The play or musical didn't do so well, but the movie adaptation was a hit

I was thinking about this over the break while I was watching "The Lion in Winter," a great Christmas movie (!) with Katharine Hepburn (winning her third Oscar, tying with Barbra Streisand), Peter O'Toole, Anthony Hopkins (film debut), and Timothy Dalton (film debut). The movie was a critical and financial success, but the play only ran 92 performances. It starred Rosemary Harris (who won the Tony that year for Best Actress), Robert Preston (!) as Henry II, James Rado (yes, the original Claude and co-author of "Hair") as Richard Lionheart (Hopkins' role), and Christopher Walken as King Phillip (Dalton's role).

It got me thinking about other Broadway shows that didn't do so well in their original runs, but became critical and financial hits as films. I know there are plenty of projects that are the reverse (hit on stage, flop on film), but I could only come up with a few ...

• Chicago (which closed far too soon in its original run and was essentially eclipsed by A Chorus Line)
• Driving Miss Daisy (while I wouldn't call it a flop, it was a small Off-Broadway stage show that won the Pulitzer Prize but didn't really have legs until the movie came out)
• West Side Story (closed after a short but respectable run and without much awards recognition, going on to win 10 Oscars and become a huge financial hit)
• The Sound of Music (not even close to R&H's biggest hit, tying with Fiorello! that year for the Tony, but running for a relatively short time, then becoming one of the highest grossing films ever)
• The Trip to Bountiful (ran just 39 performances originally)

What others come to mind?

Updated On: 1/11/16 at 02:14 PM

Seven Chances was based on a very bad Broadway play, but once Keaton got ahold of it, it became a hilarious comedy.

Everybody Comes to Rick's became Casablanca

I mean,

Into the Woods. 

henrikegerman said: "Not entirely sure about a great many of these (the movie may not have been as successful as I think it might have been, or it may not have been as comparatively less successful on stage as I think it might have been) but for your consideration, Best12

My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Educating Rita
Alfie
Anne of the Thousand Days
Baby Doll
La Cage aux Folles
About Last Night
Dangerous Liaisons
A Few Good Men
The Dresser
Only When I Laugh
Lenny
The Madness of King George
Shirley Valentine
The Rose Tattoo
Rope
Dial M for Murder
Talk Radio
Dodsworth
The Petrified Forest
The Shop Around the Corner
Twentieth Century
Waterloo Bridge
Summertime
 

Of course, we could also come up with a long list of stage hots that flopped in the movies.  Mary! Mary! anyone or The Producers or Phantom or Rent or Nine. The list is very long.

That said, I disagree with a lot of the plays you list, e.g., A Few Good Men and Shirley Valentine were major sleeper hits that ran a season, which has not been the norm for non-musicals for a long time.

Similarly, I don't understand why La Cage Aux Folles or Dangerous Liaisons would be on the list.  (Which versions of La Cage are you even comparing?)  Neither the play or movie The Dresser was a big hit, at least on this side of the Atlantic, although the respective versions were nominated for Tony's and Oscars.

"

Paint Your Wagon had 289 performances on Broadway but was the sixth highest grossing film of 1969 per Wikipedia.  Although the movie received mostly negative reviews, and it may not have made back its full shooting and marketing budget.

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever played only 280 performances, got mixed reviews, and may have made its money back.

I think the most significant example is actually The Rocky Horror Show. Total flop on Broadway, but the movie has become a cult phenomenon. Many people either (a) think the movie came first or (b) don't know that it was on stage at all. 

Have you seen the arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar available on DVD, spectacular,

Updated On: 1/11/16 at 08:55 PM

The one that comes immediately to mind is Maxwell Anderson's Key Largo. It ran for a little more than 100 performances on broadway, but became a giant John Huston hit, a classic, an award-winner, and a legendary piece of history.

I still think it's interesting that three of the nine musical films to win Best Picture came from stage productions that didn't win the Tony Award for Best Musical:

Oliver! (beat out by A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which became a mediocre film)

Chicago (beat out by A Chorus Line, one of the worst stage-to-film adaptations ever)

West Side Story (beat out by The Music Man, which is at least a very good film adaptation, also nominated for Best Picture)

Updated On: 1/12/16 at 08:07 AM

Jarethan, as I said I wasn't sure at all about my off-the cuff list.

That being said, since you've raised some of the stage versions as being successful, my list was in response to best12's original post which listed The Sound of Music as an example.  Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't The Sound of Music at least as much of a stage success as Shirley Valentine or A Few Good Men?

I was referring to the original play of La Cage aux Folles, and the film versions of that play.  As far as I know the stage non-musical has never been much - if at all - a commodity in the U.S. or in translation on the English-speaking stage anywhere.   But it was a U.S. hit on screen in both its original French (many oscar nominations, very good U.S. box office for a foreign film (if I recall correctly among the highest up to that time, perhaps the highest), and a critical megahit) and American adaptation (The Bird Cage) versions.  Having said that, the play was a megahit in Paris, 1800 performances.

I agree with best12 that The Lion in Winter is perhaps the prime example.   I'll even go further.  For me it is a movie miracle.  Thanks to irresistible casting, bold and exciting direction, and stellar production values including a superb score the result is a great movie from a cloyingly cutesy overblown mess of a play.  Even more shocking given that the screenplay really isn't at all that different from the play in dialogue or structure.  It's simply great filmmaking.

Updated On: 1/12/16 at 09:49 AM

best12bars said: "I still think it's interesting that three of the nine films to win Best Picture came from stage musicals that didn't win the Tony Award for Best Musical:

There have been more than nine Best Picture winners. I'm sure that's not what you meant, but I can't figure out what you did mean.

Updated On: 1/12/16 at 11:57 AM

hork---I meant musical films, not films in general. I will fix my post.

EDIT: I will add that only ONE Best Picture-winning film (My Fair Lady) came from a Tony-winning "best musical."

EDIT2: Correction: TWO films total: My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music.

Updated On: 1/12/16 at 12:13 PM

Not sure, best12, but isn't the movie of Cuckoo's Nest considered an adaptation of the Kesey novel rather than the Wasserman play adapted from the Kesey novel?  

Updated On: 1/12/16 at 01:41 PM