The Future of Movie Musicals & Film Adaptations of Musicals- Page 2

[gypsy101]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 2:34pm

Dave19 said: "Miss Saigon. But not in the Les Mis literal "theatre performance on a pavement in 1 take"-way. This should be a triumph of the fantasy, elaborate cinematography, pre-recorded songs used as voice-over. More like a really good film edited  as a bold music video, that will gratify the audiences."

 

We Get It Please Shut Your Pie-Hole About This Now

[Princeton Returns]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 3:05pm

I don't agree with dave19 often but I completely agree on the Evita movie. For me it's one of the best stage to screen adaptions, beautiful visuals, strong cast and fleshes the story out and captures the epic nature of the story. In fact I think it works better on screen than on stage

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 3:25pm

As a big Grease fan I can say that it's poorly directed. A lot of the dancing is "off" because of it - - - to their credit Pat Birch and DP Bill Butler really teamed up to make "Hand Jive" work cinematically, Randal Kleiser didn't really oversee it. The last minute addition of one of the film's musical numbers: "You're The One That I Want" being just one  led to some really shoddy camera work and choreography - - - it was rushed and it looks rushed - - - the song doesn't even have a "button" or a proper ending - - - it fades out and dialogue is being spoken by Travolta and Newton-John and you still hear their voices singing the song under the dialogue. 

 

They needed a song to replace "All Choked Up" which up until that point was still going to be used in the film. YTWIW was submitted last minute and the rushed results are up their on the screen. Kleiser hated the song as well.

 

"Hopelessly Devoted" fares a bit better - - - and that number was shot after filming had wrapped. The producers realized Newton-John did not have a solo due to the exclusion of "It's Raining on Prom Night", so they requested her longtime producer submit a song. He wrote "Hopelessly" on the fly and it was quickly recorded and filmed. 

 

Besides "Hand Jive", "Summer Nights" comes off great as does "We Go Together" but all the credit goes to Pat Birch and Bill Butler. 

 

I would never consider it a greatly directed movie musicals. It's not in the same league as The Sound of Music or West Side Story.

 

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Updated On: 2/5/16 at 03:25 PM

[hork]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 3:57pm

Jeffrey and perfectliar - It's adorable that you think winning a Best Director Oscar is necessarily an indication of talent. Hooper and Attenborough really aren't very well respected among film scholars, and I personally think they're terrible directors (I haven't liked any of their movies). At least Columbus made Only the Lonely, but he's pretty terrible, too. All three made dreadful Broadway adaptations.

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 4:00pm

CarlosAlberto said: "They needed a song to replace "All Choked Up" which up until that point was still going to be used in the film. YTWIW was submitted last minute and the rushed results are up their on the screen. "

 

Have Olivia and John ever recorded the audio of "All choked up"?

 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 5:25pm

Can not believe Dave left out West Side Story.

[TerrenceIsTheMann]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 5:39pm

Les Mis was nominated for best picture and a lot of people liked it. The real problem with it is Russell Crowe. That's all. Hooper prb didnt even have final say on casting with Mackintosh around.

 

[CindersGolightly]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 5:47pm

I also believe the only problem about "Les Mis" was Crowe - but only vocally. I think he did good acting wise, up until his suicide. 

 

I'm in the minority here, but I adored Seyfried as Cosette.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 6:18pm

I didn't mind Russell Crowe's singing at all in the film, same with Amanda Seyfried.

[Shrek3]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 6:21pm

Crowe's singing was fine in the film. The hate he gets for this film is just over the top nonsense. The problem with  Crowe wasn't his singing. It was his inability to act and sing at the same time. 

 

And I thought Seyfried's acting was very good in Les Mis. But her singing was nails on chalkboard for me. And I really wanted to like her in this film. Her singing was very good in Mamma Mia though. The girl is not a soprano. Her lower register is where she sings best.

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[StageStruckLad]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 7:34pm

Dave19 wrote: "The 4 best musicalfilms ever made, directing wise, to me, are: 1. The Sound of Music 2. Evita 3. Moulin Rouge 4. Grease

 

Best ever? Um, have you ever seen Meet Me in St. Louis, Cabaret, Gigi, Fiddler on the Roof...?

