...SPELLING BEE movie musical in the works with Disney

This is my favorite William Finn score, but I have no idea what they'd do with the audience participation aspects of the show. It wouldn't feel right to remove it entirely, but I don't know how you could translate it to film.

Jordan Levinson said: "Ridiculous. R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S, ridiculous.

Spelling Beewasa good show, but I just don't see how it willwork on screen without the slightimprov and audience participation at play (I guess it will take a lot of ideating)."

The improv with the guest spellers was scripted prior to the start of the performance, much of which was often recycled throughout the run.  It's not a stretch or a challenge to write into the script some funny moments with additional spellers. That said, it wouldn't be a huge loss to lose those moments. 

The show was clearly written for adults playing kids, so that the more problematic issue for an adaptation.

Okay Hollywood, calm down with all these musical film adaptation announcements. Give me room to breathe first.

Updated On: 4/22/21 at 06:42 PM

I don't know. I love this show, but I could see Disney toning it down and sticking in some Disney stars and calling it a day. 

gypsy101 said: "Musical Master said: "Okay Hollywood, calm down with all these musical film adaptation announcements. Give me room to breathe first."

NO HOLLYWOOD DO NOT LISTEN

we barely had any movie musicals for like 40-50 years, let us enjoy is while it lasts"

AMEN

I think everyone here is underestimating the strength of the material on its own merits. The audience participation and improv would be incredibly easy to remove from a structural standpoint, and the show could still work perfectly well without it. As for the improv specifically - Speaking as someone who was once in the show: there are tons of alternate definitions/sentences in the back of the script, which could be switched out at the discretion of the director or Panch. There were so many brilliant ones, and it’s a shame to have to pick only a few of them for a film, but from an audience standpoint, it would be no different from someone who only saw the show once.

Having said that, the concerns about Disney, and the age of the kids, are more worrying for me. I don’t think it’s possible to have adults playing children onscreen without it being super distracting. But like others have said, it’s hard to pull off the more adult humor with kids (I remember this being a criticism of York’s production of Charlie Brown, which had a cast of kids). Maybe if they manage to find some young teens who have a mature, old-soul sense of humor, they can pull it off. But then there’s a question of how Disney might get in their own way. But if they’re smart about it, I can definitely see it working - maybe not as well as the stage version, but enough to work in its own way.

Updated On: 4/22/21 at 09:08 PM

darquegk said: "Do we know it’s live action? A quirky, lower-budget animation style would suit the feel of the show better than a live-action movie. (Honestly when I listen to the album I often see it in the geometric animation style of South Park.)

Steve Carrell or Patton Oswalt as Panch please? "

Having just seen Little Miss Sunshine for the first time and knowing Finn also did a musical based on that, Steve Carrell as Panch sounds legitimately perfect.

 

 

Also yeah what everyone else said. Beautiful show, amazing story and characters, but film feels like a bad fit.

gypsy101 said: "Musical Master said: "Okay Hollywood, calm down with all these musical film adaptation announcements. Give me room to breathe first."

NO HOLLYWOOD DO NOT LISTEN

we barely had any movie musicals for like 40-50 years, let us enjoy is while it lasts"

This mind set is how we ended up with Cats. No, not every show is made equal and would benefit from a movie version of it. Spelling Bee and CERTAINLY Drowsy Chaperone are not ones that scream "Make a movie out of me!" Given how much audience interaction is integral to the entire mechanics of the show...

TheatreFan4 said: "This mind set is how we ended up with Cats. No, not every show is made equal and would benefit from a movie version of it. Spelling Bee and CERTAINLY Drowsy Chaperone are not ones that scream "Make a movie out of me!" Given how much audience interaction is integral to the entire mechanics of the show..."

no way is that what gave us Cats. it was one of the most successful musicals of all time, it was literally only a matter of time.

i do agree about it being very odd that it’s Disney and i was surprised this movie is happening but if the question is adapt a stage musical as a film or not, i say we adapt.

my biggest surprise was this is Finn’s first movie musical, figured Falsettos would get done before anything else.

Broadway_Boy said: "Apparently the kids version is “my unfortunate distraction.”"

Yes, there is a "junior " version of this- if they use that, I'm definitely not interested.  Seems like a financial failure waiting to happen...but who knows?