Could NIGHT MUSIC ever work as a movie?- Page 2

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 1:33pm

I was kidding about the poker game thing, for the record.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 3:49pm

"But if Ingmar Bergman can do extreme close-ups of actors' faces during monologues, singers could be shown singing solos, with and without montages depicting backstory."

Sure, maybe for 1 or maybe 2 scenes, but not for Now, Later, In Praise of Women, Liaisons, AND The Miller's Son. All in the same movie.

And Bergman's characters weren't usually doing "solo" monologues, meaning no one else was in the room with them. They were (endlessly) talking in close-ups to other characters who were with them.

And he's pretty much the only film director that ever got away with it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 4:02pm

"I don't understand all this "singing to the camera" stuff. I've seen few film musicals where people sing to the camera."

Seriously, bk?

Singin' in the Rain (Good Mornin', Make 'Em Laugh, Moses Supposes, Broadway Melody ...)
Babes in Arms (title song)
Strike Up the Band (Conga)
On the Town (title song, New York, New York ...)

And just about every Fred & Ginger dance was performed directly to the camera.

I could go on, and these just randomly came to mind, but you get my point (I hope).

Updated On: 12/19/09 at 04:02 PM

[Soliantu]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 5:46pm

There WAS a film of the musical A Little Night music back in 1978

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 5:46pm

LOL. Really? I had no idea!

[raulmark]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 7:03pm

I say they should make a movie of "Into The Woods' and just film the revival like they did for RENT or other Sondheim shows...but to stay on topic. YEs! I think it could work as a movie. but, please Tim Burton STAY WAY! and No Helena Whatsherface

[Kad]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 7:06pm

I'm kind of glad some of you aren't film directors.

[bk]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 8:22pm

Broadway Melody is a performance number in someone's imagination - that's different. Good Morning, Moses Supposes, etc. are not done as performance numbers to an audience (or camera). Fred and Ginger, unless doing a nightclub bit are not performing for the camera, at least not as I see it. The Jets and Sharks are not performing to a camera, Harold Hill is not performing to a camera, and I could name hundreds of other examples, so I hope you get MY point :)

[Justin_Hall]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 9:20pm

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 9:22pm

Yes, we're aware there is a movie!!
Updated On: 12/19/09 at 09:22 PM

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 9:26pm

I think that any musical could be made into a movie with the right vision and execution.
But I do, however, think there is an entire list of other Sondheim shows that should be adapted into films before Night Music. (Mainly Company. Now THERE'S a musical Rob Marshall could make very easily.)

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 10:22pm

"Good Morning, Moses Supposes, etc. are not done as performance numbers to an audience (or camera)."

Oh, bk. YouTube is pretty handy. Here's a chance to review these numbers. Sure, they all start out singing to each other or someone else in the room, but they all end up facing the camera (aka movie audience), looking right at it often, and end up staring directly into the camera.

It's all right here:

Make 'Em Laugh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E_TOxVWl-Q

Moses Supposes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKlub5vB9z8

Good Mornin'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmro9l2scXk&feature=related

New York, New York:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v7QfCxuvLo

[binau]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 10:29pm

"but to stay on topic. YEs! I think it could work as a movie. but, please Tim Burton STAY WAY! and No Helena Whatsherface"

Come on.... I don't think Burton has the reputation enough to warrant a comment like that, in the same way that we could ask Marshall to stay away from GYPSY (I think he'd [Burton] would almost say "don't flatter yourself, I have >no< interest in that".)

Sweeney Todd was the specific interest for Burton, not Sondheim - and the movie was critically acclaimed. (Sondheim of course being extremely satisfied with the result, more so than any of past adaptations of his work)

I don't know..I guess I'm just trying to say that by your comment you might infer that Burton is known for adapting and butchering Sondheim musicals, while casting the same actors/actresses in them - when it was only one film, which (I guess by consensus) was not really butchering.

[bk]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 10:30pm

New York, New York is not applicable. The others, in MY opinion, are not played to the camera - sorry, we can agree to disagree and yes, I think it's obvious in the YouTube clips exactly what is going on in the three Singin' In The Rain numbers and that is they are not being performed FOR the camera - they are part of the plot and/or scene they are taking place in. New York, New York is being sung to an audience. And you blithely (willfully) ignore all the other examples I've given, so I think, as Dolly Levi Gallagher would say, "You go your way, and I'll go mine."

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/19/09 at 10:36pm

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that the additional examples you listed are performed into the camera. I agree with those.

But when you said initially you'd seen "few musicals where people sing into the camera," that's where I chimed in with a bunch of examples. Far from "few."

And yes, we'll have to agree to disagree. And the YouTube clips do speak for themselves.

Okay, tangent over.

Updated On: 12/19/09 at 10:36 PM

[bjh2114]

Posted: 12/20/09 at 8:25am

I love the score to A Little Night Music - one of Sondheim's finest. But Sondheim is not the only author of the show - the little thing I like to call the book is by Hugh Wheeler and I'm sure that Harold Prince and Mr. Wheeler had a lot of input into how the show flows and its cinematic quality.

Thank you for that explanation. I have NEVER heard of a book writer before. Learn something new everyday. ::eye roll::

ACTUALLY, while Hugh Wheeler did have input (duh) to make the film cinematic, I meant cinematic in terms of the score. Of all the Sondheim scores, Night Music has the potential to work really well as a movie because of the progression and styles of the songs. Plus, you definitely get the flavor of a Sondheim score without it beating you over the head to the point of it being inaccessible to a commercial audience. In my opinion, Sweeney didn't translate to film well. Additionally, scores like Into the Woods and Company (while great on stage) do not have a natural progression that would make sense for a film.