Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
#1Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:17pm
I am in my 50's and I remember the day when Musicals on Broadway were turned into amazing movies. Broadway created musicals and the movies fimed them in spectacular fashion.
Now it's totally backwards and every silly movie is turned into a musical. It's such a lack of imagination by people writing for the theatre. Create your own stories.
Or at least go back to using great books/novels.
Can we have ONE season where there no movie is turned into a musical? Just one.
I saw a wonderful play at The Mint Theatre today and walked past the posters for Little Miss Sunshine. I loved that movie as much as anyone but let it be. It was a great movie, it doesn't have to be a musical as well. It's a movie about a journey in a van... a ROAD TRIP. How the hell does that translate to the stage?
I think it started with Disney invading Broadway.
I remember the theatre district and Broadway BEFORE Disney arrived. I would say all things being weighed... Broadway Theatre as an artform was better back then. Now we get three or four decent new plays, a bunch of revivals, and a big huge load of crummy musicals based on bad movies.
I enjoyed the play at The Mint...Philip Goes Forth... better than almost any play I have seen on Broadway last season. It was actual, honest to goodness, T-H-E-A-T-R-E. Just a small reminder of what Broadway must have been like in the 30's and 40's.
#2Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:20pm
1968: The 1960 Oscar winning Best Picture, "The Apartment" written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond and Directed by Billy Wilder is transformed into the smash hit musical, "Promises, Promises" with a score by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, a book by Neil Simon and smashing choreography and staging by Michael Bennett.
So no I will never be against movies being turned into musicals because then "Promises, Promises" wouldn't exist.
And "Promises, Promises" makes me happy!
Updated On: 8/24/13 at 07:20 PM
#2Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:22pmWhat about that awful A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC??
#3Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:28pm
I think it started with Disney invading Broadway.
APPLAUSE, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, 42ND STREET, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, GRAND HOTEL, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, NINE, ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, THE RED SHOES, SHENANDOAH, SMILE, and SWEET CHARITY, among many others, disagree with you.
Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.
#4Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:33pm
Well, Mame was first a movie as was Hello Dolly and Chicago.
( Or a movie before a musical, as some were books first)
Updated On: 8/24/13 at 07:33 PM
#5Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:38pmBut the musical Chicago is not based on the film but on the Maurine Dallas Watkins play.
#6Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:39pmI'm just so tired of them making musicals out of plays! Especially Shakespeare! I think it started when Lerner and Lowe invaded Broadway, and it's been downhill since!
"Through The Sacrifice You Made, We Can't Believe The Price You Paid..For Love!"
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#7Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:48pmI want to see someone take all of the music out of a musical and turn it into a straight play.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
#8Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:50pmPygmalion, hon.
"Through The Sacrifice You Made, We Can't Believe The Price You Paid..For Love!"
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#9Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:51pm
Question to the original poster: have you seen the musical version of Little Miss Sunshine?
I can understand some peoples' frustrations with movies being turned into musicals, but it doesn't even sound like you even saw the Little Miss Sunshine musical...
Then you say you enjoyed the movie, but in your description of it you make it seem like there is not much to it (a ROAD TRIP in a van).
???
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
Updated On: 8/24/13 at 07:51 PM
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#10Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:53pm
"Pygmalion, hon"
That was a play before the musical...
I mean, take a musical that was never a straight play, and take out all of the music.
Like, The Sound Of Music.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#11Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:54pmThis guy is obviously trolling.
TheatreDiva90016
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
#12Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:54pmYes, since 2004.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#13Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 7:55pmI'm more tired of movies being awful.
Twitter @NamoInExile
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#14Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 8:01pm
You didn't SAY that.
( written with humor and a smile, let's be friends...)
"Through The Sacrifice You Made, We Can't Believe The Price You Paid..For Love!"
#15Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 8:28pmIt makes me crazy when people never appreciate movies being made into musicals. Some people whine about shows like "9 to 5 were terrible, but then they forget that "Billy Eliot" the one most people like was ALSO a movie first. Also we can't forget "Sweeney Todd" (the original film might not have been whole heartedly the inspiration because I believe the book "The String of Pearls" and just the folklore of Sweeney Todd was first), Kinky Boots (6 Tonys people!), and many more. So my motto is that if there ever was a movie turned musical that you enjoyed you can not say that you are not thankful that the movie turned musical exists. Ok I'm done with my rant now.
