Jason Robert Brown is Working on a Musical Adaptation of A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN!

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Thoughts?

[seahag2]

Aw, this could be so good! Plus this time around he's adapting from a film people actually care about.

[CATSNYrevival]

Because Honeymoon in Vegas is doing so well? Producers beware.

[philly03]

Has JRB not seen a movie since 1995?

[GreasedLightning]

I don't know a single living person who gives a hoot about either the Bridges or Honeymoon film... A League of Their Own is a well-known film that would pick much interest, I think. A well-known family-friendly film. This could work.

MY question is why JRB keeps his turnover rates so rapidly if his now what seems to be annual show on Broadway keep fleeting.

[GreasedLightning]

LOL. Good point, philly03!

[Robbie2]

Eh, not at all interesting or an original idea for a musical adaptation...Honeymoon & Bridges bombed now this?
Nothing can match the movie of A League of their own...You can do better JRB!

[jpbran]

Does he do nothing but movie adaptations now?

[philly03]

"MY question is why JRB keeps his turnover rates so rapidly if his now what seems to be annual show on Broadway keep fleeting."

He's only at 5 flops - he needs to top Wildhorn's 8. Maybe he'll do "Richie Rich," "Ace Ventura," and "Speed" next!

[CATSNYrevival]

Speed the Musical would be great Off-Broadway. Someone get the Silence of the Lambs team on that.

[ABB2357]

First Bridges, then Honeymoon in Vegas, now A League of Their Own...

What's next? And why is A League of Their Own a natural fit for a musical?

It seems especially sad that JRB made his name on two masterpiece-caliber original shows and is now wasting away with mediocre movie adaptations that don't really lend themselves to being musicals in the first place. I think Bridges was the best of his recent output, but still unnecessary and frustratingly uneven.

[GreasedLightning]

I had the same thought, jpbran. Disappointing as his scores are often beautiful but stories never original - and so the shows fall flat.

[Mr Roxy]

Wildhorn had 8? I thought it was 5.

[philly03]

Jekyll x2, Wonderland, B&C, Civil War, Victor/Victoria, Dracula, Pimpernel

JRB was asked to do Parade (wasn't his idea), 13 was commercial crap-story. Don't forget JRB was largely at the helm of "Urban Cowboy" (another WHY movie turned musical). Bridges could've been better adapted, but I don't really blame him for that.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

I don't think Bridges of Madison County should really count at all because the musical only took the original novel as its source material, not the 1995 film adaptation.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

I can already imagine a highly elaborate dance where the company throws their bats and balls in the air and catch it like in Damn Yankees. Also, lots of jokes and maybe a song about the skirts flying up. Then they can just re-use that Madonna swing dancing scene with that tomboy player singing "It Had to be You" to that nerdy looking guy who she ends up marrying. They'll just change the songs in that scene, but it's practically already on stage.

Then can you imagine the sister rivalry song? It'll be another "Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get your Gun. Enough of those songs and Sondheim will go on record saying how it reminds him of the musicals he grew up with while bashing Ariana Grande for singing songs from Oliver!/Funny Girl for their 40th anniversary commemoration.

[seahag2]

I prefer cheesy but original plots like 13 over random and irrelevant musical adaptations of films like Honeymoon and wish Brown would work on the former more. At this point, I can't tell if A League of Their Own will be good, but knowing JRB's..uh...versatility there is a tiny bit of hope.

[Mr Roxy]

V/V was really not his musical as he only wrote 3 or 4 songs for it. J/H was one show revived so it is really 6 musicals.

[GreasedLightning]

Even so, it was still an adaptation of another previously existing story.

[veronicamae]

Ughhh. My absolutely favorite movie ever and one of my absolute least favorite composers.

[nicnyc]

I love JRB but this seems like a dreadful idea... First of all, I'm not at all a fan of the movie A League of Their Own - can't imagine why anyone would want to make it into a musical. Secondly, and more importantly, JRB excels at the dark and twisty like L5Y, Parade and even Bridges of Madison County. Why this?

[lite2shine]

Not good idea. Why he can't work on an original show? If he has to do an adaptation, how about Ferris Bueller's Day Off? That movie screams for a musical and has tons of fans.

[jarretSF]

^^ only if Matthew Broderick plays principal Rooney.

[VintageSnarker]

"Has JRB not seen a movie since 1995?"

Should we send him some blu-rays of newer movies? Hmn... How about Gone Girl? Blue Jasmine? The Help?

Seriously, though, I don't know what motivates people to write baseball musicals.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Broadway needs a good lesbian Musical!