Hollywood Learns to Argue With Broadway

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MOVIE REVIEW
Broadway on the Big Screen-6-Film Collection [Blu-ray]
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Genre: Musical, Romance, Comedy, Drama
Year Released: 1955 / 1962 / 1957 / 1958 / 1954 / 1971
Runtime: 2h 30m / 2h 29m / 1h 41m / 1h 51m / 1h 48m / 1h 47m
Director(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz / Mervyn LeRoy / George Abbott, Stanley Donen / George Abbott, Stanley Donen / Vincente Minnelli / Ken Russell
Writer(s): Joseph L. Mankiewicz / Leonard Spigelgass / George Abbott, Richard Bissell / George Abbott, Douglass Wallop / Alan Jay Lerner / Ken Russell
Cast: Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra / Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood / Doris Day, John Raitt / Gwen Verdon, Tab Hunter / Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse / Twiggy, Christopher Gable
Where to Watch: available February 17, 2026, pre-order your copy here: www.moviezyng.com or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: What happens when Broadway’s most enduring myths are frozen in celluloid, then revisited decades later, not as nostalgia pieces but as living documents of performance, desire, and contradiction? That’s the challenge at the heart of BROADWAY ON THE BIG SCREEN, a six-film collection that doesn’t ask you to love every note or every choice, but instead invites you to sit with how wildly different these adaptations are in tone, ambition, and intent.

One of the smartest curatorial decisions here is structural rather than aesthetic: each film is housed on its own disc. That matters more than it sounds. These films demand different moods, different attention spans, and different expectations. They aren’t meant to blur together, and the set wisely refuses to treat them as interchangeable entries in a genre sampler. This allows each disc to avoid compression and breathe independently.

GUYS AND DOLLS remains one of the strangest success stories in classic Hollywood musical history. Frank Loesser’s score is airtight, but the casting choices are still debated for good reason. Marlon Brando, not a natural singer, approaches Sky Masterson with brute force charisma rather than musical ease, while Frank Sinatra brings vocal authority but clear frustration at being sidelined. And yet, that tension becomes part of the film’s structure. This isn’t a musical about perfection; it’s about swagger, ego, and the theater of masculinity. Jean Simmons grounds the chaos with emotion, giving the film its romantic spine. It’s uneven, often messy, but never dull, and it captures a moment when Hollywood was still willing to gamble on discomfort.

GYPSY is the emotional heavyweight of the collection, and it never pretends otherwise. Rosalind Russell’s Rose isn’t charming; she’s relentless, insecure, and painfully human. This adaptation understands that the show isn’t about show-business dreams; it’s about the violence of ambition when it’s projected onto children. Natalie Wood’s transformation is handled with restraint rather than spectacle, which gives the story its devastating weight. The film’s refusal to soften Rose’s edges is what keeps it focused. It doesn’t ask for forgiveness; it asks for understanding, and even that feels conditional.

THE PAJAMA GAME is often dismissed as a lightweight in the genre, which undersells how politically strange it actually is. A musical about labor disputes shouldn’t feel this breezy, and yet Bob Fosse’s choreography injects a nervous, sexual energy that keeps the film alive. Doris Day plays against her immaculate image just enough to complicate expectations, while John Raitt’s physicality gives the romance a grounded push and pull. Fosse’s influence is unmistakable, not just in movement but in attitude. This musical understands bodies as sites of negotiation, desire, and power, even when it’s smiling.

DAMN YANKEES leans harder into satire, and it benefits from that commitment. Gwen Verdon doesn’t just dance circles around the cast; she redefines the film’s center. Her performance is sharp, funny, and unapologetically sensual in a way that still feels disruptive. The Faustian framework gives the story a moral elasticity that allows for excess without collapse. It’s a musical that understands performance as temptation, both within the story and for the audience watching it.

BRIGADOON is the most traditionally romantic entry, and also the most divisive. Vincente Minnelli’s direction treats the material like a painting, prioritizing atmosphere over realism. Gene Kelly brings sincerity rather than bravado, while Cyd Charisse adds a grace that communicates emotion before dialogue ever does. The artificiality is the point. This isn’t a story about believing in magic, it’s about choosing it. Whether that works depends entirely on your tolerance for romantic idealism, but the craftsmanship is undeniable.

THE BOY FRIEND is a curveball in this set, and it’s exactly what it needed! Ken Russell’s approach is knowingly artificial, gleefully excessive, and openly meta. Twiggy’s performance is sharp, using innocence as a mask rather than a limitation. This film doesn’t want to replicate Broadway conventions; it wants to question, parody, and celebrate them all at once. Placed at the end of the collection, it reframes everything that came before it, exposing the genre’s construction without stripping it of affection.

As a set, BROADWAY ON THE BIG SCREEN isn’t about declaring a definitive canon. It’s about contrast—masculinity versus performance, ambition versus concern, sincerity versus irony. The decision to give each film its own disc reinforces that philosophy. These aren’t background watches, and they aren’t meant to be consumed in bulk. They’re conversations across decades, each arguing for a different understanding of what a musical can be.

This collection doesn’t ask you to agree with every choice Hollywood made when translating Broadway to film. It asks something more interesting: to recognize the risks, the compromises, and the flashes of brilliance that still resonate long after the curtain fell.

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[photo courtesy of WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION]

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