Movie musicals you wish were done better
Movie musicals you wish were done better
Alex M
Broadway Star Joined: 11/16/13
#1Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 6:15pm
What are some movie musicals you wish were just a better show overall. For example "Big" is my favorite movie but I really dislike the musical and wish it was better.
#2Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 6:28pm
"movie musical" is the term used for films that are musicals. you're asking about stage musical adaptations of films.
many of them are awful, i was very disappointed with heathers. those lyrics are terrible!
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#3Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 6:36pm
I'm not a fan of The Color Purple. Even the John Doyle version still leaves a lot to be desired.
To quote [title of show]
Jeff: So Movies make Good Musicals?
Hunter: Well, they make musicals.
Rainah
Broadway Star Joined: 11/24/16
#4Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 8:02pm
gypsy101 said: ""movie musical" is the term used for films that are musicals. you're asking about stage musical adaptations of films.
many of them are awful, i was very disappointed with heathers. those lyrics are terrible!"
Forget the lyrics the staging was the real crime. Brutal. Uninspired and static.
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#5Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 8:25pm
I like the book and score of Heathers, but the set design was just boring. It was just a platform with a blue light behind it. I had more complex sets in my high school productions.
#6Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 8:40pm
Finding Neverland should have been so much better than it was.
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#7Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 8:59pm
why'd we ever let ALW get his hands on School of Rock?
MarkBearSF
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/25/11
#8Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 9:14pm
Most seem to fall into the "Why did they bother?" category - shows that, no matter how well done, don't add anything to the movie, but simply add songs for no real reason. (9 to 5, Young Frankenstein)
And there are those that are simply ill-considered and BAD. Exhibit A - Lestat.
#9Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 9:20pm
In nearly every case I wish they would just spend the money and tape/film a high-quality version of the stage production instead of re-interpreting it for film.
#10Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 9:26pm
Probably easier to make a list of the movies turned into musicals that are actually good.
Among the better ones: THE SOUND OF MUSIC (from the 1956 film Die Trapp Familie), SWEET CHARITY (from Fellini's Nights of Cabria), NINE (from Fellini's 8 1/2), PROMISES PROMISES (from The Apartment), 42ND STREET, GREY GARDENS, BILLY ELLIOTT, ONCE.
I've never particularly liked any of the Disney movies adapted for the stage, but I know many others will disagree.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
#11Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 9:36pm
^^^ I'd say A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (from SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT) beats all of the shows on your list, Alice, even if the adaptation is very liberal.
As for "Why, God, why?" projects: the worst IMO is SUNSET BOULEVARD. It felt as if ALW & Co. just went through the screenplay page by page, setting all the dialogue to the same, repetitive tune. By the time they actually showed the chase scene from the movie, I was convinced!
Other examples, such as SINGING IN THE RAIN, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, and STATE FAIR, may lack the original's spark, but BOULEVARD really strikes me as pointless.
#12Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 9:40pm
Yes, GAVESTON, how could I forget NIGHT MUSIC! I think it takes the cake as well. THE KING AND I (based on the 1946 movie Anna and the King of Siam) is also wonderful.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
green waver
Stand-by Joined: 11/3/16
#13Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 9:59pm
Queen Alice- although I've never seen it, I'm guessing it's a bit of a stretch to call The Sound of Music an "adaptation" of the Von Trapp documentary. Rodgers, in his autobioghaphy, says the film was screened for R & H to make them aware of the family; they subsequently commissioned a libretto.
#14Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 10:14pm
FINDING NEVERLAND is the quintessential example for me. Love the movie but alas the show is pretty mediocre. And BIG FISH is just bad IMO.
Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated
#15Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 10:18pm
Die Trapp Familie is not a documentary - its actually a somewhat fictionalized account of Maria's life and strongly influenced the musical both in story telling and in tone. It was actually Mary Martin and her husband Richard Halliday who discovered the film (through Vincent Donahue who eventually directed the musical) -- and it was ineed the film they optioned to be a stage play. R&H were commissioned to write the music later.
Here is a clip from the original film Die Trapp Familie. You can see the fingerprints of THE SOUND OF MUSIC all over it. Much of the dialogue for the musical was lifted pretty much intact. I'd even go so far as to say that much of the look of the movie THE SOUND OF MUSIC was inspired by this original film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeKhf5eaOBk
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
Updated On: 1/11/17 at 10:18 PM
green waver
Stand-by Joined: 11/3/16
#16Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 10:51pm
Queen, I stand corrected. I had always read the German film was"about" the Van Trapps, I assumed that meant it was a doc. Thanks for the link- you certainly can see the origins of the characters and situations.
