AMPAS Announces “The Making of Great Movie Musicals” Online Series

Who doesn’t love a good musical – or at the very least seen one? Whether voluntarily in a movie theater, or just channel surfing late at night, if the characters in the movie are breaking out into song every ten minutes, you know you’re in for one of the best loved film genres – the movie musical!

In conjunction with the Academy’s April 27 premiere of a new digital restoration of “Bye Bye Birdie,” a four-part online series – The Making of Great Movie Musicals – will explore the progression of movie musicals from the early talkies through the Golden Age and into the modern era. The guided tour examines the films and creative artists who gave generations of film lovers countless magical musical movie moments.

In Part One, “Putting the Music in the Musicals,” take a trip behind the cameras to meet some of the talents responsible for the most memorable movie musicals. The creativity of these composers, lyricists and choreographers led to some of Hollywood’s most beloved classics. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Irving Berlin, Bob Fosse – here are some of the influential legends behind films like “Gigi,” “Mary Poppins” and “Cabaret.”

The final Rodgers and Hammerstein musical (both on stage and film), “The Sound of Music,” was based on the memoirs of Maria von Trapp, seen here (right) on the set of the 1965 film with star Julie Andrews (left) and Patricia Wise (center), wife of the film’s director, Robert Wise.

Click HERE to see the Academy’s new feature series. Visit AMPAS’s official site HERE, “Like” them on Facebook HERE and follow them on Twitter (@TheAcademy) HERE.