The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.- Page 2

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 12:47am

Uh, Carrie is a NOVEL?

[emo_geek]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 12:55am

I would say Hairspray was the best

[AbbyNormal13]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 1:15am

For the best I'd say The Producers

[roseaddams]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 1:40am

"Smokey Joe's..was also nominated that year and just about doubled the run of SUNSET, so it did .. have competition."

ray-andallthatjazz86 is right -- SUNSET won uncontested for Best Book and Best Score.

[madbrian]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 8:27am

I would add Mame and La Cage into the mix for 'best'.

I would add Tarzan to the list for 'worst'.

[tazber]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 8:49am

Updated On: 5/21/09 at 08:49 AM

[Marianne2]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 11:44am

I like Hairspray and Xanadu.

And, I didn't like Legally Blonde the musical, but I like the movie.

[jpbran]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 11:50am

Has anyone mentioned Little Shop of Horrors yet? I'd put that near the top...

Add to that: Xanadu, Hairspray, Little Night Music, Nine and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 12:08pm

blaxx-
Carrie was largely influenced by the movie, down to lifting almost entire scenes.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 2:50pm

I don't think SUNSET BLVD. is a good adaptation, there are about three original melodies...

Really? Only three?

Let's Have Lunch
Every Movie's a Circus
Surrender
With One Look
The Greatest Star of All
Boy Meets Girl
New Ways to Dream
The Lady's Paying
The Perfect Year
This Time Next Year
Sunset Boulevard
As If We Never Said Goodbye
Too Much in Love to Care

Not including the recitative, I count 13 different songs with different melodies. Personally, I think it is one of Lloyd Webber's most cohesive and mature scores. One of the main differences with Webber's screen adaptation and Sondheim's is that Sunset Boulevard was a larger-than-life iconic American film whereas Night Music and Passion were adapted from lesser-known foreign films. There was far more room for artistic license and interpretation in Sondheim's works than in something like Sunset Boulevard, which will be held up to microscopic scrutiny in the integrity of the adaptation to the original material. We may never know how Sondheim may have interpreted the work, but I really felt Webber used the already flawless screenplay to his advantage rather than try to fix what isn't broken and supported it with a rich, lush score that accurately reflected the period and setting as well as giving a respectful nod to the film's original score in terms of mood and style. Sunset Boulevard is one of my favorite films and I didn't feel for one moment that I was watching a mere replica of the film on stage, but rather a musicalized extension of the film. I do think the cast, staging and direction has a major impact on one's opinion, however. On Broadway, with Betty Buckley, the show seemed virtually flawless to me and remains one of the greatest performances I've witnessed on Broadway. The tour with Petula Clark came off as a cheap cartoonish facsimile, and had I not been with a friend, I would have left at intermission.

When I hear the Overture, using the theme of The Greatest Star of All, I am transported right back into the tragic majesty of a Hollywood legend and the haunting story of Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis. When I hear the tango interpretation of the same song, I am reminded of their New Year's Eve dance in the mansion just before she admits her love to Joe. And when I hear the actual song, I'm told of a servant's bizarre obsession and unfailing loyalty to his ex-wife. I absolutely loved how Webber used the same melody to underscore different aspects of Norma's character and tie them directly to her. It's just my opinion, but I thought his use of recurring themes in Sunset Boulevard was far more intelligent than the over-hyped Phantom of the Opera.

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 3:01pm

blaxx-
Carrie was largely influenced by the movie, down to lifting almost entire scenes

Maybe, but the source material is still the novel. Certainly not a musical based on the movie, and never advertised as such.

Legally Blonde, however, IS based on the movie and not the novel.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 3:16pm

Carrie borrowed from both the film and the novel, but actually was more faithful to the novel than the film was. A prime example was the final confrontation between Carrie and her mother, which reverted back to the novel and ended with Sue's discovery of Carrie's body. The entire scene and sequence was altered for the film for more visual impact.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 3:23pm

BEST-Little Shop of Horrors
WORST-Tarzan

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 4:05pm

Carrie was largly based on the film, the film writer wrote the book, much of the book was missing from the film and the Musical.

Carrie had some stunning moments in. As it says in Not Since Carrie! it had some of the most genuinley beautiful music to be found in any musical of its kind.

Eve Was Wak, I remember how those boys could dance, Eviening Prayers, When Theres No One, Carrie, Unsuspecting Hearts

All great songs

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 4:12pm

Eve Was Wak

Ha ha, no kidding it flopped!

[Mark_E]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 4:37pm

Xanadu. Saw the show before the movie, then watched the movie and thought it was DIRE!

I LOVE Legally Blonde though.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 5:42pm

"Eve Was Wak

Ha ha, no kidding it flopped!"

I think that song could have worked lol

[philly03]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 5:56pm

Also loved: Beauty and the Beast (if we are counting animated!)

Worst: Tarzan

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 6:31pm

blaxx... Legally Blonde is based on both the movie and the novel. It's credited in the playbill and being "Based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor motion picture".

[bwayboi4life42]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 6:57pm

Also for the best, A CATERED AFFAIR.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 7:15pm

Am I the only one here that pities Philly03?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 7:22pm

I liked Tarzan. Though, to be fair I still can't decide if I liked it because I'm a huge fan of Bob Crowley's set design work and I liked the score or if it was just because Josh Strickland was naked for two hours...

[blaxx]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 7:35pm

blaxx... Legally Blonde is based on both the movie and the novel. It's credited in the playbill and being "Based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor motion picture".

Ever read the Legally Blonde novel? That's a technicality, the musical is based in the movie almost scene by scene. The novel is Stanford, not Harvard, and the love story is not even there.
They had to credit the novel for the musical because the film was based on it.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 8:17pm

That doesn't change the fact that the musical is still credited as being based on both sources. You can't argue that it's not just because you don't think it didn't include any elements from the novel and then insist that Carrie is based on the novel and not the film when Carrie really is only credited in the playbill as being based on the novel.

[mc1227]

Posted: 5/21/09 at 8:21pm

My favorites:

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Producers
The Lion King
Legally Blonde

Least favorites:

Big
Tarzan
Mary Poppins