Throughout the nearly 96-year history of the Academy Awards, since 1929, a total of 10 musicals have won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the highest award broadway melody By the most recent winner, 2002 chicago.
Musicals were especially popular in the 1950s and 1960s, with six musicals winning Best Picture during those two decades, including West Side Story, My Fair Lady and The sound of music.
Overall, the Academy has nominated many other musicals for Best Picture over the years, such as The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins and funny girlis considered a classic today. However, these three films ultimately lost out on top honors. although The Wizard of Oz defeated Gone with the wind, Mary Poppins and funny girl All lost to other musicals—— My Fair Lady and Oliver! – respectively.
Even though a musical hasn’t won a Best Picture Oscar in 20 years, that doesn’t mean the Academy won’t continue to recognize the genre. For example, Bradley Cooper’s remake of a star is born was Nominated in 2019.
Will another musical win the Best Picture Oscar in 2025? This year’s music industry hopefuls include evil, emilia perez, “Better Man”, “The Devil’s End”, “Knee”, “Mufasa: The Lion King” and mean girls.
Below, we take a look at the 10 musicals that won the Oscar for Best Picture.
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“Broadway Melody” (1929)
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Anita Page and Bessie Love star as the Mahoney Sisters in a vaudeville show hoping to be a hit on Broadway. However, trouble ensues when they find themselves falling in love with the same man (Charles King). The film was one of the first musicals to feature Technicolor sequences, but all of these prints have been lost and can only be viewed today in black and white. broadway melody The film was the highest-grossing film of 1929 and was nominated for Oscars for Best Actress (“Love”) and Best Director (“Harry Beaumont”).
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“The Great Siegfried” (1936)
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Great Siegfried, based on broadway Ziegfeld Follies, This fictional story follows the life of Flo Ziegfeld Jr. (William Powell) as he builds his successful comedy business and follows him to the end of his life. Luise Rainer and Myrna Loy play real-life performers Anna Held and Billie Burke, respectively. Burke also served as a consultant on the film, while Ziegfeld Follies Actors such as Fanny Brice and Harriet Hoctor played themselves in the film. It was one of the most successful films of the 1930s, featuring lavish costumes, sets and choreography. In addition to the best pictures, Great Siegfried Also won Academy Awards for Best Actress (Reiner) and Best Choreography (Seymour Felix). It also received four additional Oscar nominations: Best Director (Robert Z. Leonard), Best Art Direction (Cedric Gibbons, Eddie Imazu and Edwin B. Willis) , Best Film Editing (William S. Gray) and Best Original Screenplay (William Anthony Maguire). MGM went on to produce two more Ziegfeld 1941 movie siegfried girl, With James Stewart and Judy Garland and 1946 Ziegfeld Follies, Directed by Vincenti Minelli.
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“Go My Way” (1944)
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Bing Crosby stars as Father O’Malley, a young priest who moves from one church in East St. Louis to another in New York, where his style clashes with that of the senior priest, Phil. There is a conflict with Father Gibbon (Barry Fitzgerald). go my way, The film went on to become the highest-grossing film of 1944, winning seven Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director (Leo McCarey), Best Actor (Crosby), Best Supporting Actor (Fitz Gerard), Best Screenplay (Frank Butler and Frank Butler Cavett), Best Original Motion Picture Story (McCary) and Best Song “Swinging on a Star” (Jimmy Van Hosen and Johnny Burke). Interestingly, Fitzgerald was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for his performance; the Academy later changed the rules to prevent this from happening again. go my way It was also nominated for Best Black and White Cinematography (Lionel Lyndon) and Best Film Editing (Leroy Stone).
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“An American in Paris” (1951)
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Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron (making her feature film debut) star in this film about three Americans looking for work in Paris, two of whom fall in love with married the same woman (played by Karen). George Gershwin composed the music, while his brother Ira wrote the lyrics (musical directors Johnny Greene and Saul Chaplin also contributed). The film received critical acclaim for its 17-minute dialogue-free ballet sequence set to the title song, which cost a whopping $450,000 (by 1950s standards) to shoot. The film won a total of six Academy Awards, including Best Story and Screenplay (Alan Jay Lerner), Best Art Direction-Color (Cedric Gibbons, E. Preston Ames) , Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleeson), Best Cinematography – Color (John Alton and Alfred Gilkes), Best Costume Design – Color (Olly-Kelly, Walter Plunkett and Irene Sharaff) and Best Musical Score (Saul Chaplin and Johnny Green). Additionally, the Academy awarded Kelly an Honorary Academy Award that same year. Other Oscar nominations include Best Director (Vincent Minnelli) and Best Film Editing (Adrienne Fazan).
