Ryan Murphy Set To Adapt A CHORUS LINE — Page 2
#27
Posted: 9/5/19 at 11:05am
The more I think about this, the more I like it.
#28
Posted: 9/5/19 at 12:59pm
SweetLips22 said: "I'd like the back story of each individual embellished so they almost get a full episode before they merge into the group--everything fragmented until the presentation on that line."
Wouldn't that be "gilding the lily"? I mean... what you describe is what's already in the book - with the exception of Paul and Diana who have known each other before the audition, but the details of their pre-audition relationship are excluded.
I'm hoping for the scenario BrodyFosse123 describes. Basically, the series might look similar to Every Little Step, but with reenactments of the original workshops instead of the revival cast's audition experiences, interspersed with the actual show.
Updated On: 9/5/19 at 12:59 PM
#29
Posted: 9/5/19 at 6:51pm
I can imagine them interspersing the real-life creation story of the musical with scenes and songs from the show itself. The taping sessions started off a lot like the early moments in the show when everyone states their name and age. The songs were written gradually throughout the workshops, so you could easily spread them out through the series. Cassie and Zach's storyline was developed relatively late in the workshops, with conflict caused by Michael Bennett's desire to single out Donna McKechnie out as the star.
Maybe the scenes and settings could be opened up with flashbacks for the dancers' backstories. You'd probably need to expand on the difficulty of maintaining a career as a dancer to convey to TV audiences the stakes at work in 'I Hope I Get It'.
#30
Posted: 9/5/19 at 8:23pm
My question is would this be a full-fledged musical or not? A 10-episode arc means either A) apportioning the existing 10 songs written for the original show over the 10 hours of the project at the rate of about one per hour, or B) writing new numbers. The second option would scream of hubris, and the first option would hardly give me a fully musicalized show.
Maybe they're gonna dust off all those trunk songs that weren't good enough to make the cut first time out...
#31
Posted: 9/5/19 at 8:28pm
isn’t the whole thing with A Chorus Line is its one act? It’s effective cause you just spend a continuous evening with this group like you’re there with them
Breaking it up into 10 episodes sounds lofty
Breaking it up into 10 episodes sounds lofty
#32
Posted: 9/6/19 at 8:26am
Does anyone here know if they are going to update the tempo of each of the 10 songs to slow them down so they will each fill an hour long episode? Seems creative, but how will they find time for the dialougue?
#33
Posted: 9/6/19 at 11:52am
Someone in a Tree2 said: "My question is would this be a full-fledged musical or not? A 10-episode arc means either A) apportioning the existing 10 songs written for the original show over the 10 hours of the project at the rate of about one per hour, or B) writing new numbers. The second option would scream of hubris, and the first option would hardly give me a fully musicalized show.
Maybe they're gonna dust off all those trunk songs that weren't good enough to make the cut first time out..."
You forgot about option C) that Murphy has a concept that you (and the other naysayers on this board) haven't thought of? Given his tremendously creative output to date, I'd tend to go with Option C for the time being.
#34
Posted: 9/6/19 at 2:54pm
Someone in a Tree2 said: "My question is would this be a full-fledged musical or not? A 10-episode arc means either A) apportioning the existing 10 songs written for the original show over the 10 hours of the project at the rate of about one per hour, or B) writing new numbers. The second option would scream of hubris, and the first option would hardly give me a fully musicalized show.
Maybe they're gonna dust off all those trunk songs that weren't good enough to make the cut first time out..."
It would be interesting to see some of the cut songs and it would be a good way of fleshing out characters who don't get a solo in the final show. There's a lot to say about that, with many dancers starting out with bigger parts and then realising their characters won't be remembered by most audiences. (And that's how you can still use 'One' as the finale to the whole series, because the equality of the taping and first workshop gave way to a set of core characters and minor characters after all.)
But most of the actual songs in the show are far longer than ones you usually get in a screen musical. If the script is good, you only really need one long song per episode, or two standard-length ones. (Like musical TV shows such as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which still felt like a fully fledged musical.) There are also the songs that have never been on a cast recording, and lots of monologues and dialogue with backing music.
#35
Posted: 9/6/19 at 2:59pm
JSquared2 said: "You forgot about option C) that Murphy has a concept that you (and the other naysayers on this board) haven't thought of? Given his tremendously creative output to date, I'd tend to go with Option C for the time being."
He's had just as many misses as he's had hits, from my opinion. I certainly have reached the point where I approach his new works with caution as opposed to optimism, and a 10 hour expansion of A Chorus Line is definitely something to be questioned.
#36
Posted: 9/7/19 at 2:36am
If this series is going to be about the making of the show... I think it's interesting that the show's rights holders might be letting the controversial aspects of the show's creation be depicted alongside material from the show, rather than trying to 'protect the brand' in that respect. (I don't really know if that's the case, but if the 'scandalous' aspects of the show's creation couldn't be included, would Ryan Murphy be interested in doing this?) It's been a while since I've watched 'Every Little Step', but to my memory it stayed away from that side of things.
#37
Posted: 9/7/19 at 3:01am
I am sitting here trying to fathom how anyone can think this is a ten-hour expansion of the SHOW. I mean, that's just absurd. It's going to be about the creation of the show, just like his Feud stuff. We may see snippets of the show, but I'm just mind-boggled that anyone can think he's going to take a two hour and ten minute show and stretch it into nine hours. There's a little thing called reality and common sense, at least I think there is.
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