Anyone tired of movies being made into musicals?- Page 2

[Broadway Baby4]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 12:42am

Me!!

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 7:39am

Well, should it be a surprise to anyone, guys? Back in the 80s, one guy wrote a wildly successful horror novel, and the market was suddenly flooded with every conceivable variation on horror you could imagine. In the 90s, someone wrote a marginally intelligent romance novel, and we saw a glut of less-than-marginally romance novels. Someone does a mildly amusing black-oriented comedy movie, and the screens are inundated with thousands more.

This is how professional culture works.

[mattonstage]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 10:15am

Name recognition for a property doesn't mean squat if the adaptation is not good. Or at least somewhat interesting to an audience. Who would have thought Abba would be more popular than Elvis or the Beach Boys? I don't have hard numbers, but I'm sure more people saw High Fidelity or The Wedding Singer as movies than saw Grey Gardens. There is no predicting the public taste anywhere. I mean, Epic Movie was #1 at the box office last week.
And as for adapting hit songs, I always thought 'Delta Dawn' has an interesting story ripe for adaptation. "She was 41, and her daddy still called her baby."

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 10:59am

Well... As I adore THE PRODUCERS/THE WEDDING SINGER/AIDA/ others, I have mixed feelings. I love Broadway more than life. As much as I enjoy said musicals, I'd *LOVE* to see something original, not based on any book/movie/opera- a fresh new story with characters we've never met before.

Updated On: 2/3/07 at 10:59 AM

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:06am

for me it also depends on source material. I love hairspray but i though high fidelity was okay. Some great shows come from movies including color purple and little shop{ but different from the original}

[Piercemn]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:07am

I am so plesed that you raised this issue. Yes, I'm tired of movies being made into musicals, because when I saw Sunset Blvd, my first comment was, this belongs on the screen. They used footage from the movie in the show and the point of the plot is that it's about a woman who gives up her film career when sound comes in -- but she can sing? I thought Betty Buckley was terrific, but the show was pointless.

I thought, after I saw The Full Monty, that maybe we'd reached a turning point, and I have really enjoyed Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and I was pleasantly surprised by The Wedding Singer. I hated the Producers, though. I think Mel Brooks ruined a really funny movie, and I'm not sure about Young Frankenstein. I love Monty Python and I think Holy Grail is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

I am thankful that Grey Gardens and The Drowsy Chaperone were, at least, basically original material. I know GG is based on a movie, but it's a documentary, and the story is fascinating.

What I want more of are revivals of musicals that need their books fixed. I had never seen a stage version of Kiss Me, Kate until I saw a dreadful road company with Rex Smith ruining the show. (They deliberately railroaded the orchestrations to get him offstage as much as possible in St. Paul). I want to see High Spirits, Baker Street, DuBarry Was a Lady and Allegro. I don't want to sit through things I've already seen many times.

I really appreciated this thread. Thank you.

[Dibbledl01]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:36am

I'm a bit tired of it, but what can we do? I agree there should be a push for more original material, but you never know! In a few years producers may be hunting for more original material and spitting on those who want to create a multi-million dollar show based on a movie. It can all change in the blink of an eye.

I'm even MORE tired of musicals being made into movies. I don't care about all these points being brought up that "oh, bringing a musical to the big screen will bring the material to the masses!", etc. There's a certain magic to the theater that cannot be recreated in a cinema. Of course, there have been brilliant screen musicals, but that's for another thread "is Hollywood loosing original material and now relying on the Broadway musical?"

[Spacedog78]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:38am

purpleprince101

Color Purple is based off of the book by Alice Walker not the screenplay by Menno Meyjes.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:46am

nope, not at all