THE GREATEST SHOWMAN : Fan Reactions/Reviews

[jo]

A fan spots Ava as an extra in the movie --

[jo]

Check out her avatar

[jo]

Lol - I was a little slow on the uptake ( obviously lacking a kid's imagination) -- but I finally figured it out



*It must have been difficult to create a top hat so he used his old Batman cap which was BLACK

*Long-sleeved RED shirt is almost as good as Barnum's resplendent red regalia

*Cane is easier to make with cardboard!

*Not exactly the finest leather boots, but they hug well enough!


Great imagination, Little Dude


Happy singing and dancing to THE GREATEST SHOW

Jo

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From a tweeter based in Australia --

Hope they were all singing softly -- LOL!

[jo]

The great old Hollywood musical tradition!

People miss them... as more recent movie musicals have been film adaptations of stage musicals ( Les Miserables, Into the Woods, Ohantom of the Opera, Chicago, Mamma Mia!, Evita) or new adaptations of original animated musicals-turned-stagemusicals-reverting-back-to-screen-musicals ( Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella ), except for last year's La La Land.

Will Hugh ever consider a remake of any musical from the golden days?


Jo

[jo]

[jo]

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN was enjoyed immensely by so many people, with some of them being inspired --

*to be a choreographer
*to be a trapeze artist
*to run away to the circus
*to be a singing ringmaster
*to be a mini-Keala

*and our tweeter wants to do a critique


Will Michael Gracey release a Director's Cut?
Or at least make a Director's Commentary over the motion picture itself?


A lot of interest ( and pre-orders) on the video release (BluRay or DVD) and VOD as the movie has given so much pleasure to people.


Jo

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A well put-together video -- showing how actors who are real singers were cast in the movie.



Love their choices of Hugh clips showing him with different singing performances.

Cute one showing him as the singing Wolverine


And I do like their choice of the version of OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNIN' -- this video from the live Mackintosh tribute concert showed not just the full-on charisma and stage presence of the unknown Hugh Jackman but also his great way with a song.

PS: I guess they didn't realize that Michelle was Sally Bowles in a recent revival of CABARET.

[jo]

http://instagram.com/p/BdzCKmBjgtY

[jo]

A musical franchise? Never heard

This blogger wants a sequel to THE GREATEST SHOWMAN...and his idea makes sense!

musicalnewz.com/?p=581

Besides, if it takes another 7 years to deliver the musical, Hugh would be age-appropriate as to when the real PT Barnum founded the circus


Jo

[jo]

Another student review -- from the temple not of music but of technology

From MIT's THE TECH student paper!


**** of 5 stars!

thetech.com/2018/01/11/the-greatest-showman-movie-review

The Tech


La La Circus

P.T. Barnum’s idealized business makes for quite a good show
By Torri Yearwood Jan. 11, 2018


Hugh Jackman stars as P.T. Barnum.
NIKO TAVERNISE, COURTESY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION
★★★★☆
The Greatest Showman
Directed by Michael Gracey
Screenplay by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon
Story by Jenny Bicks
Rated PG, now playing

Take yourself back to the early 1800s, New York City. A vibrant metropolis as filled with foot-traffic as with horse-drawn carriages, positively pulsing with life. At the intersection of Broadway and Ann Street rests the fantastic P.T. Barnum’s American Museum, an imposing, embellished white building highlighted with red ribbon and colourful variety of ten foot tall advertisements for human curiosities and oddities.

With this as a backdrop, The Greatest Showman takes the compositional talents behind La La Land (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) and makes a fanciful hard-pop musical rendition of the life of P.T. Barnum and his circus. While taking large artistic licences on the true story, the writers bring to life an emotionally engaging, visually stunning, and auditorily amazing performance, powerfully supported by the vocal talents of Hugh Jackman (P.T. Barnum), Zac Efron (Philip Carlyle), Keala Settle (Lettie Lutz, the Bearded Lady), and Loren Allred (voice of Jenny Lind, who was acted by Rebecca Ferguson).
The distorted, auto-tuned, grungy feel associated with the hard-pop genre was definitely evident, occasionally clashing with the bright, stylized mid-1800s visual, but the catchiness and takeaway from the songs has kept me humming since. To each song, there was impressive, colourful, exciting, albeit occasionally fake-looking choreography, masterfully designed by Mathieu Leopold.

Personally, I loved the audacity of the movie. Nothing was underdone, sometimes to the point of being too over the top (I’m looking at you Jenny Lind), but always unapologetically so, and in such a way that never really felt stationary. Each character had an arc to travel and did so in their own way, overcoming hurdles and making leaps on their own, often without hand-holding the audience through the developments. The writers wanted to make you care about the characters and their journey, practicing the best of the “Show, don’t tell” school of storytelling.

Sidenote: Best background character award of 2017 goes to the bartenders. Just a whole new level of unspoken sass and understanding between them and Barnum. From their synchronicity in “The other side” to the unspoken bond shown in “From now on” with all of Barnum's achievements documented on the walls, created, without a single line, a fun and somewhat interesting background character. Well done Daniel Campos and Rod Roberts!

Hope he reflects the tastes of other students, too, including those from their neighbor (Harvard).

[jo]

Dancing can be more fun than singing

[jo]

[jo]

A wonderful tribute from WONDER WOMAN herself --

[jo]

Those two workshop videos were the most inspired marketing pitch ever made by FOX marketing for this movie! THIS IS ME has now drawn 3.7 million views and FROM NOW ON 2.9 million views...and each comment is rapturous and heartfelt. I wonder where the idea to show them came from? From what I heard that workshop tape was "heavily guarded" - LOL!

There have been so many requests to include the two workshops, or even better the entire session, on the video release ( BluRay/DVD).

But at that time what gave the public a very slight hint of how it went was a tweet by Broadway's Andrew Keenan Bolger ( the lighthaired actor singing on the left side of the video frame) that each song was like the finale moments of SISTER ACT 2.

Andrew Keenan-Bolger Verified account 
‏@keenanblogger
Doing a reading of @pasekandpaul’s new project and every number is basically the last 10 minutes of SISTER ACT 2. #takeoffyourrobes

[jo]

From the WORKSHOPS thread --

[jo]

You can't put a good show down -- despite the dissing from oldtimers on the BWW board, someone opened a new thread re The- Greatest-Showman-on-Broadway casting possibilities --

www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.php?thread=1106718&dt=5

[jo]

A big fan of the movie -- he has been tweeting about THE GREATEST SHOWMAN for sometime now :

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