Last year, we saw a rise in popularity of musicals with the release of La La Land, a romantic comedy starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. This movie grew an immense following and even won an Oscar. Since then, musicals and Broadway shows have grown in popularity.

Musicals haven’t always been for everyone, mostly because they are usually viewed as sappy, but that has changed. Looking at Hamilton, a musical about the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, you can clearly see this. The modern musical take on this historical event was a huge hit. People who never had interest in musicals went to see this Broadway show. The different “rap” take on a musical spiked the interest of thousands. Even just the music alone was a hit. The album Hamilton, on Spotify, has over one million monthly listeners. At its peak, Hamilton even became “Broadway’s most expensive show ever,” according to Daily Beast. As cited by numerous sources, the play was even sold out months in advance. If that doesn’t show a growth in popularity and interest in musicals, I don’t know what does.

The new interest in musicals the past few years wasn’t all restricted to the stage. The big screen presented two successful musicals in 2017, and one in 2016. Starting in 2016, Summit Entertainment released La La Land. As said before, this musical went so far as to win an Oscar. This movie, with an estimated 30 million dollar budget, racked up over 445 million dollars worldwide. This movie even got an 8.9/10 rating from top critics, based on Rotten Tomatoes, making it a “Certified Fresh Rotten Tomato.” There’s probably not one person you know who hasn’t at least heard of this musical

In 2017, Disney released a live-action Beauty and the Beast that did pretty well in theaters. The movie amassed a worldwide gross of a little over one billion dollars. It also received pretty decent ratings from top critics, mostly receiving 7/10.

In December 2017, The Greatest Showman was released. This movie also did very well. A large number of popular celebrities added to its success; the cast including Hugh Jackman, Zendaya, and Zac Efron stole the show for many viewers. On average, viewers gave an average four and a half out of five stars; however, the critics did not agree. Based on ratings from “Rotten Tomatoes,” the movie only received about a 55%  or an average 6/10 from critics. This shows the difference between critics’ opinions and the audience’s. As popularity in musicals progresses, viewers will probably continue to give movies high ratings, but it will go the opposite for critics. Critics will most likely start judge musicals stricter as they grow in popularity.

Other musicals such as Wicked, Hairspray, and Grease, have always been popular and continue to be. There have been musicals that were popular throughout the years, but only in recent years have musical movies grown in popularity.