Did you know that this is a category that still technically exists? Yeah. According to official Academy Rules, Best Original Musical can be activated if it is determined that there are enough quality-level films to qualify. All they have to do is have at least five original songs that propel the narrative, not just incidental or "poppy" songs.
Now, it didn't used to be that way. Back when this was Adapted Score, all you had to do was arrange previously-written work, or the songs within your original musical, into an instrumental score. Which, like, if that rule was still in place, the number of studios that would squeeze an extra nomination out of that would be nuts. Think of Into the Woods, Pitch Perfect, Les Miserables, Black Swan, True Grit - they all would have been nominated here, you know it. Though the fact that they couldn't open up this rule for La La Land, Sing Street, and Moana makes me wonder if anyone knows this rule exists anymore.
Anyway. The 1976 nominees included arrangements of Woody Guthrie songs; arrangements of Paul Williams songs; and Paul Williams. The folk hero took the prize...sort of:
Actually, it was Leonard Rosenman, his second Oscar in a row, as he points out, having won the previous year for Barry Lyndon; he would eventually be nominated for his original score for Cross Creek.
It is incredible that the category of Best Original Song has lasted as long as it has. It is possibly the most expendable category at the Oscars. I know people who think the ceremony runs too long always suggest moving the Short Categories to the Governors Awards, but at least those serve as calling-cards for obscurer filmmakers.
But Original Song? It is not like it was in the 1930s, when musicals were as common as romantic-comedies and a song was as much a part of the studio package as a leading lady and a happy ending. When was the last time the winner even played on the radio? Outside of a dance remix? You know Justin Timberlake isn't going home with the Oscar this year!
Still, it makes for an entertaining category, a fun diversion during the ceremony, and a chance for Neil Diamond to accidentally call Ayn Rand a nominated songwriter:
(It's kind of bad form for Diamond to openly root for Barbra, but very gracious of her to cede the mic to Paul Williams)
So, consider this a musical break - the nominees, with video, after the jump.
In 1974, the Academy had two separate designations for the music categories: Original Score and Adapted/Song Score. We all know the former, but the latter was made especially for either original musicals or films that depended on arrangements of preexisting work. Previous winners included the documentary Let It Be, the musical Cabaret and the period caper film The Sting. Indeed, the category still exists, but Academy rules dictate that it is only to be used if there are a substantial number of films meeting the guidelines. Since the idea of the original musical went out with Xanadu, there's little chance of that happening, though as this year shows, sometimes all you needed was an arranger t get the Oscar.
Nelson Riddle adapting songs of the 1920s for The Great Gatsby
***
I feel so sorry for this movie. The intention is there, the actors are trying, the sets and costumes are perfect, but it just falls flat. Should we blame the editor obsessed with dissolves, the director obsessed with the trappings, or the cinematographer obsessed with nothing of interest? Certainly the script, credited to Francis Ford Coppola but rewritten by Vladimir Nabokov and Philip Roth, is part of the problem, with a large portion devoted to insipid romantic scenes between Gatsby and Daisy. And, of course, there's the miscasting of Mia Farrow in the lead role. It all looks pretty, but it's all for naught.
Riddle's score, actually, is part of the problem. Yes, The Great Gatsby is the novel that summed up the 1920s, but that doesn't mean we can't mix it up a little. Must we hear the Charleston every thirty minutes? Does "Whispering" have to occur at every Gatsby party? And, I swear, if I heard Redford and Farrow making pillow talk during "What'll I Do?" one more time, I would've unburied the corpse of Nelson Riddle and beaten the shit out of him. Mind, if I had the album with just the music, I probably would listen to it again and again, but within the film itself it's just all too much.
Angela Morley and Douglas Gamley orchestrating the song score by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe for The Little Prince
****
Here is the first of two original musicals nominated in this category. The film as a whole is pretty uneven, but what works is largely due to the songs. Beginning with simple, repetitive music and lyrics, the emotional oomph of the score matures as the characters develop -- just compare the opening tune "It's a Hat" with closing number "The Little Prince". Maybe it's just the delivery of these songs -- I'll take Gene Wilder and Bob Fosse over a bizarrely-shot close-up of Joss Ackland any day.
Though the songs may vary from simple and annoying to downright beautiful, the music by itself is typical of Frederick Loewe's greatness. The success of the entire second half of the film depends, I would say, on Loewe's music, most effective when it is unaccompanied by Lerner's words. The montage of the Pilot and the Prince at the oasis is effectively joyful because of the arrangement of "Why is the Desert"; the finale inspires tears because of the arrangement of "Little Prince" combined with "Closer and Closer and Closer". It's phenomenal work.
Paul Williams and George Aliceson Tipton orchestrating the song score by Williams for Phantom of the Paradise
*****
Um, that's a super spoilery clip, but it features the best uses of the original score and song. I suggest only looking if you don't mind spoilers or if you're familiar with the film.
I'm on record: Phantom of the Paradise is one of my favorite horror movies, ever. It's also one of my favorite musicals, ever. I've listened to this soundtrack more times than I can keep track of, in whatever way I could. When it came on TV one time, I recorded the songs with a tape recorder held to the speaker. When YouTube was born, I sought clips from the film and played it again and again. When my girlfriend got the soundtrack, you better believe we listened to that CD in the car for days (the music is in our respective ranges, too, so that helps). Now I finally have the score on my iTunes, and it's so gooood.
This is very much a song score, though. I think I can name off the top of my head all the instances of non-singing score: the conversation between Philbin and Swan when they first hear Winslow's music; the montage of Winslow trying to contact Swan after the music mogul stole his cantata; and the grand finale.
Oh my God, but does one really need an isolated score when the songs are this amazing? The greatest crime committed at the 1974 Oscars was the complete shut-out of Phantom of the Paradise from the Original Song category. Williams' "Beauty and the Beast" deserves constant play. "Old Souls" and "Special to Me" are beautiful songs, showcasing the talents of the long-missed Jessica Harper. Few finales sum it all up quite like "The Hell of It".
Oscar awarded The Great Gatsby, but I don't think it's any surprise to hear me go for something else entirely.