[SidebySidebyLogan]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 11:54pm

"1) Are there any planned film adaptions of musicals coming soon that I'm just unaware of? 2) If not, what musical do you think SHOULD be next? And 3) What is your DREAM musical to be made into a movie? "

According to Wikipedia Jekyll & Hyde is working towards a film. The ENO production of Sunset Blvd. has renewed talks of a film adaptation being made of it with Glenn Close as a possible Norma. And then of course there's Barbra's perpetual Gypsy. All of these seem like long shots to me. 

Good candidates for a successful modern movie musical (IMO have the best chances of mass appeal to modern movie audiences): Next to Normal, Spring Awakening (rumored w/ McG at one point), Aida,The Boy from Oz, Heathers, maybe Ghost Brothers of Darkland County?

Some contenders for Oscar-baity type properties to adapt to film:  Kiss of the Spider Woman, City of Angels, Mack & Mabel, Candide, Company, Sunday in the Park with George, The Wild Party, Fun Home, Next to Normal, Caroline or Change, Floydd Collins.

 

My dream film is one that has also been revealed as a possibility as Rob Marshal's next musical and I want him to keep his hands off of it. Phyllis Rogers Stone's beautiful "Follies at the Roxy" post has only reinforced my belief that Follies belongs in the hands of Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, or Alejandro González Iñárritu directors who don't come from the world of musical theatre but attack every project with a fine eye for detail and dramatic visual style that Follies calls for. 

My dream cast is an embarrassment of riches that would be futile to assemble their paychecks would make the film impossible to shoot. One can dream though right?

Sally Durant Plummer- Kristin Chenoweth or Megan Mullally 

Phyllis Rogers Stone- Michelle Pfeiffer or Cate Blanchett 

Ben Stone- George Clooney or Kevin Spacey 

Buddy Plummer- Kevin Kline or John C. Riley 

Carlotta Campion- Cher

Stella Deems- Bette Midler

Roscoe- Plácido Domingo 

Solange LaFitte- Liza Minelli

Hattie Walker- Angela Lansbury 

Dimitri Wiseman- Donald Sutherland 

Heidi Schiller- Shirley Jones

Emily Whitman- Debbie Reynolds

Theodore Whitman- Dick Van Dyke

Vincent- Ben Vereen

Vanessa- Chita Rivera

 

Dee Dee West- Charlotte d’Amboise 

Christine Crane- Cady Huffman 

Sandra Donovan- Karen Ziemba 

 

Young Sally- Megan Hilty 

Young Phyllis- Nina Arianda 

Young Ben- Colin Donnell 

Young Buddy- Jay Armstrong Johnson 

Young Stella- Lindsey Mendez 

Young Heidi- Betsy Wolfe 

Young Hattie- Elizabeth Stanley

[SidebySidebyLogan]

Posted: 2/6/16 at 12:10am

Also when considering the "future of movie musicals" something I've brought up on another thread is the return of dubbing to films. While it's not something I personally find appealing I'm surprised it's not something Hollywood turns to more often. The need for synergism is such a big thing in the industry so it seems natural to me to get an A-list actress with subpar vocals and pair her with a top recording artist. Think of (and these are terrible casting choices mind you) Jennifer Lawrence on film as Diana with Sia dubbing the vocals. From a business stand point JLaw would sell ridiculous tickets and Sia would sell massive soundtracks. As I said these are questionable practices (that can be done effectively but more often than not wouldn't be) but I believe they could eventually happen. 

[hork]

Posted: 2/6/16 at 1:28am

jpbran said: "hork said: "I'm still waiting for the In the Heights and American Idiot movies, although they couldn't possibly be as good as I want them to be, because Broadway adaptations never are (at least not modern ones). 

 

 

 

The modern ones often can't compete because we have the original stage versions fresh in our mind when seeing the film adaptation, while many of us likely didn't see the original stage versions of the classics (WSS, Oklahoma, Gypsy, etc) and hold the films in high regard with little to compare. I'm sure if BWW was around when the film versions of most classic musicals were released, the nitpicking would have been pretty epic. 

 

I don't think that's that much of a factor. We have revivals with which to compare screen adaptations. And the recent spate of Broadway adaptations have mostly failed even as films, not just as adaptations.

