The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
#1The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 8:43pmWould LOVE your opinions!
I'll have them clawing at eachother, like drag queens at a wig sale"
#2re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 8:47pm
I know everyone is going to say Legally Blonde is one of the worst, but I actually enjoyed the musical a lot more than the movie for whatever that's worth. For me, the musical was more entertaining than the movie.
For the best I'd have to say Dirty Rotten Scoundrels or The Full Monty. Maybe Passion which I believe is also based on a movie, but I haven't seen the movie.
#2re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 8:51pmSee I thought Legally Blonde was one of the better ones!
I'll have them clawing at eachother, like drag queens at a wig sale"
PiraguaGuy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/10/08
#3re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 8:52pmWorst is High Fidelity. Noooo question.
Formerly SirNotAppearing - Joined 3/08
#4re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 9:05pmI agree that Legally Blonde was one of the better ones. It didn't take itself seriously, which I loved.
I'm a professional. Whenever something goes wrong on stage, I know how to handle it so no one ever remembers. I flash my %#$&.
"Jayne just sat there while Gina flailed around the stage like an idiot."
philly03
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/07
#5re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 9:20pm"Sunset Boulevard" - Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black & Christopher Hampton stayed close enough to the script (which is wonderful on it's own), but added in their own things. Also has one of my favourite scenes/songs of all time "As If We Never Said Goodbye." To boot: awesome set, "effects," music and always had a marvelous cast!
#6re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 9:25pm
The Wedding Singer is a fantastic version of a movie, honestly. The song 'If I Told You' is such a perfect theatrical interpretation of the best moment in that movie.
I also think The Full Monty is a better broadway show than it is a film. The music and McNally's book tell the story in a more dynamic way. I love it.
Carrie comes to mind as the worst attempt at putting a movie on stage, with Lestat a close second.
#7re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 9:26pmThe best? Hairspray. Love it.
#8re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 9:36pm
Best- Little Night Music, Hairspray, Little Shop of Horrors...
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#9re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 9:36pmWasn't Piazza adapted from a movie?
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
#10re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 9:39pmThere is a Piazza movie, but it was based on the Novella.
#11re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 9:42pmYeah, I think Piazza is only based on the novel. There's no mention of the movie in the production credits.
#12re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 10:00pm
I don't think SUNSET BLVD. is a good adaptation, there are about three original melodies and Webber is not nearly as sophisticated a writer as Sondheim (who does this in a couple of his shows) to pull something like that off, similarly, Black and Hamptom took almost everything straight from the film (as in actual dialogue line by line) and Webber stuck some poor music to them and they called it recitative. Now, other movies have taken straight lines from the film and made it work, this team didn't. I will say that "With One Look," "The Perfect Year," and "As If We Never Said Goodbye" are good numbers but three songs does not a good musical or movie-to-musical adaptation make.
Two of the best have been written by Sondheim: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, with Wheeler, and what I think is the best of them, PASSION (partly based on the novel but also very much based on the film) with Lapine.
I'd say that while Sondheim is the expert in movie-to-musical adaptations in terms of writing, Tommy Tune is the genius of the movie-to-musical adaptation in terms of being the showrunner, one of the best adaptations is NINE (from 8 1/2) and another really good one is GRAND HOTEL.
Another great one that must be singled out is GREY GARDENS. Pure brilliance.
Other favorites:
PROMISES, PROMISES
REEFER MADNESS
BILLY ELLIOT
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
I wouldn't say LEGALLY BLONDE is one of the worst, certainly not the best or one of the best or anywhere near that, but the score is catchy even if the book is pretty disastrous and the movie is a gazillion times better.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#13re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 10:05pm
I would have to agree with A Little Night Music and Passion as being among the best. I watched Smiles of a Summer Night, and was surprised at how different the tones were. I consider ALNM to be a rather optimistic Sondheim musical, and found Smiles... to be a little depressing.
as for Sunset Boulevard: I'd like a do over. PERFECT movie that lends itself INCREDIBLY well to musical theatre. let's have another composer try their hand at it?
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
ggersten
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
#14re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 10:14pm
The problem with the "worsts" are that they weren't around long enough for people to really see how "worst" they could be: Big, High Fidelity, Carrie, Lestat.
Best: Best is subjective, of course, 42d Street is probably the most successful and was a real joy. Of course, Producers won a boatload of Tonys.
Disappointments: Promises, Promises and Applause are not bad shows but are sooooo inferior to their source material.
#15re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 10:22pmHow is High Fidelity on the worst list? Just because it flopped? The score is kick ass.
#16re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 11:07pmI also think for all its flaws Carrie had some stunning moments
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
philly03
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/07
#17re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 11:31pm
..I wouldn't call anything in Carrie "stunning." Some fine little numbers in there, but just because it flopped/has a cult following doesn't mean it's great!
"I don't think SUNSET BLVD. is a good adaptation, there are about three original melodies and Webber is not nearly as sophisticated a writer as Sondheim (who does this in a couple of his shows) to pull something like that off, similarly, Black and Hamptom took almost everything straight from the film (as in actual dialogue line by line) and Webber stuck some poor music to them and they called it recitative. Now, other movies have taken straight lines from the film and made it work, this team didn't. I will say that "With One Look," "The Perfect Year," and "As If We Never Said Goodbye" are good numbers but three songs does not a good musical or movie-to-musical adaptation make. "
...clearly extreme-Sondheim fans are still upset that Mr. Wilder picked Lloyd Webber (or rather allowed) to do it rather than Sondheim. Oh well, Lloyd Webber got the Tony (which irregardless is still a Tony Award for Best Musical - even if there was only one other nominee! Still counts!).
