Introduction

In the twenty-first century, the film musical does not strictly adhere to the traditional canon. The case studies offer narratives that develop the understanding of the traditional norms of film musicals, which stem from the Golden Age of the film musical and reach to the works produced at the end of the twentieth century. The forthcoming Contemporary Musical Film will be the latest literature dealing with the genre's aesthetics through a range of conventional and unconventional works released since the turn of the millennium. The High School Musical TV musicals enjoyed huge financial success, and in 2007 Julie Taymor used a young, unknown cast and divided the critics in Across the Universe, perhaps the most successful attempt to create a jukebox film musical. The extremely successful and Oscar-winning Chicago is the focus of Robert Gordon's contribution, in which he identifies the difficulties of transferring material from stage to screen.