Barbie: the musical. Will it ever happen?

[binau]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 5:14pm

After watching the film it only feels like a matter of time before it happens lol. What do you think?

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 6:16pm

I literally just saw the movie today and was thinking the same thing. Probably would be a whole lot pinker than Legally Blonde lol! 

[BwayLB]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 6:39pm

That would be so cool!

[BarnabyTucker]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 7:08pm

Watching it I thought it was a story that sings, and I would love to see an up and coming team take a crack at it with an veteran director like Tina Landau at the helm. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 7:21pm

I'd pay to see Ivo van Hove's take.

/sarcasm

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 7:53pm

The first Shaiman and Wittman musical was Barbie, renamed “Living Dolls” for legal reasons and produced as an unauthorized parody. Apparently Mattel has flirted with the idea of authorizing and producing it since the writing team’s later success, but nothing has come of it.

I think the demos are on Shaiman’s YouTube. 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 10:27pm

A bunch of the Barbie movie profiles  talked about this is the launching point for a reinvention of Mattel as a Disney-style IP company rather than a toy company. Wouldn't surprise me at all if they're looking into Broadway and other entertaint beyond movies. IDK if that means they'll ever get there though. 

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 10:43pm

Of course it will. 

[pmensky]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 10:45pm

Barbie Live toured Asia years ago. I remember a colleague of mine did the set and showed me his renderings. It looked amazing.

[JoeW4]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 11:00pm

JasonC3 said: "I'd pay to see Ivo van Hove's take.

/sarcasm"

 

I'd pay to see Ivo van Hove's take.

/not sarcasm

[akhoya87]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 11:06pm

JasonC3 said: "I'd pay to see Ivo van Hove's take.

/sarcasm"

Then we'll really get Barbenheimer.

[akhoya87]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 11:10pm

We could also get Jamie Lloyd's take on the Barbie musical.  Two chairs and a blonde wig shared by the cast, dressed otherwise in all black.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/23/23 at 11:41pm

 

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 7/24/23 at 12:07am

Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman actually wrote a musical that MTC did called Living Dolls, inspired by Barbie.  Ken and Midge were also featured. Marc posted some demos of songs from it on Friday on his public Facebook. 

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 7/24/23 at 12:21am

akhoya87 said: "JasonC3 said: "I'd pay to see Ivo van Hove's take.

/sarcasm"

Then we'll really get Barbenheimer."

Or "Sound of Freedom".

[hearthemsing22]

Posted: 7/24/23 at 8:56am

Oh god I truly hope not. Hollywood needs to learn not everything needs to be remade, and Broadway needs to learn not everything needs to be adapted for the stage. Enough!!! 

[Valentina3]

Posted: 7/24/23 at 8:58am

"This Barbie can hit an F#5!"

"This Barbie came at 2nd place at the Jimmy Awards and has been bitter ever since"

"This Barbie thinks Jeanine Tesori should have a theater named after her"

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 7/24/23 at 9:26am

Valentina3 said: ""This Barbie can hit an F#5!"

"This Barbie came at 2nd place at the Jimmy Awards and has been bitter ever since"

"This Barbie thinks Jeanine Tesori should have a theater named after her""

This Barbie thinks Jeanine Tesori should have a theater named after her might need to be my new social media bio, lmao

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 7/24/23 at 9:32am

It's inevitable, alas.

Hopefully it won't happen until at least one of the current poppy McFeminism shows close.

The Sound of Freedom musical would just be Tim Ballard farting on stage for 2 hours.

Updated On: 7/24/23 at 09:32 AM

[bigbelterbaby]

Posted: 7/24/23 at 9:53am

binau said: "After watching the film it only feels like a matter of time before it happens lol. What do you think?"

For those that don’t know - At Walt Disney World in Epcot there used to be a Barbie show that was performed daily, it had songs and was a full production. This was in the mid 90s, you can find videos of it on YouTube. 

 

.

[inception]

Posted: 7/24/23 at 10:05am

Mattel has already for over 30 years been making Disney-esque animated Barbie films, often in the past sold as direct to market videos.  Going back to the 80's they made advertorial children's programming to sell their other product lines like He-man & the Masters of the Universe. 

While Disney cares about putting out well thought out films, Mattel's entertainment output has always clearly been about selling toys first.

Even with this film it reportedly took a lot of convincing to include references to past missteps like the Pregnant Midge which had to be pulled from shelves, or the cancelled collector Silkstone "Sugar Daddy Ken."  It helped that none of the executives involved with those are still with the company.

I don't see Mattel backing a Broadway show just for the sake of having a Broadway show.  They would only do so if they could see it increasing toy sales significantly. 

[jkcohen626]

Posted: 7/24/23 at 10:22am

inception said: "Mattel has already for over 30 years been making Disney-esque animated Barbie films, often in the past sold as direct to market videos. Going back to the 80's they made advertorial children's programming to sell their other product lines like He-man & the Masters of the Universe.

While Disney cares about putting out well thought out films, Mattel's entertainment output has always clearly been about selling toys first.

Even with this film it reportedly took a lot of convincing to include references to past missteps like the Pregnant Midge which had to be pulled from shelves, or the cancelled collector Silkstone "Sugar Daddy Ken." It helped that none of the executives involved with those are still with the company.

I don't see Mattel backing a Broadway show just for the sake of having a Broadway show. They would only do so if they could see it increasing toy sales significantly."

Yes. It used to be all about selling toys. But, as I said above, Mattel has a new CEO who wants to reshape the company to make money off of its IP and not focus everything on toys. Obviously there were growing pains with their very first dive into this. I would be shocked if there weren't. But the Barbie money will speak and will loosen them up going forward. They put their faith in a real director and not a puppet and it has gone fantastically for them. I agree they won't put a show on Broadway just to be on Broadway. But, if they think it can make money, then they'll go for it.

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/barbie-movie-mattell-execs-toy-adaptations-1235674597/ 

[rattleNwoolypenguin]

Posted: 7/24/23 at 3:58pm

I do see it working well as a musical actually. Especially cause it's so satirical and theatrical in nature.

But maybe in like 20 years.

I think to do one sooner would be to step on the movie's poignant toes.

[bwayobsessed]

Posted: 7/25/23 at 7:16am

I was watching the movie and was like these characters want to sing-at least in Barbieland. Like the music would swell and they’d just keep talking…

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/25/23 at 7:42am

bwayobsessed said: "I was watching the movie and was like these characters want to sing-at least in Barbieland. Like the music would swell and they’d just keep talking…"

Every so often a movie has the rhythms and cadences of a musical. It doesn’t even have to be a great movie, it’s just a thing that happens. The one I always think of is “Dark Shadows.” You can watch the movie and immediately spot “song cue, song cue, group number, song cue.”