The Greatest Showman
I came to this via the rabbit hole of vocal coaches on YouTube analyzing singers’ performances. “Never Enough” from the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman is apparently a good showcase for vocalists because it has a lot of big notes. I liked the song so checked out the movie.
The character of P.T. Barnum is kind of a jerk… he commits fraud to get a bank loan, he’s mean to his employees, and he abandons his family. The movie plays this with an “aw, shucks, whoopsies” kind of tone, like we’re supposed to root for him just because he does a song and dance. The most egregious scene suggests that he treats his sideshow “freaks” as equals, whereas, just a few scenes earlier, there’s a whole song sung by the bearded lady and her colleagues after being rejected from a party by Barnum.
