Movie Musicals

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 5:43am

After the success of Chicago, there are talks to transfer many musicals to the big screen. Besides Rent, The Producers, Dreamgirls, and Sweeney Todd what Broadway shows should be made into movies?
I believe Kiss of the Spider Woman cries out loud to be turned into the next Rob Marshall film. Also the movie version of Into the Woods is overdue.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:20am

Neither one would sell commercially to a mass audience

[KristinChenowethFan]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:41am

Into the woods is already a movie. I think Aspects of Love should be made into a movie as well as Wicked when its broadway run ends.

[jam_man]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:46am

Into the Woods isn't a film, it was just taped for commercial release. I'd love to see Ragtime (the musical - I know there is a film based on the novel) as a movie - if done well, it could be wonderful. And Les Miz and Miss Saigon, of course, assuming it'd be better than the Phantom movie.

[leon1489]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 11:02am

I would have an eyegasm if I saw Les Mis and Miss Saigon the movie. There's a lot that could be done through the film medium that would really make these two musicals come to life. Hopefully if they're done they'll follow the RENT trend... although not necessarily original cast. Obviously a lot of them are too old--but it would still be nice to see Broadway performers in these roles. A movie version of Ragtime would also be incredible, but it would be difficult to translate the show to the film since there's so many dramaturgical devices used in that show that only work on stage.

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 12:42pm

If anyone wants to see some good old fashioned movie musicals, there is a 24 hour Judy Garland movie marathon on TCM until 6am Monday morning. It's on now.

[worrell4077]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 12:50pm

I think that SpamAlot will probably be made into a movie, but others that I would like to see turned into a movie would be Urinetown, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Avenue Q, The Boy From Oz, and a remake of LSOH with the true ending.
________________________________________________________________
"I'm all alone, all by myself. There is no one here beside me."
-Monty Python's SpamAlot

[ashhuhleeyy]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 12:56pm

i have a tickling feeling that spamalot will definatly be turned into a movie.

[KristinChenowethFan]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 12:57pm

Miss Saigon I would DIE to see as a movie!

[MissElphie]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 12:58pm

I'd love Les Mis to be a movie.

[TheaterBaby]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 1:00pm

DRS is already a movie even if not a musical. same thing goes for the context of Spamalot. I really very much doubt Little SHop will be remade.
I kind of wouldn't want to see them be made into a movie musical.

I wouldn't mind seeing Mamma Mia as a movie musical. Wicked is probably the most likely to happen.

[PhantomMag234]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 1:02pm

I would love to see Light in the Piazza made into a movie musical. with Victoria Clark and Matthew Morrison repriseing the Mother and the Italian Boy and Anne Hatheway would make a great Clara.

Updated On: 8/7/05 at 01:02 PM

[Kringas]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 1:03pm

The orignal ending was shot for the Little Shop movie, and a workprint exists on the original DVD. Most of them recalled, though, because rumor had it that Geffen wanted to clean it up and re-release it with the original ending. I don't know that it will ever happen, though.

[LuvBroadwayHugs]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 1:09pm

I don't think Spamalot would be as good as a film. Holy Grail is a fantastic film and Spamalot is a great show. But there is so much audience interaction in Spamalot that it just wouldn't be the same. I think Miss Saigon would be a great movie.

[Broadwaygirl22]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 1:12pm

I would also love Miss Saigon as a movie and Flower Drum Song to be remade. Lea Salonga should be in both obviously.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 1:17pm

I'm actually wary of turning musicals into movies. I think that what was great about The Phantom of the Opera did not translate well to film in the least. (Of course, there was also the matter of poor choices in directing and casting.)

What can be done on the stage is always more thrilling than what can be done in movies because movies make it look so easy. A chandelier falling in the film? Whoopee. Who cares. But a chandelier falling in a live theatre? Exciting!

The same thing goes for Wicked. It's like, "Ooh, watch her fly, but who cares because it's all done on computers anyway."

