10 movies that should NEVER be turned Into Broadway musicals- Page 2

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 11:47am

Ben Hur

Wait a minute. There was a musical, probably never professionally produced, of this movie/book. I have the CD of the score which I never even listened to.

The Brits can,I swear, musicalize anything

[philly03]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 11:51am

I remember way back in the late 1990s Frank Wildhorn was toying around with turning "Blade Runner" into a musical. That doesn't seem to me like a good idea.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 11:53am

Exodus was musicalized into a 2 weeker called Ari in about 1970 or so. David Cryer (Jon's father and Gretchen's ex-husband) plus Constance Towers and John Savage. Not any good.

Sophie's Choice as a musical? No. As an opera? Yes!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 11:58am

I have a studio cast album of Ari. What can you say about a show that has a number called "Ballet of The Warsaw Ghetto" I believe.

Updated On: 2/13/15 at 11:58 AM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 12:06pm

I remember way back in the late 1990s Frank Wildhorn was toying around with turning "Blade Runner" into a musical. That doesn't seem to me like a good idea.

Jim Steinman was going to do the lyrics for that one. I kind of want to see how that would have turned out.

[JRybka]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 12:11pm

I actually think MILK would be stunning.

[Bilbo3]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 12:19pm

Can we get a MISERY:THE MUSICAL!

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 12:55pm

MILK would make an excellent musical with the right creative team.

[canmark]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:00pm

I thought all of their 10 choices could POSSIBLY be made into musicals (and their comments re-: Mel Tillis sound like they were making fun of him).

As mentioned by others, Tootsie actually sounds like a good idea for musical. Milk might be a good idea, too. “Hello, I'm Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you” sounds like the opening line of a song to me. Jerry Herman, where are you? Driving Miss Daisy calls for a William Finn-type treatment. Sondheim wanted to scare audiences with Sweeney Todd – why not Psycho?

[Fantod]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:05pm

Didn't Andrew Lippa do like a concert piece or something based on the life of Harvey Milk?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:18pm

For Psycho, they could have a chorus of Dancing Moms/Normans wielding knives right before the shower scene. Think of what concessions they could sell - Knives with Mom on the handle, Mom wigs, & Norman bobbleheads.

There is a long out of print CD I got @ Footlight (boy do I miss that store) of an off Broadway type musical called Corkscrews. One number is sort of a condensed version of a Psycho musical. It is called "Psychotic Overtures" - Psycho ala Sondheim. Now I have to listen to it as it sounds really off the wall

Updated On: 2/13/15 at 01:18 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:55pm

footlight still exists

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 2:36pm

I meant the physical store

In addition, Corkscrews is surprisingly still available on Amazon for $ 12.00

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 7:29pm

I know it's a humor-listicle based on the idea that every musical is a toe-tapping extravaganza but man, all of those films would make an excellent piece of musical theater of some sort or another.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 9:29pm

There's rumblings of a ROSEMARY'S BABY musical adaptation... I'd see it!

[sueb1863]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 9:43pm

There's been more than one attempt to turn Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities into a musical but it's never really worked.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 9:46pm

"Never really worked"?

Does an Original Broadway production not count?

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 2/13/15 at 11:31pm

"Does an Original Broadway production not count?"

There are plenty of people who didn't think that adaptation worked. It hasn't gained much of a foothold regionally or even in university or community theatres. Santoriello was not the first to attempt a musicalization of the property (though she certainly worked at it long enough, beginning to work on it in the late 80s), and, as the book is in the public domain, I would imagine that at some point somebody else will make another attempt.

[LimelightMike]

Posted: 2/14/15 at 12:09am

I'm not saying Jill was or wasn't, but I *am* saying that unlike other incarnations? Hers made it to The Great White Way. Look at WILD PARTY. It's been over a dozen years and people are still talking about/debating which version they prefer, etc.. It's all a matter of perspective.

[Polka Dot2]

Posted: 2/14/15 at 12:45am

All of these titles must have an exclamation mark after them. It makes them better :)

[sueb1863]

Posted: 2/14/15 at 6:31am

Re: ToTC, I'm sure somebody else will try at some point, there's a lot of emotional stuff to work with in the story. The trick is to adapt it without having it look too much like Les Miz, which is pretty much impossible since they both deal with revolutions in France. I guess one composer, Howard Goodall, solved the problem by changing the setting from France to revolutionary Russia in the 1900s.

As for movies that shouldn't be musicals, has anyone ever tried to do Texas Chainsaw Massacre?

Updated On: 2/14/15 at 06:31 AM

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 2/14/15 at 12:04pm

I feel like Pineapple Express should have a place on this list, too.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 2/14/15 at 1:54pm

A couple staging ideas because I'm bored at work:

The King's Speech - A blend of humorous music hall numbers and more complex, earthy book numbers. Logue gets a fun patter song, the upper class twits get a party number, and the uptight king never sings until, guided by his experiences, he has a moving epiphany during his speech in which he opens up to himself.

The Miracle Worker - A chamber one-act set in almost total darkness blending Keller's later life with her early progress and learning, and dealing primarily with the abstract concept of existing (and, after Keller's strokes, not existing). Not overly solemn but soulful, with rich, repetitive harmonics.

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 2/14/15 at 7:23pm

Someone sent me a private message that he or she thought "Sorry Wrong Number" would work very well, especially with a Sondheim score.

My objection to "Sorry Wrong Number" is that it's too short, and requires padding to become a full-length musical. (Remember the movie?) However, I think it would be great as a one act mini-musical, with the other act being another mini-musical (musicalette?) thriller or mystery story done humorously -- an Agatha Christie Hercules Poirot story perhaps.

Actually, isn't "Sorry Wrong Number" what the angry Les Miz cast members yelled at Ramin Karimloo when, instead of Bring Him Home, he sang Music of the Night one evening?

[Broadway Bob*]

Posted: 2/15/15 at 11:18am

Bilbo3 - my friend and his writing partner wrote Act 1 and sketched out Act 2 of MISERY: THE MUSICAL before having to abandon the project when they couldn't secure the rights to continue. They recorded a two song demo with Terrence Mann as Paul and recorded a demo of Act 1 with themselves in the roles. My friend made a fierce Annie Wilkes!!!