Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Sick of Movie Adaptations?
#0Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 4:21pm
I'm just wondering if anyone else is sick and tired of all the musicals that are adaptations of Movies or books. Some of them are understandable like Beauty and The Beast, Lion King, or Thoroughly Modern Millie, and even Spamalot because those movies had a lot to do with music already. But the idea of a Lord of the Rings or Legally Blonde Musical seem to make me sick. Just wondering if anyone else feels the same way.
Kaija
"Better...Better than What?" -Jo March (Little Women the Musical)
"NYC...Up there (In Lights) I'll be." -Star to be (Annie)
#1re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 4:23pmI'm not sick of them. I mean, I would love to see some original ideas for plots...but as long as the music is new and the staging is good...to me it's a fresh new musical. Honestly, "Thoroughly Modern Millie" was not a good choice to adapt to a musical, in my opinion. "Legally Blonde," if done right, could be a great musical. And everyone here knows I would LOVE to see a musical adaptadion of "The First Wives Club."
"I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about." - Oscar Wilde
#2re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 4:24pm
Nope, musical theater is an adaptive form, always has been, always will be.
Original musicals are the exception, not the rule.
ashley0139
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
#3re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 4:26pmI don't necessarily have a problem with them. DRS is a movie adaptation as well. I just don't really like the idea of something like Legally Blonde. I would love to see original stuff too though.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#5re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 4:28pm
Some day Broadway will be a big collection of theatres with movie adaptations. But thats okay, because everything is practically an adaptation of something, be it a book or a play or someones life...
Les Mis, Phantom, Cats, Miss Saigon, Wicked, Hello Dolly, West Side, Fiddler, Oklahoma, Carousel, Rent, Hairspray, Ragtime, Seussical, Mame, Gypsy, All Shook Up, Oliver, My Fair Lady, Evita, Sunset Boulevard, Superstar, Joseph, Funny Girl....the list goes on and on. Even Mamma Mia's central plot is taken from some obscure movie, I think.
Movies are our new media of choice - of course tons of adaptations are going to spring up. The good ones will last and the bad ones will die horribly, most of the time at least.:)
I, too, feel weird about the Legally Blonde idea. Whats next, American Pie?
There's always room for pathos - and jazz hands.
#6re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 4:33pmI don't know. Some are ok, but LOTR...that will take alot of work to do and I don't see it as coming off with the kind of class it needs. Legally blonde could be hilarious. Think about the funny songs that Elle could come up with when blowing off her Ex...and think of a Take me or leave me vibe song when Elle and that dark haired girl (sorry blanking out) fight over the boyfriend. I personally think that a few more movies should be adapted...I would LOVE to see the Princess Bride done
"All the while making faces like a baby platypus who forget to take some Beano before eating a chimichanga." FindingNamo in reference to Jessica Simpson's singing.
#7re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 4:38pm
I've said it before/I'll say it again --> LOTR is either the best idea ever or the worst idea ever. No in betweens.
That said, I'd give a leg to be cast in that show.
There's always room for pathos - and jazz hands.
#8re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 4:50pm
There was a good thread on this topic back in December called "ORIGINAL Broadway Musicals" and it's worth a read to see the many musicals that were in fact adaptations.
Thread
"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"
#9re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 4:52pmI understand everything that is being said, and I don't think it is a bad thing that there are movie adaptaions out there, it's just that there are some movies that shouldn't be maid into musicals and for some reason or another are.
"Better...Better than What?" -Jo March (Little Women the Musical)
"NYC...Up there (In Lights) I'll be." -Star to be (Annie)
#10re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 4:59pmWith the right creative team (and cast) I think any adaptation can turn into a good thing.
[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.
#11re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 5:01pmI agree with FOA and Kelrel... Princess Bride and 1st Wifes Club are written in such a way that it needs to be sung.
#12re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 5:04pm
I have to aggree with JohnPopa:
"Original musicals are the exception, not the rule."
"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"
#13re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 5:29pmFirst Wives Club COULD be a great stage musical...
[title of show] on Broadway. it's time. believe.
MissNY
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/05
#14re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 5:34pmAs long as the show is done well and enjoyable, i really don't care if it is adapted from something or original. Besides one of the main aspects of a musical is the music, so even if you are taking the plot from a movie, it becomes an entirely new production when the music and choreagraphy is applied
#15re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 5:36pmhmm...i like most movie adaptations, that is, if they are good and well made. but something like LOTR scares me because it's a lot of material and i can't really see how it can be worked into a musical.
Yes, I'm pinay. And I'm proud of it!
#16re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 5:36pmFinding musicals that are NOT adapted from something else is a task.
"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"
#17re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 5:46pmThe only original musicals I can think of right now are THE MUSIC MAN, HAIR and (I THINK) BELLS ARE RINGING.
Praying Decca Broadway will put "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" on CD!
#18re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 5:51pmDon't forget The Beautiful Game! Andrew said it was an original idea.
stylinbohemian
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/24/05
#19re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 6:04pmstuff like legally blonde and shrek arg theyre tryin to invade broadwya and omg so stupid! and thoughts of such things as thinking harry potter would make a good musical are jsut like blasfimus(sp?)
#20re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 6:35pmi didn't kniow they were talking about a harry potter musical. That sounds as though it would be interesting.
"Better...Better than What?" -Jo March (Little Women the Musical)
"NYC...Up there (In Lights) I'll be." -Star to be (Annie)
eslgr8
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
#21re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 6:40pmTry seeing Auntie Mame or Pygmalian or Anna and the King of Siam or The Matchmaker. As good as these are, the songs are missing! Many great musicals have improved on their originals, so I say: Keep on adapting, provided that you do it well.
Ruth Sherwood
Leading Actor Joined: 10/4/04
#22re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 6:48pmI don't care where the ideas for musicals come from, as long as they work on stage. I also agree about a First Wives' Club musical! Especially if it would bring Bette back to Broadway! (I can wish.)
"Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one."
-Stella Adler
TxTwoStep
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/24/03
#23re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 7:12pm
i like Lithgow's point on BREAKFAST WITH THE ARTS yesterday on A&E...a lot of successful musical theatre has been adaptations, from many sources. If you want to say that it's a shame that the primary medium for writing these days is the screenplay, i guess you can. But what matters most is the execution of the adaptation, not the source. There were plenty of bad ideas for musicals, always. We just don't remember them because they flopped and didn't make the canon. Not all of them, of course, will end up the subject of future Encore- or Reprise- like "restitutions"; we're just accurately aware of them right now because they seem to be outnumbering the critical/commercial successes. But that's true in every medium---TV (lotsa bad cable and smaller network fare out there), movies (plenty of straight-to-video stuff), novels (genre writing by the truckload), music (horrible albums and terrible easy listening or commercial soundtrack covers), what have you.
It's just a cycle. WICKED and AVENUE Q and LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (though that has a film source too, just not a well-known one) and CAROLINE OR CHANGE and URINETOWN all happened too.
Will: They don't give out awards for helping people be gay... unless you count the Tonys.
"I guarantee that we'll have tough
times. I guarantee that at some point
one or both of us will want to get out.
But I also guarantee that if I don't
ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for
the rest of my life..."
#24re: Sick of Movie Adaptations?
Posted: 3/28/05 at 7:16pmI think that Ella Enchanted or Princess Diaries would make cute musicals, if done right.
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