...SPELLING BEE movie musical in the works with Disney- Page 2

[Fosse76]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 10:36am

JBroadway said: "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."

This is exactly right. The improv portions of the script can easily be eliminated,  or they can simply be included as scripted. I don't see how this is a concern. Some of the jokes were only humorous in the context of them being directed at random audience members, but others were funny on-spec, and as you say, a person who only saw the show once wouldn't know the difference between the improv and the scripted jokes.

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 12:00pm

I could see this working in mockumentary format, almost akin to a Christopher Guest movie, which the play itself already resembles.

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 12:47pm

Interesting, I was thinking the same thing. It works well with High School Musical The Musical The Series

[rougeduck]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 12:48pm

I'm into it. It might give Pen15 as a movie musical vibes.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 2:15pm

"With Disney" is the key here. I wonder if it will appear under one of the "Fox" brands, or will be sent to stream on their "Star" platform. That way, you get the Disney money, but not the branding as "Disney".

[Loopin’theloop]

Posted: 4/23/21 at 2:44pm

JBroadway said: "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 childrenonscreen 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."

I think if they cast some well known comic actors, the adult thing would work. I think it would need names to make that gimmick sell but it could be very much like Wet Hot American Summer. If they took that chance it could be very funny. I mean they won’t...

[Fan123]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 3:46am

Disney previously had plans to adapt the documentary 'Spellbound' into a musical. Maybe they figured "if you can't beat it, join it" and went after THE 25TH ANNUAL... instead. (2004 article: https://www.playbill.com/article/are-two-spelling-bee-musicals-headed-to-new-york-com-121228.)

Updated On: 4/25/21 at 03:46 AM

[Joviedamian]

Posted: 4/25/21 at 9:28pm

James Corden as William Barfée