you could count on one hand the good musicals made in the sixties, most of the others bombed at the box office
Mary Poppins
My Fair Lady
West Side Story
Sound of Music
Oliver
Funny Girl
Hello Dolly
Gypsy
Flower Drum Song
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Sweet Charity
The Music Man
That's at least two hands worth just to name some. Four best picture winners, four that were nominated but didn't win. Actually, that's a better Oscar total than the fifties, which had two winners and 3 nominated that didn't win, or the forties - two nominated. As for box office, many of these films were blockbusters; only Sweet Charity bombed. I included Sweet Charity because I like it and think it's a good film. (I've omitted Dr. Dolittle because I don't care for it, and it bombed at the box office, but it did get a best picture nomination, so someone must think it's a good film.)
I agree with the OP that Mitzi is great in Les Girls; perhaps her style didn't fit into sixties musicals (can't really see her as Mary P, Eliza D, Maria, Maria, and so on.) And one big change to the Hollywood musicals from the fifties to the sixties was the demise of the studio system, and particularly Arthur Freed's unit at MGM. So sixties musicals were stand alones - there wasn't any group in the studios focusing on producing musicals and nothing but, and developing talent, and so forth. Unlike the fifties, most of the sixties musicals were ones that were based on Broadway shows. Of those I mentioned above, only Mary Poppins and Dr. Dolittle were created for the screen.
Another change from the fifties to the sixties is a reduced emphasis on dancing. Which probably didn't work in Mitzi's favor.
But outside of Hollywood (and the US), there were some great musicals being made just for the screen during the sixties:
In England, A Hard Day's Night and Help!; in France, Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Desmoiselles de Rochefort.
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