Musicals based on non-English language films
Musicals based on non-English language films
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/3/09
Musicals based on non-English language films#1
Posted: 5/30/09 at 1:57pm
Bartlett Sher's working of "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" for a musical got me thinking. What other musicals are there based on non-English language films?
Nine (8 1/2)
A Little Night Music (Smiles of a Summer Night)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Sweet Charity (Nights of Cabiria)
Passion (Passione d'Amore)
Ilya, Darling (Never On Sunday)
The Sound of Music (The Trapp Family)
Updated On: 5/30/09 at 01:57 PM
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#2
Posted: 5/30/09 at 2:00pm
Passion (Passione d'Amore)
The movie was itself based on a book, but Sondheim has talked about the movie being what inspired him.
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#2
Posted: 5/30/09 at 2:28pmNights of Cabiria by Fellini became Sweet Charity.
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#3
Posted: 5/30/09 at 2:50pm
NEVER ON SUNDAY became ILYA, DARLING
Die Trapp-Familie (THE TRAPP FAMILY) became THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Updated On: 5/30/09 at 02:50 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/3/09
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#4
Posted: 5/30/09 at 2:50pmInteresting, I never knew that! Then again, I've never seen Sweet Charity so how would I know?
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#6
Posted: 5/30/09 at 3:39pmLa Cage is the one that comes to mind.
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#7
Posted: 5/30/09 at 4:17pm
ENTER JULIET based upon Fellini's GIULIETTA DELGI SPIRITU (JULIET OF THE SPIRITS). This, and I've seen them all, is my favorite Fellini film... his first in color (and first and last while on LSD) with his most inventive and appropriate camera work (and that's saying A LOT) and the best performance from his wife since LA STRADA. I gotta say I'm not a fan of ENTER JULIET tho... far too traditional 50-s musical comedy. Sheik could do well by this source, though I think it better suited to Guettel. Probably too similar in subject matter to LITP for him, though (a middle-aged woman's sexual re-awakening in Italy in the 60s), maybe not...
I'm a huge Fellini fan and STILL cannot understnad why no one has attempted a musicalization of the SATYRICON, whether Plautus's original or Fellini's version. Who says musicals need endings? My two favorite musicals, FOLLIES and THE WILD PARTY, don't so much end as... stop. "Hi. Girls. Ben. Sally." and "(The cops rushed in)" are stoppings, not endings. :)
A Good Nightmare Comes So Rarely,
P genre
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#8
Posted: 5/30/09 at 4:26pmDoes Bombay Dreams count? It's based on Bollywood films in general.
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#9
Posted: 5/30/09 at 5:04pm
The 1956 German film, "Die Trapp-Familie" and 1959 musical "The Sound of Music", were both based primarily on Maria von Trapp's book "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers", first published by Lippincott in the English language in 1949. "Die Trapp-Familie", in an English dubbed version, was released in the US in 1961, two years after the stage musical appeared on Broadway, although it is still possible that Rodgers and Hammerstein knew of the film and it may have played a part in convincing them that the story could be adapted as a stage musical. Maria von Trapp was already a long time resident of Stowe, Vermont in 1959 and the rights to adapt her book into a musical were most likely negotiated there. The 1956 film and 1959 musical adaptation are both highly romanticized and largely fictional versions of Maria von Trapp's real story.
Broadway Star Joined: 8/15/06
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#10
Posted: 5/30/09 at 6:28pmThe '50s smasheroo Carnival In Flanders.
Leading Actor Joined: 2/22/05
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#11
Posted: 5/30/09 at 6:55pm
The Baker's Wife.
What a beautiful film. Old. French. Thirties, I think.
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#12
Posted: 5/30/09 at 9:58pmTechnically, La Cage is based on the play, not the film as they couldn't get the rights to the film.
re: Musicals based on non-English language films#13
Posted: 5/30/09 at 11:14pmI'll forever be hoping for a Cinima Paradiso musical, as it would work so well...
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