First "...the Musical"?

[ggersten]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 2:11pm

What was the first Broadway Musical adaptation of a film that used the film's title with the addition "...the Musical" or simply just kept the film's title?  Does "Breakfast at Tiffanys" count since it closed in previews?  (And was it an adaptation of the novel or the film?) So, would it be "42d Street"?  

 

[newintown]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 2:26pm

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1951)? From the 1943 novel and 1945 film (although only the novel was credited, I think).

Kismet (1953) is also officially based on the 1911 play, but perhaps also the 1944 film.

The Yearling (1965) is officially based on the 1938 novel, but probably also the 1946 film.

Breakfast at Tiffany's  is next in 1966, but also claimed the novella as the source.

La Strada (1969) may be the first to be officially based on the (1954) film of the exact same name.

The next seems to be Gigi (1973), then Shenandoah (1975), then King of Hearts (1978*), then 42nd Street (1980), Woman of the Year (1981), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1982), La Cage Aux Folles (1983), and the flood gates were then open.

Updated On: 5/5/17 at 02:26 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 2:56pm

Not that it's original source material is a film, and not that its title is fully the same as the classic play it's based on, but perhaps the first marketing of a show with "the musical" added to the title was "Cyrano: the musical!"  in 1994 (not to be confused with another musical named, more simply, "Cyrano" (for which, Christopher Plummer won the best actor in a musical Tony) in 1973.  

I could be wrong, but I believe titles like "____________ the musical" really took off in 2009 with Billy Elliot and Shrek.

BTW before Gigi (1973) there was Fanny (1954).  Both had previous films with the same names covering the same material, though both Broadway musicals were either adapted from or based on material that was adapted from earlier source material, Colette's novella and Pagnol's plays (Fanny and Marius), from the 30s, both of which were filmed in the 30s, and another movie by Pagnol ("Cesar" also from the 30s. 

Another relatively early show using the same title as an original screenplay movie is 1980's Woman of the Year (which opened, I believe, before 42nd Street, also from that season).

Updated On: 5/5/17 at 02:56 PM

[newintown]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 3:12pm

The first show to sport "the Musical" in its title, according to ibdb, is Shogun, the Musical, from 1990, three years prior to Cyrano, the Musical. But the playbill didn't state whether it was based on the novel or the miniseries.

The first musical (it appears) that was explicitly based on a movie, kept that movie's title, and added "the Musical" was Billy Elliot, the Musical in 2008.

Updated On: 5/5/17 at 03:12 PM

[Esther Blodgett]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 3:34pm

Grand Hotel; the Musical was about the first show using the appended clarification that actually ran.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 3:38pm

OMG, Shogun the Musical.  No wonder I forgot.  What a turkey.

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 3:42pm

Wasn't "Annie" officially billed as A New Musical for about thirty years?

[newintown]

Posted: 5/5/17 at 3:43pm

Grand Hotel was officially based on the novel, with an "arrangement" with the movie copyright holder.

And although the logo sported "the Musical," it seems that official title was/is merely Grand Hotel.

Updated On: 5/5/17 at 03:43 PM