Top 10 Craziest Behind-the-Scenes Stories of Filming Movie Musicals

Other than its catchy songs and groovy dance moves, “Grease” is well-known for its iconic outfits. And nothing is more iconic than Sandy’s leather pants and jacket number she sports at the film’s end. The moment is supposed to represent Sandy’s evolution and freedom, but for actress Olivia Newton-John, there was nothing free about it. According to Newton-John, the pants were literally from the 1950s –they were old, stiff, and had a broken zipper, so she physically had to be stitched inside of them. The actress sold off a bunch of her memorabilia in 2019, including the pants – and after hearing this story, we get it!

Ultra Clutch Hairspray! What can’t it do? It keeps your hair in place, it keeps you looking fresh, it keeps you … smelling fresh? That’s right folks. According to the producer’s commentary for the 2007 remake of this classic musical, those Ultra Clutch Hairspray cans were actually filled with deodorant. Apparently, it was the only substance that would show up and catch light on camera the way the film’s creators needed. Who would have thought the secret to Tracy Turnblad’s voluptuous locks was the same thing you put on your armpits? At least everyone smelled good on set, we guess?

It may seem like a simple thing to run through an Austrian meadow, singing “The Sound of Music” at the top of your lungs – but filming the opening scene of this 1965 masterpiece was no joke. Not only did the weather not cooperate – apparently they had about 20 minutes of sunshine on the last day of shooting to capture those iconic moments – but Julie Andrews had a hard time staying upright. The filmmakers used a helicopter to capture the aerial shots of Andrews running through the meadows, and everytime the chopper got too close, the gust of wind would throw her back into the grass – a not so peaceful shoot for a very lovely song!

To be honest, “Moulin Rouge!” seems like it was an absolute blast to make. We could have reserved this spot for the apparently raucous parties the cast used to have – so wild, in fact, that Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor have joked about not being able to remember them. But we decided to go with something a little less fun. Poor Nicole Kidman fractured two ribs during the film’s dance sequences, and tore cartilage in her knee after falling while shooting “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” She also broke another rib because of the restrictive nature of her costume’s corset. The girl really couldn’t catch a break … or we guess she caught too many.

2007’s “Enchanted” was filled with actors who were ready to push it to the limit – James Marsden committed to the “himbo prince” bit so hard he agreed to actually get hit by bicycles. But, as good as that anecdote is, we’re going with something a little more radical. The film is full of extraordinary dance sequences, but its most famous – “That’s How You Know” – was filmed over seven days in Central Park. But those seven days were spread out across 17 days as the filmmakers waited for sunshine. 150 dancers were called in to surround Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey, and 300 extras were hired to fill out the shot. Everything had to be so tightly choreographed, director Kevin Lima compared it to a “military operation”.

Special effects have come a long way in the past few decades. But we’ve got to hand it to the team behind “Little Shop of Horrors” – they had to get creative. Believe it or not, no CGI or digital effects were used to create the ferocious plant, Audrey II, in this cult classic. Instead, the crew built six puppet versions of the plant, and three different scales of the flower shop set to play with the audience’s perception. Also, in order to make the largest puppets look like they were moving at normal speed, the frame-rate was decreased. Unfortunately for the actors working with the puppet in those scenes, that also meant they had to mouth their lines in slow motion. Talk about commitment.

For this entry, we could have gone with the fact that Julie Andrews literally fell from the sky while filming one of the movie’s famous flying umbrella sequences. But the behind-the-scenes drama of “Mary Poppins” is even more riveting. Walt Disney tried for years to convince P. L. Travers, writer of the “Mary Poppins” books, to let him make the film. After she relented and allowed him to though, she hated it. In particular, she objected to the softening of Mary Poppins’ character, and the use of original songs and animation. In fact, at the movie’s premiere, which she hadn’t initially even been invited to, she furiously demanded that Disney remove the animated sequence - but he refused.

We’ve all heard the rumors, we’ve all watched the movie countless times for clues – but will we ever know the truth? A couple years ago, a video circulated around Twitter of the “Mamma Mia!” cast looking particularly loose on set, and rumors abounded that the cast might have imbibed a little more than one normally would on a job. Luckily, we’ve got Christine Baranski to set the record straight. Baranski said that particular clip came the night after Pierce Brosnan took the actors out to dinner, and they tried Tsipouro. Baranski said the drink had a strange side effect the next day, and if you had even a little bit of water, you’d start feeling drunk again. Honestly, sounds like a blast.

Once you start delving into 1961’s “West Side Story,” you’ll find a plethora of amazing behind the scenes information. The shoots were gruelling, with Wood apparently forced to practice for up to 16 hours at a time. After the musical number “Cool” was shot, the dancers reportedly burned their knee pads! Gotta let off steam somehow, we guess. Wood also did this with a list in her dressing room of everyone she hated! But our favorite detail has to be the real live street gang that kept the cast and crew safe while filming the musical’s prologue. That’s right – reportedly neighbors grew so frustrated with filming, they threw rocks – so reinforcements were needed.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Cat School, “Cats” (2019)
Their Instructor Was a Sphinx Cat...No Really

Fire in the Circus, “The Greatest Showman” (2017)
Luckily Everyone Made It Out Alive

We’ve all heard about how Gene Kelly managed to make it through the iconic “Singin’ in the Rain” performance with a fever. You may have even heard about the fact that it took 40 takes to get the somersault just right at the end of the famous “Good Morning” sequence. But today we wanted to draw attention to the absolutely miserable time poor Debbie Reynolds had while filming. Reynolds had never done anything like the dancing expected of her in the film, and Kelly would repeatedly insult her abilities. After shooting “Good Morning” – which took 15 hours – her feet were bleeding. Even worse, guess which take of the dance Kelly chose – if you guessed the very first one, you’re right.