Musicals

During the Oscar broadcast the other night Hugh Jackman (who I liked) very proudly said that the musical is back. He said it in the conjunction of 'Mama Mia' setting some kind of box office record in the UK. While I think he might be overstating things (to put it lightly), I think it's interesting to look at the connection between musicals and movies today.
Now, I don't live in New York and I don't follow Broadway closely so I'm open to correction here, but my sense is that the creative well for musicals is kind of running dry. It seems that the high profile shows are all reworkings of other movies with a little song and dance thrown in. 'Legally Blond' was a fun little movie but who really thought it needed to be sung? The only way that musicals will really be 'back' is if they drive the process, not end up as a campy dumping ground for second hand stories.
Thinking about this made me wonder about the pipeline back during the golden age of the movie/musical combo, the 50's and 60's. I'm sure there are histories that have been written about this era but I just wanted to get a feel for the timeline. Here is a list of the musicals that were nominated for Best Picture along with their stage date, or at least when they were up for a Tony Award.

• An American in Paris - film 1951, stage 1928
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - film 1954, stage 1982
• The King and I - film 1956, stage 1952
• Gigi - film 1958, stage 1973
• West Side Story - film 1961, stage 1958
• The Music Man - film 1962, stage 1958
• My Fair Lady - film 1964, stage 1957
• The Sound of Music - film 1965, stage 1960
• Oliver - film 1968, stage 1963
• Funny Girl - film 1968, stage 1964
• Hello Dolly - film 1969, stage 1964
• Fiddler on the Roof - film 1971, stage 1965
• Cabaret - film 1972, stage 1967

Look at how many of those went from the toast of Broadway to the Oscars in six years or less. Now look at the list of Tony winners over the last ten years. Lots of 'revivals' and movie remakes. None were made into movies that got serious Oscar consideration. I don't know if that's because the quality is lower or because musicals are more truly a niche genre of movies but something has certainly changed.
Also note that there have only been three musicals nominated for Best Picture over the last twenty years, 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Moulin Rouge' and 'Chicago'. Of those, only 'Chicago' (which I hated) came fromt the stage (1976 if you're curious). I can't help but wonder why some of the really popular musicals out there haven't been made into big epic Oscar worthy pictures. Where is 'Les Miserables', tony winner of 1987, for instance?
I don't think that the musical is back. I'd like it to be and I'm not sure what needs to happen to change that.