 

[The Other One]

Posted: 2/6/16 at 9:17am

I think you're going to be seeing more televised musicals but fewer films.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 2/8/16 at 4:45am

BakerWilliams said: "Audra McDonald will be in a film version of Hello Again

 

"

Right--and I suspect we will see more similar low budget (and often direct to VOD) films of stage musicals like this--I mean, like them or not, who would have expected last year we got Last Five Years *and* Lucky Stiff of all things.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/8/16 at 6:53am

I don't see "Oliver!" mentioned here. Easily one of the best-directed film musicals, and a screenplay adaptation that improved on the source material.

 

Movie musicals recently have run the gamut from highly successful to failure, both at the box office and with critics. I don't think the genre is any riskier today than a comedy or drama or horror film. They've even managed to keep budgets in check, so studios can turn a profit (and have done so) making them.

Updated On: 2/8/16 at 06:53 AM

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 2/8/16 at 7:11am

I don't see "Oliver!" mentioned here. Easily one of the best-directed film musicals, and a screenplay adaptation that improved on the source material.

 

Adaptations are never meant to improve on their source materials, they are only meant to find another way of telling the story.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/8/16 at 7:41am

Adaptations are never meant to improve on their source materials ...

 

Intentional or not ... how would you know that?

 

EDIT: Actually, I'll go further and say you don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you go back and read interviews with Robert Wise, Carol Reed, Norman Jewison, and others who have talked about ways they tried to improve the material for a film adaptation. Robert Wise talked about getting the schmalz out of "The Sound of Music" during his first meeting with Julie Andrews, who agreed.

 

Carol Reed talked about improving the tension in the last scenes of "Oliver!" which prompted them to completely rework Oomp-Pah-Pah as a plot device for Oliver's escape with Nancy.

 

Probably best you do your homework before making a blanket statement like that.

Updated On: 2/8/16 at 07:41 AM

[The Other One]

Posted: 2/8/16 at 7:52am

"Adaptations are never meant to improve on their source materials, they are only meant to find another way of telling the story."

 

I would say that they are often meant to do exactly that.  In interviews, Ernest Lehman plainly stated that he was improving what he found to be flaws in the stage versions of "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music" when he wrote the screenplays for their film versions, and Vernon Harris gave "Oliver" a heightened dramatic arc closer to that of the Dickens novel (and its David Lean film version) than to its original stage production.

 

I doubt Lionel Bart was trying to improve on Dickens and was indeed telling the story differently.  No argument there.  

[The Other One]

Posted: 2/8/16 at 7:56am

"Carol Reed talked about improving the tension in the last scenes of "Oliver!" which prompted them to completely rework Oomp-Pah-Pah as a plot device for Oliver's escape with Nancy."

 

A fair point, and I refer to it in my own post (albeit with a credit to the screenwriter and not Reed), but that moment is almost a direct steal (with a different song, of course) from the Lean film version of "Oliver Twist."  I have never seen "Oliver" on stage, and was surprised to learn that Bart had not used "Oom Pah Pah" similarly in the original show.  Reed and Harris chose wisely there.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/8/16 at 8:07am

As far as the "future" of the genre, as long as they're making money, more will be made.

 

I liked what Neil Meron said in his BWW interview about rooting for other projects that weren't his, such as "Grease Live," explaining that they always want them to do well, because if they don't, it's one more reason for studios not to make the next one. When a "competitor's" project is successful, it means it's more likely that his own future projects will get the green light. Makes perfect sense.

 

But the key is box office success, which is why you won't see an $80 million adaptation of "Follies" on the silver screen anytime soon. There's not a wide enough audience for it to turn a profit. If they could make it for $10 million (which is impossible), it would probably happen.

 

That doesn't mean the genre is dead or suffering, just that studios will look for hits. And if Follies ever gets made, it will need a star director and several older (but currently viable) box office stars in the major roles. Even then, that doesn't assure success. It's a tough sell: a "Midlife crisis" reunion of show people. But the name "Follies" alone and that subject matter won't draw big numbers all by themselves.

[Jeffrey Karasarides]

Posted: 2/8/16 at 8:12am

What I'm trying to say is that what works so well on stage never translates well to screen and what works so well on screen never translates well to stage.

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/8/16 at 8:19am

There are no guarantees when adapting to a different medium, on that we agree.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 2/8/16 at 9:13am

Tom Hooper in talks to direct Cats, Jebus help us!

Updated On: 2/8/16 at 09:13 AM