...SPELLING BEE movie musical in the works with Disney

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 5:29pm

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-tackling-the-25th-annual-putnam-county-spelling-bee-movie-musical-exclusive

Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, who produced the billion dollar-grossing 'Aladdin' remake for the studio, will produce the live-action film.

Disney is spelling "m-u-s-i-c-a-l," closing a deal to pick up the rights to hit Broadway show, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, with the intent of mounting a live-action adaptation.

Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, who produced the billion dollar-grossing live-action Aladdin remake for the studio, are producing Spelling Bee via their Rideback banner. The company’s Ryan Halprin, who appeared in a college production of the show and helped chase the rights, will executive produce.

The musical comedy follows several competitors with diverse backstories who are competing in a bee. The show hit Broadway in 2005 and earned six Tony nominations, winning two – best book and best actor.

Interestingly, the show is based on an improv play titled C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E that was conceived by Rebecca Feldman and workshopped and developed over a couple of years. Feldman, Jay Reiss, Sarah Saltzberg, and Dan Fogler are the credited creators of the show and found success as the show moved to Broadway (Fogler won the Tony for best actor).

The Broadway show had music and lyrics by William Finn, while the book was by Rachel Shinkin. The original show was directed by James Lapine.

Spelling Bee is on the list of top 100 longest running Broadway shows and has been translated into local productions around the country. Hollywood producers have courted the creators for years, but this marks the first time it has been officially set up at a studio.

A search for filmmakers to adapt the material is just beginning to get underway.

Updated On: 4/22/21 at 05:29 PM

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 5:36pm

This is my favorite William Finn score, but I have no idea what they'd do with the audience participation aspects of the show. It wouldn't feel right to remove it entirely, but I don't know how you could translate it to film.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 5:42pm

Ridiculous. R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S, ridiculous.

Spelling Bee was a good show, but I just don't see how it will work on screen without the slight improv and audience participation at play (I guess it will take a lot of ideating). 

Updated On: 4/22/21 at 05:42 PM

[Fosse76]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 5:57pm

Jordan Levinson said: "Ridiculous. R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S, ridiculous.

Spelling Beewasa good show, but I just don't see how it willwork on screen without the slightimprov and audience participation at play (I guess it will take a lot of ideating)."

The improv with the guest spellers was scripted prior to the start of the performance, much of which was often recycled throughout the run.  It's not a stretch or a challenge to write into the script some funny moments with additional spellers. That said, it wouldn't be a huge loss to lose those moments. 

The show was clearly written for adults playing kids, so that the more problematic issue for an adaptation.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 6:19pm

Yeah, the loss of adults playing kids is the only problematic thing I can see here. So much of the “adult” humor would just be weird coming from actual 10 year olds.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 6:42pm

Okay Hollywood, calm down with all these musical film adaptation announcements. Give me room to breathe first.

Updated On: 4/22/21 at 06:42 PM

[BwayLB]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 6:54pm

I never seen it before because of the participation and improve adult humor being unappealing to me. And that’s coming from someone who was 12 when the show opened on Broadway.

[S394206H]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 7:03pm

This one is an odd choice for sure. It’s not a big name musical outside of the theatre world, and the fact that Disney is producing it seems to suggest that they’re going to want to tone down some of the more adult themes and jokes. I have no idea how they’re going to get around the audience participation and improv aspects. Plus, casting is really going to make it break this- I agree that no ones going to want to watch it if they cast actual kids. I guess I’ll just have to see how the whole thing plays out.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 7:31pm

It’s a brilliant show—one of my favorites from the past—god 15?—years. It works because it is small, earnest, dripping with heart and humor. I can’t see this working but I’m interested to see where this goes. I hope they stick with adults as kids, between PEN15 and Chad, it’s a trend to say the least.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 7:40pm

I don't know. I love this show, but I could see Disney toning it down and sticking in some Disney stars and calling it a day. 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 7:51pm

Musical Master said: "Okay Hollywood, calm down with all these musical film adaptation announcements. Give me room to breathe first."

NO HOLLYWOOD DO NOT LISTEN

we barely had any movie musicals for like 40-50 years, let us enjoy is while it lasts

[lachri5]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 7:54pm

gypsy101 said: "Musical Master said: "Okay Hollywood, calm down with all these musical film adaptation announcements. Give me room to breathe first."

NO HOLLYWOOD DO NOT LISTEN

we barely had any movie musicals for like 40-50 years, let us enjoy is while it lasts"

AMEN

[Musical Master]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 8:26pm

gypsy101 said: "Musical Master said: "Okay Hollywood, calm down with all these musical film adaptation announcements. Give me room to breathe first."

