Please, no more films to movies unless they are small, not mega-popular films like The Band's Visit. It's supposed to be literature or original book to stage to screen. Pygmalion, Edna Ferber's Show Boat, Anna and the King of Siam. Even not great literature like Green Grow the Lilacs (Oklahoma) or Michener's Tales of the South Pacific furnished the characters, the settings and the essence of the story to be told.
Even greater glory goes to musicals with original books like Chicago, A Chorus Line and The Music Man.
I'm not against jukebox musicals, I just don't think they should be in the same category as La Cage aux Folles and Hamilton. Musicals are being dumbed down. When the Boomers were growing up, nightly entertainment was pretty much limited to three or four TV networks. They were criticized for being too tame and conservative, which was true to some extent, but NBC would have been embarrassed to put on a show that was really dopey like The Apprentice.
I guess it is all due to the high cost and risk of mounting a musical. Public already loves the film, they're going to check out the musical, so at least you've got a chance. But musicals are supposed to be a form of art, not just public entertainment. How did George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward ever decide to get a Broadway theater in the middle of the Great Depression and stage a very dark four hour opera with a cast of all classically trained African Americans. It wasn't because they expected to make any money.
This mini-rant was brought on because I just learned of the next mega-film to be taken to the stage. Maybe this is already known, but it was new to me. Back to the Future, 1985. One of my favorite films, but it's an action adventure film that owed, I think, most of its popularity to the characters played by Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd and the relationship between them. Can you imagine spots in the film where the action stops and Fox or Lloyd or any other characters sing? They're not singers. What are they going to sing about?
We may actually never get a chance to see this show, which has already been cast and workshopped, because it's supposed to go from the West End to New York and try out in Manchester for a few months before arriving in London. Perhaps they'll play up the comedy and the songs will support the humor.
Anyone care to invest? Not too late.
I'd rather see another Back to the Future sequel. Lloyd is still active at 80. Fox's Parkinson's Disease would probably be too much to overcome, although I guess the drugs he takes are pretty effective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?time_continue=1&v=nr4Qq_ILExQDuBose Heyward