50 Fun Facts About Movie Musical

Which 1927 film was the first feature with synchronized music and lip-synced speech?

Al Jolson performed six songs and the silent era was effectively over.

Which 1929 musical, advertised as 'All-Talking, All-Singing, All-Dancing', won Best Picture?

Its show-biz plot has two sisters competing for the same song-and-dance man.

Which song from The Wizard of Oz won the Oscar for Best Original Song?

Judy Garland also received an Academy Juvenile Award, but the film lost money until its 1949 re-release.

Which actor was originally cast as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz before being replaced by Jack Haley?

He recorded all his songs and started filming before the aluminum makeup put him in hospital.

The 1952 Gene Kelly classic set in Hollywood is about performers caught up in which change?

The plot was built around Arthur Freed's back catalogue of songs, many written during that very transition.

Who co-directed and choreographed the 1952 film where Gene Kelly splashes through puddles?

Debbie Reynolds' singing on 'Would You' was actually dubbed by Betty Noyes, in a film about dubbing.

Which film topped the American Film Institute's list of the greatest movie musicals?

It was only a modest hit on release in 1952.

An American in Paris ends with a dialogue-free ballet set to Gershwin lasting how long?

Gene Kelly choreographed it opposite Leslie Caron in her film debut.

Which 1958 musical won all nine of its Oscar nominations, including Best Picture?

The clean-sweep record stood until The Return of the King went eleven for eleven in 2004.

How many Academy Awards did the 1961 West Side Story win, a record for a musical?

It was nominated for eleven, and co-director Jerome Robbins got a special award on top.

In West Side Story, the Jets fight which rival gang?

Riff leads the Jets and Bernardo, played by George Chakiris, leads the Puerto Rican gang.

Who provided Natalie Wood's singing voice as Maria in West Side Story?

The same ghost singer dubbed Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady and Deborah Kerr in The King and I.

Who played Eliza Doolittle in the 1964 film of My Fair Lady, replacing the stage star Julie Andrews?

Andrews won that year's Best Actress Oscar anyway, for Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppins was Julie Andrews' feature film debut. How many Oscars did the film win?

Its thirteen nominations remain a record for any Walt Disney Studios film.

Which songwriting duo, siblings under contract to Disney, wrote the songs for Mary Poppins?

The film was shot entirely at Disney's Burbank studio, with London painted on backdrops.

The Sound of Music became the highest-grossing film in history in 1966, overtaking which movie?

It held the crown for five years and broke box-office records in 29 countries.

In which city is The Sound of Music set?

Filming took place there and in Los Angeles between March and September 1964.

Oliver! won Best Picture in 1968. Which was the next musical to win, 34 years later?

Rob Marshall's film took six Oscars, including Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Funny Girl produced the only tie in Oscar history for Best Actress. Barbra Streisand shared it with whom?

Streisand was reprising her Broadway role as Fanny Brice in her film debut.

Fiddler on the Roof (1971) follows Tevye, a poor Jewish man in what trade?

He has five daughters to marry off, and the film was the highest grosser of 1971.

Cabaret (1972) holds the record for most Oscars won without Best Picture. How many?

Bob Fosse beat Francis Ford Coppola for Best Director, but The Godfather took Best Picture.

In Cabaret, which is the only musical number not performed inside the Kit Kat Klub?

It is sung by a Nazi youth and a German crowd in a beer garden.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, history's longest theatrical release, became a hit as what?

Audiences at New York's Waverly Theater started talking back to the screen in 1976.

Who wrote The Rocky Horror Show and plays Riff Raff in the film?

Tim Curry made his film debut as Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

Who plays Danny Zuko in Grease?

Henry Winkler turned the part down for fear of being typecast as a greaser after Happy Days.

How old was Olivia Newton-John when she worried she was too old to play high-schooler Sandy in Grease?

Producer Allan Carr had also considered Carrie Fisher, Ann-Margret and Marie Osmond.

Grease was 1978's second-best-selling US album, behind the soundtrack of which 1977 film?

Grease was the highest-grossing film of 1978 and the highest-grossing musical ever at the time.

Which film began the Disney Renaissance and won Oscars for Best Score and Best Song?

'Under the Sea' took the song prize, and the villain Ursula was modelled on the drag performer Divine.

Evita won the Oscar for Best Original Song with which number written specially for the film?

Madonna also won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical.

Moulin Rouge! is the third and final entry in which Baz Luhrmann series?

It followed Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet, and won Oscars for production and costume design.

Which choreographer made his feature directing debut with Chicago (2002)?

Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere all won Golden Globes for it.

Dreamgirls, whose Dreams echo the Supremes, was the acting debut of which American Idol alum?

She won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress on her first try.

Casting a male star as Edna Turnblad in the 2007 Hairspray continued a tradition of casting whom?

Divine played Edna in John Waters's 1988 original and Harvey Fierstein on Broadway.

Mamma Mia! was filmed mainly on which Greek island?

ABBA's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus composed the score, and it grossed $706 million on a $52 million budget.

What was unusual about how the vocals were recorded for the 2012 film of Les Misérables?

Actors sang to a live piano through earpieces, with the orchestra added afterwards.

In Les Misérables (2012), which actress had her real hair cut off on camera for her role as Fantine?

She won Best Supporting Actress; the film took three Oscars from eight nominations.

Frozen's 'Let It Go' won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Who wrote it?

The song reshaped Elsa into a sympathetic character and forced a rewrite of the first act.

Which two actors were originally in talks to star in La La Land before Gosling and Stone were cast?

Chazelle wrote it before Whiplash but no studio would finance it without changes.

How many Oscar nominations did La La Land receive, tying the all-time record?

It won six but famously lost Best Picture to Moonlight after the wrong envelope was read.

The Greatest Showman is a heavily fictionalised life of which real showman?

Its Golden Globe-winning song 'This Is Me' was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Who plays Elphaba in the 2024 film of Wicked?

Ariana Grande plays Glinda; the story was split into two films rather than cut down.

Wicked (2024) became the highest-grossing musical film adaptation, taking about how much worldwide?

It won two Oscars, for costume and production design, from ten nominations.

Which choreographer's kaleidoscopic 1933 production numbers in 42nd Street revived the movie musical?

He drew on the drill precision he had learned as a World War I soldier, creating patterns that could never fit on a real stage.

Which producer headed the MGM unit behind Meet Me in St. Louis, Singin' in the Rain and Gigi?

From 1944 the Freed Unit worked semi-independently inside MGM and made many of the genre's most celebrated films.

What was the first Indian sound film, a 1931 hit that launched Bollywood's love of musicals?

Director Ardeshir Irani followed it in 1937 with Kisan Kanya, the first colour film in Hindi.

Which director first agreed to make The Sound of Music in 1963 despite saying he hated the stage show?

He scouted some 75 Salzburg locations with Ernest Lehman before Robert Wise took over the project that October.

The Sound of Music was the first American film to be completely dubbed abroad in what way?

German, French, Italian and Spanish versions were fully dubbed when it opened in 261 overseas theatres.

Roughly how many copies has The Sound of Music soundtrack album sold worldwide?

Rodgers wrote both words and music for two new songs because Hammerstein had died in 1960; Irwin Kostal arranged the score.

Which Happy Days star turned down the role of Danny in Grease for fear of being typecast?

He later regretted it; Travolta, who had played Doody in a touring stage version, got the part in a three-picture deal with Robert Stigwood.

Producer Steve Krantz, who first bought the Grease film rights in 1974, planned to make it as what?

He thought a 1950s spoof suited cartoons best, but his option lapsed after two years and Allan Carr's live-action version followed.