The Greatest Showman | Teen Ink

The Greatest Showman

December 19, 2018
By teen1234 BRONZE, Hartland, Wisconsin
teen1234 BRONZE, Hartland, Wisconsin
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

“The Greatest Showman is a story about the beginning of show business. “The Greatest Showman” is a musical that has 11 oscar winning songs composed by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. This movie is casted with some of the most famous actors and actresses including Hugh Jackman (P.T Barnum), Zac Efron (Phillip Carlyle), Zendaya (Anne Wheeler), and so on. This uplifting film  is a story about accepting one another and not thinking about anyone differently. This movie is good for all ages.

“The Greatest Showman” starts out with with a poor boy (P.T. Barnum) dreaming of working with the circus. The opening song “The Greatest Show” was a total hit and it caught the viewers attention. Young P.T. Barnum then met a young girl, Charity. They were two kids that fell in love. They sang a song “A million dreams” which was about P.T. Barnum explaining to Charity his dreams for the future and if he works hard for those dreams they will come true. As they both grew older, they got married and had two beautiful little girls. They did not live in a big house, like he promised her, but they had eachother and thats all that mattered to Charity. P.T Barnum came up with a brilliant idea to start a circus, which isn't a big hit at first. Then, he auditioned/ found a ton of people that were not welcomed by others in the society. After weeks of starting his business, it finally became a big hit. Although many people loved this show, there were protesters that did not approve and ordered them to get rid of the circus. Of course he did not listen to them and continued this circus, those people then burned the building to the ground. But no worries, cause they built a circus tent, that had the “greatest show” instead.

Now circuses are all about clowns, acrobats, and trained animals but, in the 19th and 20th century, circuses were about welcoming people that felt like they were rejected by society. In the movie, P.T Barnum (Hugh Jackman) auditioned people that were “different” then others so people wouldn't think of them differently. “The Greatest Showman” gives the watcher a mix of emotions. Like heartbreak when the circus building got burnt to the ground and Phillip Carlyle (Zac) almost died. Or maybe people felt anger when at first P.T Barnum is embarrassed by the “different” people and when all he cares about is the circus and not so much about his family.

I was outstanded by how good the movie was. The songs, performance, special effects, makeup, and the story line left me speechless. The songs were absolutely incredible which passed my expectations. Each and every song had an important message. For example, “This is Me” showed self love and that we shouldn't hide from the world because we should embrace ourselves.

The choreography was stunning. The person behind the choreography of this amazing film is, Ashley Wallen. In some of the performances including, “Come Alive”, the shots were captured at a 360 degree angle. They were only given 8 weeks to rehearse each dance member. They practiced for 5-6 weeks just for rehearsal. The sets were also beautiful. For example, in “A Million Dreams”, P.T Barnum and Charity danced on a rooftop with a beautiful skyline and moon to top it all off. There was also a lot of acrobatics in the dancing, which made the choreography more challenging.

“The Greatest Showman” makeup artist, Steven E. Anderson, did a fascinating job with all the makeup. Keala Settle, who played Lettie Luz, had to have a beard. Keala Settle spoke out to why the beard was important. “The beard is what made Lettie and what gave her that grit and what gave her that strength,” Settle says. “I don’t have that strength as Keala. When that beard goes on and I become Lettie, that strength comes.” The makeup artist played an important role in “The Greatest Showman”.



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