At first glance, it seems like nothing is missing from classic shows such as "The Phantom of the Opera" or "Chicago"? These timeless stage musicals have songs and dance and love and happy endings- they are ingrained into our collective brain and we love them. They have everything going for them, too: bankable stars, high ticket sales and merchandise for every aspect of life. It's only natural that eventually some studio bigwig will suggest making them into movies.
But imagine if this bigwig's producing partner says, "If we make these musicals into feature films, we won't have anything eligible for the Oscar for Best Original Song! Whatever shall we do?"
Bigwig number one then ponders this for a moment and responds with, "I know! We'll write a brand new song, have someone famous sing it and stick it in during the credits."
"Genius," says Bigwig two.
While this may be a slight exaggeration, it does address the phenomenon of new, and generally poor songs appearing on movie musical soundtracks.
It would be best to start with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' rules and guidelines for the category Best Original Song, taken from their website. It reads: "An original song consists of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. There must be a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition (not necessarily visually presented) of both lyric and melody, used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits."
Thus, it's pretty clear that a movie musical has to have a signature song, be it during the movie at some point or in the credits, to be nominated for Best Original Song at all. But isn't the musical itself enough?
According to a 2005 commentary by Helen A. S. Popkin on msnbc.com, "To be worthy of an Oscar, best original songs should be more than good. To make sense as an award, nominated songs should advance the movie plot, or be integral to the story, not just tagged on at the end."
Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Songs like "Learn to Be Lonely," sung by star Minnie Driver from "The Phantom of the Opera" (2004) and nominated for the year's Best Original Song Oscar, are manufactured for the stars of the movie to sing during the credits, but add nothing to the actual plotline.
Popkin wrote, "...Let's talk 'Learn to be Lonely,' composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart specifically for the film version of 'Phantom.' This new song arrives during the end credits, when every one is pushing to get out of the theater. 'Lonely' is the only song in the score that qualifies for the Academy Awards, since the rest of the music existed previously on stage (i.e., not 'original.') If one were cynical, one might believe this song was added to the score for the sole purpose of an Oscar nomination."
Consider the tone of this article cynical. Since it all costs money, from the composers to the sheet music to the recording studio time, it's highly unlikely that the moviemakers would just decide to add an original song to a movie out of their own goodwill.
Essentially there are only two rewards that come from writing the extra song: a possible increase in soundtrack sales and a possible Academy Award nomination. It's doubtful that anyone who wouldn't have bought the soundtrack in the first place would buy it just for one song (hello, Napster). It's more probable that the movie producers
are gunning for that Oscar
(or Golden Globe, for that
matter).
Other songs, like "You Must Love Me" from "Evita," sung by Madonna and nominated in 1996 and "I Move On" from "Chicago," nominated in 2002, become standard fare. While Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger sang the song on the original "Chicago" cast recording, Zeta-Jones and co-star Queen Latifah performed at the Oscars. Zeta-Jones was nine months pregnant, but Zellweger was too nervous. This year, the candidate (though nominations haven't been announced yet) is "There's Nothing like a Show on Broadway" from movie version of "The Producers," sung by Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane.
So why are these songs even necessary? "The Producers" was a great show on Broadway, and no one came away thinking it needed a new song. The
same goes for most Broad-
ways shows-turned-movies. Why
ruin them? Just for the Oscar?
Well, knowing Hollywood,
probably.
