Good plays that have yet to be filmed.

Cafe Society
1

Mahaloth’s What is Shakespeare’s most underrated play? and Sampiro’s Musicals that were huge hits onstage and flops onscreen got me to wondering: what good plays have yet to grace the silver screen?

Of course, there is the famous example of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. It’s been filmed in Bengali and in Russian, but we will probably have to wait until the copyright lapses before anyone can film it in English.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals. It’s been done on TV twice (once as an episode of Maverick). I want to see a big-budget, big-screen version. Mrs Malaprop is one of the great characters of literature.

Greater Tuna by Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard. It’s been done on TV, but not on the big screen.

2

It’s a little early (or a lot early; the play premiered just recently), but Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is on the stage in London, and I’m really unlikely to see it there. So I would like it if they were to do a film version. (I may buy the script, scheduled to be published next month.)

3

I doubt it would ever be done but I’d love a film of J.B by Archibald Macleish. It is quite possibly my favorite piece of dramatic literature.

4

Never mind.

5

My first thought was, “What do you mean Mousetrap has never been filmed! There was a very good film of it with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve!” Then I remembered that was Deathtrap. Never mind!!

6

I saw a play called The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh (probably best known for In Bruges) years ago, and it has stayed with me ever since. I think it would make a good, if somewhat messed up, movie.
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7

A few years ago when there was a revival in stage musicals being filmed (Chicago, Les Misarables) I was crossing my fingers that someone would finally make one of Big River. I’ve seen it on stage three times, I think, and it’s incredibly fun - not to mention based on one of the best American novels of all time.

8

Some plays resist filming because they don’t translate well. Often they are designed for one or two sets, which is hard to make work. Something like The 39 Steps (the one with only four [counting] four actors) only works on stage.

If you look at the Tony nominees from 1990-2010 (plays since then wouldn’t have had enough time to set up a movie), only ten nominees out of 84 had films made, and few of those were big hits. None were blockbusters.

At one point, adapted plays were Hollywood’s lifeblood. Now, they’re usually side projects and labors of love.

The Tony list is full of excellent plays that have never been made into movies.

9

I thought of Lieutenant of Inishmore by McDonagh . Probably a lot of his plays would make good movies.

10

Noises Off is another classic example.

11

Pillowman is fantastic. Would love to see a movie adaptation so I can show it to more of my friends.

12

I don’t think there’s been a film of CATS yet.

Or The Book of Mormon, but that will likely be animated.

There was a wonderful PBS adaptation of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. but no big screen action yet.
*
Wicked* is a bit overdue.

13

Yeah, but some of the plays you’d think this would be true of have made fairly successful movies. (I’m thinking of Twelve Angry Men as an example; I hope the fact that it was first written as a teleplay doesn’t disqualify it.)

14

I’m not sure that counts, since it’s based on a movie and the joke is in the way it’s converted into a stage version.