Film
Film & Food Fest 2021: The Greatest Showman – Singalong Version
- Director
- Michael Gracey
- Certificate
- PG
- Running Time
- 105 mins
Arriving a year after La La Land hoofed and crooned its way to Oscar glory, this musical biopic of US huckster and impresario P.T. Barnum (of “there’s a sucker born every minute” infamy, though it’s now claimed he never actually said this) was in no way a cynical attempt to repeat that success. No, really: this one had been in gestation since 2009. Rather than reworking the Broadway musical Barnum, Fox hired La La Land lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul to write all-new songs. But that was way back in 2013, long before anyone had heard of the Damien Chazelle flick.
There’s no doubting, however, that The Greatest Showman would not have received such a high-profile release without the wind in its sails supplied by that illustrious award-winner. Having belted his way through Les Misérables back in 2012, Hugh Jackman gets the title role, with Michelle Williams as Barnum’s wife Charity and Zac Efron as his protégé Phillip Carlyle. Mononymous US popstrel Zendaya plays Carlyle’s trapeze artist love interest, Anne Wheeler. Note that this is the singalong version of the unexpected monster hit musical. You are positively encouraged to bellow along – or avoid like the plague, according to taste.
The film is back on the big screen outdoors as part of Adventure Cinema’s Film and Food Fest 2021 on the Downs. The event also features street food. Go here for more information and to buy tickets.
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