The Greatest Showman

Biography

The Greatest Showman is a movie musical loosely based on the life of circus impresario P.T. Barnum — a.k.a. the greatest showman. In this rendition of the story, Barnum is a dreamer and a visionary, a family man whose wealthy, high-class in-laws scoff at his lowbrow, vulgar aspirations to entertain the masses. Barnum rounds up a group of “freaks” and performers — a bearded lady, a strongman, a dwarf, trapeze artists — and convinces a playwright to become his business partner, a move the playwright’s snobby family finds baffling. The circus is a wild success, though people in the town condemn it as a breeding ground for “abominations,” protesting and picketing.

The movie is driven by its music, written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the Oscar- and Tony-winning songwriting duo behind Dear Evan Hansen and La La Land. Most of the songs feel more like Top 40 pop than show tunes, and they’re infectious. The soundtrack, released two weeks before the film’s theatrical debut, spent multiple weeks in the No. 1 slot on the Billboard album charts.