hardest/worst/almost impossible show to adapt to screen...- Page 2

[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

[sing_dance_love]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 11:29am

HumATune- The Evita movie was pretty much sung through and for 1996 was moderately successful and was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning one, so I'm not sure if your assumption is true.

That said, I've always thought Miss Saigon would be stunning on screen with or without changes to dialogue.

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 11:35am

Sunset Boulevard, necessary or not, is going to be a musical film in the near future. (once the casting troubles end-from what I've heard Glenn Close backed out. She's still listed as rumored on imdb, but I've heard otherwise from reliable sources.)

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 11:46am

I still don't understand how Wicked could work. I don't see "Defying Gravity" or "No Good Deed" working at all. And I think up-close on film, the show would just look so hoaxy and childish.

With today's technology, I think "Sunday" would be breathtaking with all the uses of 'color' and 'light.'

I think "Millie" would be great on film (again), and Urinetown could be hilarious.

[raphael06]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 12:10pm

Re: Avenue Q

I think it could work actually. If they did not use the humans and had it like Sesame Street where just the puppets were visible, I think it would gather a cult-type following and be somewhat successful.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 12:12pm

RentBoy86---You don't see Defying Gravity actually working on film?

How about... she actually FLIES! (gasp) Out of that Emerald City tower...around the walls and buildings of that incredible city, swooping over its terrified citizens... and finally, outward and beyond into the "western sky."

Granted, it's not a cherry picker, some cool fog, lights and a long cape, but I have a hunch audiences would really dig it, if it was done well, and "built up" properly in the scene/song.

You have to think in cinematic terms... Great CG FX, camera angles, lighting, and killer art direction.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 12:20pm

haha are u drunk?? of course Wicked could work as a film , in fact it could be a massive spectacle, plus they are doing a film of the show because its on the directors choice list for the studio(i posted about it awhile ago)

Ave Q would also be easy(like mentioned earlier THE MUPPETS????)

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 12:24pm

"Naked Boys Singing" :)

I think Spring Awakening would be hard to adapt.

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 2:42pm

Wicked could do it but it would turn out like the A Chorus Line film. Spring Awakening would be pretty hard. A LOT of the energy in the theater during numbers like Totally Fu*ked would not be there.

[BDrischBDemented]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 3:04pm

I could see "Spelling Bee" working as an animated movie filmed as a documentary, in that it could use adults as the voice of kids. The only song I could see as problematic is the I Love You song.

[jv92]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 3:07pm

Grey Gardens would work, but unfortunately, I think, only if the story began in the 70s and the various 1940s scenes were told in flashback. I don't know how thrilled Korie, Frankel and Wright would be with that idea.
A Chorus Line is cinematic enough onstage. There never should have been a movie, especially when the director was THAT clueless.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 3:14pm

Besty, I love your "don't bother" list.

[Kringas]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 3:21pm

Wicked could do it but it would turn out like the A Chorus Line film.

That's the most absurd thing that's been said on this thread.

I just don't understand how this thread keeps holding up Grey Gardens as something that would work as a movie musical, but not Wicked. It just doesn't make any sense.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 3:30pm

I could see Grey Gardens working if the flashbacks were done a la the Phantom of the Opera film.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 3:32pm

Not to get into a discussion on the quality of WICKED, but those who don't think it can work have no faith in the material and believe it to be only spectacle.

Her "flying" for the first time in the show isn't hard to do in a movie. And while the music in WICKED is many different things, that bridge in DEFYING GRAVITY certainly packs a punch.

And it wouldn't look childish or hokey - if a talented filmmaker changed the set and costumes of the theatrical show. Also, in many ways, it could look like the anti-Wizard of Oz.

3-D, anyone?

I feel like LES MIS is one of those shows that should be turned into a movie (there are already plenty of movie adaptations, none as good as the stage musical). The problem is appealing to a non-musical theatre group without disturbing the operatic quality of the show.
Updated On: 5/29/07 at 03:32 PM

[Broadwayboy2631]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 3:39pm

Into the Woods and Spring Awakening

[Kringas]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 3:52pm

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.

And the screenwriters, too. The screenplay to ACL is just terrible. As is the one for Rent (of course, Chris Columbus co-wrote that, so he get can get double blame).

Updated On: 5/29/07 at 03:52 PM

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 4:14pm

spring awakening and jersey boys are actually in the process of becoming movies o_O
now that i think of it more, and because you guys have convinced me, wicked and avenue Q would work well!
of course, youd have to have a director with a VERY artistic eye, amazing set, and great special effects, but it could be very adaptable.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 4:39pm

I was wondering when someone would mention "Sunday In The Park With George" and, trust it to be Best12Bars. (I thought about how they could do "It's Hot Up Here". Pointilist animation. It may confuse and annoy most audiences, but millions of stoned-out-of-mind college kids will love it when it comes out of DVD.)

Did anyone mention "Cats" already. (I wouldn't have thought of it, but I just tried out for "Six Degrees of Separation." Does anyone have Sidney Poitier's phone number?)

As for "Wicked", it's not that they couldn't do it, but that it would be nothing special up on a movie screen. The number will look fabulous, I'm sure. But, special effects in movies are nothing special anymore. You can do anything with computer animation, practically.

[Timmer]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 4:56pm

"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."

They'd probably want to try to do a Busby Berkeley scene.

[istillbelieve24601]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 5:01pm

I think Les Mis would definitely have mainstream appeal. Not for nothing, but it's one of the most popular tourist shows in NY, or was during its heyday. It has as much mainstream appeal as Phantom. That being said, the movie would probably turn out like the Rent movie or the Phantom movie.

Miss Saigon probably would make a great musical if they made it very intimate and toned down the chorus.

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 5:26pm

"spring awakening and jersey boys are actually in the process of becoming movies o_O "

There is a possibility of Spring Awakening becoming a musical. This happens to many new musicals that come to Broadway. Nothing is in negotiations or anything.

[Clarinetbiter135]

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

I like the idea of Spelling Bee as a documentary style movie. Or maybe have the adults (with the exception of Ms. Peretti, Vice Principal Paunch, and Mitch) just voices. Kinda like the peanuts, without the wauh wauh wauh thing. Wow. I'm kinda excited about that concept.... someone should make the movie!

[Viola2]

Posted: 5/29/07 at 5:40pm

Oh how LoveMusik would die at the box office!