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John Kenneth Muir
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Singing a New Tune: The Rebirth of the Modern Film Musical from Evita to De-Lovely and Beyond Hardcover – June 1, 2005

by John Kenneth Muir (Author)
3.2 3.2 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
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(Applause Books). Critics the world over have often loudly lamented that the movie musical is a dead art form. However, while it is true that the musical no longer occupies the cherished place of prominence in American cinema that it once did, the old razzle-dazzle has had a comeback. Author and film expert John Kenneth Muir faces the music in Singing a New Tune , a rollicking study that traces the rebirth of the film musical from the dark days of the early 1990s when all the musical numbers were cut from the film I'll Do Anything due to preview audience hostility to the current heyday of Moulin Rouge, Chicago (Academy Award winner for Best Picture 2002), and Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera . Examining over a dozen musical films from the last decade, Muir explains how first-class artists have marshaled everything from spectacle ( Evita ) to humor ( South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut ); tragedy ( Dancer in the Dark ) to Shakespeare ( Love's Labour's Lost ); and even psychology and sexuality.
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  1. Print length
    328 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Applause Theatre & Cinema Books
  4. Publication date
    June 1, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781557836106
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1557836106
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1557836108
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Applause Theatre & Cinema Books; Hardcover edition (June 1, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 328 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781557836106
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1557836106
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.2 3.2 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

About the author

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John Kenneth Muir

John Kenneth Muir

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John Kenneth Muir is the award-winning creator of the audio-series Enter the House Between (2023) and author of 32 books in the fields of film & television, with an accent on horror & sci-fi. John has been described as one of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" by Rue Morgue Magazine, and as an "accomplished film journalist" by Comic Buyer's Guide. His director books include profiles of John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Christopher Guest, Tobe Hooper, Mira Nair, Sam Raimi, and Kevin Smith. John has twice won a Booklist Editor's Choice citation (for Horror Films of the 1970s and Terror Television). John is also the creator of the award-nominated web series, The House Between, and in 2009 John's blog, Reflections on Film/TV was named one of the "top 100" film study blogs on the Net. His latest non-fiction book is Horror Films of 2000-2009 (2022).

Customer reviews

3.2 out of 5 stars
3.2 out of 5
3 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Scott E. Miller
2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of errors and too little understanding of musicals
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2005
Verified Purchase
This author has written several books about films, so I'm guessing he knows about film. Unfortunately, he knows virtually nothing about musicals, and so this book is full of errors of fact, misunderstandings, etc. He routinely gets song titles, plot points, and musical terms wrong throughout the book, and he doesn't seem to have any respect for musicals as an art form. On top of that, this guy thinks Meat Loaf wrote the score for "Rocky Horror" (Richard O'Brien did). He thinks "Hopelessly Devoted to You" is from the stage version of "Grease" (it's not). He confuses the lead character's name with the actor who played him in "Strictly Ballroom" and gets them both wrong (Mercurio is the ACTOR). That kind of thing is all over this book.

There is some useful information here and there, but how can a reader trust that info when there are so many mistakes throughout the book?
8 people found this helpful
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John Matlock
5.0 out of 5 stars A Recent History of Musicals and Hollywood
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2005
I'm not so sure that the musical as a genre of movie ever really died. But like anything else in Hollywood they go through cycles. There will be a truly great, award winning, lots of money making movie; then the copycats will start making movies that are worse and worse until the idea goes around that this genre gets a bad reputation.

But that's a nit. Mr. Muir has done a great job talking about musicals from the 1920's to now. About a quarter of the book is a general history to get us up to through the 1980's. The remainder is broken down into decades. From the 80's and into the early 90's musicals languished. Not a solid hit among the bunch. Then came 1996. Madonna did 'Evita.' Then came 'Chicago' with a bunch of Oscars. Finally the book ends in 2004 with 'The Phantom of the Opera.'

The musical has changed over time and the book talks about these changes in a literate and understanding manner. Very interesting reading from a very knowledgable author.
3 people found this helpful
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Jeff Davis
5.0 out of 5 stars A New Tune Indeed
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2005
As the author says in the book, this isn't your father's study of musicals. This book focuses on the movie musical in the last ten year or so, and looks at how it has changed from the Golden Age. I'm a fan of all things Buffy, which is why I bought this book, and there's a great interview with Joss Whedon here, where he talks about his musical story on the TV Show, "Once More With Feeling" and his love of musicals. But what I really enjoyed most about the book were two things. Firstly, the author went right to the horses' mouth to talk with the people, mostly directors, who are making musicals today (like Alan "Evita" Parker and John Cameron "Hedwig" Mitchell). Secondly, he didn't just accept pre-conceived notions and so-called accepted-wisdom about the movie musical (a fact that always bothers me) from past scholars. On the contrary, he finds room and reasons here to applaud recent efforts like Moulin Rouge and Dancer in the Dark, and makes a strong case why these different musicals are still good films. As a fan of the movie musical, but not necessarily Broadway musicals, I found the film-centric approach a worthwhile one.
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