hardest/worst/almost impossible show to adapt to screen...

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 12:59am

what does everyone think would be
1. the worst to adapt to screen
2. the most challenging(that would end up being a complete mess)
3. almost impossible

1. wicked, adaptable, but would suck
2. avenue Q
3. avenue Q

[i.heart.link]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 1:00am

1. spelling bee
2. wicked
3. avenue q

[Luckydave14]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 1:00am

Avenue Q would work. They could just have the puppets be more life sized and be computer animated along with the real people. It would probably be kind of funny, and Sesame Street looking.


1. Grey Gardens - Can't see it as a MUSICAL movie.
2. Wicked - The whole spectacle would be lost on film.
3. I don't think anything really would be impossible to make into a film.
Updated On: 5/29/07 at 01:00 AM

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 1:04am

A Chorus Line. Case in point: see the movie.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 1:05am

1. SUNSET BOULEVARD--no need.
2. CAROLINE, OR CHANGE
3. SONG & DANCE or PACIFIC OVERTURES

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 1:06am

I could see Avenue Q working if they kept the puppeteers out of frame like in the muppets movies.

I agree that Wicked would be a really bad movie, but I have no doubt, being the cash cow that it is, that it will happen in the future. The great thing is I don't care for it as it is now so I won't care about what they cut. I just hope they bring in a more experienced fifth grader to write the book this time.

[shira467]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 1:09am

"I Am My Own Wife"

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 1:22am

i can see grey gardens, actually. and i agree with spelling bee. i still dont think av. q would make a decent movie. for me, it just wouldnt work. the whole concept would be lost on screen.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 1:28am

1. Wicked
2. The Drowsy Chaperone
3. Spelling Bee

Avenue Q is possible and could actually work well.

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 1:40am

i can see drowsy working! they could actually do some really neat hings with it.

[Copeman63]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 1:59am

1.) The Lion King
2.) Beauty and the Beast
3.) Tarzan

[scott68]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 2:34am

Watch Spellbound while humming a little and there's no need to bother with 25th... etc. Drowsy would be nearly impossible, and as for worst, Cats would be awful. Although, of course, one wouldn't necessarily blame that on the show's adaptability.

[Burning_Oasis]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 2:50am

I think Avenue Q would be amazing on the small screen. I think it would work well as a TV show. I actually sent an e-mail to whoever runs the Avenue Q website thrugh the feature on their site suggesting the idea/ They responded back saying that they are busy getting the tour running, but it is a possibility in the future that they may transfer it to television.

[perfectliar]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 3:27am

Isn't the point of Drowsy that it is an ode to musical THEATRE? Wouldn't that be kind of lost in a film version?

[Taryn]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 4:51am

See, I don't see a show like Wicked having any problem making a transfer to film. It's a very straight-forward show.

I agree with Tobias that, while not all shows may be obvious film transfers, you can find the right cinematic method for pretty much any show and have a successful transfer. Some are just more difficult than others. I think the hardest ones are going to be the concept musicals where plot takes a backseat. Abstraction tends to be easier to do on stage, and audiences are more willing to suspend disbelief. IMO, anyways.

[Weez]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 5:16am

Are you all mad? Of course Avenue Q would work. Check out the Muppet movies, or go back to watching Sesame Street. It was going to be a TV series originally, it just somehow ended up as a show instead.

I'm going to be annoying and say that with the right creative team, anything could be successfully transferred. Except possibly Spelling Bee...

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 5:38am

Most of the movie musicals that have been made, that suck have very little to do with the show itself, and EVERYTHING to do with the director. Look at "Chorus Line." You had potential, and until Sir Richard Attenborough decided it needed a through line of sorts, it wasn't that off the mark.
"The Wiz," is another victim of director-gone-bad.

Each musical has it's own life to it, and consequently, you have to find an angle that works for it. That's part of what made "Chicago" so successful. The fact that the musical numbers were presented in a theatrical fashion to highlight their Brechtian qualities.

That said, "Defying Gravity" is gonna look stupid on film, I'm afraid.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 6:19am

I could totally see Drowsy done as an ode to old school movie musicals, with Bob Martin's silhouette commenting down in the corner ala Mystery Science Theater 3000.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 7:18am

Drowsy could be done as a film musical as BOY FRIEND was.

But an utterly impossible play to film properly? OUR TOWN. They tried once, and it was a failure because it made everything so concrete.

[chicolini]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 7:31am

SeanMartin - you cheated! How dare you mention shows that didn't open in the last few years?!?

end snark.

[HumATune]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 9:07am

I can't see LES MISERABLES working. No mainstream audience would sit through a through-sung musical, and it would totally destroy the musical to replace a lot of it with dialogue; however, I could see MISS SAIGON being rewritten with dialogue.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 9:16am

>> How dare you mention shows that didn't open in the last few years?!?

I know. I feel so... ashamed... :)

[Kringas]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 10:29am

See, I don't see a show like Wicked having any problem making a transfer to film. It's a very straight-forward show.

Yeah, I agree. Opinions on the source material aside, I don't understand why Wicked always comes up when people talk about unfilmable musicals. It would seem it would actually be a musical that very much would lend itself to film, with all its fantastical elements.

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 10:31am

Grey Gardens would work really well on screen, I think. You could have act I as a 'flashback' (might actually be more effective in some ways on screen). I could see it, especially since it's so visually driven it would work.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 10:58am

I can't believe so many of you are saying Wicked, which would be comparatively EASY to turn into a film (albeit an expensive one)!

Impossible:
A Chorus Line (Ooops! They did it anyway.)
The Drowsy Chaperone
Pacific Overtures
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Any of the revue shows: Ain't Misbehavin', Black & Blue, Sugar Babies, Jerome Robbin's B'way, Fosse, Movin' Out, etc. Unless you just film the stage show... which really isn't a film so much as a "documentary" of what was done on stage.

Extremely Challenging:
Sunday in the Park With George (people walking around in his painting could be very cool or very disappointing, depending on the art direction and SFX--which would be too costly for this kind of film). And the music and book wouldn't easily adapt, either.
Follies - would have to be overhauled completely to work on film

Not Easy but worth the challenge:
Ragtime
Merrily We Roll Along
Nine
Grand Hotel
Into the Woods
A Little Night Music - I wish they'd try again, but they won't
Once On This Island

More or Less Ready to Go with some adaptive changes:
Wicked
Jersey Boys
Big River
The Secret Garden
Kiss of the Spider Woman

Don't bother:
Titanic
Sunset Blvd.
Les Mis