The Greatest Showman may not be a great movie, but it has great things in it. It’s not so much a biography of P.T. Barnum as it is a celebration of show business and as such, it works magnificently. The infectious joy of performing leaps off the screen as it did with 42nd Street, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Singin’ in the Rain, Easter Parade, The Band Wagon, The Sound of Music, Cabaret, and a handful of other film musicals that put the show in show business.

According to star Hugh Jackman, the film had its genesis at the 2008 Academy Awards which he hosted in February 2009 in which commercial director Michael Gracey had an uncredited role. He promised Gracey that they would work together again and surprised him a short while later by asking him to direct the film whose screenplay would be written by two other participants in that Oscar show, Jenny Biggs and Oscar winner Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters). Gracey brought on co-star Zac Efron and songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul early in the planning of the film which took seven years to complete.

Jackman, of course, has the plum part of Barnum. Others impersonating real-life people include Michelle Williams as Barnum’s wife Charity, Rebecca Ferguson as Swedish nightingale Jenny Lind, and Sam Humphrey as miniature Tom Thumb. Efron’s fictional character is based, in part, on James A. Bailey, Barnum’s real-life business partner. Zendaya as his love interest, is a total fabrication while Keala Settle’s bearded lady is a composite of the real-life Josephine Clofullia and Annie Jones.

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