Page "Musical film" Paragraph 12

In the 1960s the success of the films West Side Story, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, and The Sound of Music suggested that the traditional musical was in good health.

However popular musical tastes were being heavily affected by rock and roll and the freedom and youth associated with it, and indeed Elvis Presley made a few films that have been equated with the old musicals in terms of form.

Most of the musical films of the 1950s and 1960s such as Oklahoma!

and The Sound of Music were straightforward adaptations or restagings of successful stage productions.

The most successful musical of the 1960s created specifically for film was Mary Poppins, one of Disney's biggest hits.