THE COLOR PURPLE Movie Musical - News & Discussion Thread — Page 22

to make a film adaptation of a musical just to cut half of the material is ridiculous.

Bob Fosse’s 1972 film adaptation of CABARET did it quite successfully.

TaffyDavenport said: "Too Beautiful for Words" is listed on the soundtrack, and, regardless, "Miss Celie's Blues" wouldn't replace it anyway. It would replace "Push Da Button," if anything, but it hasn't, since both are in the film."



Lyrically, "Miss Celie's Blues" does the same thing narratively that "Too Beautiful For Words" does in the musical.

BrodyFosse123 said: "to make a film adaptation of a musical just to cut half of the material is ridiculous.

Bob Fosse’s 1972 film adaptation of CABARET did it quite successfully."

Fosse's version also cut half the story. But Fosse and the creative team had a purpose behind cutting half the score - turning it into a film with musical numbers rather than a musical film.

I think a better example might be On The Town which cut almost the entire stage production's score.

the movie has officially been nominated for two golden globes for best actress and best supporting actress. sadly the movie was snubbed for best picture, best director, and best musical/comedy

congrats to fantasia and danielle brooks!!

I've always felt that the score being too generic is the show's biggest problem, but the things they've decided to cut are kind of mystifying.

It also feels like they're further minimizing the queer aspects of the story based on some of these cuts, which is nothing new for adaptations of The Color Purple but surprises me a bit at this point.

Is it odd that no official reviews have come out yet considering the premier was in late November? I know there's still two weeks until the release, but I would've thought early reviews would be out by now so the fact that nothing official has been published makes me worried the studio is expecting negative responses.

I've been anticipating this movie for a long time, but I'm feeling a little worried this is going to be yet another dud of a movie musical adaptation. Had high hopes with this cast and creative team.

everythingtaboo said: "BrodyFosse123 said: "to make a film adaptation of a musical just to cut half of the material is ridiculous.

Bob Fosse’s 1972 film adaptation of CABARET did it quite successfully."

The difference is we already have a non-musical version of The Color Purple on film."



Not a great argument -- there was also already a non-musical film version of I AM A CAMERA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_a_Camera_(film)

Pretty sure the producers placed an embargo on publishing reviews until the official opening, so not the fault of reviewers. I saw a screener and am in the camp of those deeply disappointed that they threw out so much of the Bway score, and replaced most of these numbers with new and distinctly inferior songs (some written by the director himself). It's one thing to discard part of a score because there's not enough space in a feature film's running time; it's quite another when the great songs are tossed for other lesser ones. Grrrrr!

the new arrangements of the songs are absolutely great. they made shug avery’s comin to town so much faster and jazzier and it sounds amazing. i am a bit bummed that they shortened what about love tho

I've listened to the soundtrack a few times now and I'm loving all the new arrangements for the songs from the stage musical. Everyone sounds great. My biggest complaint is that I feel like they cut too many songs from the stage show. I'm not all that impressed with the new ones they replaced them with. The new songs feel very safe and they are not all that memorable. All the wow moments come from the songs that were already in the stage show. They aren't bad songs either, it might just take a few more listens to appreciate them. "Keep It Movin" is probably the best new song out of the bunch but it kind of sounds like a modern pop song compared to the rest of the songs. I'm wondering how many cuts they made for the soundtrack compared to what's in the movie because most of the songs seem pretty short. The runtime for the soundtrack is 47 minutes and the movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes. That would mean almost an hour and 33 minutes of the movie has no singing. That seems like a pretty long amount of time if so.

Updated On: 12/15/23 at 02:49 AM

Rentaholic2 said: "Maybe I'm in the minority here, but...

1) I don't hate the new material, and there's not as much of it as people seem to have suggested. It's mostly very rhythmic ("Workin'" and "Agoo" are basically just percussion), which I think meshes well with how they've re-orchestrated much of the pre-existing material. It also doesn't sounds much more modern/out-of-place than the stage songs to me. "Keep It Movin'" definitely bops along like a modern pop song, but it starts with a harmonica and is pretty jazzy both musically and instrumentally.

2) I don't know....I don't miss a lot of the stuff they cut. I wish they kept Brown Betty and Too Beautiful for Words, but just because I like those songs. Film is a different medium, and I'd rather them make tough (but right) choices rather than keep songs just to keep them to the detriment of the film.

3) About the songs being shortened - most of them are still 3+ minutes, which seems right for a movie. Long musical sequences from stage shows rarely make it to film fully intact. And maybe I'm missing something, but in what way did they shorten I'm Here? The soundtrack version is almost 5 minutes long. Is it shorter in the actual film?"

Spoiler here, but in the movie, I'm Here begins with "I got my sister" and the intro is cut.

Whatever link that had all of the songs doesn't work anymore. "I'm Here" is out there on YouTube, but nothing else.