Hello all, With the growing trend of remaking hollywood movies (though it's been a trend for as long as movies have existed) what shows do you think should have their source material or plot remade into a new musical with a new book and music as a remake of the old one? My personal choices would be for BIG FISH and SUNSET BOULEVARD
Anything regarding shows stated by this account is an attempt to convey opinion and not fact.
There are already approximately 10 different stage musicals of the story already. Peter Pan and Cyrano de Bergerac have gone through multiple musical treatments as well.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
A serious answer: I would like to see an Addams Family that is more of an adaptation of the first film, with Marc Shaiman expanding on the score that he wrote for the film. The party scene with The Mamushka alone offers up a perfect opening to Act 2.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY really does deserve a better musical treatment. The plot of the stage show is really half-baked and doesn't match the Addams Family of the show movie or drawings.
This is a bizarre line of speculation - has such a thing ever happened before? (Aside from relatively simultaneous development of multiple versions of works in the public domain, like Wild Party or Phantom of the Opera)
I would imagine that once adaptation rights have been granted, they aren't available to be granted a second time.
There is a third try to make a musical of Elmer Gantry that is being mounted at a regional this coming season.
The first was a one-nighter in 1970 with Robert Shaw and Rita Moreno that had some nice songs. The second try was later in the 70s when a version was done at Ford's Theatre in DC. This one got some good reviews and there were rumblings that it would move to Broadway, but that didn't happen.
Maybe the third time will indeed be the charm.
"A Tale of Two Cities" has been tried at least twice. The was the US version a few seasons ago and in the 60s was a West End version called "Two Cities" that had a run but wasn't deemed good enough to bring across.
Twelfth Night has has four versions that I can think of, most recently being "Play On!" In the mid-70s there was a one-weeker called "Music Is" with a score by Richard Adler and directed by George Abbott. Both of these were Broadway productions.
The most successful incarnation of Twelfth Night, indeed a smash hit, was the off-Broadway "Your Own Thing" in 1968 or so, but opening around the same time as Your Own Thing was another off-Broadway show called "Babes in the Wood" which didn't run.
Cyrano has had at least three musical incarnations. The Chris Plummer production in 1974 would have been a good Cyrano except the songs got in the way of a good production of the play. Around the same time was a stock tryout version called A Song For Cyrano that starred Jose Ferrer. The third one was the big swash and buckle version that happened what, 10 years ago? All have been failures.
The problem with adapting Cyrano as a musical is that he is the only one who metaphorically sings. The other characters are tone-deaf. The only adaptation of Cyrano that might work would be one where he has all the songs and every one else only speaks. The revelation to Roxanne would be that she finally hears the music he has been singing. Finding an actor-singer to be able to do that even six times a week would be quite a challenge.
"If my life weren't funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable."
--Carrie Fisher