While Don Black + Christopher Hampton do not generally make a good musical team (DRACULA, the musical anyone?), they had clear intentions: Borrow from the script as much as possible because that's how most of those involved with it wanted it: Billy Wilder, Paramount, Lloyd Webber. It wasn't some sort of lazy thing or let's rip off the script thing -- it was done deliberately. It was Hampton's first musical and he's a playwright - clearly he was going to borrow a lot.
"as for Sunset Boulevard: I'd like a do over. PERFECT movie that lends itself INCREDIBLY well to musical theatre. let's have another composer try their hand at it?"
Let me guess? Sondheim. I for one think Lloyd Webber + Company did a fantastic job at it and told it the way it should have been - heavily a book-influenced musical. The styling of music is perfect, so...not sure what exactly you'd like to see on stage!?!?
Renart
Stand-by Joined: 2/26/09
#18re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 11:33pm
Disclaimer: Most of these choices are based off the cast albums as I haven't seen all of them on stage.
Best:
Sweet Smell of Success
The Lion King
Shenandoah
Hairspray
Nine
Worst:
Big
The Goodbye Girl
Sugar
Passion - Sorry, but it puts me to sleep when I listen to it.
(Note: I did see Cry-Baby on stage in NYC and I'm not including it in my 'worst' list. It really wasn't that bad.)
#19re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 11:40pm
It's not a matter of Sondheim or no Sondheim. I made the Sondheim reference simply because he does something similar to what Webber does in SUNSET BLVD, use musical motifs that appear at specific times throughout the show.
I also didn't say that Hamptom and Black were being lazy or anything to that effect, I'm just saying that neither Hamptom, Black or Webber have the sophisticated writing skills necessary to make their concept work. Webber's melodies are repetitive, and Hamptom and Black use of the film's script make the show seem as a straight adaptation from the movie without taking advantages of any of the ways in which theater could have added to the film. Only in the moments when the writers step away from this is when the show reaches its full potential (ie "With One Look" or "As If We Never Said Goodbye") but it's too little to call this a great musical adaptation.
The GREY GARDENS team did a fantastic job at taking lines from the movie and building whole numbers, scenes, and a whole act based on them! They did it brilliantly, the Black, Hamptom, Webber team did not.
I don't care if Wilder wanted it like this, if Paramount wanted it like this, if Webber wanted it like this, all I care about is that the musical based on one of the best movies Hollywood has given is is simply not at par.
And to say that Webber got a Tony for this doesn't mean anything as he had no competition and won by default. The category should have been eliminated that year.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
Updated On: 5/20/09 at 11:40 PM
#20re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 11:44pm
"as for Sunset Boulevard: I'd like a do over. PERFECT movie that lends itself INCREDIBLY well to musical theatre. let's have another composer try their hand at it?"
Let me guess? Sondheim. I for one think Lloyd Webber + Company did a fantastic job at it and told it the way it should have been - heavily a book-influenced musical. The styling of music is perfect, so...not sure what exactly you'd like to see on stage!?!?
yes, I would like to have seen a Sondheim version of Sunset Boulevard. he was apparently interested in writing a version in the 80s starring Angela Lansbury, which I think would've been amazing.
although I honestly don't mind the music in Sunset as much as I mind the lyrics. I don't think he writes incredibly original music, but ALW can write some nice sweeping melodies.
When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain.
-Kad
philly03
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/07
#21re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 11:56pm
"And to say that Webber got a Tony for this doesn't mean anything as he had no competition and won by default. The category should have been eliminated that year. "
Smokey Joe's..was also nominated that year and just about doubled the run of SUNSET, so it did .. have competition.
ray-andallthatjazz86 , I don't see how you don't think the concept they tried to do didn't work...They wanted to mimic the film as much as possible, and did so, borrowing from it freely and adapting that script into a musical form. They took advantage of one of (as you said) Hollywood's greatest films.
And I assumed you wanted a Sondheim version because you brought up that point. Seems like a lot of people want that one -- but based off of the works that I have enjoyed/listened to, I just don't think his "style" (which you have to agree him and Lloyd Webber are very different in their attacks of music - ESPECIALLY orchestrational wise) would fit in with Norma's side of the story.
...and personally, if the source-creator likes the work, I for one say that means a success.
#22re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/20/09 at 11:57pm
Xanadu!!!
Okay, maybe it's not the absolute best, but it's wildly entertaining.
There are some pretty good ones, but most of them have already been mentioned.
And I'll be brave and say that Cry-Baby is one of the worst.
~Steven
#23re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/21/09 at 12:05am
Phily, correct me if I'm wrong, but that year SUNSET BLVD. was the only nominated show for Best Score as SMOKEY JOE'S was a revue and did not have an eligible score.
Perhaps their concept of transferring the film to the stage (much in the way that BEAUTY & THE BEAST, LITTLE MERMAID, and to an extent LEGALLY BLONDE did) worked in that they did exactly what they wanted to do, but I personally don't think this is the way the musical should have been approached. That's just how I feel about it.
I think Sondheim and Lapine's almost operatic treatment of Fosca in PASSION gives us a glimpse of what Sondheim could have done with SUNSET. Yet, my argument is not Sondheim good, Webber bad. In fact, Webber's EVITA is fantastic, which made him the perfect fit to write another larger-than-life operatic personality, I just don't think lighting stroke once on that one, just my personal opinion.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
#24re: The best and worst musicals based off of a movie.
Posted: 5/21/09 at 12:28am
..I wouldn't call anything in Carrie "stunning." Some fine little numbers in there, but just because it flopped/has a cult following doesn't mean it's great!
I disagree. "And Eve Was Weak" is truly stunning and horrifying. "I'm Not Alone" is wonderful and uplifting. I really feel it had a lot more going for it than it did against it.
Videos