Updated On: 8/7/05 at 01:17 PM

[leon1489]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 1:18pm

Unfortunately, Lea Salonga is way too old to play Kim, who's supposed to be 17 at the beginning of the show. I think Lea would actually do a good job as Gigi, and it would be a nice cameo and nod to the Original Broadway and London productions, but I highly doubt she'd go for it.

[marvin2]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 2:52pm

Exactly, SorryGrateful, that is one of the major problems I see if they were to make Wicked into a movie musical.

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 2:52pm

Leon.... what is so dramatic about Ragtime that makes it a stage show... i think it could carry over beautifuly to film..... i think alot of it would be easier to do then on a broadway stage!

[thetheatrekook]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 3:27pm

I also think, along the same lines as SorryGrateful, is that film is such a different meduim. Musicals on stage...I love em. But musicals on film? There's just something so cheesy about it...even I can't ignore the cheese factor. I think one of the reasons Chicago did so well on film was that none (if my memory serves...haven't watched it in awhile) of the songs were in the "real" world of the movie. They were all these detatched moments...as opposed to Phantom, where the audience was supposed to believe in this world people just spontaneously burst into song. For some reason...I don't know why exactly...this just doesn't work as well on film as it does on stage...

with that said I'd love to see Once on this Island done into a movie. (for some reason I'm on this huge OOTI kick lately.)

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 3:33pm

I don't care what ANYONE says, i would love to see Side Show as a movie.

Also, I agree about RAGTIME...that'd just kick a$$!

a new remake of GYPSY with of course, Bernadette Peters! and NO not for TV, i'm talking about MAJOR MOTION PICTURE...

[leon1489]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 3:33pm

BwayBaby... first off, I just want to let everyone know that I love Ragtime and that I think it would be a good movie. The problem is that certain elements work well on stage but not on film. For instance, how would the first number be accomplished in film? In the show, you have the entire cast narrating their lives, but they're all on one stage. On film, they would have to do continuous cuts from one place to the other, and I just don't see that scene working. I think the whole idea of the asides to the audience is part of what makes Ragtime so unique. I don't think that a)modern movie audiences would understand/appreciate this technique and b)that this effect could be achieved without it seeming campy (I have visions of the entire cast singing as they walk down a street in New Rochelle.)

I guess I'd have to see how it would look in order to see what the movie would be like.
Updated On: 8/7/05 at 03:33 PM

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:04pm

I agree that sometimes stage shows don't translate well to the screen. The Andrew Lloyd Webber shows are all about the spectacle which is why they don't really work well on film because nobody is impressed. However, I believe a show like Wicked is not only about Elphaba flying, that is only a detail of a great story. I think it'd make a great movie or maybe one of those old-fashioned Disney Broadway-like animated features.
They also should do a remake of A Chorus Line, I can't live with the idea of such a great show having such a horrible film.

[Calvin]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:50pm

Several years ago -- in the mid-90s or so -- Penny Marshall had a reading at her home for a film of "Into the Woods." Obviously, nothing ever came of it. But the cast she had was interesting.

This is the cast I remember:
Baker - Robin Williams
Baker's Wife - Goldie Hawn
Witch - Cher
Wolf - Steve Martin
Red Riding Hood - (Six from Blossom, whatever her name was)
Jack - Elijah Wood
Jack's Mother - Roseanne
Cinderella's Stepmother - Bebe Neuwirth
Cinderella's Prince - Kyle McLachlan
Rapunzel's Prince - Brendan Fraser
Rapunzel - Samantha Mathis

I said interesting, not superb. I don't remember the rest. Wow. I'm surprised I remembered that many.

I think some Sondheim site has it in the FAQs, however.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 8/7/05 at 10:57pm

I'd have loved Cher as the witch, but I still believe this role belongs to Bernadette Peters. I hated the idea of Vanessa Williams playing this role, I can't believe she even got a Tony nod when Peters was completely ignored when awards season came.