#17Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 11:02pm
I'm glad you questioned it Greenwaver -- I have been having fun watching the German movie again tonight on Youtube -- It's been ages since I saw it and its pretty delightful. It also shows why THE SOUND OF MUSIC is a good adaptation from a film to the stage - it takes the best ideas from the original film but isn't slavishly faithful.
I think the worst movie to stage adaptations are those that essentially try to put the movie on stage with no real re-thinking of the story / characters for a different medium.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
#18Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 11:10pm
PatrickDC said: "In nearly every case I wish they would just spend the money and tape/film a high-quality version of the stage production instead of re-interpreting it for film."
this thread is incorrectly titled, the subject is about stage musical adaptations of movies, not the reverse.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
#19Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/11/17 at 11:56pm
QueenAlice said: "Yes, GAVESTON, how could I forget NIGHT MUSIC! I think it takes the cake as well. THE KING AND I (based on the 1946 movie Anna and the King of Siam) is also wonderful.
"
What you say about THE KING AND I is correct, I suspect, but technically R&H couldn't get the rights to the film and had to at least pretend to base their musical on the real Anna's autobiography. And make her white and English for Gertrude Lawrence, of course.
#20Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/12/17 at 12:15am
True. But like the SOUND OF MUSIC, / Die Trapp Familie its pretty obvious they were 'inspired' strongly by the Anna and the King movie. I think I even read once that it wasn't until they saw the movie that R&H figured out a way the story could be dramatized at all.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
Updated On: 1/12/17 at 12:15 AM
#21Movie musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/12/17 at 2:41pm
Spamalot was a disaster. Here was an opportunity for a blitz of creativity, but instead we got an all-singing all-dancing celebration of Monty Python merchandising opportunities and catchphrases.
In terms of musicals that became movies, A Chorus Line.
#22Movie -> musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/12/17 at 3:55pm
I saw American Psycho and really wish it was done better.
The music mostly.
henrikegerman
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/29/05
#23Movie -> musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/12/17 at 4:22pm
Apparently you mean stage musicals adapted from movies than should have been much better shows.
For me the definitive answer to this question is APPLAUSE.
#24Movie -> musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/12/17 at 5:03pm
Spamalot was a disaster.
Actually, Spamalot was a hit. I happened to love it. I feared it would just be basically the film no stage, but I really loved how it became something of its own. The Come With Me/Song That Goes Like This sequence was, to me, worth the price of the ticket alone. I thought it was hilarious and joyous. I remember taking my parents to see it. Neither of them had seen the film and they were absolutely thrilled with the show.
As for "Why, God, why?" projects: the worst IMO is SUNSET BOULEVARD. It felt as if ALW & Co. just went through the screenplay page by page, setting all the dialogue to the same, repetitive tune.
Oh, wow. As a huge fan of the film, I couldn't disagree more. I thought the original production was GORGEOUS and I think it's one of his best and probably his last truly great score. It's funny, the song that always gets featured is As If We Never Said Goodbye, though that and Too Much In Love To Care are the weakest songs of the score, in my opinion. The title song, Surrender, With One Look, The Lady's Paying and New Ways to Dream I find truly stunning and the melody from The Greatest Star of All always gives me goosebumps. To me, that melody is so perfectly evocative of the period and setting. I remember the very first time I heard the score, the day the London cast CD was released in the US, I was instantly hooked and thrilled by the score. Later, when I finally saw the show with Buckley, I could not have been more impressed. Unfortunately, I later saw it on tour with Petula Clark and quickly erased as much of that production from my mind as possible. I have no desire to see this revival, however. I can't stand Close's voice in the role and I really don't want to see a scaled down version again.
For me the definitive answer to this question is APPLAUSE.
Ooooohh...now I'd probably have to agree with you on that one. I do like some of the score, but I honestly think it was the wrong team for the project. I love Strouse, but the book and score really needed more edge and bite.
I'd also have to add Illya Darling. You would think the addition of more ethnic flavor to the Greek score would lift the material up to an attractive level, but it's just so dull. And I'd love it if Little Miss Sunshine could turn it around.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
AEA AGMA SM
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/13/09
#25Movie -> musicals you wish were done better
Posted: 1/12/17 at 6:16pm
I've said it before, and I'll say it here again: The Addams Family. This is a case where I think it was a huge mistake to not adapt the 91 film. The movie had a fun story that would have worked very well on stage and a great film score containing several themes that Marc Shaiman could have easily expanded on to craft a fantastic stage score (especially the waltz he wrote for Gomez and Morticia and "The Mamushka"
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