‘The Greatest Showman’ Sing-Along Version Starts Feb 7 at Selected SM Cinemas
Follow that hat and sing to the tune of the latest musical to hit the screens!
“The Greatest Showman” Sing-Along movie version will be exclusively shown at the following SM cinemas beginning on February 7: SM Bacoor, SM Centerpoint, SM East Ortigas, SM Fairview, SM Mall of Asia, SM Manila, SM Marikina, SM Megamall, SM North Edsa, SM Southmall, SM Cagayan De Oro, SM Cebu, SM Davao and SM Seaside Cebu.
Opening up to a world of wonder, songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul knew pretty quickly that ‘The Greatest Showman‘ was going to be like nothing else they had done. They had a wide-open canvas and director Michael Gracey wanted to fill it with tunes and words full of timeless emotions and modern rock and pop references that could compel modern audiences to go on this fantastical journey with Barnum and his performers. Most of all, they had the chance to bring the past hurtling into the now through their music.
Recalls Justin Paul: “Michael’s passion was so contagious — that energy excited us. And we were drawn to this world full of color and life and imagination and dreaming. The idea of telling a period story with contemporary music was sort of terrifying in the beginning but it was also a very intriguing challenge. Writing these songs pushed us to explore a mix of styles that we might never have otherwise tried.”
Adds Pasek: “The Greatest Showman mixes in many things we love: it embraces what musicals can do that no other art form can, it has emotions that pierce the heart in ways words can’t, and it’s about pop music. So getting to combine these inspirations while creating songs that could musically and lyrically serve these great characters was incredible for us.”
The film is full of rousing numbers, “representing, tent-pole moments or peak emotional moments, where the characters are having feelings that have to be expressed in song, or when they are coming together in a romance,” says Paul. The central love story between Barnum and Charity (Michelle Williams) is propelled by the song, ‘A Million Dreams’ about young love. There is also a compelling romance between Zac Efron’s aristocratic Phillip and Zendaya’s trapeze artist, Anne, who sing the sensational, ‘Rewrite the Stars’ as they fall for each other.
Keale Settle, center, stars in Twentieth Century Fox’s “The Greatest Showman.”
The movie is infused with resonant themes concerning inclusion and acceptance. Written by Bill Condon and Jenny Bicks, the story demonstrates how Barnum possessed an intrinsic understanding of what makes people tick and how to entertain an audience. In a thrillingly moving performance, Keala Settle belts out ‘This Is Me’, winner of this year’s Golden Globes as Best Original Song, is one of the most affecting songs in the film, which encapsulates the film’s theme. Also one of the film’s highlights, ‘Never Enough’, says Pasek, was intended to be “a powerful song of insatiable desire.”