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“Gigi” (1958)
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Leslie Caron plays a trainee prostitute who crosses paths with a wealthy playboy (Louis Jourdan) who eventually falls in love with her. Jiji It won Oscars in all nine categories it was nominated for, a record at the time. In addition to Best Picture, it also won Best Director (Vincent Minnelli), Best Adapted Screenplay (Alan Jay Lerner), Best Art Direction (William A. Horning, E Ames, Henry Grace and F. Keough Gleeson), Best Cinematography (Joseph Rutenberg), Best Costume Design (Cesir Beaton), Best Film Editing (Adrienne Fazan) , Best Original Score (Andre Previn) and Best Original Song for “Gigi” (Frederick Lowe and Lerner).
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“West Side Story” (1961)
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This stage musical is adapted from a concept by Jerome Robbins, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and lyrics by Arthur Laurents ), directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, from a screenplay by Ernest Lehman. The show centers on two rival teenage gangs – the Jets and the Sharks – in 1957 New York City. The story centers on Tony, a former Jet who falls in love with Maria, the sister of the Jets captain, and the consequences and tragedies that ensue. The film became the highest-grossing film of 1961 and won Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (George Chakiris), Best Supporting Actress (Rita Moreno), Art Direction – Color Award (Boris Leven and Victor A. Ganjelin), Best Cinematography Award. ·Stanford), musical theater scores (Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irving Costard, Sid Laming) and sounds (Fred Hines and Gordon) E. Thor yeah). The musical is back on the big screen in 2021, written by Steven Spielberg and based on a script by Tony Kushner. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, and Ariana DeBose won Best Supporting Actress.
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“My Fair Lady” (1964)
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There have been many iterations of the musical over the years, but this version is based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 stage play and was created in 1956 by lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Lowe. stage musical created in Pygmalion. Written by Alan Jay Lerner and directed by George Cukor, the film stars Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, a poor London florist who attracts the attention of phonetics professor Henry Shear. Kings (Rex Harrison). Higgins bets that he can teach her correct English. The film was the highest-grossing film of 1964 and went on to win Best Director, Best Actor (Harrison), Best Art Direction – Color (Gene Allen, Cecil Beaton and George James Hope Kings), Best Cinematography – Color (Harry Stedelin), Best Costume Design – Color (Cecil Beaton), Best Music Score – Adaptation or Processing (Andre Prey) Text) and Best Voice (George R. Groves).
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“The Sound of Music” (1965)
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Based on Maria von Trapp’s 1949 memoir, sound of music Maria (Julie Andrews) becomes a nanny for a family of seven children while she considers becoming a nun. She ends up falling in love with the children’s widowed patriarch, Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer). When he was ordered to join the German navy, the family fled Austria rather than join the Nazis. The film was directed by Robert Wise and written by Ernest Lehman, based on the 1959 stage musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It became the highest-grossing film of 1965. Sound Award (James Corcoran and Fred Hines).
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“Oliver!” (1968)
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Directed by Carol Reed and written by Vernon Harris, Oliver! Based on Lionel Bart’s 1960 stage musical, which itself was adapted from the 1838 novel by Charles Dickens Oliver Twist. It focuses on a group of orphans, including Oliver (Mark Lester), who are forced to grovel for food (“Please, sir, I want more”). Oliver was sold and fled to London. The film also won Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Art Direction (John Box, Terence Marsh, Vernon Dixon and Ken Muggleston), and Best Musical Score ( Johnny Green), Best Sound (Buster Ambler, John Cox, Jim Groom, Bob Jones and Tony Dawe )), Onna White received an Honorary Oscar.
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“Chicago” (2002)
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That will be 34 years later Oliver! It won Best Picture before another musical took that honor. chicagoDirected by Rob Marshall and starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere, the film is based on Bob Fosse’s Broadway musical of the same name, which itself was adapted from Maureen Dallas Watkins of the Broadway play of the same name. The script was written by Bill Condon and follows two murderers – a housewife (Zellweger) and a vaudeville star (Zeta-Jones) – who are locked up, put on trial and seeking fame. story. The film also won Oscars for Best Supporting Actress (Zeta Jones), Best Art Direction (John Mayer and Gordon Sim), Best Custom Design (Colleen Atwood), Best Editing (Martin Walsh) and Best Sound (Michael Minkler, Dominic Tavera and David Lee).
