Modern Movie Musical
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The 21st-century movie musical, marked by contemporary pop-theatre songwriting, live or hybrid vocal capture, and a self-aware relationship to the genre's history. Numbers blend belted power ballads, character confessionals and anthemic ensembles, produced with modern radio polish and cinematic sound design. Casting favors actor-singers and pop stars, staging mixes naturalism with stylized fantasy, and the mood runs from crowd-pleasing uplift to bruised introspection. Signature techniques include the trailer-ready anthem engineered for streaming, live on-set singing, and jukebox or original scores built for cross-platform hits.
History
Reignited by Moulin Rouge! and Chicago at the century's turn, the modern movie musical accelerated with original-song event films like The Greatest Showman (2017), whose "This Is Me" became a streaming phenomenon, and stage adaptations from Les Misérables to Dear Evan Hansen, In the Heights and the record-breaking Wicked (2024). Composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and directors such as Jon M. Chu shaped the sound, while Disney's Mary Poppins Returns and biographical hybrids expanded the field. The wave proved that original screen songs could dominate global charts and awards, cementing the musical's return as an A-list, franchise-scale format.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- This Is Me(2017) — Keala SettleSpotifyYouTube
- The Wizard and I(2024) — Cynthia ErivoSpotifyYouTube
- Popular(2024) — Ariana GrandeSpotifyYouTube
- The Place Where Lost Things Go(2018) — Emily BluntSpotifyYouTube
- 30/90(2021) — Andrew GarfieldSpotifyYouTube
- Waving Through a Window(2021) — Ben PlattSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Steven Cohan, The Sound of Musicals (2010)
- Billboard chart archives, 2016–2024
- Academy Awards database, Best Original Song