# Best movie version of a Broadway play? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-version-of-a-broadway-play/282969 "2005-01-04T03:29:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-version-of-a-broadway-play/282969/21 "2005-01-09T02:07:41Z")
> [@TV time](#): > > Another one that was word for word and was good was _Boys in the Band_ back in the mid 70s. Virtually the entire cast of the film came directly from the Broadway performance. I heard that the producer when contemplating doing the film said “and we won’t use actors, we’ll use those guys in the play.” > > TV 😛 I’ve never seen the play performed. I adore the movie, but I read the play first, at the insistence of the person who recommended the movie. It wasn’t quite word for word; they didn’t **add** any dialogue, but some was cut. Most of the cuts seem to be a good decision; just extraneous dialogue that didn’t add anything, except for one speech, early on when only two characters are onstage/onscreen. Michael, the guy who’s hosting the party, and Donald, his SO, go into a lot of detail about their upbringing and how it affects them now. Again, this scene doesn’t necessarily move the story along…but the omission kind of leaves Donald hanging in space. Without that speech, we don’t really know who he is. And there’s a cutting remark Michael makes to him, late in the film, that seems unnecessarily cruel if we haven’t been shown that he really does care for Donald. Still, excellent, excellent film. “What kind of psychiatrist has appointments on Saturday evening?” “He simply prefers to take Mondays off.” “Hm…Works late on Saturdays and takes Mondays off. What is he, a psychiatrist or a hairdresser?” “Actually, he’s both. He shrinks my head and then combs me out.” ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-version-of-a-broadway-play/282969/22 "2005-01-09T02:16:00Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > I never saw the stage production of **Little Shop of Horrors** , but in reality it was a movie (starring Jack Nicholson) turned into an off-broadway musical and then re-made as a movie musical. For the movie musical, they totally changed the ending and made it a happy one. after the movie tested badly. Wish they would release a version with the original ending. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-version-of-a-broadway-play/282969/23 "2005-01-09T02:50:44Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Any of you theater-going Dopers ever see a more faithful version of the original stage play? Yes. Also high school. I wasn’t in it, I did sound. But I’m a bad person to ask about it since I think the show and the movie are both absolutely horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-version-of-a-broadway-play/282969/24 "2005-01-09T03:34:36Z")
I never saw _Fiddler on the Roof_ onstage, but I love the film. It makes great work of the locations while still having the music rule. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-version-of-a-broadway-play/282969/25 "2005-01-09T07:34:06Z")
> [@Only Mostly Dead](#): > > Surprisingly enough, it was the original version of Grease we did in high school. With very little censoring. (Surprising because our attempts to put on the aforementioned Noises Off! was gunned down quite thoroughly because one character has to be in her unmentionables for a good bit of it. The high school I teach at did the original version of Grease, also with very little censoring. I was quite surprised, but the kids did a great job with it and I never heard of any complaints. Our principal even did a cameo as the teen-angel guy (from the dream-sequence). They also did Noises Off! That is my favorite production I’ve seen in ten years at this school. The set was awesome and the play had us all laughing throughout. And, again surprisingly, one of our students spent a lot of time onstage in a skimpy little negligee. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-version-of-a-broadway-play/282969/26 "2005-01-09T07:38:29Z")
> [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > I never saw the stage production of **Little Shop of Horrors** , but in reality it was a movie (starring Jack Nicholson) turned into an off-broadway musical and then re-made as a movie musical. Nicholson didn’t star. He played a masochistic dental patient and is onscreen for about ten minutes. IIRC The whole thing started with the origianl writer having a nightmare about a man-eating plant. So, he made the original comedy/horror film. Then came the musical. Then the film. **Supervenusfreak** is absolutely right about the ending. I had an issue of Cinefantastique which included stills from the original “Don’t Feed The Plants” ending. I want that ending dammit! Still later, came the Fox cartoon series Little Shop. In this, everybody is a kid and Audrey II is a non man-eating plant who is the last survivor of our planet’s long ago Vegozoic age. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-movie-version-of-a-broadway-play/282969.md?page=1)