Could La La Land be adapted into a stage musical?

[mormonsandglindas]

Do you think the set pieces and story could succcesfuly be adapted onto the stage? What do you think? 

[LesWickedly]

The story and score is beautiful on film, but wouldn't hold up onstage. The best parts of the film couldn't be replicated onstage.

[theoriginoflove]

I was thinking about that earlier. I would enjoy it very much but I don't know about everyone else.

The only thing I have to say is that Emma Stone would have to come back as Mia.

[aaaaaa15]

Don't think it would work anywhere near as well. The most impressive things about the movie would be difficult to impossible to reenact on stage. But if it did happen, I disagree about them needing to get Emma Stone. Plenty of theatre actresses who could do that role as well if not better. I think Gosling's old-Hollywood style of charisma would be harder to replace.

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

But of course, you KNOW somewhere down the line, somebody will attempt it.

[Scarywarhol]

The only good things about this movie are specific to the fillmmaking and the presence of Emma Stone. 

[Kad]

This is one of those movies that's really meant to only be a movie. Being a movie is intrinsic to the whole thing.

[QueenAlice]

I don't think so. Not without a major re-thinking.

I enjoyed the film but almost in spite of it being a musical. I ultimately found the story sweet and moving, but other than the Audition sequence,  I didn't feel like it really use a traditional musical theatre structure to tell the story through song.  Most of the heavy lifting was left to the non singing dramatic scenes with the musical numbers operating as sort of background fantasy.  This was of course by design - though I thought the movie would have been stronger if they had really committed to the musical concept and musicalized more dramatic moments.

I suppose this is something that could be potentially brought out in a stage musical, but the whole thing is an homage to film musicals, so I think that would be lost in translation as well. 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

It could very easily be a stage show.

[wonderfulwizard11]

They'd have to write a more interesting story and a full score if they ever wanted to do it. I'm sure there's been interest, but I don't think it would work at all. It's a tribute to old-school movie musicals with a wisp of a plot- putting it on stage would only take away what it is. 

[TheGingerBreadMan]

I don't think that it would work. The reason why the movie works so well is because of the beautiful style of filmmaking, which would be nearly impossible to replicate on stage. The musical sequences are so specific to the dreamy, almost fantastical world that they transport the characters to, and would need major re-working to have the same impact on stage. This is the reason that it wouldn't be doable - re-working it would force it to lose its stylistic approach and would turn it into something that's far off from what the piece is intended to be. 

I agree that Ryan Gosling would be harder to replace than Emma Stone - there are countless actresses who could pull off Mia, but Sebastian requires a certain type of charm and "laid back-ness" while still being fully invested, and I can't think of any current musical theatre names who could do it. Of course, it's highly possible that there's an undiscovered actor out there somewhere who could be incredible, and it's unfair to say that nobody else could do it. 

 

 

[VintageSnarker]

wonderfulwizard11 said: "They'd have to write a more interesting story and a full score if they ever wanted to do it. I'm sure there's been interest, but I don't think it would work at all. It's a tribute to old-school movie musicals with a wisp of a plot- putting it on stage would only take away what it is."

Yup. All of this. I think you could take the bare bones idea of the plot and some of the songs but compared to other properties, this one would be very difficult to just plop on stage. There's potential for a more interesting story if you just had a tighter script and better writing though I don't know if it would ever be anything remarkable. 

[Mr. Nowack]

Same as with a movie version of DROWSY CHAPERONE. Sure it could be done, but should it be?

[gypsy101]

after seeing this a second and third time i actually think a stage version could work better than i thought after the first time i saw it. i think it could really be a fantastic dance-heavy show starring someone like Tony Yazbeck and Misty Copeland. I thought the dancing was more essential to the film overall than the singing was.

[Fan123]

This sounds encouraging, though of course we'll have to wait and see:

http://www.mtv.co.uk/la-la-land/news/la-la-land-is-set-to-become-a-stage-musical

[mc1227]

I feel it would work despite the absence of the beautiful cinematography of the film.  The story is good, songs are also very good but will need a few more.  Dancing scenes could be equally effective if not better and the singing would definitely be better.  The big challenge is to find two actors with the same chemistry.  

[StephieElise]

Funny that several people have said that they couldn't see it working without Gosling, as I've said that I actually would have loved to have seen Hugh Sheridan (an Aussie actor/singer) as Seb. Whether it would work on stage is another question...

[Fan123]

Interesting thought. I'm not hugely familiar with Hugh Sheridan, but seen in the light of your idea, this clip of him from that quirky 2015 opera miniseries 'The Divorce' almost seems like a parody of Sebastian's more pretentious moments :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfU_SKrgr5I

(Getting even more off-topic, if anyone cares, the miniseries itself is mildly amusing though very inconsequential; cast recording here: https://open.spotify.com/album/6PmCF7CG8oA6Kq7THrSCJu)

[Call_me_jorge]

My dreamcast for Seb and Mia has got to be Joshua Henry and Laura Dreyfuss 

[Dave28282]

I think that many scenes actually benefit from being on stage, they can do much more with the music, have better singers, and scenes like "Lovely Night Dance" can really work in theatre with the right setting, lighting etc. Theatre is per definition the perfect place to re-create this fantasy world.

Of course they woud need additional songs and approach certain scenes differently but there is definitely potential.

 

 

[LxGstv]

I find it funny that the director himself said that it couldn't be adapted into Broadway, I don't agree with that statement... "Sunset Boulevard" isn't even a musical and they adapted to the stage, the idea that La La Land that's one step ahead and already has great music can't be adapted into the stage baffles me... yes, there are filmakimg achievements, but that's irrelevant, the word is adapting to the stage, not transferring...