Ice Cube as 'Fagin' in Oliver Remake...

[Joviedamian]

Hi,

More news announced regarding the Oliver remake. Ice Cube is set to co-produce and play Fagin..thoughts?

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Danny-Strong-Signs-on-as-Screenwriter-for-Disneys-OLIVER-Remake-20180118

 

[Call_me_jorge]

he’s a terrible actor. This is gonna suck

[Kad]

Ah yes, following in the footsteps of that other smash cross-genre hit with inexplicable casting choices, the 2014 remake of Annie.

[JSquared2]

I'm guessing that this will be about as successful as the most recent remake of ANNIE.  Hopefully I'll be proven wrong!

[SweetLips]

'modern musical remake'??

What will that mean? Set in a different era ? Poorhouse, children pickpockets? Could be set in those slums in Argentina[?] Fagin will have to be careful he doesn't come across these days as a pederast.

Hope they don't turn those kids into rap artists.

Oliver belongs where it is set and that era---leave perfection alone.

[Tim Barstow]

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

 

[Sertzo19]

As much as I HATE updating period pieces to modern times, I will say that Oliver! is a lot more rooted in reality than Annie is so I could actually see this story being a bit more adaptable to modern times. I'll wait to judge until we hear more about this "update." Also, yes Ice Cube is not the world's greatest actor but Fagin does sort of sing speak all of his songs so that could easily be adapted into rap. I just pray that not all of the songs will be torn to shreds the way Annie was. 

[brian1973]

This sounds AWFUL!

[notsovirginmary]

I work at a high school in the Bronx, and the number of students there who *adored* the Annie remake is huge. Every time we have non-instructional theater periods, they ask to watch it--and these are 14-18 year olds. 

My "inexplicable casting choices" are their representation. 

[TheatreRocks]

why tho

 

[cb981]

My understanding was that this was going to be a separate musical adaptation of the novel, not an update of the classic version.

It still makes me want to violently vomit.

[WestCoastActor/Director]

I was not thrilled with the Annie remake and am not excited about this idea either. I'd rather they just make their own version inspired by the original then call it a remake and change everything about it.  A great example is The Wiz which took the basic ideas of The Wizard of Oz but made it its own.  

About 20 years ago or so there was an organization in Los Angeles called Charity Parody. They took classic musicals and gave them a gay slant. They had their version of Gypsy starring Barry Dennen as Papa Rose. West Side Story which I don't remember seeing.  But by far my favorite was Oliver Twisted. That actually worked really well with Fagan as a pimp and the boys as hustlers. I'm not sure how many years they produce these but it was probably just a few. I have a feeling that the production cost for so much they did not raise that much money for charity. I could be wrong.

[Plannietink08]

cb981 said: "My understanding was that this was going to be a separate musical adaptation of the novel, not an update of the classic version.

It still makes me want to violently vomit."

 

No. It's an adaption of the classic Lionel Bart musical.