom( er...boomlet) in movie musical projects!

www.nytimes.com/2017/01/15/movies/live-action-musicals-la-la-land.html?_r=0

Hot on the Trail of ‘La La Land,’ Here Come More Movie Musicals
By BROOKS BARNESJAN. 15, 2017


LOS ANGELES — Dead. Embalmed. Buried. A year ago, that is what most movie studios would have said about live-action musicals, pointing to a long line of box office calamities: “Rock of Ages,” “Burlesque,” “Jersey Boys,” “Across the Universe,” “Nine.”

The few out-and-out successes in recent decades have been adaptations of Broadway classics (“Les Misérables,” 2012) or marketed in misleading ways. When 20th Century Fox was selling Baz Luhrmann’s hit “Moulin Rouge!” in 2001, the studio was so afraid that people would stay home if they knew it was a musical that the trailer rather awkwardly tried to avoid singing at all costs.



But Hollywood, excited in part by the critical and commercial success of “La La Land,” which cost Lionsgate $30 million to make and has taken in $132 million worldwide as it streaks toward the Academy Awards, is taking out its jazz hands again.

There are roughly 20 musicals in the works at studios, according to the film database IMDBpro. Some are live-action adaptations of classic animated musicals, like “Beauty and the Beast,” directed by Bill Condon and set for release by Disney in March. Others are films (among them, “Wicked”) based on contemporary Broadway hits.


Moreover, several studios — for the first time since the 1990s — are devoting meaningful resources to break-into-song films with original music. This year, Fox will release “The Greatest Showman,” which stars Hugh Jackman as the circus impresario P. T. Barnum; it has a dozen original songs.

Disney has “Bob the Musical,” about a man whose life becomes filled with song after a head injury. Universal Pictures won a bidding war for an untitled musical comedy starring Josh Gad, with original songs by the composer-lyricists Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.



There are several reasons for renewed studio interest, said Marc Platt, a “La La Land” producer whose other projects include an original song-and-dance film that will star Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig and a sequel to “Mary Poppins” with a new score.

“Thankfully, as much as Hollywood is interested in brands, I think people are still looking for originality and freshness,” Mr. Platt said. “Musicals can also be their own brand: They have an event status. I also think the ceiling on the audience is lifting. You’ve got a new generation of fans who have grown up with television shows like ‘Glee.’”

Mr. Platt added, “Music has a way of getting inside all of us and lifting us up.” Put another way, there is an inherent entertainment proposition in musicals, a heightened emotional experience that people go to the movies to find.



Mr. Platt, a former senior executive at Universal (and the father of Ben Platt, star of the hit stage production “Dear Evan Hansen”), has in many ways become Hollywood’s go-to producer of movie musicals. In 2014, he shepherded Disney’s adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Into the Woods,” which took in $213 million worldwide. As a major force behind “Wicked” on Broadway, Mr. Platt is working with Stephen Daldry (who directed the film version of “Billy Elliot”) to bring a movie version to theaters in 2019.

“Yes, still on track,” Mr. Platt said of that long-gestating project.

Nothing fuels a Hollywood boom (or a boomlet, as the case may be with musicals) like a track record of success. And some studio executives said that they were becoming more open to musicals because the animated variety had experienced such a renaissance. “Frozen” was a monster hit, selling $1.3 billion in tickets worldwide. Over the past few months, three animated musicals — “Sing,” “Moana” and “Trolls” — have taken in a combined $1 billion at the global box office. Disney will release a singalong version of “Moana” (with lyrics on the screen, karaoke style) on Jan. 27.

Some studios have also had recent success with pseudo-musicals, including films like “Pitch Perfect” that rely on pop hits and mostly keep the singing to stage settings. Television may also be giving film executives confidence; specials like “The Wiz Live!” and “Grease: Live” have reintroduced break-into-song entertainment to a mass audience.


Still, not everyone in Hollywood is convinced of a musical comeback. Kevin Goetz, chief executive of the film research company Screen Engine/ASI, said in an email that he had no research indicating increased demand. “I think it’s a long shot to think that animated movies with music, which have been around for years now, have a material effect in increasing the desire to see live-action musicals,” he added.

If “La La Land” is an exception to the box office rules, it is becoming quite an exception. On social media sites like Instagram and Facebook, young people — no prompting from Lionsgate, it promises — have been uploading videos of themselves singing “Audition,” one of the film’s showcase numbers. During the past week, the soundtrack has shot up the sales charts.

“La La Land,” starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as aspiring performers, won a record seven Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 8, including one for Damien Chazelle’s directing and one for Justin Hurwitz’s score. Powered by that publicity pop, the film took in about $14.5 million over the weekend (its sixth in release) in North America. The producers of “La La Land” also include Jordan Horowitz and Fred Berger.

The weekend’s No. 1 film was the feel-good drama “Hidden Figures,” which collected a strong $20 million. Produced by Chernin Entertainment and Levantine Films and released by Fox, “Hidden Figures” has a domestic total after four weeks of about $54.8 million.

Btw, co-producer for THE GREATEST SHOWMAN is CHERNIN ENTERTAINMENT ( with Peter Chernin, who was a topbrass Murdoch company exec, before he retired and was given a first-look deal with Fox, if I am not mistaken).

Also, the Broadway hit DEAR EVAN HANSEN ( starring Marc Platt's son Ben Platt who is being touted for TONY honors) is composed ( music and lyrics) by the team of Pasek and Paul ( the same team that composed the supposed dozen songs for THE GREATEST SHOWMAN.)! Pasek and Paul are the hottest composers at the moment as they also wrote the lyrics for Lalaland.

And hey, who starred in LES MISERABLES and got his first Oscar nod for the role of Valjean -- the same triple-threat leading man for THE GREATEST SHOWMAN?! LES MISERABLES was also a Best Picture nominee for an Oscar!


Hope all the stars are aligning for THE GREATEST SHOWMAN!


Jo