If you haven't heard of Baz Luhrmann, then perhaps you have seen The Great Gatsby from three years ago. The director is also very well-known for the 2001 Moulin Rouge, which helped bring the musical back into Hollywood. The director is now the executive producer for a new Netflix show that is also a musical, known as The Get Down. This is what is known about The Get Down with its new trailer, release date, and other news.
According to The Rolling Stone, Baz Luhrmann's musical-drama is about two teenagers, Ezekiel (Justice Smith) and Mylene (Herizen Guardiola) who fall in love amid the crime-filled world of New York City in 1977. This is kind of familiar territory for Baz Luhrmann, who directed Romeo + Juliet back in 1996. This was twenty years ago, and although that film wasn't a complete musical like Moulin Rouge, but it really helped the careers of then rising stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
As far as the cast goes for The Get Down, it includes Jaden Smith (yes, Will Smith's son, and no relation to the lead of Justice Smith), Shameik Moore, Giancarlo Esposito, and Jimmy Smits. Each episode has a narrator that is played by Daveed Diggs with rhymes written by Nas, and the series has a crew of hip-hop "founding fathers" that include Kurtis Blow and Grandmaster Flash as advisors.
The show is going to show the birth of hip-hop, as well as the rise of disco and punk. It also follows several musicians, looking for fame, and there is a lot of dancing, not to mention gospel music. The trailer can be seen below.
What is interesting is how there really isn't anything like this ever done. Okay, there has been musical television shows before, like the hit show Glee and the short-lived Smash. What would be very interesting is if the show featured all original music, as that has never really tried before.
What would be great is if the 13 episodes was one complete story, even if that would mean that you don't get a season 2. In fact, a season 2 could be forced on this. I'm starting to have back flashbacks about Glee with its nigh perfect 13 episodes of Season 1, and then never being able to be as good ever again, as the stories had essentially ran out.
The first installments of the first season (Episodes 1-6) will premiere on Netflix on August 12, but there isn't any word on when the next will arrive. It looks like Netflix is splitting up the seasons on the first outing of this show, kind of like what was done with The Ranch.
