There are some movie musicals that originated on the stage that, even though they continue to be enjoyed by audiences in stage revivals with new casts, are either so classic (My Fair Lady & The Sound of Music), legendary (West Side Story & The Unsinkable Molly Brown) or perfect (Kiss Me, Kate, The Music Man, Sweet Charity & Oliver!) that to remake them would be an exercise in futility. But the majority of screen adaptations of Broadway musicals, especially in the 1930’s thru the 1960’s, were produced with truncated scores, songs interpolated by other composers and other aberrations which would justify a remake. These include:
CAN-CAN
ANYTHING GOES
SHOW BOAT
ANNIE GET YOUR GUN
GUYS AND DOLLS
ROSE MARIE
NEW MOON
ON THE TOWN
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM
BRIGADOON
PORGY AND BESS
Some were either ill conceived, overproduced, miscast or just plain bad which definitely calls for a remake:
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
MAME
THE WIZ
HELLO DOLLY
PAINT YOUR WAGON
ON YOUR TOES
SONG OF NORWAY
Some film musicals were excellent for their time but do not hold up well or well remembered enough to be called classics, definitely warranting a remake:
CAROUSEL & SOUTH PACIFIC (provided that the superior expanded film orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett & Alfred Newman for a 65 piece orchestra were retained instead of the Broadway ones for the remakes of these two Rodgers & Hammerstein shows)
KISMET
CHARLEY’S AUNT (with Raul Esparza?)
ROBERTA
LIL’ ABNER
"I long-ago realized that this country is a nation of
morons, when it comes to knowledge of anything outside, or beyond, pop culture." Steve Slezak
Updated On: 6/8/08 at 02:33 AM