Spring Awakening Movie? — Page 2

And if you thought the lushly angsty show ends on an uplifting note, with not all its nineteenth-century German teens dying of suicide or botched abortion, think again: "The kids who survived grow up to be the parents of the Nazis," noted Sater.

...if they survive the First World War

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What's kind of terrible is that most of the time when a play is turned into a movie (especially musicals) even the fans of the PLAY turn up their noses (and many of them don't support it at ALL). I'm not sure WHAT it is that they're expecting, exactly. Of COURSE it's not the THRILL of seeing it LIVE - but it gives you as close an experience as is possible (in most cases). I know, I know - I'm in the minority. I LOVE the movie versions of:
PHANTOM
SWEENEY TODD
RENT
HAIRSPRAY
THE FANTASTICKS
MAME
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
HAIR
FIDDLER
FUNNY GIRL
ON A CLEAR DAY
HELLO, DOLLY!
OLIVER!
MY FAIR LADY
Oh! Need I go ON?
I love nearly all musicals put to film! I can put them on whenever I WANT! I can sing along! PLUS, damnit - I think they're GOOD!
Musical movies are already (box-office-wise) an endangered species - so if EVERYONE keeps KNOCING them - then there will shortly be NO MUSICALS at all! We're ALMOST there already! No box-office will mean NO MUSICAL MOVIES! There you go! Take your pick!

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I think the style of this show would be the biggest impediment to making a successful movie. It's sort of Brechtian/expressionistic, which can work on the stage but would not transfer well to film. I think the musical numbers could be dynamite on the big screen, but the dialog and characters are sort of stilted and symbolic. Movie audiences are used to a more naturalistic and fleshed-out style.

I'll only be excited if all the original cast members came back! Then that would be awesome

No!! Have we learned nothing from Rent and The Producers? Both had their original cast, and both movies were called on it by the critics. With The Producers, they said that Nathan and Mattew's performance looked tired and phoned- in, as they went through the motions of roles they had played hundreds of times on stage. With Rent, they said the origignal cast looked too old (which they did) to be taken as young idealistic bohemians living in the East Village. In fact Rent's big mistake IMO was counting on Rent-heads to keep the box office afloat, which didn't happen.

When making movie musicals in this day and age, generally you have to cast Hollywood names who will pull people in (Depp in Sweeney, Travola, Latifa, Phiffer, etc in Hairspray), although Mamma Mia! is sort of special case because I think people will go to see it no matter who's in it because it's ABBA.

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Updated On: 2/24/08 at 10:26 AM

Oh I just meant when making them in these current times when movie musicals seem to be reviving.

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Updated On: 2/24/08 at 10:37 AM

if they do decide to make it a movie, they should wait a while...and it should be with the OBC.

well, when i said "a while" i meant like 5 years or something...not 10 years like what happened with the rent movie. i still think they would look young enough. my whole point was that if they do decide to do a movie that it should be with the original cast, but maybe wait just a little bit to do it so more people will be able to see the play and get into it before the movie comes out.
and as far as the RENT movie, they certainly didnt look as young as the characters were meant to look, but i dont think it would have been as good if they hadnt used most of the OBC cast.

Updated On: 2/25/08 at 02:18 AM

From what I heard, the originals won't have anything to do with it, yet I'm not a reliable source. They would all look too old for the parts anyway.

How are they going to do numbers like Mama Who Bore Me, Touch Me, and Totally F*cked?....those numbers are hard to stage b/c each character is in a different location (i.e. their house etc.) The movie would be a great oppurtunity to get more in touch with the characters.

Man I would audition for it if they aren't aiming for celebrities!!!! Heck, I'd audition for it anyway.

this just seems like it would be a big mistake. live and let live....its a stage show and should stay that way, plain and simple.

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I am involved in the film adaption of Wedekind's play, "Spring Awakening", and I can tell you for sure it is not going to be a musical. Kurt Leitner is directing, and shooting will take place over the summer!

i could picture it being moderately successful among teenagers, but i think adults would hate seeing such graphic sexual encounters among 12 year olds

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I think it could work as a movie if it was made with a very particular vision. I think that they could do all book scenes in the German setting, and then whenever there is a song, just explode on a rock concert stage. I think it would work nicely with quite a lot of music over scenes instead of full-through musical numbers. I see it in my head, and it works.

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