What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?- Page 5
What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
#100re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 7:29pm
I think Cabaret is one of the greatest movies ever made, and I'll go so far as to say it is the greatest movie-musical ever. It's just genius.
I also thought that the Chicago movie was fantastic, and West Side Story is a wonderful movie as well.
I always liked The Pajama Game film, but really just because I adore John Raitt and Doris Day.
Kringas
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/05
#101re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 7:49pm
I would be interested in anyone's thoughts about my suspension of disbelief premise when it comes to singing and dancing in a Broadway show or a musical film. To further clarify what I mean, people do not ordinarily sing and/or dance with others that they meet on the street. So, it requires a suspension of not believing in such behavior so that you CAN believe in their song and/or dance. I maintain that it is easier to accept this when it is seen live on stage than when it is in a film.I know this sounds kind of confusing.
It does seem to be something that's constantly mentioned whenever a new movie musical appears. I know there are plenty of people who share this notion, so I accept its validity. I just don't understand it. Echoing munk, you know what you get going in. All sorts of suspension of disbelief are required for almost any kind of movie.
Why are they singing? Because it's a musical! For me it's no more difficult than that, but like I said, I get that other people require more of an "in."
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#102re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 7:51pm
"There was a very interesting little film called THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE, adapted by Jon Robin Baitz from his play, that I thought much improved upon the original work. The supporting characters got much more time, the story was better fleshed out and made more sense. It seems to have unfortunately sunk from view. A shame, I think. It's very much worth seeing. "
I *love* this film but hadn't seen or read the play so can't comment. Maybe not that Baitz' profile is larger due to his tv show Brothers & Sisters it will see a BIT more light.
I thought Craig Lucas' own film version of his play The Dying Gaul worked a lot better too... Too bad it was kinda ignored.
Reading the lists I missed I'm kinda surprised that so many prefer Chicago as a film--and even more with West Side Story. YES it is a brilliant film but have most of these people seen a major version of the original staging? Nearly all the brilliance plus some was there.
(And Best--putting On the Town on your list? For shame--it's a fun movie but by dropping the stage version';s two elements of brilliance--most of Bernstein's score and Jerome RObbins choreography--they sunk the project)
#103re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 8:40pmI wouldn't go so far as to say My Fair Lady, West Side Story and Chicago are improvements to the original pieces. Mainly because the original pieces are so great. They're great adaptations that do their respected musicals proud, that's for sure.
#106re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 9:13pmAnother straight play that works better as a film than a movie: HARVEY. It's been one of my favourite films for years, and that's because it's a casebook of how to open up a stage play *properly*.
#107re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 9:25pm
Two others I would consider "better than their stage shows" also suffered large cuts in their scores... and from the likes of Rodgers & Hart and Cole Porter.
The Gay Divorcee is my favorite Fred & Ginger movie, yet all but one of the original Cole Porter songs ("Night and Day") were removed.
They also added in the first song to win an Academy Award--"The Continental."
Babes in Arms is my favorite Mickey & Judy movie, yet several classic songs were cut for the film version (including My Funny Valentine, Johnny One-Note, The Lady is a Tramp and I Wish I Were In Love Again).
They also added in the now-classic (Oscar-nominated) song "Good Morning."
Do these cuts make the movies any less brilliant?
No. If the movies were rotten, I'd be inclined to bitch about the score cuts, but they're fantastic films. And I don't feel like being "purist" about it, unless the movies fail on their own terms. On the Town, Babes In Arms and The Gay Divorcee did anything but fail.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#108re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 9:36pm
I love the film of Babes in Arms. I guess with it and Divorcee I consider the originals far from brilliant whereas Ont he town is to me one of the first major integrated shows with just such a strong score--I've seen the film prob about 10 times since I was 6 and seriously can't remember any of the new songs.
