The Best Musicals of the 1930's, Wizard of Oz Definitely

The 1930s..idk. It was the height of The Great Depression. I'd say "Anything Goes" which really has a 20s vibe.

They do The Charleston and everything.
There have been 3 rivals of the stage musical. I think it was on Broadway last year. I saw the movie on Turner Classic movies last year. It's available for rent on amazon prime.
 
People might not be aware that several great 'musicals' were made in the Silent Era; scores were written for silent movies for those big theaters with orchestras in the teens and Twenties.


They weren't technically 'musicals' if the theaters running them didn't have the big orchestras to do the 'soundtrack' scores that came with them. They also made them to be run in 'regular' theaters to compensate for the lack of musicians. Mt grandmother remembers paying a whole dollar for a seat to see Kismet with a full orchestra, and yes they played Borodin's works. His Prince Igor is one of my personal favorites; don't know if it was part of the movie's accompaniment or not. The song Stranger In Paradise is adapted from Prince Igor's opera, which does go with the soundtracks accompanying the movie, both in the Silent era and the 1950's version.
 
People might not be aware that several great 'musicals' were made in the Silent Era; scores were written for silent movies for those big theaters with orchestras in the teens and Twenties.


They weren't technically 'musicals' if the theaters running them didn't have the big orchestras to do the 'soundtrack' scores that came with them. They also made them to be run in 'regular' theaters to compensate for the lack of musicians. Mt grandmother remembers paying a whole dollar for a seat to see Kismet with a full orchestra, and yes they played Borodin's works. His Prince Igor is one of my personal favorites; don't know if it was part of the movie's accompaniment or not. The song Stranger In Paradise is adapted from Prince Igor's opera, which does go with the soundtracks accompanying the movie, both in the Silent era and the 1950's version.
Wow, I never realized there were musicals in silent movie days. Most people in the late 20's lived in small to medium size towns and rural areas so most people never had a change see any of the great musicals on Broadway or the road shows which went to large cities. So when sound movie musical hit the silver screen in every town and city across the country they were very popular. From the time the Jazz Singer was made in 1927 to 1930, there were dozens of movie musicals.
 

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