#16Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 8:32pm
Exactly. If the show is good who cares where the source material came from?
....but the world goes 'round
#17Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 8:36pm^ Exactly! Now I'm not here to debate wheather "9 to 5" was a good show (I loved it) but I agree whole heartedly with that statement.
#18Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 8:36pmIf like a musical based on the school "shooting" episode of GLEE.
charliebrown5
Understudy Joined: 8/1/13
#19Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 8:58pmLack of originality feels prevalent across all art forms right now. Did we really need another sequel of that movie? Or another re-make? And thank you Katy Perry for re-releasing Sara Bareilles' recent single. But you never know when something wonderful will occur, original or not. So many great examples posted herein.
#20Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 9:07pm
In many of the shows some people are bringing up.. A Little Night Music ... for instance. Sondheim took a Bergman film.. Smiles of a Summer Night... and turned it into something quite different...a musical BASED on the movie but not the same.. he called it A Little Night Music. He didn't call the musical Smiles of a Summer Night. They were two different artistic achievements. With The Apartment.. the same thing... they took a GREAT movie and for different artistic reasons turned it into Promises! Promises!. Again.. a different title. They took great source material and created their own artistic creation based on that movie. So although they were based on movies they were not using the movie as an artistic crutch. Yes, there have been some movies that have made great musicals. I am not saying it never happened.
Some of the musicals mentioned were books before they were either a musical or movie. And some of them were not nearly as good as the movie. Applause, for instance, is no All About Eve
What I am saying is that you take a dimwitted, crummy movie like The Wedding Singer and turn it into a even dumber musical. You take Legally Blonde and turn it into a really dumb musical that has NO real artistic merit of it's own. I also blame audiences for being so theatrically illiterate as to fall for these shows. Wicked, which in my opinion is a horrible musical, found that if you can tap into teen girls as a market you can run forever.
And there are movies which have been successful musicals. One example is Hairspray. It was a great movie and they turned it into a genuinely great musical.
I also think if you are in my age group you may have more of idea of what I am talking about. I have been studying, writing, following, creating, directing, acting in, musical directing, and directing musicals since 1975. I have been going to Broadway shows since the same period. I know what Broadway WAS and what is has BECOME. And I wasn't ever around during the apex of Broadway. When ... In 1925 over 230 shows played on Broadway! In 2012 there were about 43.
I try to respect everyone's opinion. But sometimes people on this board enjoy being contrary.
I did see the movie of Little Miss Sunshine and it WAS a movie about a road trip. Most of it took place in the van and the places they stopped along the route to get to the contest. Yes, It was also about the journey the characters took as people. I have not seen the musical.
charliebrown5
Understudy Joined: 8/1/13
#21Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 9:08pm
"I want to see someone take all of the music out of a musical and turn it into a straight play."
Someone needs to do this with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before it comes to Broadway.
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#22Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 9:19pm
"I did see the movie of Little Miss Sunshine and it WAS a movie about a road trip. Most of it took place in the van and the places they stopped along the route to get to the contest. Yes, It was also about the journey the characters took as people. I have not seen the musical."
Then I don't even see why you're using this as an example, when you enjoyed the movie, yet follow up with an argument about those "dimwitted, crummy" movies being turned into musicals.
There's been plenty of movies turned into musicals that have received praise and others that have not. I think the bigger issue is turning musicals into movies. I enjoyed Chicago, but thought the Producers movie was pretty lackluster. The Producers was better on stage.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
Updated On: 8/24/13 at 09:19 PM
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#23Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 9:21pmAlso, sue me, but I enjoyed Wedding Singer and Legally Blonde. I don't think enjoying these shows makes you theatrically illiterate.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
#24Anyone else tired of Movies being made into Musicals?
Posted: 8/24/13 at 9:37pmI'm not sick of it.... not at all. I'm just sick of crappy things. I think blind annoyance with "movies to musicals" or "jukebox" musicals or any of that played-out, boring chatter is just knee-jerk snobery. There are good jukebox musicals, there are bad. There are good movies to musicals, there are bad. There are good original musicals. And yes, there are really crappy ones as well. As people who like theater I think we should be less concerned with the wrapping paper and more concerned with the content within.... IMHO.
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