Cinematographer Harry Stradling and Audrey Hepburn on the set of "My Fair Lady", 1964 (Warner Bros./Thomas Schauer)
Films created during the 1960s belong to the most creative era in cinema history, one in which Hollywood responded to a time of tremendous changes reflected in shifting social and cultural values, the Vietnam War, new forms of rock and pop music, and the acceleration of technological ingenuity. The dominance of television led to a rapidly diminishing movie audience, with just 145 musicals produced in the decade, compared to the 453 all-singing, all-dancing extravaganzas churned out in the 1930s.
Though the musical would continue to decline as the decade unfolded, three films of the 1960s were among the screen's greatest spectacles and successes: West Side Story, The Sound of Music, and My Fair Lady. Other straightforward adaptions of Broadway hits like Gypsy, Can-Can, Oliver!, Camelot, Funny Girl, and Bye Bye Birdie suggested that the beloved musical movie was in good health. Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Doctor Dolittle, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, original film musicals, ended the decade with a flourish of creativity.
Enjoy an evening of memorable film clips, musical recordings, and historical anecdotes with American music specialist Robert Wyatt. Be entertained by the emergence of Barbara Streisand, witness Julie Andrews’ transformation from a nanny to a nun, and revisit a decade in which the movie musical tradition reached heights in terms of story, song, star power, and box-office success that it would never again achieve.
Other Connections
When it came to adapting familiar Broadway shows, big-budget 1960s musicals needed big-name movie stars. But few of them had the big voices to carry off those iconic roles. Dubbers came to the rescue, often with little or none of the star’s real voice remaining in the vocal tracks. Listen to familiar songs with the actual voices of Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (dubbed by Marni Nixon), and Christopher Plummer in the Sound of Music (sung by Bill Lee). Hear how Natalie Wood’s voice was mixed with Nixon’s in a duet from West Side Story, in which co-star Richard’s Beymer’s voice was replaced by Jimmy Bryant’s.
