I was just watching the 90's remake and was thinking it could make a nice musical, perhaps with a score by Ahrens and Flaherty? How about Laura Benanti for Doris?
Here's Love is not a great musical, though there are a few nice songs. A new version wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea though.
Updated On: 12/24/12 at 12:56 PM
Musical remakes (strictly or loosely) include Kiss Me Kate and Shrew; Your Own Thing, Music Is, and Illyria; Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell; The Boys From Syracuse and Oh Brother; The Wild Party and The Wild Party (simultaneously, not really remakes), Phantom of the Opera and Phantom of the Opera, The Happiest Girl in the World and Lysistrata Jones and many examples in opera
In regards to a musical remake having been done before, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES was morphed into LORELEI. Not an improvement. And then there's the whole GOLD/BOUNCE/ROAD SHOW evolution. I would indeed consider the last two as remakes. At least MERRILY has retained the same title regardless.
Then we're talking about THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE and OH, BROTHER! (THE COMEDY OF ERRORS). Things get stickier when we get into the field of non-public domain material.
The film "It's A Wonderful Life" slips in and out of the public domain due to copyright issues on various portions of the artistic property. Hence, we have "A Wonderful Life" by Raposo and Harnick, retroactively titled "It's A Wonderful Life," as well as I believe two other musicals of "It's A Wonderful Life," one by Kathy Lee Gifford.
I have often wondered if the retroactive title change on the original Harnick-Raposo version was because people didn't get that it was "It's A Wonderful Life: The Musical," or to ensure that the show has at least a fighting chance of being produced ahead of the two less-pedigreed "It's A Wonderful Life" adaptations.