Design Feast Series: Quotes

“I was told many times that the musical was dead when I was doing ‘Chicago’, and I never really believe that a genre is dead—I really feel it’s sort of the actual execution of the pieces and the careful way in which you have to approach them. I mean, everyone thought the sword-and-sandal film was dead until ‘Gladiator’ arrived, you know—it happens a lot. So I believe in the genre of musicals on film. When they don’t work, they’re hard to watch because they’re awkward and people start to sing and it doesn’t feel right, and one of the goals in a film is to make sure that the singing is earned. That by the time they get to singing, they have no other choice but to sing, and when it works, there’s nothing like it.”

Rob Marshall, Theater and Film Director