Movie to Musical - what was the first?

[Practically Perfect]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 7:38am

In recent years, we've seen many movies being transformed into musicals (The Producers, The Full Monty, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hairspray, Spamalot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The Wedding Singer + the Disney shows, excluding Aida). Does anyone know what was the first film to be made into a musical? The first one I saw was Sunset Blvd.

Thanks in advance.

Mary P x

[tophertilson]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 7:47am

GIGI? SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS?

TT

[oldfashionedboy]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 8:16am

I don't know if it was the first, but in 1959 the musical Destry Rides Again opened on Broadway. It was based on the classic 1939 movie which starred Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart.
The makers of the musical decided to change the ending, making it less sad.
I wonder if the same thing would be done today.

[jasobres]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 9:50am

What about "Promises, Promises" and "Sugar"? They've actually been making movies into Broadway musicals for a long time.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 10:02am

I know. It's hard to believe how long this has been going on. Most people believe that the fad started after The Producers. Then you think back and remember the following:

Footloose

Victor/Victoria

Little Shop of Horrors

42nd Street

Gigi

Promises Promises

I think The Producers kickstarted that fad. I thought it was going a bit too far when I heard that Legally Blonde, The Wedding Singer (which I know think looks pretty good), and High Fidelity were being turned into musicals.

You know, when you think about it, a lot of the great shows aren't original at all. A Chorus Line was developed from tape recorded interviews with dancers. Rent is based on La Boheme by Puccini. Les Miserables, Wicked, and The Color Purple are based on books. West Side Story is based on Romeo and Juliet. But this is about movies to musical. I'm not trying to start a debate.

And just for the record, just because these shows aren't original doesn't mean they're totally awesome, which they are.

[MarkRascati]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 10:27am

Just to expand on Matt's post, My Fair Lady was based on a play(theater buffs already know that i'm sure), Oklahoma was based on a book called "Green Grow The Lilax", A Little Nightmusic was based off of a movie.


So musical theater has a history of basing itself off of other forms of entertainment.

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 10:37am

MFL is Pygmalion (sp?), just set differently and slightly tweaked.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 11:06am

One of the first musicals based on a movie seems to be 1953's "Hazel Flagg," based on the 1937 movie, "Nothing Sacred".

[allofmylife]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 12:19pm

My Fair Lady is Pygmalion, but it has the ending based on the Gabriel Pascal movie version from 1937 starring Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller. Pascal was a wiley Hungarian producer (an associate of the Kordas) who managed to talk Shaw into giving him the film rights, something no Hollywood studio had been able to do.

[acrocksyo]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 6:44pm

I thought Oklahoma was based on the play Green Grow The Lilacs not a book.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/4/06 at 11:09pm

What about State Fair? It was a film in 1945 and it didn't officially make it to Broadway until 1996 (where it was nominated for neither best musical nor best revival, by the way).
IMDB: State Fair

[mathewbrock]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 1:19am

Yes, Oklahoma was based on a play called "Green Grow the Lilacs." Hardly anyone gets ideas for musicals that are TOTALY original....

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 2:24am

Movies have been adapted into Stage musicals since the very early years: In 1921 Rodgers and Hart saw the movie A CONECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT and eventually turned it into their 1927 musical (A CONNECTICUT YANKEE.)

If, however, the question is what was the first movie musical to be adapted to the stage, that seems a more recent development.

One of the first I am aware of was GIGI (Film 1958, stage 1974.) It was not a success, even though it was adapted by Lerner and Loewe who also wrote additional songs. (Unfortunately the film had only recently been sold to TV and was seen frequently with it's unmatchable cast.)

42ND STREET was a movie musical in 1933 and in 1980 it was adapted for the stage. It was a success because the show developed its own theatre spirit and filled out the score with other Harry Warren songs from the follow-up films (GOLD DIGGERS of 1933, 35, 37, FOOTLIGHT PARADE etc) all of which fit well enough into the revised book.

However other screen to stage musicals were done with a good deal less skill: SINGING IN THE RAIN, 7 BRIDES FOR 7 BROTHERS, MEET ME IN ST LOUIS, and HIGH SOCIETY were all outright failures.

HIGH SOCIETY has been tried three different times. Twice in London and once on Broadway. It OUGHT to work: adapting THE PHILADELPHIA STORY and using Cole Porter songs both from his movie score for HIGH SOCIETY and other sources. All three times it did not work. (The 1998 Broadway version is being staged this summer at teh Shaw Festival in Ontario and it has much more sparkle than the Broadway edition. Still it isn't 100% there - but its getting closer!)

The big problem is that a movie that runs 100 to 120 minutes seems bloated when blown up to 150 minutes on stage. Also the movies are not built for an intermission. (The plot of SINING IN THE RAIN had to be adjusted on stage so Act One ended with the Title song: much earlier in the narrative than it appeared in the film.)

