any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
#1any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 11:58amare there any musicals you would like just as much/if not better WITHOUT MUSIC?
"The good news is I have an excellent Tony speech. The bad news is I've had it for forty-five years."-Elaine Stritch
#2re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 12:13pmFiddler on the Roof would probably be just as good as a play.
thevolleyballer
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/29/04
#2re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 12:15pmI imagine that "A Catered Affair" would be quite good if it were a play.
bwaygal1
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/5/07
#3re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 12:19pmI totally agree with you, volleyballer. Catered Affair's music was boring and I don't really remember much of it.
"A birdcage I plan to hang. I'll get to that someday. A birdcage for a bird who flew away...Around the world."
"Life is a cabaret old chum, only a cabaret old chum, and I love a cabaret!"-RIP Natasha Richardson-I was honored to have witnessed her performance as Sally Bowles.
#4re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 12:19pm
The Phantom of the Opera would be great as a play...
Also A Chorus Line....
sorry I was bored and it is friday but seriously...
I kind of think that Mamma Mia would have been a cute comedy play without the music.
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#5re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 12:33pm
VICTOR/VICTORIA -- keeping the songs performed in the club as is.
WEST SIDE STORY -- keeping the 'dance at the gym' intact.
jagfkb
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/29/07
#6re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 12:38pmsuprised noone has mentioned 1776
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#7re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 12:43pm
1776 needs those songs. Most of them are plot-driven.
And sorry, but Thomas Jefferson dancing on stairs in the film ranks as one of my top 5 Musical Movie Moments.
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
#8re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 12:50pm
Neither Jerome Robbins' Broadway nor Fosse needed the music.
And Aint Misbehavin' didn't need the songs either.
....but the world goes 'round
#9re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 1:30pmI'll probably tick off some people but Spelling Bee. The songs killed the action for me. I never made it all the way through the cast recording either.
Love Changes NOTHING
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#10re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 1:36pmSPRING AWAKENING is much more challenging and effective as a play.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
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#11re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 1:52pm
My Fair Lady
wait...
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
#12re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 2:01pmI think Wicked would've made a much better play if they had stayed closer to the novel.
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"Shut up! It's been 29 years!!!" --the incomparable Patti LuPone in her MUCH DESERVED Tony acceptance speech for Gypsy.
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"Shut up! It's been 29 years!!!" --the incomparable Patti LuPone in her MUCH DESERVED Tony acceptance speech for Gypsy.
Kitzy's Avatar du Jour: Kitzy as Little Red Ridinghood in her college's production of "Into the Woods"
#13re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 2:13pmgone with the wind
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
misschung
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/18/07
#14re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 2:20pmThe Dead?
The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go --doesn't it?
burntplains
Featured Actor Joined: 1/24/07
#16re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 3:29pm
Catered Affair
and I think I might have actually cried at the end of Spring Awakening if it were a play..
Updated On: 5/23/08 at 03:29 PM
thatgirl712
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/29/08
#17re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 4:36pmI also agree that A Catered Affair and Fiddler on the Roof would be just as good (if not better) as a play.
If I heard the bells and the banjos ring
#18re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 8:27pmAgreed about Spring Awakening. The straight play is just a much better fit for the plot.
chris d
Broadway Star Joined: 4/21/07
#19re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 8:45pmCompany would be great as a straight play, but I won't say "better" cuz I don't want a torch-wielding gang coming at my door (plus I love the music, and I think it's one of the few examples of a book and score working well independent of each other).
#20re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 8:46pmi totally thought of that (company) when i posted this thread!!! i LOVE The music but it would also make an amazing play
"The good news is I have an excellent Tony speech. The bad news is I've had it for forty-five years."-Elaine Stritch
#21re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:15pm
The Goodbye Girl definitely would have played better without the music.
Side Show, maybe.
The Wild Party, as much as I loved the B'way show, would have been better as a play with music.
Carrie would have been better served if presented as straight Theatre du Grand-Guignol.
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Updated On: 5/23/08 at 10:15 PM
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#22re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:18pmCompany would really make a great play.
#23re: any musicals that would be better as PLAYS?
Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:22pmGrey Gardens would have done better as a play.
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The Other One
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/08
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