Lately, there seems to be an ever-growing trend in Hollywood of making big, splashy musicals and trying to keep that on the down-low.
That was certainly the case with the likes of Wonka and the new Mean Girls where music seldom made it into the trailer of either project leaving fans shocked and, in some cases, disgruntled when they took their seats in the cinema.
And while the Joker sequel hasn’t quite been able to do exactly that – Gaga’s powerhouse vocals can be heard blasting out Frank Sinatra standard That’s Life over the latest trailer – she, as well as others, have been quick to play down the movie’s musical nature.
But, after watching it, I can confidently confirm that Joker: Folie à Deux is 100% a show tune-blasting musical, and I think it should be proud of that.
There had long been murmurings of Folie à Deux being a musical, and in early publicity both its stars and creators seemed keen to carefully dance around the fact.
Then, after its first screening to critics at Venice Film Festival, leading lady Gaga was first to address the rumours head on.
‘I wouldn’t necessarily say that this is actually a musical. In a lot of ways, it’s very different,’ she insisted to attendees at the movie’s press conference. ‘The way that music is used is to really give the characters a way to express what they need to say because the scene, and just the dialogue, is not enough.’
To hear this from a musical artist who definitely knows better than this was, in short, baffling.
What she describedis precisely how all musicals wield their emotional power: when it all gets to be a bit too much, an important moment happens or character development needs to be emphasised, bursting into song or a related dance number hits this home.
But it’s almost as though Gaga wanted to anticipate the question and shut it down, lest there be any revulsion from fans.
Perhaps that stems from opinions of the modern film industry seemingly suggesting that movie musicals are corny and cheesy and something we should no longer indulge in. Or the assumption that cinema has ‘advanced’ beyond them in the past few decades.
Except, we quite clearly haven’t. If anything, we’ve been pushing forward into a new era of big-budget musicals for quite some time now.
In 2016, fans and the industry were more than happy to embrace La La Land, providing it with success and popularity to the tune of 14 Oscar nominations – the joint most for a film in history – and box office of $472 million (£355.8 million) from a production budget of around just $30m (£22.6m).
Then there was the cultural phenomenon of The Greatest Showman the following year, the fan support for which was compared to Titanic’s adoration back in 1997 after critics had all-but written off the movie, which went on to break records.
Four years later, in 2021, we had Steven Spielberg’s take on West Side Story and, though many missed it, we got one of Andrew Garfield’s most incredible turns in tick, tick… BOOM!
Don’t forget that Spielberg and Oprah also united to produce the movie musical version of The Colour Purple in 2023, which was distinctly compelling (and non jazzhands-y) enough for original author Alice Walker to win the Pulitzer Prize.
And less than two weeks’ ago a new film adaptation of Guys and Dolls, helmed by Chicago and Mary Poppins Returns director Rob Marshall, was announced.
The last time this Broadway musical classic was made into a movie was in 1955, when Frank Sinatra – who was a leading force in onscreen musicals – starred opposite Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons.
Its release is often seen as around the final peak of the golden age of Hollywood musicals – so if we’re ready for that one again, musicals are officially back and it’s too late to deny it.
So why, therefore, does Hollywood feel the need to gaslight audiences in a bid to pretend that films such as the Joker sequel aren’t really musicals?
I can appreciate that there are glaring stereotypes out there of musicals as being shrill, unrealistic and relentless in their jazz hands. And it’s likely that these very assumptions around how a musical may be thought of by non-enthusiasts could be what’s scaring movie marketers off.
But as a full-throated musical fan, I am here to reassure you that musicals are absolutely not all like this.
While it’s true that my favourite movie of all time (and gateway into full-on film nerdery) was Singin’ in the Rain – an undeniable classic of the genre complete with its memorable musical and comedy sequences – I can also reassure you that musicals are capable of being far more than cringey.
And Joker: Folie à Deux very much proves this point.
Here, the musical numbers provide fascinating insight into the minds and moods of anti-hero Arthur Fleck, aka Joker (Joaquin Phoenix), as he awaits trial for murder, as well as his intense new friend Lee Quinzel (Gaga), whom he meets in Arkham.
These are not normal circumstances, and with both characters suffering from their own past traumas, it makes perfect sense to me that they would retreat into their own dreamscape with musical fantasies.
Frankly, big fans of the first film should not really be surprised that Folie à Deux became a full blown musical anyway, given the reliance and special interest placed on soundtrack songs like Send in the Clowns and franchise lynchpin That’s Life in Joker.
All the sequel does is builds on those well established foundations by including a whole host of other classics from the Great American Songbook (and previous movie musicals) such as Get Happy, For Once in My Life, That’s Entertainment! and If My Friends Could See Me Now.
Ifpeople don’t love Joker 2, it won’t be because writer-director Todd Phillips went and made it a musical. It’s too well stylised and blended for that.
I want audiences to stop judging a musical by its tag. I want them to embrace this next wave of the musical movement, rather than basically deciding that only Disney is allowed to ‘publicly’ make big movie musicals – or Universal when they can attach Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo to them.
And whether you like it or not, we’ve also got the likes of Netflix’s intense crime-musical-comedy Emilia Pérez and Robbie Williams musical biopic Better Man (where he’s played by a CGI monkey) coming down the line.
So please, embrace the gritty gruesomeness of Joker 2: it proves that musicals can have all sorts of different tones and ideas in them and still be successful.