Top 5 Film-to-Musical Adaptations

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 2:57pm

I've compiled a list of film-to-musical adaptations I'm aware of from the past 25 years. Which, in your opinion, are the best five adapations? Please only consider the writing and not specific productions or direction (ie the use of puppetry, a director's choice, in THE LION KING).

Based on from what I have read or seen, mine are:

1) THE COLOR PURPLE
2) LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
3) DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
4) XANADU
5) HAIRSPRAY

A CATERED AFFAIR
BEAUTY & THE BEAST
BIG
BILLY ELLIOT
CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG
THE COLOR PURPLE
CRY-BABY
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
DOCTOR DOLITTLE
EVIL DEAD
FINDING NEMO
FOOTLOOSE
THE FULL MONTY
GRAND HOTEL
GREY GARDENS
HAIRSPRAY
HIGH FIDELITY
HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
LEGALLY BLONDE
THE LION KING
THE LITTLE MERMAID
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
MARY POPPINS
MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
MY FAVORITE YEAR
NICK & NORA
THE OPPOSITE OF SEX
THE PRODUCERS
THE RED SHOES
REEFER MADNESS
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
SAVED
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
SISTER ACT
SPAMALOT
STATE FAIR
SUNSET BOULEVARD
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
TARZAN
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
THE WEDDING SINGER
WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND
WHITE CHRISTMAS
WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
XANADU
YENTL
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

Updated On: 5/28/08 at 02:57 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 3:00pm

Hairspray
Grey Gardens
La Cage Aux Folles
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Ragtime

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 3:25pm

La Cage Aux Folles was actually based on a french play that was turned into a movie. Harvey said that he hated the movie so he went back to the source when he wrote the book of the musical, so its not a film to musical adaptation.
Updated On: 5/28/08 at 03:25 PM

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 3:27pm

Thanks, I double-checked that and RAGTIME but forgot to take them both off of the list.

Every title in the list now specifically acredits the film in which it was based on.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 3:30pm

Well, some of the choices were actually novels/plays before they were films, but if you include those, then you might as well list Light in the Piazza, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, The Goodbye Girl. And The Rocky Horror Show was an original stage musical before it was a film. There are also the London musicals like Stepping Out, Whistle Down the Wind and When Harry Met Sally.

The Color Purple was a novel first as well, though the musical pretty much lifted the dialogue and scenes directly from the film, which is one of the reasons I was disappointed in it.

Updated On: 5/28/08 at 03:30 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 3:30pm

You forgot

The Red Shoes
Nick & Nora
Meet Me in St. Louis
Whistle Down the Wind

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 3:32pm

Mister Matt - I listed titles that specifically credit the films in which they are based. Some I didn't double-check, such as ROCKY HORROR.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 3:36pm

You also forgot REEFER MADNESS.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 3:38pm

How about:

CHICAGO was a play which was adapted into a film and then musicalized by Kander and Ebb.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC was a film by Ingmar Bergman before Sondheim etc. musicalized it.

NINE was based on Fellini's film 8 1/2.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 3:42pm

Roscoe, CHICAGO and A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC do not fit in the "past 25 years" category. Neither does NINE. I thought of those as well but realized they were more than 25 years ago.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 3:49pm

Yeah, if it were more than 25 years ago, you could include a lot more like Sweet Charity, Zorba or Ilya, Darling.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 4:01pm

Ah, I missed the stipulation about the last 25 years.

[philly03]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 4:29pm

1. Sunset Boulevard
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Spamalot

I don't care all that much for the others.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 5:00pm

Get with it, Roscoe! Catch up!

PS - Love the Grumpy avatar.

Though it's difficult to tell which criterion we're using, Billy Elliott would definitely be in the top 5 having seen it in London. It is a superb show. I also have to give props for the underrated Chitty, which I found unexpectedly delightful. Though it's a children's show, I was enchanted by the staging and score, and the performances were excellent. I liked it much more than the film version, which I have trouble getting through.

[StephenSondheimWHOO]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 5:04pm

BILLY ELLIOT
THE FULL MONTY
GREY GARDENS
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 5:11pm

Great list!

[jackson992]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 5:11pm

Reefer Madness - Hands down the best musical in movie format
Little Shop of Horrors
Evil Dead
Hairspray
Phantom of the Opera

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 6:12pm

Hands down the best musical in movie format

Huh?

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 6:25pm

REEFER MADNESS is fantastic but it owes itself to LITTLE SHOP OF HORROR, which is ultimately the better musical out of the two. CpnHook, you list A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC but that opened in '73 which is 35 years ago, not 25. Even NINE, which opened in '82, doesn't fit the 25-years-ago bill.
My picks (and these are only from the past 25 years):

1) GREY GARDENS
2) GRAND HOTEL
3) LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
4) REEFER MADNESS
5) HAIRSPRAY

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 6:54pm

Mine would have to be...

GREY GARDENS
THE FULL MONTY
XANADU
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
LEGALLY BLONDE

[into_the_woods2]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 7:43pm

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
HAIRSPRAY
CHICAGO

[oohshizz146]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 7:46pm

MILLIE
HAIRSPRAY
XANADU
CHICAGO
LEGALLY BLONDE (sorry!)

[NCGuy]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 8:32pm

Capn, I don’t imagine they’re going to make anyone’s top five, but you left these shows off your list:

Smile
Big Deal
Victor/Victoria
Dance of the Vampires
The Goodbye Girl

And I know the film was based on a novel, but Passion explicitly credits the foreign film on which it’s based.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 8:35pm

BILLY ELLIOT
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS
HAIRSPRAY
WHITE CHRISTMAS
XANADU

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 5/28/08 at 8:40pm

1. A Little Night Music
2. Dance of the Vampires (the GOOD version)
3. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
4. The Full Monty
5. Legally Blonde