The Greatest Showman (2017) on Netflix
PG20171h 45mBiographyDramaMusical
Phineas Taylor Barnum, a tailor's son, marries Charity and works as a shipping clerk. When the firm fails, he borrows money to open a museum of oddities, then recruits unusual performers.
- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.5/10353,574 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes57%
Trailer
Plot summary
Barnum is the son of a tailor, and as a boy he befriends Charity, the daughter of the household where his father works. She is sent to a finishing school, and the two keep up a correspondence until they meet again as adults and marry. They settle in New York City with their two daughters, Caroline and Helen, living modestly while Barnum wants more. His employer's shipping business collapses after a typhoon sinks its vessels, so he obtains a bank loan and opens a museum of wax figures. Sales are slow. Caroline and Helen urge him to show something alive, and he begins hiring people with unusual appearances, among them Lettie Lutz and Charles Stratton.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Greatest Showman (2017)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The day before the read-through that would green-light the film, Jackman underwent nasal surgery and was ordered by his doctor not to sing, so Pasek and Paul asked Jordan to sing Barnum's part too. During "From Now On" Jackman disobeyed and sang along, ending the read-through emotionally and winning the green light.
- Barnum's first theatrical foray, in 1835, was exhibiting an African-American slave woman named Joice Heth, whom he claimed had raised George Washington and was 161 years old, when she was really in her late 70s. After she died in 1836 he arranged a public autopsy of her and charged admission.
- The idea began during rehearsals for the 81st Academy Awards in 2009, when producers Laurence Mark and Bill Condon compared the host, Jackman, to Barnum. Jackman expressed interest, the pair approached ceremony writer Jenny Bicks, and she and Condon wrote The Greatest Showman.
- In the United Kingdom the soundtrack became, on 23 March 2018, only the second album in 30 years to spend 11 consecutive weeks at number one, equalling the record set by Adele's 21. By 2019 its 28 non-consecutive weeks on top matched the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
- In reality Lind dressed plainly and was known for her charitable donations at home and in the United States. Neither Lind nor Barnum showed any romantic interest in the other, she found him crude, and she broke off their successful tour early because she was unhappy with his marketing.
