Stage musicals vs. their movie debuts

I prefer the Hollywood versions of:

"Bye Bye Birdie"
"The Sound of Music"
"The Music Man"

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"West Side Story"... the movie version is much better than the stage play. Some songs were placed in different places where they make more sense, i.e, "Officer Krupke" (sp), "I Feel Pretty" and "Cool". In the stage version they are a little out of place. Also, the "America" in the movie, IMHO, is much better as it incorporates the Shark men (the women are incorporated into Cool in the movie, but not as well).

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Updated On: 1/3/05 at 02:04 PM

Film version of "The Wiz" was awful as was the film version of "A Chorus Line" compared to the stage versions.

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Updated On: 1/3/05 at 02:07 PM

I prefer the film versions of Chicago, Cabaret, Grease, and The Sound of Music to their stage versions. The most extreme case of this being Cabaret -- a show I despise live, but whose film version is terrific.

I think I like the stage version of Cabaret a little more. It is just much more honest and deals with more powerful issues. Don't get me wrong, I love the movie, but the revival was just so emotionally powerful.

Gotta say that I LOVED Lena Horne in the movie version of the WIZ -- her entire sequence blew away the rest of that film (I remember it getting a standing ovation in the packed movie theatre in Washington DC I saw it in opening weekend -- something I've rarely ever seen at the movies). Aside from her, Ted Ross and Mabel King I hated every single thing about that movie, especially Diana Ross and that overblown production design that swamped what was on stage a charming, intimate, whimsical (low budget)little show. I had a bad feeling when the movie was in production and it was announced that it had a $25 million budget -- astronomical for that time -- and my worst fears were realized. They should have burned all prints of that damn thing and started over again before it was even released.

I've always thought the Cabaret film was a vast improvement over the stage show -- Fosse streamlined the book (he was smart to cut the Frau Kost/Her Schultz scenes which bog the show down) and kept only the songs that could be done in the Kit Kat Klub (plus "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" which worked being performed outside the club).

Hedwig and Chicago both work very well on film, but I still prefer the stage versions.

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I saw the stage show of Hedwig first, and I expected that the movie would be fairly simple, just with more characters... I think I like the movie more but that could just be because the stage show I saw was a little amateurish. The actor-audience connection was so strong in the live show, but the movie just...has everything. I'm such a Hedwig fan...

The only movie musicals I've seen were Evita and Phantom of the Opera. I never saw Evita on stage but saw POTO 3 times on Broadway. I don't know about Evita but I think that the POTO version on stage was better than the movie.
The movie's direction could have been BETTER and many of the scenes could've been better (ex: Point of No Return, especially and Masquerade) Also, the singers were better on stage (THE PHANTOM, ESPECIALLY! HUGH PANARO...Even though I think Gerry is hotter)
All the special effects on stage were also very good.

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I prefer the Hollywood version of "Sound of Music" "West Side Story" but I do not like their versions of "Annie Get Your Gun" "South Pacific" and "Flower Drum Song" ... I think they are very different. Just some things are better lives and others cannot be done on stage as it can be in the film and with blue screens.

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Updated On: 1/7/05 at 11:17 PM

Here's some of the worst movie versions I've seen of stage musicals:

MAN OF LA MANCHA
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
MAME (Absolute AGONY!)
THE WIZ (The ending is a downer)
PAINT YOUR WAGON (But Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood's singing is good for some cheap laughs)
A CHORUS LINE
FINIAN'S RAINBOW

WEST SIDE STORY and THE SOUND OF MUSIC surpassed their stage versions. I'm indifferent about GREASE, BYE BYE BIRDIE and THE MUSIC MAN.

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It's so hard to compare the two media! There is something electrifying about sitting in a theatre, knowing that the actors will be creating something live, in front of you-- well I don't have to explain it to this board.

I guess what's amazing is when a movie is able to generate any of that electricity. I think Chicago did an admirable job of preserving what was best about the two stage productions and even fixing a few "problems" with the show.

Mame-- boy what a heartbreaker. It's such a wonderful show to see (No I never saw the original) on stage and there is so much to love about the movie: the title song is an almost perfect movie production number. But all in all....ugh.

Paint Your Wagon really has to be a separate case: The plot is entirely different than the (rarely performed) stage version. It is an entirely different work that shares a musical score. And while the idea of that casting is horrifying, I think it worked. It is however, one time the idea of DUBBING a performers singing voice was absolutely mandatory.

Anyway, I can't really say that these movies were better than the stage versions, but they certainly make enjoyable viewing:

Cabaret, Sound of Music, Brigadoon, West Side Story, King & I, Chicago, Fiddler.....