I love this thread, so I'm bringing it back.
My soundtrack for the film (not including any songs added for Oscar contention):
1. Rent 2. One Song Glory 3. Light My Candle 4. Today 4 U 5. Tango: Maureen 6. Out Tonight 7. Another Day 8. Will I? 9. Santa Fe 10. I'll Cover You 11. Christmas Bells 12. I Should Tell You 13. La Vie Boheme 14. Happy New Year (shortened, parts turned to dialogue) 15. Take Me or Leave Me 16. Without You 17. Contact 18. Goodbye Love (shortened, parts turned to dialogue) 19. What You Own 20. Your Eyes 21. Finale (shortened) 22. Seasons of Love (plays in the credits because in a film without an intermission, it slows down the pace of the narrative)
If I had to cut four in order to make this a "traditional" movie musical soundtrack (or rather, adapt three into dialogue), I would go with "Will I?," "Happy New Year," "Goodbye Love" and "What You Own" (sadly). However, cutting twenty seems sufficient for now...
I know that some of the songs occur in two parts, esp. Happy New Year and Happy New Year B, but I'm thinking of this soundtrack in Chicago terms (esp. the overture incorporated into All That Jazz).
From an AIM conversation I had today:
Wonka1702: 8. Will I? (but this can't be a staged musical number, it has to be sung over a montage or something, or maybe *who* is singing it at certain moments can change -- i.e. Roger instead of the chorus)
Wonka1702: 11. Christmas Bells (quick cuts)
Wonka1702: I think certain other songs -- such as Over the Moon -- should not be seen in their entirety.
Wonka1702: Like we can see Maureen performing it, but don't make that the center of the scene.
Wonka1702: Occasionally focus on her performance but also focus on others (i.e. Mark, Joanne, etc.) in the audience.
Wonka1702: Make her performance "background music" more or less.
Wonka1702: The voice mails could add to the camp effect if kept as musical numbers, but don't clog up the soundtrack with them if there's pressure to keep the film short.
Wonka1702: "You Okay Honey?" is stagey. In a film, it might be more effective to turn it into dialogue, unless you play up the idea of Angel as angelic by making it seem sort of cloud nineish.
Wonka1702: "You'll See"... easily transferrable into dialogue, unless keeping it as a song adds to the comedic effect (honestly, it still sounds like dialogue even when sung "with condos on the top... just stop the protest, and you'll have it made").
Wonka1702: "Life Support"... hmmm I think it'll be enough to have that as dialogue, since you'll ultimately hear the lyrics in other songs (soundtrack is repetitive as it is now, which I like, but it can be changed).
Wonka1702: "We're Okay"... get rid of it unless it's somehow incorporated into the Christmas Bells montage. It disrupts the pace.
Wonka1702: TRACK 2:
Wonka1702: Seasons of Love -- put in credits or over a montage. Great song but still disrupts the pace of the narrative. It really has no causal effect in the narrative.
Wonka1702: "Happy New Year"... I love that quite a few of the songs in the show are kind of like montages...
Wonka1702: So keep it, but don't have "Happy New Year" and "Happy New Year B."
Wonka1702: Just combine them in some way.
Wonka1702: Track 2 looks weird.
Wonka1702: It looks like it has fewer distinct songs than track one.
Wonka1702: "Seasons of Love B"... get rid of it. Sorry, "Seasons of Love" will not be heard until the end.
Wonka1702: "Take Me or Leave Me"... definitely keep it but turn up the volume PLEASE.
Wonka1702: "Without You"... keep it but make it campy. Do not try to be sincere.
Wonka1702: Because that one is cheesy.
Wonka1702: It has to be sung like "Somewhere That's Green" in Little Shop of Horrors.
Friend: what do you mean by "campy"
Wonka1702: Where the artifice and emotion of the song is played up, and no effort is made on the part of the director to make us think otherwise.
Wonka1702: "Contact"... keep it.
Wonka1702: "I'll Cover You" reprise.... hmmm not sure. Depends on what the alternative is... not sure how I feel about clogging up a movie soundtrack with reprises, when some songs will never be heard at all.
Wonka1702: "Halloween"... keep it if time allows, otherwise, disposable because it is speech.
Friend: yuuuup
Wonka1702: "Why am I the witness? And when I capture it on film..." It is dialogue.
Friend: yeah true
Wonka1702: "Goodbye Love"... ummm here's a thought: Get rid of all that crap in the first two minutes and cut straight to the part I like. "You don't want baggage..." (I'm kidding; I like the whole song)
Friend: hahahahah
Friend: i like that song!
Friend: lol i like a lot of songs, obviosuly
Wonka1702: "What You Own"... could be a good song to play up the concept of the film as a period piece.
Wonka1702: I'd like to see the rooms suddenly become performance space (i.e. colored lights and neon appear) during songs like "What You Own," "Rent" and "Out Tonight."
Wonka1702: Everything after "What You Own"... well, whatever. I suppose "Your Eyes" must be kept depending on how Columbus decides to end it, and the "Finale" too... though some work has to be done it on film because it's such a theatrical song, with a chorus singing. Maybe they could pan out of the window of the apartment and then have various denizens of the East Village singing from the windows of the neighboring apartments.
Wonka1702: So let's see, what does the soundtrack for my (my) movie consist of...
Wonka1702: I also think that some songs can possibly be presented as dialogue with the symphonic music playing in the background, kind of like how you hear "Me and My Baby" orchestral music in the movie Chicago.
My apologies for the length. I'm just as excited about this being adapted into a film as I am about similar news for The Nanny Diaries, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. If I were to read a press report about my girl Nesbit's story being adapted into a new film, I'd probably die of excitement right here at the computer.
Updated On: 5/14/04 at 09:56 PM
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