(And I didn't mean the for shame to sound as harsh as maybe it did--I was kidding around)
MasterLcZ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/12/03
#109re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 10:03pm
I beg to differ about BABES IN ARMS. The Broadway score is not just pretty good , but one of the greatest ever, filled with such solid-gold songs as "My Funny Valentine" "Johnny One-Note", "The Lady Is A Tramp", "I Wish I Were In Love Again" and "Way Out West" (and the jaw-dropping "All Dark People are Light on Their Feet", made redeemable by the fact that the Nicholas Brothers performed it) and to have them all dumped in favor of "Good Morning", "My Daddy was a Minstel Man" and "I Like Opera! I Like Swing!" is a cardinal sin.
I enjoy the film BABES IN ARMS as well, but it's about as watered down an adaptation as you can get - and Judy's magical snippet of "Where Or When" is far too brief!
Rodgers and Hart had better luck the following year with a faithful adaption of TOO MANY GIRLS at RKO, as nearly the entire Broadway cast (and score) was included in the film, directed by George Abbott (who would not direct another Broadway-to-Hollywood transfer until DAMN YANKEES), shot and released within 3 months of the show closing on Broadway (with Lucille Ball substituted for Marcy Westcott and Ann Miller for Diosa Costello). As Bosley Crowther noted:
"Too Many Girls," you may remember, if you saw the stage version, was a boisterous lot of nonsense on the cut of an undergraduate musical show, and Mr. Abbott has changed it little in transferring it to the screen. The story is still concerned with the hijinks of a beautiful heiress and her four unsuspected bodyguards—Eastern football heroes all—who go to a small Western college and put the place on the map. The music is still the same that Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart contributed, and many of the original cast are cavorting again on the screen."
Crowther has some problems with Abbot's staging: "he has also had a queer inclination to film the ensemble numbers—whirling dances and choral groups—in semi-darkness", But boy, is he nasty about Desi: "Mr. Arnaz is a noisy, black-haired Latin whose face, unfortunately, lacks expression and whose performance is devoid of grace."
R&H wrote the beautiful "You're Nearer" for the film version, and it quickly became the biggest hit from TOO MANY GIRLS, and was inserted into the TOO MANY GIRLS stage tour.
Also in 1940 came Universal's THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE with Allan Jones, Martha Raye and Joe Penner... it's a fun film, but (as usual) a lot of the original score was snipped away.
TOO MANY GIRLS film
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#110re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 10:13pmToo Many Girls is only 85 mins on film--surely SOME cuts happened?
#111re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 10:20pmThey did NOT change the play Cabaret, they made it more faithful to its source material, both John van Druten's play, I am a Camera, which I appeared in some 30 years ago, and the Berlin Stories of Christopher Isherwood. Bob Fosse's film version of Cabaret is one of the greatest movie musicals ever made! I saw it 14 times when it first came out, and think it's a cinematic masterpiece! It's definitely a better movie musical than a play.
#112re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 10:23pm
I think everything to say about musicals has been said here already, so let me offer up what I feel are superior movies of straight plays:
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolfe (comparrison based on the revival, not really fair but it's all I have to go on)
Twelve Angry Men - Henry Fonda. I will say no more.
Proof - I found the play a little on the boring side, yet was riveted by the film.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#113re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 10:31pm
I was gonna say Virginia Woolfe but I have on record the original recording of the full play by the original cast and truly it's at least as powerful as the film--and that's without visuals so...
Another Mike Nichols--Closer for me works a bit better as a movie and I'm not sure why--I saw the play in London with Clive playing the opposite role that he does in the film, but...
I mentioned The Dying Gaul--I opnly saw a community production but for me it just played better as a movie.
I wish Tenn Williams had done better by his movies--there are some great ones (Streetcar being at the top) but the censoring of nearly all his works from stage makes me still give the edge to the original
#114re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 10:35pm
Thought I'd add my own two cents to this discussion:
First of all, I admit that I love the Rent film; though it will never hold a candle to the stage production. I feel that Colombus truly ruined it, but having most of the original cast return for the film was what made it special for me. I used to love the Phantom of the Opera film, but it took me a while to realize that Patrick Wilson was miscast, Gerard Butler SHOULD NOT be singing, and Emmy Rossum; though very pretty, can't act her way out of a garbage can. Another film that I feel was ruined was South Pacific. I love the stage version so much; and though my mother adores the film, I think its a complete camp fest.
But for movies I think are better than the stage versions, my vote goes for Cabaret, Little Shop of Horrors, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, Hair, and Chicago.
#114re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 10:38pmThe Dying Gaul! Good one Eric.
MasterLcZ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/12/03
#115re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 10:46pm
Yes, Eric, there were some cuts. But they weren't on the level of the gelding that befell the BABES IN ARMS score (I think only three R&H songs remained: the title song, "Where Or When", and some underscoring for "Lady Is A Tramp")
CUT from TOO MANY GIRLS film:
"My Prince" - replaced on the tour by "You're Nearer"
"Tempt Me Not"
"I Like To Recognise the Tune"
"Give it Back to the Indians"
"Sweethearts of the Team"
"She Could Shake The Maracas"
INCLUDED in the TOO MANY GIRLS film:
"Heroes in the Fall" (sung over opening credits)
"Youre Nearer" (written for the film)
"Pottawattamie"
"'Cause We Got Cake"
"I Didn't Know What Time It Was"
"Love Never Went To College"
"Spic and Spanish"
"Look Out"
"Too Many Girls"
#116re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 10:48pm
Equal to the play:
Glengary Glen Ross
#117re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 10:54pm
Cabaret the stage musical is not perfect. There are a few problems here and there. I think the Frau Schinder and Herr Schultz story is a tad soapy, but "What Would You Do?" sort of makes it a little tougher, stronger and darker at the end. I think the second act is a little underwritten and the first act is a little long. I know out of town in was three acts, which could explain while Act I seems so long and Act II seems so short.
The film is a masterpiece, but I don't compare the two, simply because they're so different. But it is a masterpiece. Not better though. Just...different.
#118re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 11:06pmI enjoyed the Producers on film, but despised the show.
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
#119re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 11:09pmDancingthrulife, I think you're in a minority there. I thought the show was a ball. Stroman's film version was quite bad.
#120re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 11:15pmdancing-Are you referring to the original film? I'm not the biggest fan of the show, though I did have a good time.
#121re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 11:24pmNo, I'm referring to the recent film. And I know I'm in the minority, most people think I'm nuts when I say that.
The choice may have been mistaken, The choosing was not... "Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life." - Lin-Manuel Miranda
#122re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/26/07 at 11:30pm
OMG.....I thought someone just hijacked my screen name!!!
HAHA!
Carry on folks.....nothing to see here!
:)
#123re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/27/07 at 9:00pm
There are many parts of Rent the movie that I enjoy more than the live show. I really liked the live show, but there wasn't enough character development for me. In the movie, all the characters get character development. Also, I am slightly biased towards the movie because I can watch Idina Menzel perform whenever I want to. 
#124re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/28/07 at 5:38pmBest 12 bars: I respect your opinions very much but I have to disagree with your take on the movie version of ON THE TOWN. True, the cast is great, especially Ann Miller(who is always great) but with the exception of the new title song, the score has been tampered with too much. It was especially unfortunate that they cut the magnificent, wistful "Some Other Time" toward the end of the Broadway show. And there is too little dancing, ala Jerome Robbins. Incidentally, the only scene actually filmed in NYC was at the Brooklyn Naval Yards, used at the beginning and at the end of the film. Everything else was from Hollywood.
#125re: What FILM Version Do You Think is BETTER than the PLAY?
Posted: 5/28/07 at 6:07pm
Best12Bars: I respect your contributions to this Board very much but I have to disagree with your thoughts about ON THE TOWN, the film. Yes, the cast is great, especially the always wonderful Ann Miller. But there is not enough dancing ala Jerome Robbins and the score has been tampered with too much, except for the excellent new title song. It is especially a shame that they cut the magnificent, wistful "Some Other Time", sung near the end of the show. Incidentally, the only scenes actually filmed in NYC were at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, used at the beginning and at the end of the film. Everything else was filmed in Hollywood. I would give anything to see a first rate revival on Broadway. I know there was a revival within the past 10 years that didn't do well for some reason. Does anyone have ideas as to its poor run?
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