Julie Andrews Lullabye In Ragtime

The musical biopic is a style of film that has never faded away. Audiences never tire of hearing the stories of the actors and performers that they grew up listening to and watching, and whether those performers are portrayed by other actors or by themselves, something about the dramatization and magnification of their stories draws the viewer in a powerful way. These movies still carry the glitz and glamour of a fictional Hollywood musical, but the fact that the stories behind them are so concrete, so memorable, and so fascinating is what makes them stand out from a more untrue set of events. Judy Garland is one of the most revered Hollywood stars, so it is only fitting that one of the earliest musical biopics was hers. Unlike some later

“Lullabye in Ragtime” was a number that I found to be unlike any of the musical numbers that I have seen in this class; its focus on an infant, the relaxed demeanor of its performers, and its simple setting of a bus made it an entirely separate entity from the usual large musical production numbers. In stark contrast, Julie Andrews’ “Jenny” had all of the elements of a large Hollywood production number, with a large number of chorus members, grand costumes and sets, and dramatic acrobatics. These two, though entirely different in appearance, still had the same goal: to entice audiences into a true (or semi-true) story through elements that they enjoyed. The large production number would remind audiences of their favorite movies, while the intimate lullabye would remind them of their hometown,

Its popularity has not stopped growing, and has even inspired recent biopics such as “Ray,” the biopic of Ray Charles. This had a very inclusive and modern story at its core, making it applicable to audiences today. This “grounding” is what keeps the musical biopic timeless; it takes the glamour of a traditional musical and relates it to the audience’s life. Fictional musicals aim to do the same thing; they aim to create American folk art by including elements of everyday life into their stories. However, musical biopics take this notion a step further; they make the story as nonfiction as possible. While an audience watches a musical biopic, they think “not only is this amazing, it actually happened!” They, for the most part, do not know whether or not the story is fabricated, nor do they care. Most of these stories are about stars coming from nothing to something, from ordinary life to stardom. It makes the audiences feel good and highlights their own hopes and