Center Stage- The Broadwat Musical!

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 10/18/03 at 11:30am

Has anyone ever seen this movie? I love it. The dancing is fantastic, and I think it would be an amazing Broadway musical. The movie is about a group of teenagers trying to make it into the American Ballet Company. I think they pass through a tryout audition, and take classes for a year. At the end of the year, they perform in seperate original ballets and people in the audience offer them a job, or The American Ballet Company accepts them as a member of the company. Here are the characters, and who I think should play them on Broadway.
Jody Sawyer- Must be named after Peggy Sawyer, because that's exactly who she takes after. She's shy, nervous, tries her hardest, and gets told by the choreographer that she has bad feet and may not be cut out to be a dancer, but in the end, she performs the lead in an original ballet and gets offered a job to be a principal in a new company. I think any of the women who played Peggy Sawyer on Broadway should play this role. I LOVE Nadine Isenegger, but I think Kate Levering would do an amazing job.
Cooper Neilson- A principal star at the Company, who is very cocky and to some extent fake. He is an excellent dancer, and gets briefly involved with Jody. He starts treating her badly, and in the end they stay friends, and he is the one that founds the new company Jody will star in. As far as who could play this on Broadway-
Charlie Sims- One of Jody's friends who likes her a lot. He asks her out, but she is involved with Cooper. In the end, when Jody realizes what a jerk Cooper is, she ends up with him. He is an excellent dancer.
Maureen Cummings- Maureen has been attending classes at the academy ever since she was a young girl. Her mother is similar to Mama Rose. All she cares about is Maureen being a star and getting a spot in the company. Maureen is an excellent dancer, but cocky, and near the end becomes more humble and gives Eva her lead spot in the ballet, because after hanging out with friends and falling in love, she realizes that this is her mother's dream; not hers. This is an extremely hard role to act, and my dream actress to play this role is Tammy Blanchard. With some dance training, she could do it, and she could act the role beautifully. She would be absolutely perfect.
Nancy Cummings- Maureen's mother, who is completely against Maureen having any fun. She had always wanted to dance ballet, but never had the body, so she forces it onto her daughter. She is played by Debra Monk in the movie, who would be fabulous in a Broadway version.
Eva Rodriguez - My favorite character- a fiery, rebellious spanish girl, in the movie played by Zoe Saldana. She is an AMAZING dancer, but her attitude is terrible- she's late for class, and has an attitude with the teachers. In the end, she grows on the choreographers because she gets a spot in the company. Zoe actually dances her role in the movie, and I would love to see her recreate it on Broadway.
Johnathan Reeves- A teacher at the company. He is the headman and decides who gets accepted and who doesnt. In the movie, he's kind of an ass and is played by Peter Gallagher, who I would love to see keep his role.
Juliette Simone- A ballet teacher, who is a beautiful dancer and former ballerina. She has some trouble with Eva, but Eva grows on her. She also is Johnathan's assistant. Played in the movie by Donna Murphy, who again, could be AMAZING in the role on Broadway.
And that's all folks. The show would be absolutely amazing.
Updated On: 10/18/03 at 11:30 AM

[Phantess]

Posted: 10/18/03 at 4:24pm

I LOVE this movie. I can't imagine it as a Broadway musical but it probably could be done. I would love to see that whole performance sequence that they do at the end of the movie live.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 10/18/03 at 4:34pm

Peter would NEVER do this again. He was dreadfully underutilized as were several other actors of the "Mature" type. His exact words were "it was all about the kids" . And frankly that big "ballet" @ the end would NEVER work on stage. Ethan was wonderful in the film but I'm not ssusre B'way is wwhere he wants to or can be. Updated On: 10/20/03 at 04:34 PM

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 10/18/03 at 4:35pm

I started to watch this movie and had no interest in it...am I thinking of the one with Mandy Moore? That one?

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 10/18/03 at 4:43pm

Mandy Moore has a song in it. Besides that, it's a very good movie. I love the "The Way You Turn Me On" sequence.

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 10/18/03 at 4:56pm

First of all, if they made it into a musical, Johnathan would get a few songs, wouldn't he? If he didn't like being underutilized, let him say so, and maybe the story can be altered and include him more. It can be amusical adaptation, ya know. As far as the end ballet being performed onstage, why not? It most definitely could work, and I would LOVE to see it.

[TTL]

Posted: 10/18/03 at 5:01pm

True I'm a dancer, loved the movie......but with that much ballet.....why on Broadway. A Similiar thought to the recent LA BOHEME.. Why see and Opera on Broadway? I think It's a great idea though if some mastermind pulled it off! After all it was choreographed by Susan Stroman if people didn't know...And in the Jazz Class scene....its pratically Susan Stroman's Dancer also known as The CONTACT company lol.

[Mr. Tuttle]

Posted: 10/18/03 at 5:03pm

Yes..Yoo Hoo!

This is exactly what we need on Broadway. Another rehash of a stupid movie turned into a "Broadway" musical.

Thank god for "Footloose" and "Fame" for proving that you can make any movie into an intelligent, wonderful evening of theater.

[Songsstresss]

Posted: 10/19/03 at 3:26pm

I think this movie would work AMAZINGLY as a musical. All that needs to be changed drasitically is putting in some more songs for the characters to sing... The only problem would be finding ballet dancers who can ACTUALLY sing. That may be the downfall of the whole idea.

[newyorkuniq]

Posted: 10/19/03 at 3:45pm

Good movie accept THEY COULDN'T ACT. lol Same deal as Save The Last Dance etc. You could make a show out of all of them.

[Deena Jones2]

Posted: 10/19/03 at 4:17pm

I agree with Mr. Tuttle! Its just rehash- If I wanted to see Center Stage, I would rent the MOVIE (which was really pretty lousy, by the way!) We need NEW musicals not musicals made of poor movies.

[Lorelai]

Posted: 10/20/03 at 12:57pm

Just to respond to the mention of Susan Stroman (see my member graphic). I think she did an amazing job.....I know I may be the only one who feels that way, but it's just my opinoin. If they could get her to do direct and choreograh the stage show, I think she'd add her own flare to it and it could quite possibly be amazing.