42ND STREET proves it can be done, but the show has to be rebuilt from the ground up.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 6:09am

I have an original idea for a musical, on which I'm currently working. It probably won't see the light of day for many years to come, considering how things are currently going.

Anyway, MY FAIR LADY is based on both PYGMALION and the 1937 film of the same name. A lof of the dialog and the setting (the actual play takes place in 1912/13; in the movie it is sometime in the 1930s) is taken directly from PYGMALION, but the ending, Higgins' former student Zoltan Karpathy (he is named Nepommuck in the play), "the rain in Spain" line and other additional scenes are ripped from the movie. In fact, Shaw himself wrote the screenplay and actually won the Oscar which he proudly displayed in his living room, from what I've read.

[Jon]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 6:58am

We had this discussion a few months ago, and Smaxie is correct. HAZEL FLAGG was the first musical to be based on a movie (that was NOT based on a book or play).

[acrocksyo]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 10:36pm

Thank you mathewbrock.

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 6/5/06 at 11:56pm

Speaking of Movies to Musicals....I'm surprised "Anastasia" has not been brought to a musical stage production yet. I'm not refering to the Disney animation but the 1956 movie version with Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner, or at least the film based on Guy Bolton, Arthur Laurents and Marcelle Maurette's play. Depending on the book and score, it can be a good musical.

[NCGuy]

Posted: 6/6/06 at 12:16am

Musicaltheater1, there was a musical version of Anastasia in 1965 called Anya. It closed quickly, but I think there have been revised versions of the show performed over the years (I’m not entirely clear on the show’s history, but I believe there’s a chapter devoted to it in Mandlebaum’s Not Since Carrie).


ANYA at IBDB

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 6/6/06 at 9:44pm

Thank you for that information, NCGuy.
It'd be good to have another team revisit the story or play written by Marcelle Maurette which was used for the Bergman & Brynner movie.

[coolphantom919]

Posted: 6/7/06 at 10:12am

42ND STREET?

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/7/06 at 10:50am

"A Connecticut Yankee" was based on the classic Mark Twain novel, not a film adaptation of it.

I haven't found one yet that's earlier than "Hazel Flagg" (1953).

"The King and I" (1951) took most of its adaptation and even dialogue directly from the 1946 20th Century Fox film "Anna and the King of Siam," but it's credited "on paper" with being based on Margaret Langdon's 1944 novel, not the Fox non-musical film. That might have been for legal reasons. Still, I'm not sure this would count, since it "officially" acknowledges the book not the previous movie as its source.

Updated On: 6/7/06 at 10:50 AM

[Calvin]

Posted: 6/7/06 at 10:52am

There was a thread asking this question not too long ago. I think Hazel Flagg was the answer arrived at in that one, too.

eta: Duh. I just saw that Jon said the same thing already. Updated On: 6/7/06 at 10:52 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/7/06 at 11:00am

StageManager2---Shaw was a bit of a hypocrite, when it came to his Oscar win for "Pygmalion."

He was so upset with the Hollywood changed ending for this film (also used in "My Fair Lady"), that he threatened to remove his name from the picture. When he was nominated for his adaptation, he kept carrying on in a derogatory and public way about the movie biz in general, and the cop-outs and the compromises made, etc. He was very displeased.

Then he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

...which he proudly displayed in his living room, as you said.

[bare_nakedlady]

Posted: 6/7/06 at 11:24am

Just a couple points ...

Disney had nothing to do with the animated film ANASTASIA it was a Don Bluth film produced by FOX

Also, STATE FAIR was actually a black and white film from 1933 Starring Will Rogers as the father before being turned into a R&H Movie Musical in 1945 & then again in 1962. The 1933 version however, was based on the book STATE FAIR by Phil Stong which I believe came out in 1931.

What an interesting topic. It makes me wish I new HAZEL FLAGG.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/7/06 at 3:26pm

"A Connecticut Yankee" was based on the classic Mark Twain novel, not a film adaptation of it.

According to Richard Rodgers' notes in the booklet that came with the 1943 revival cast album, he had seen the 1921 film and decided he wanted to make a musical. He did negotiate a 6-month option but in 1921 no one had heard of Rodgers and Hart so the project never got off the ground.

By 1927, things were different and they re-negotiated the rights for a second option. This time the show opened and was a big hit.

Of course, the novel came first but Rodgers credits the film as his inspiration. (Herbert Fields probably used elements of both.)

As for HAZEL FLAGG, Sepia has reissued the RCA cast album on CD. While not presenting Jule Styne at his very best, it is an entertaining 40-minute listen. "Everybody loves to take a bow" is a great old-fashioned Broadway kind of number!

Updated On: 6/8/06 at 03:26 PM