'Crazy Rich Asians' as a musical?

[RW3]

I finally saw 'Crazy Rich Asians' earlier this week and absolutely loved it. In my opinion, so much of the movie just screams to be musicalized. For those who have seen it, who would you cast in a musical version of the film? Who would be your first choice directors? Composer and lyricist?

[LizzieCurry]

Ira Madison said this when he first saw a screening. I had forgotten that by the time I saw it on opening weekend, but I'm all for it!

[TheSassySam]

Ashley Park as Rachel Chu, please. 

[dramamama611]

but we're complaining about every movie musical that IS coming in?

[Call_me_jorge]

Warren Yang as Nick? If you don’t know who he is just check out his Instagram. Hubba hubba

[Sharkam]

Brilliant!  Loved the book, loved the movie and would love to see it as a musical!  Kimiko Glenn would be great as the quirky friend!!  

[LizzieCurry]

dramamama611, we contain multitudes.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

If this were to be done, I think the best course to go would be to have composers who know how to style music in the Mando-pop and Canto-pop tradition. It needs to have that flavor that the movie soundtrack has, which consisted of Mandarin or Cantonese covers of American music and original Chinese songs, but I also wouldn't mind if they took a page out of the soundtracks of various Taiwanese/Chinese dramas. 

[Tag]

It's totally kosher to color blind cast this, right?

[Wayman_Wong]

On All That Chat, I proposed the idea of ''Crazy Rich Asians'' as a musical as soon as it opened two weeks ago. It seems like David Henry Hwang, who's worked on the books to ''Aida'' and the revised ''Flower Drum Song,'' not to mention ''Soft Power,'' would be the go-to guy. Plus, he co-wrote lyrics for ''Soft Power,'' 

[Kad]

As great as Hwang is, he is sort of treated as America's Token Asian Playwright. A musical adaptation of something like Crazy Rich Asians would be a fantastic opportunity to elevate the profile of another Asian-American writer.

[HeyMrMusic]

I could see Ali Ewoldt as Astrid. Eleanor and Peik Lin would be Tony roles.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

I agree with giving another Asian-American playwright a chance to adapt this...if this project was actually a thing. 

[YvanEhtNioj]

YES PLEASE! 

It would be so cute. Could you imagine the sets? Especially during that wedding scene..

I'm all for it. I think it could translate very well as a musical if done correctly.

Sidebar, just want to mention how beautiful the men in that movie are. 

[ameliewormwood]

Phillipa Soo as Astrid? 

[Robbie2]

Call_me_jorge said: "Warren Yang as Nick? If you don’t know who he is just check out his Instagram. Hubba hubba"

 

Hubba hubba ha...you should have seen him at Broadway Bares...he's also in King Kong Jorge.

How about Young Jean Lee to adapt for the stage-musical?

[Auggie27]

It has all of the elements of a traditional musical, and is built around a real romance. But to that point, the leading man might have more depth if musicalized. As good looking as he is, he's a cipher through much of the film (scene with his mother aside), and does little to help his fiancee negotiate his family.  Two Asian friends said the same thing -- he sort of throws her in the deep end. If he has some character-specific songs, he's one character who'd pop.

Agree with the poster above who believes the music needs to be culture-specific.  The last thing it needs is a homoginized American pop score.  If the show could be as authentic as possible, it could be ground-breaking. 

[LizzieCurry]

I agree about Nick throwing Rachel in the deep end — I haven't read the book, but is it the done the same way there? A musical might be able to rectify (or enhance) certain parts of the film by being more of an adaptation of the book.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

I found the movie to actually be an improvement on the Nick and Rachel characters in many ways, which I think was due to the screenplay being co-written by an Asian-American woman who understands how an Asian-American woman would be better than Kevin Kwan. The movie sacrificed like 80% of Astrid's storyline and like 90% of Eddie's storylines as they were co-lead characters with Nick with their own independent from and linked storylines to Nick. Nick has some sections with his POV (like 10 characters or more had sections with their POV in the book) but I don't remember if it really went deeper into explaining why Nick didn't tell Rachel he was as wealthy as he was than the movie did. I think a lot of it was him just liking that Rachel liked him for him and not what he was attached to AND him being very naive and oblivious about what he was getting Rachel into as the movie explained. I think he was as blindsided as Rachel was because he himself never saw that side of his mother and grandmother, who doted on him and acted as if he could do no wrong. I think he suspected but he did not think people outside his family would have treated Rachel the way she was treated because he himself was never subjected to that. Although, he probably should have known considering how that society and even members of his extended family treated his cousins and such for not playing along with the rules. In the book, Astrid's brother and Nick's cousin gets disowned and disinherited or marrying a Malaysian woman.

