I speak as a nostalgic Millennial and a Disney fan but The Wizard of Oz losing here is bums me out. Beauty and the Beast is an incredible film but The Wizard of Oz set the standard for movie musicals for decades to come.
I'm telling you... Menken and Ashman wouldn't write Belle, Beauty and the Beast, or Be Our Guest unless the inimitable Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg wrote Follow The Yellow Brick Road, If I Only Had A Brain, and one of the most important (and beautiful) songs of the twentieth century, Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Menken would vote for The Wizard. And if he were alive, so would Howard.
On a related note, I actually voted for School of Rock over My Fair Lady in protest for Julie Andrews (who went on to win an Oscar for the role she received instead, a certain perfect nanny...).
Classic example of two great actresses being screwed over by the industry. They wouldn't give it to Julie, and then they punished Audrey for taking it by not even giving her a nomination.* Jerks.
But Julie and Audrey were both incredibly gracious and classy through it all, including at the Oscar ceremony. Kudos to them.
*And if Audrey hadn't taken it, rumor is it was going to Liz Taylor, so everyone should fall down and kiss Audrey's feet in gratitude for saving us!
I speak as a nostalgic Millennial and a Disney fan but The Wizard of Oz losing here is bums me out. Beauty and the Beast is an incredible film but The Wizard of Oz set the standard for movie musicals for decades to come.
I’m team “My Fair Lady is a great musical but so-so movie”, even beyond Audrey not singing, so I was glad to give School of Rock a vote.
I'm telling you... Menken and Ashman wouldn't write Belle, Beauty and the Beast, or Be Our Guest unless the inimitable Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg wrote Follow The Yellow Brick Road, If I Only Had A Brain, and one of the most important (and beautiful) songs of the twentieth century, Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Menken would vote for The Wizard. And if he were alive, so would Howard.
On a related note, I actually voted for School of Rock over My Fair Lady in protest for Julie Andrews (who went on to win an Oscar for the role she received instead, a certain perfect nanny...).
Classic example of two great actresses being screwed over by the industry. They wouldn't give it to Julie, and then they punished Audrey for taking it by not even giving her a nomination.* Jerks.
But Julie and Audrey were both incredibly gracious and classy through it all, including at the Oscar ceremony. Kudos to them.
*And if Audrey hadn't taken it, rumor is it was going to Liz Taylor, so everyone should fall down and kiss Audrey's feet in gratitude for saving us!
"The Sound of Music is not the best Julie Andrews musical of the mid-1960s" Huh, excuse me? Yes, it is.
Agreed, ml!
Beauty and the Beast beating Wizard of Oz?! Why that’s a horse of a different color!