There could be so many different aproaches if it did become a yearly thing. 1776 around Independence Day, Damn Yankees during baseball season, Finnian's Rainbow on St. Paty's Day lol.
Some I think may work that I don't remember being mentioned:
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum Hello, Dolly! (With Bette Midler please!) The Wiz Showboat Gentleman Prefer Blondes 42 Street Thoroughly Modern Millie Anything Goes Kiss Me, Kate Rent How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying The Pajama Game A Chorus Line (would this one work offstage?)
ANY show could be filmed live...since we SEE them live, it would work for television. It just takes impeccable planning and rehearsal.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
If NBC or ABC wanted to be really ambitious, this would be my cast for Miss Saigon. Kim-Jessica Sanchez The Engineer-Lou Diamond Philips Chris-Josh Bowman John-Jeremy Jordan Ellen-Patina Miller(Changing it up!) Gigi-Rachelle Ann Go
The Wiz and 42nd Street are great ideas too! Millie isn't my favorite musical, but it is very well done and has lots of potential. Anyone know if Ginnifer Goodwin can sing?
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
I would love to see 'Singin' In The Rain' live on television, or.... maybe they can do Bombshell and/or Hit List (with the original cast of SMASH please)!
I think the Wiz is a great idea. I can already imagine what the promos would look like. I think any classic title like those already mentioned (Oklahoma, Camelot, My Fair Lady) would work really well. The best titles would be those that they could market for family audiences. I can't see a network ever taking a risk with something like Rent or Cabaret. And god forbid anyone attempt to put Kinky Boots on network television again.
I can't see a network ever taking a risk with something like Rent or Cabaret.
That's funny. Really, it is. Because I recall this little item from the April 18, 2003 issue of Entertainment Weekly:
'Rent' Control NBC hopes to jump on the musical bandwagon with a Broadway adaptation
Is a RENT sign about to go up at NBC? The network is in early talks with Miramax about developing the Broadway musical Rent as a TV movie. The studio behind Chicago has owned the rights to the La Boheme-inspired musical since 1996 but has yet to make hay out of the Tony-winning tale. (There were brief discussions with director Spike Lee about adapting it into a feature.) NBC is certainly up for playing landlord to Rent: It's never produced a musical and has watched ABC garner critical acclaim (and ratings) for The Music Man, Annie, and Cinderella.
But no one can start singing "525,600 minutes" on TV without first obtaining approval from the estate of late Rent composer Jonathan Larson. Broadway producer Allan S. Gordon, who owns the rights to Rent, worries whether some of the play's controversial topics like AIDS and homosexuality will translate to the small screen. "It would lose some edge," cautions Gordon. "It happened at a certain time and certain place, but it is still cutting edge."
The only objector was the owner of the stage rights. And why? The public reason is given above, and squares with your assumption. But the Post around the same time says:
The producers want to milk the cash cow for as long as possible before having to compete with a Rent movie, complains Larson family lawyer Jay Harris.
Finian's Rainbow would be a hard sell. Not a well-known show, and the broad strokes of Irishness and leprechauns and race-changing mesh a little less seamlessly than they did in the Fifties and Sixties.
So I'm a giant nerd (SHOCKER seeing as I'm on broadwayworld message boards at 2 AM) and I have a Pinterest board dedicated to my casting/adaptation/ideas. I got bored after Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and this was the result. Thank you to whomever I stole the Megan Hilty bit from :)
Maybe a Halloween telecast of Little Shop of Horrors next year? No worries! Already have it cast! Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Seymour. Megan Hilty as Audrey. Jack White as Orin. Kelsey Grammer as Mr. Mushnik. Syesha Mercado as Chiffon. Amber Riley as Crystal. Uzo Aduba as Ronette. Cee Lo as The Voice of Audrey II.
I think an "after hours" approach somewhere like Comedy Central or Showtime could be fun to. Late night, unedited broadcasts of shows like Avenue Q, Spring Awakening, Hair, Etc.
A Halloween broadcast of Rocky Horror starring Ricky Martin as Frank, Adam Lambert as Riff Raff, Lady Gaga as Magenta, Sutton as Columbia, Megan Hilty as Janet and Zac Efron as Brad.