Gothampc wrote:It's a hard piece to put on film because the individual stories connect better with a live audience.
And yet, the very thing that makes reality television connect with its audience is the individual stories. I'm not saying that A CHORUS LINE wouldn't be a hard piece to put on film, but there are ways it could be done well. This wasn't it.
"I went to the premiere at Radio City Music Hall and when the movie ended there was a deafening silence and you knew that everyone was thinking "WTF did I just see?"
Why would you state something so disingenuous? I was there too. As with Opening Nights on Broadway, there is a tradition of showing respect for the creators. "A Chorus Line" had it's World Premiere at Radio City Music Hall on December 9th 1985 and it was attended by Sir Richard Attenborough, Michael Douglas, Audrey Landers, the rest of the cast and New York crew and some six thousand people. It wasn't some private critic screening or a some Bum****e multiplex. The film most certainly did not end to silence, no matter what YOU thought of it.
I got the Blu-ray of this movie, and yes it's quite bad as everyone says. But for some odd reason, I sort of think that there's a lot of good moments in it that it's not the worst musical film out there. To me the honor goes to THE FANTASTICKS, god now THAT is an awful cringeworthy movie.
You know.. Out of all the Broadway to film adaptations out there today, A CHORUS LINE needs a remake the most. Michael Bennett's original concept for the CHORUS LINE film could be used, it's a rather brilliant one.
^I know right? A remake using Michael Bennett's original film concept which was the main characters auditioning for remaining 8 roles for the film version of A CHORUS LINE sounds amazing.
of course it would still need to be done with the correct team. should they update ACL?? Do they add a few "names" to the movie?? Do they do the original Bennett choreography?? Lots of questions.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
Who is "they," it's not like there's a single committee who decide what can become a movie. One director has a vision to retell WSS, so they are... no one is being prevented from doing the same with ACL.
Kelly Bishop was only 31 when the show opened on Broadway, so I've never assumed that Sheila is shaving years off her age when she says she's going to be 30 soon.
This is a case where I say if you're going to do this movie and do it right you need to cast dancers. Not movie stars who can dance. A star throws the balance of the entire piece right off, as we saw with the film version that currently exists when they tried to make it clear that Cassie was supposed to be the "star" of the movie.
"A remake using Michael Bennett's original film concept which was the main characters auditioning for remaining 8 roles for the film version of A CHORUS LINE sounds amazing."
We pretty much got that with the film Every Little Step, and that is a very enjoyable film. When I want to watch a film version of A Chorus Line, I watch that documentary instead of Attenborough's crappy movie.
This film is such a horrifying guilty pleasure for my friends and I - it has provided the lifetime of memories the film makers always dreamed of but never realized they were gifting. I'm personally obsessed with Alyson Reed's asymmetrical hair cut and all of the 'looks' she sports in the "Let Me Dance for You" flashback. We've even named them (the "Woodland Sprite" and the "Heidi"). But boy could she dance.
I would almost go so far as to say, WHEN did you EVER see dancing like that in a Broadway musical, but I think there actually was something like that in DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES.