What Musicals Do You Want To See As Movies?

And who would you cast as each of the roles?
I really, really want Hairspray to become a movie, and quick! But Marissa Jaret Winokur and Harvey Fierstein would HAVE to be in it. I think Catherine Zeta Jones would make an AMAZING Velma Von Tussle! She would be perfect. And although some people may disagree, how about Kelly Clarkson as Penny. The girl can SANG, and she can definitely pull off being a dork in love. Don't worry, I don't want Justin Guarini in this movie, I just think Kelly Clarkson could be awesome! And another girl from "From Justin to Kelly"- the one who played the mean friend of Kelly- Anika Noni Rose I think, or Katherine Bailess would be the perfect Amber! And I say we bring Jerry Stiller back in the remake to play Wilbur Turnblad. As far as Link and Seaweed go- Hmmm... I think Will Smith would be amazing. He could sing, dance and act. I think he would be really good. And LInk? I'll let you guys come up with that one. And than there's MotorMouth- QUEEN LATIFAH all the way! So, there we go! The perfect cast!~
Tracy Turnblad- Marissa Jaret Winokur
Edna Turnblad- Harvey Fierstein
MotorMouth Maybelle- Queen Latifah
Seaweed- Will Smith
Penny Pingleton- Kelly Clarkson
Amber Von Tussle- Anika Noni Rose
Velma Von Tussle- Catherine Zeta JOnes
Wilbur Turnblad- Jerry Stiller!

Okay- wrong one. Not Anika Noni Rose- the other one. Katherine Bailess. The mean, blonde friend. SHE would be amazing!

Uh, Hairspray already IS a movie guys!
It is what launched Ricki Lake into "celebrity," if you want to call it that.
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0095270

However, I am liking your Will Smith and Queen Latifah thoughts. I really enjoy both of them.
And remakes seem to be popping up quite a bit, so you just may have something there.

As far as making other musicals into movies: can't come up with one that I would not prefer to keep on the stage right now.

You're kidding? I did not know that.
Wow. I can't believe that. Interesting. All based on the success of Chicago? I wonder how many movie musicals it will take to saturate the market and make people hate them?

Thanks for the info bg2.

So are you saying I need to read more? *lol*
Hairspray didn't really interest me at first, so I didn't pay that much attention at the time.

I am well aware of the movie version of Hairspray, but I was talking about a remake; or like Broadwayguy said- a musical movie version. I think it could be awesome. What do you guys think about my casting?

Al, it's the Baby Boomers. They're the generation that really perfected getting people to buy things they already own, and then do it again. The biggest example is when cds came out and the public re-bought its vinyl record collections. (The late Joe Strummer said that all the music industry lament about file sharing is just the karma coming back from the "re-buy it on cd" scam).

Spielberg does it with his "refurbished" editions of his old movies. Every time something gets re-released with "bonus" material, it's the same idea.

So, we have now generations of people who don't really know much about originality, because it's not that important a value culturally. Make a movie, make a stage show of the movie, make a movie of the stage show. Now that Disney is a so-called Broadway player, you can expect to see lots more of this in the future. Reuse/Recycle. A good idea for bottles and cans, but not so much for culture. That's why I was not surprised to see BillyLawlor's casting thinking. It was pretty much the same exact palate you see in most of the casting threads. I was only surprised to see no roles for Sutton. Or Gavin. Otherwise, not exactly thinking outside of the square cardboard container.

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Namo, again you succinctly and ever so eloquently nail the point! It truly saddens me and I believe the whole "karma" concept. The music business is in complete shambles because of all the greed and rehashing. It's only a matter of time before this "disease" branches out completely. And heaven forbid one of the warmed over ideas actually works (a la Chicago) than you have a never ending trail of copycats and wind up with truly unwatchable dreck like "From Justin to Kelly". I laughed out loud when what DID surprise you about the BL post was the fact that he didn't mention Sutton or Gavin. Those were my EXACT thoughts! BG2, just as an aside, the guy from "Save the last dance" is actually the same age, if not older than Will Smith.

Updated On: 8/3/03 at 04:13 PM

He looks like he could be Corey Reynolds' son. Being short doesn't hurt him either.

I think Kelly Clarkson as Penny is a great idea!

Kelly as Penny would be great! Now let's hope she can act better than she did in her movie...

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I never thought about that. Sean Patrick Thomas as Seaweed would be perfect! Now, that's an idea I love!

Sadly, with Ben Brantleys rave about Melanie Griffith, I fear that the last nail was just put in The "great" white ways coffin!