Movies turned into musicals. What's next?

[chanel]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 12:14pm

This is funny.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2011/10/musicals_based.php

[Frank thebellhop]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 1:11pm

I actually think The Big Chill would make a good musical lol. maybe not with that approach haha.

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 1:56pm

It's funny, watching The Big Chill today. The way movies, television and media have changed give the film an entirely different feeling.

Where it was a revolutionary and genre-defining ensemble character-sketch film when it came out, today it feels like the pilot to a really good, exceptionally cast premium TV dramedy. I wanted to tune in next week and see the next episode.

[ggersten]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 2:52pm

I want a broadway musical based on a video game - PacMan - Zelda - Angry Birds - Leisure Suit Larry....

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 5:13pm

I think "The Big Chill" seems like good source material for a musical because it already IS a musical, really. The soundtrack is every bit as prominent (and important) as any other film musical.

But the film already uses the very best songs from the late 1960s. How could any new composer and lyricist really compete with that?

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 5:32pm

I'm not sure if it's sad, but it's certainly telling that I don't find this article funny because, given the trends in theater in the last 10 years or so, none of these ideas sound too ridiculous, with the possible exception of "Schindler's List," and I could totally imagine that being turned into an opera. In the past week, I've been trying to think of movies that would be so-out-of-left field for the musical treatment as to be fall-on-the-floor funny. The closest I've come are "Ivan The Terrible," "Eraserhead," and "Speed." Maybe "Fanny and Alexander." MAYBE. But that could easily be an opera, too.

Imagine if, 15 years ago, someone said that "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Ghost" were going to be big-budget Broadways musicals. Ri-goddamn-diculous.

[Frank thebellhop]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 6:00pm

I don't mean this to ruffle any feathers but I'm curious, why are movie adaptaions so reviled? I understand the want for ORIGINAL material but adaptations have always been a part of musical theatre. Oklahoma was based on a book and it's the grandfather of modern musicals. As for movies specifically, some great shows were based on movies: A Little Night Music, Promises Promises, Passion, Nine, Grey Gardens, The Producers, Thoroughly Mixer Nipple, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Billy Elliott. And pleanty of others based off of literary source material already had movies made: Kiss of the Spider Woman, A Light In the Piazza, Grand Hotel. So why are projecects whose source material is film automatically have points deducted before they're even up and running?

[Frank thebellhop]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 6:03pm

Thoroughly Mixer Nipple? Really auto correct? I have got to quit posting from my phone...

[charlesjguiteau]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 6:09pm

If more projects were based on classic movies like Grand Hotel and Smiles of a Summer's Night, I'd be first in line to book tickets. It's when we get Broadway musicals based on dopey modern sitcom-movies* like Legally Blonde, The Wedding Singer and Urban Cowboy (remember that one?) that we shake our heads in dismay. (*Needless to say, all of the above is my own humble opinion. Fans of Legally Blonde are free to disagree.)

[twinbelters]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 8:36pm

As charles points to, the issue is that there is an absurd amount of adaptations from movies made in the last twenty years. People are not as informed, generally, as audiences were during the Golden age of Broadway.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 8:44pm

Have there ever been any musicals turned into books, or non-musical films (Forum doesn't count) ?

That would be interesting.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 10/20/11 at 9:03pm

Fatal Attraction could be a good musical, I think.

[It's All Good]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 12:59am

Um who on earth would have thought "The Color Purple" would be a good musical? And, unfortunately re: "Schindler's List: The Musical" I happen to know of a project currently looking for financing that's unfortunately not that far off....

[Childcatcher]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 3:45am

Death becomes her could be a fabulous musical !!!!
Plese someone write it camptastic x

[Proper Villain]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 9:42am

Don't hate me. I've always wanted to write Poltergeist: The Musical. If you think about it, you would know a couple of songs straight away - "Head Towards The Light, Carol Ann" and "A Prayer for Carol Ann". The proscenium would be the face of an old TV set... and since Zelda Rubenstein is dead, it'd finally be the perfect role for some older, short & squat woman (calling Elaine Paige).

Don't hate.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 3:33pm

Seriously, have you ever seen the movie "Irma La Douce" directed by Billy Wilder? Its a classic story (whore-with-a-heart-of-gold meets straightlaced policeman) that would make a great song and dance show.

Wouldn't it...?

[charlesjguiteau]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 3:40pm

^ Silly rabbit, there WAS a musical Irma La Deuce that played in the West End and then on Broadway in 1960-61, lasting 524 performances. Nice score too.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 4:42pm

To answer Frank the Bellhop's question, some of us are leery of musicals based on movies because they are so often conceived and executed so cynically. When adaptors start (as they so often do) with the idea that people will buy tickets to something because they already liked it on screen (as they so often will), then the next impulse is to be as faithful as possible so the buyers won't be disappointed. The end result is merely a rehash with uninspired songs.

It's not a coincidence that some of the greatest musicals based on movies were based on mediocre or little known movies. The adapters were inspired to create something new precisely because they weren't wedded to the original, nor were they worried that audiences would be upset that the original wasn't faithfully re-created.

If you're interested, Sondheim discusses this at slightly greater length in Craig Zadan's "Sondheim & Co." He says the only reason to adapt anything is because you think it can be done better in a new medium. He calls a lot of projects "Why? Projects" because there was no apparent reason to adapt them in the first place.

[3bluenight]

Posted: 10/21/11 at 8:52pm

to add to that, i would say that the way that rodgers and hammerstein adapt liliom or green grow the lilacs, or sondheim and wheeler adapting smiles of a summer night, is quite different than mounting as much of the film as possible. when i look at a piece like the wedding singer or cry baby - as admirable as the elements on stage may have been, they seemed to want to adhere almost too faithfully to their source material. i think the full monty was an interesting example because there was some rather significant tinkering - changing to an american locale for instance - but it was also quite faithful to the film.