Top 10 Musical Performances in Film

Sorry there are so many slow and serious numbers here, but they are honestly my favorite. Someday I'll make a list of all happy and fast and upbeat musical performances. I have a lot on my short list but they didn't make the final cut. Hope you enjoy and at least watch the ones from Across the Universe if you haven't seen it. They'll give you a taste of what the movie is like.

• 10 - Julie Delpy, "Waltz for a Night" Before Sunset (2004): Julie Delpy wrote this song herself and sings it vulnerably for Ethan Hawke. His character, Jesse, has asked to hear her play a song. She gives him 3 choices: a song about her ex-boyfriend, a song about her cat, or a little waltz. He picks the waltz, not knowing it is about their one night together nine years ago. Delpy sings it soulfully and simply and you can feel her honest embarrassment many times. Hawke has to be delighted and surprised and moved once he understand the true meaning of the song. It is a beautifully acted and intimate moment.

• 9 - Tim Curry, "Sweet Transvestite" Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975): You all may think I'm crazy - this movie certainly is - but I really love a lot of the musical numbers. My favorite song is actually "Time Warp" but there's something bewitching about the confidence and sass with which Tim Curry, as the mad Dr. Frank-N-Furter, sings this twisted little song. My favorite part: the wicked eyebrow lift during the line "well how 'bout that!"

• 8 - Barbra Streisand, "My Man" Funny Girl (1968): This movie has a lot of big, funny, show-stopping numbers and Streisand sings them all flawlessly. "My Man" comes at the very end just after her character has suffered the final blow in the dissolution of her marriage to the dashing Nicky Aunstein and she is devastated. But the show must go on and the emotion threatening to overflow throughout this song is beautiful. Her voice trembles throughout the first round, but when the music soars, her voice is right there with it, belting this faithful ballad loud and clear. I suppose it's kinda cheesy, but it gives me shivers every time.

• 7 - Cast, "Let it Be" Across the Universe (2007): "Let it Be" was always one of my favorite Beatles songs, but until I saw this movie, I never knew it was meant to be sung as a gospel. Situated at a grief-stricken moment in the film, this song is the perfect balance between the two funerals, and when that soloist really starts in at about moment 2:36 the power of her voice takes the song somewhere I didn't know it could go. (The song doesn't start until about 30 seconds in - best clip I could find.)

• 6 - Cast and Aimee Mann, "Wise Up" Magnolia (1999): A scene of unconventional whimsy that convenes and consoles these nine characters together for a shared moment of catharsis. Aimee Mann is the one doing the real singing, but having each actor add their imperfect voice only makes the song and it's meaning that much stronger. The lyrics are simple and straightforward and it's uncanny how they fit all of these characters simultaneously. I just want to reach through the screen and give them all a big hug.

• 5 - Jennifer Hudson, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" Dreamgirls (2006): Set aside her amazingly controlled and powerful vocals on this track and just watch her performance. The anguish and desperation on her face. They way her body is racked with emotion. The anger and fear lashing out at her only audience, and then to the empty room. It's no wonder she won the Academy Award that year: she performs the shit out of this song.

• 4 - T.V. Carpio, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" Across the Universe (2007): I love so many of the musical sequences in Across the Universe, so it was really hard to choose which ones I wanted to include. This one wins top honors for being the only interpretation to really change the way the original song worked. "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was light and fun and energetic, but here it is wistful and sad; who knew the simple words contained so much inherent melancholy. And for those of you who can't tell (like my mom couldn't), yes, she is singing about a girl. It was a really striking way to start off this character's story and I love T.V. Carpio's voice.

• 3 - Cast, "Roxanne" Moulin Rouge (2001): Well, I gushed about this one in my Top 100 list, so you can't be surprised to find it here. Again, let me just hammer home the amazing editing job done here. It switches between at least 3 different points of view, takes a kind of cheesy song about a prostitute and turns it into an inferno of jealousy, rage, and helplessness that can't rein itself in or stop moving. I stand in awe.
  

• 2 - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, "Falling Slowly" Once (2007): These two just have musical chemistry. Watch this and then remind yourself that they wrote this song together and practiced it many times beforehand. It's truly amazing that this performance comes off so authentically fresh and spontaneous. While I also love the song, it's almost beside the point; the real focus of the scene is the way these characters expose themselves through their music and create with an undefinable magic.

• 1 - Cast, "America" West Side Story (1961): This song cracks me up. Rita Moreno sings it with such playful sass I wanna join right in. The guys' realistic view of racism contrasted with the girls' optimism creates a nice tension, the dancing is superb, and that sexy connection between Anita and Bernardo makes it all the more clear why the leading couple pale in comparison. I have so much fun singing along to this number.

And because I suck at restraint......two favorite musical performances from Television. (Oh please, you know I'm that person who lives to make other people watch her favorite movies, and pleads and annoys and cajoles you to watch just one more clip of funny snark from Logan Echolls, or awkward pauses from Bill Haverchuck, or sweet pop culture references from Lorelai Gilmore, and just when I've pushed you past the point of wanting to kill me, I make you watch just one more and blow my opportunity to make you watch anything else for years to come. And if you don't know what all those examples are references of, I obviously haven't been annoying you enough!)

• Cast, "I've Got a Theory" Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical: What can I say? Probably my single favorite episode of any show, anywhere. I love all the musical numbers, the device of making it a musical is actually part of the plot (it's the monster of the week they are trying to solve) and the songs serve to move along the emotional plot of the season. This one is from early in the episode and the gang is trying to figure out what might be causing the spontaneous singing. It includes nods to Anya's ongoing fear of bunnies, Tara and Willow as emerging witches, and Buffy trying to cheer herself up by pulling them all together. Just a fun song. Please listen to it! (And sorry about the subtitles - there is a conspiracy to keep all the musical Buffy numbers off of youtube and this was the only one I could find!)

• Lauren Graham, "I Will Always Love You" Gilmore Girls: Coming near the end of the series, a drunk Lorelai and Rory spend an evening at the new kareoke bar to celebrate Rory's college graduation. As a present, Lorelai sings the Dolly Parton version of "I Will Always Love You" but partway through, Luke, her ex-fiance and the love of her life, walks in and the emotion behind the song completely changes. Awesome job by Lauren Graham. Why she was never nominated for an Emmy for this show is beyond me!