[Wayman_Wong]

''I found the movie to actually be an improvement on the Nick and Rachel characters in many ways, which I think was due to the screenplay being co-written by an Asian-American woman who understands how an Asian-American woman would be better than Kevin Kwan.''

Based on interviews with the screenwriters, I got the impression that Peter Chiarelli did the initial work of adapting the screenplay and consulted with Kevin Kwan. Adele Kim, who's actually from Malaysia, said she beefed up the ''cultural details'' and family aspects, like the scenes involving the family making dumplings together and the mah-jonqq sequence (which isn't in the book).  

As for David Henry Hwang, he himself jokes about being the go-to guy among Asian-American playwrights in  ''Soft Power.'' A Chinese movie executive says to his fictionalized alter ego: ''In China, you are known as the most famous American Chinese playwriter … but there really are not so many of you, are they?''

If ''Crazy Rich Asians'' is willing to give another Asian-American a big break, I'm sure he/she would welcome it. (Raises hand!) 

[IdinaBellFoster]

I actually think this is an excellent idea.

Ashley Park or Eva Noblezada as Rachel
Phillipa Soo as Astrid

She’s probably a bit young but Lea Salonga could be fun as Eleanor. A very different role for her.

[Fan123]

This could be fun, although the book (I haven't seen the film) is a parade of gorgeous, diverse locations - opulent mansions and beach resorts, spontaneous weekends in Macau and day trips to Uluru, etc.
I felt that the book's plot (intentionally) played second fiddle to the tongue-in-cheek 'affluence porn', until the final couple of chapters perhaps. That can work in print and on film, but it would be an interesting challenge to ensure that the story held its own if being stagebound limited its ability to take the audience vicariously jet-setting. Maybe the film version has already 'done the work' and beefed up the characters/plot a bit.

As to why Nick throws Rachel into the deep end in the book, as ScottyDoesn'tKnow2 said it's mostly him being too nice and optimistic/naive to realise that there might be issues. IIRC, his family also happens to be the only one of their mega-rich set who finds it poor form to talk openly about their money. I think at some point Nick confesses to Rachel that he isn't even sure how rich he is, as his parents don't discuss it with him. IIRC, Nick's 'fame' as a rich guy was a bit inconsistent in the book; some of the rich and aspiring rich knew his 'worth', while Rachel's savvy, gossipy local friend had never heard of his family.

BTW, slightly off-topic, but it's interesting to read why director Jon M Chu so strongly wanted to use a cover of Coldplay's song 'Yellow' in the film: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/crazy-rich-asians-read-letter-convinced-coldplay-allow-yellow-movie-1135826

[Elegance101]

Wouldn't we want actual Chinese actors to play the roles? I know this is tricky territory, but I know this can be a controversial topic specifically among Asian actors and specifically if they're playing family members.

[YvanEhtNioj]

Elegance101 said: "Wouldn't we want actual Chinese actors to play the roles? I know this is tricky territory, but I know this can be a controversial topic specifically among Asian actors and specifically if they're playing family members."

Yes! There was a big issue within the Asian community about some of the actors being mixed race, so I could only imagine the hate in regards to not casting Chinese actors. 

[jawjuhh]

Yes! There was a big issue within the Asian community about some of the actors being mixed race, so I could only imagine the hate in regards to not casting Chinese actors.

Honestly, had Henry Golding been "full" Asian of any kind, there would not have been the same complaints from those people. It's not about being not Chinese enough, it's about being not Asian enough, especially through the lens that Hollywood will only take its Asian with some white mixed in. Either way it's bull****.

That being said, I don't think Asian people would care if a hypothetical CRA musical cast non-Chinese people. I (chinese) sure as hell wouldn't! The only issue I take with it is when casting Southeast Asian roles with East Asian actors, given how underrepresented Southeast Asians are as a whole.

Anyways, I would really hope that a CRA adaptation have an Asian creative team! Maybe Helen Park (from KPOP) for music!