Musicals You Do Not Want A Movie On- Page 2

[AlgonquinProd2]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 1:21pm

I think anything can be made into a good movie (unlikely fare such as "Little Shop of Horrors") and anything can be made into a bad movie ("A Chorus Line", "Best Little Whorehouse") but I see the cinematic possibilities of "Drowsy" as well. It could be a lot of fun if done well.

On the reverse side, we have "Finding Neverland" coming our way as a musical, and THAT will be interesting to see....

[gypsy4]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 1:38pm

I may sound crazy but I think Disney should tape a TV presentation of Mary Poppins!

[Vivre la Dance]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 2:27pm

No movie version of CATS?

So you're saying that dog won't hunt?

:)

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 2:36pm

The cat is a dog

[Edna Turnblad]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 8:05pm

Into the Wood, Company, Xanadu.
Though I am in love with the first two, they just wouldn't work as actual films (though they work as filmed on stage). Xanadu, I just think it would lose its charm if it were on film.

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 7/11/09 at 8:57pm

Billy Elliot. The original movie is practically a musical with every song so perfectly selected accompanying each image. Although I am rather fond of the show, I just think it would lose all its charm if presented onscreen. Even the taped segments (various talkshows, Tony Awards, etc.) with the various Billys are just lacking that certain something. And one of the most mesmerizing, transcendent moments of theater (Swan Lake) would just not be all that exciting on film.

As for those listed above, I actually think a musical version of Into the Woods would be really good. The story is so timeless and accessible that it would really sell, especially if interpreted in a completely different way than what we are used to (I remember reading a rumor of an adaptation by Tim Burton before he started Sweeney - imagine that; or perhaps Guillermo Del Toro). The problem would be the score and the length, which are pretty much the antithesis to the aforementioned accessibility. Since the score is so lengthy, however, a good deal could be done away with without doing much to the plot. I doubt it will ever happen, but when I imagine how beautiful some of the elements of ITW could look on film (Witch's Transformation, the beanstalk, Rapunzel, Cinderella's Mother, the cow, the Wolf, the Giant, "No One Is Alone", the woods themselves) it makes me really wish for it to be.

As for Xanadu, I never thought it would work as a film or on stage. Yet when I read that Jane Krakowski was originally cast as Kira, it really made me rethink that. I really think she would make the part come alive in a film, especially after seeing her character on 30 Rock this past season try so hard to channel Janis Joplin. If it were ever made, they would undoubtedly cast someone younger and more Hollwyood (a la Penelope Cruz), but I still think it could be kind of cute and without a doubt better than the Xanadu currently on video.

[chino]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 5:57am

Les Miserables.

[Edna Turnblad]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 9:05am

The reason I said Into the Woods was because some of the songs, some of the best ones, would be difficult to do on screen without doing some sort of stupid split screen, because they contain multiple parts with people technically in different locations. I just don't think it'll work.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 10:38am

Edna---have you ever seen a film with cross-cut scenes? You don't have to split the screen and do it simultaneously.

How about the opening number of the movie Chicago, where Velma is singing "All That Jazz" while Roxie is (at first) watching her in the audience, then in a different location murdering her husband. It's done with cross-cutting, not split screens. But it's all happening at once.

My problem with Into the Woods is that several songs have characters stationary on stage telling you about what they've learned. Quite a few, actually: Giants in the Sky, Steps of the Palace, I Know Things Now, No One Is Alone, etc.

That wouldn't translate well on film without a rethinking of the concepts. You can't have characters in a movie sitting around "educating" the audience about what they've been through. Yes, you could cut away to flashbacks. But every time? It happens quite a lot. I think it would get old on film very quickly. The screenplay would have to be very clever, and one or two of those songs would have to be cut or rewritten to keep songs happening in the moment. Not after the fact.

[Edna Turnblad]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 2:38pm

I was just saying that- because it happens often, and if important to the story- it would just not work well if we had people in a dozen different locations singing the same thing, cutting back and forth, or split screening, to get them all in. It would get old. Also, the ending. How would you do that, without having a but load of ghosts walking around? It would be bad...I think.
Sometimes I show just wouldn't work filmed on a movie set.
Into the Woods depends on having everyone on stage at multiple times when they aren't in the same place. Unless they cut out the First Midnight song, and the finale, and maybe even part of the begining, etc., like they did with Sweeney Todd, it just wouldn't work. And if you cut them out, you would lose a major part of the story, especially if you cut out the end. Sweeney could do without the ballads, even thoug I was sad to see them go, Into the Woods couldn't do without those songs.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 6:08pm

Movies are the most disgusting art form of all time. One of these days people will realize that.

NO PLAY OR MUSICAL SHOULD EVER BE SOLD TO HOLLYWOOD! EVER!

Stop going to movies or watching them on television!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/12/09 at 6:26pm

Yeah this whole movie thing isn't going to last.

[snarkywannabedreamer]

Posted: 7/13/09 at 11:50am

You're out of your brain, Dollypop.

West Side Story for example is a far superior film than stage show.

movie musicals can be amazing if executed correctly.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/13/09 at 5:36pm

Dollypop sounds a lot like Jimmy Cagney in Footlight Parade-

"Nyah, talking pictures are a fad, see? I've produced fifty musical comedies and I'll produce fifty more- nyah!"

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 7/13/09 at 8:29pm

I think making films of plays/musicals is excellent for a number of reasons. Films can go places that stage shows can not go in the departments of scenery and visual effects. Sure, sometimes what makes beautiful stage visuals so spectacular is the awe of it. To see someone fly in a movie is great, to see someone fly right before your eyes in living flesh on a stage is INCREDIBLE.
There are a lot of shows that I would love to see, but I can't and probably never will. If there is a movie of it, I at least get a little piece of what it was like. Keep making movies of shows, it makes me happy :)

[Pgenre]

Posted: 7/14/09 at 4:08pm

Dollypop, you know I love you, but I can't let this slide:

"Movies are the most disgusting art form of all time."

Really? What other "disgusting" art forms did it beat to be THE MOST disgusting? I didn't think an art FORM could even be disgusting, only specific works OF art. Hyperbole like that is unneccessary methinks.

Though considering the title of this thread, grammar is also not a strong-suit here... at least not proper sentence structure.

Don't blame the cinema for bad movies, blame the studios or producers. Or writers, like me.

And if you really feel that way, you really need to go see some of the amazing work being done in foreign film and independant cinema these days because it's much more innovative than anything in the theatre, I'll tell you that.

P

Updated On: 7/14/09 at 04:08 PM

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/14/09 at 4:23pm

"What other "disugsting" art forms did it beat to be THE MOST disgusting?"


Poop sculpting?

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/14/09 at 5:58pm

"Wanna go see a movie?" "Nah, movies are too vulgar for my tastes. Howzy-bout a bear baiting?" "Cool."