NO HOLLYWOOD DO NOT LISTEN

we barely had any movie musicals for like 40-50 years, let us enjoy is while it lasts"

It was meant to be a sarcastic joke. I honestly welcome Hollywood's stronger love for the genre; it reminds me of the time when Chicago was a smash hit, that news articles could talk about upcoming movie musicals in development after that movie's success.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 9:08pm

I think everyone here is underestimating the strength of the material on its own merits. The audience participation and improv would be incredibly easy to remove from a structural standpoint, and the show could still work perfectly well without it. As for the improv specifically - Speaking as someone who was once in the show: there are tons of alternate definitions/sentences in the back of the script, which could be switched out at the discretion of the director or Panch. There were so many brilliant ones, and it’s a shame to have to pick only a few of them for a film, but from an audience standpoint, it would be no different from someone who only saw the show once.

Having said that, the concerns about Disney, and the age of the kids, are more worrying for me. I don’t think it’s possible to have adults playing children onscreen without it being super distracting. But like others have said, it’s hard to pull off the more adult humor with kids (I remember this being a criticism of York’s production of Charlie Brown, which had a cast of kids). Maybe if they manage to find some young teens who have a mature, old-soul sense of humor, they can pull it off. But then there’s a question of how Disney might get in their own way. But if they’re smart about it, I can definitely see it working - maybe not as well as the stage version, but enough to work in its own way.

Updated On: 4/22/21 at 09:08 PM

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 9:28pm

I feel like this would work better as one of the live musicals rather than a traditional film. 

Off topic, but what happened to the Drowsy Chaperone film?? 

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 9:30pm

I agree, the book is brilliant. The improv and audience participation is secondary. I’m more concerned with using actual children.

Anyway, Kathryn Hahn as Rona.

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 9:47pm

Do we know it’s live action? A quirky, lower-budget animation style would suit the feel of the show better than a live-action movie. (Honestly when I listen to the album I often see it in the geometric animation style of South Park.)

Steve Carrell or Patton Oswalt as Panch please?

[copskid949]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 10:02pm

darquegk said: "Do we know it’s live action? A quirky, lower-budget animation style would suit the feel of the show better than a live-action movie. (Honestly when I listen to the album I often see it in the geometric animation style of South Park.)

Steve Carrell or Patton Oswalt as Panch please? "

Having just seen Little Miss Sunshine for the first time and knowing Finn also did a musical based on that, Steve Carrell as Panch sounds legitimately perfect.

 

 

Also yeah what everyone else said. Beautiful show, amazing story and characters, but film feels like a bad fit.

[SouthernCakes]

Posted: 4/22/21 at 10:44pm

I don’t want to see an actual 12 year old singing about his erection. So I’d think you’d have to do adult actors.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 12:41am

gypsy101 said: "Musical Master said: "Okay Hollywood, calm down with all these musical film adaptation announcements. Give me room to breathe first."

NO HOLLYWOOD DO NOT LISTEN

we barely had any movie musicals for like 40-50 years, let us enjoy is while it lasts"

This mind set is how we ended up with Cats. No, not every show is made equal and would benefit from a movie version of it. Spelling Bee and CERTAINLY Drowsy Chaperone are not ones that scream "Make a movie out of me!" Given how much audience interaction is integral to the entire mechanics of the show...

[Broadway_Boy]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 12:44am

Apparently the kids version is “my unfortunate distraction.”

[gypsy101]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 5:42am

TheatreFan4 said: "This mind set is how we ended up with Cats. No, not every show is made equal and would benefit from a movie version of it. Spelling Bee and CERTAINLY Drowsy Chaperone are not ones that scream "Make a movie out of me!" Given how much audience interaction is integral to the entire mechanics of the show..."

no way is that what gave us Cats. it was one of the most successful musicals of all time, it was literally only a matter of time.

i do agree about it being very odd that it’s Disney and i was surprised this movie is happening but if the question is adapt a stage musical as a film or not, i say we adapt.

my biggest surprise was this is Finn’s first movie musical, figured Falsettos would get done before anything else.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 10:23am

TheatreFan4 said: "This mind set is how we ended up with Cats." 

 

Thank goodness! Cats was the most significant cultural event of 2019. It brought the world together, and watered the crops. 

 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 10:32am

Broadway_Boy said: "Apparently the kids version is “my unfortunate distraction.”"

Yes, there is a "junior " version of this- if they use that, I'm definitely not interested.  Seems like a financial failure waiting to happen...but who knows?

[Fosse76]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 10:36am

JBroadway said: "I think everyone here is underestimating the strength of the material on its own merits. The audience participation and improv would be incredibly easy to remove from a structural standpoint, and the show could still work perfectly well without it. As for the improv specifically - Speaking as someone who was once in the show: there are tons of alternate definitions/sentences in the back of the script, which could be switched out at the discretion of the director or Panch. There were so many brilliant ones, and it’s a shame to have to pick only a few of them for a film, but from an audience standpoint, it would be no different from someone who only saw the show once."

This is exactly right. The improv portions of the script can easily be eliminated,  or they can simply be included as scripted. I don't see how this is a concern. Some of the jokes were only humorous in the context of them being directed at random audience members, but others were funny on-spec, and as you say, a person who only saw the show once wouldn't know the difference between the improv and the scripted jokes.