# Recasting the movie without star of the stage version **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 18, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681 "2017-04-18T00:57:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/21 "2017-07-21T04:16:02Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > That AWFUL ending has a long pedigree…Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree changed it when he staged Pygmalion, saying that the public wanted a happy ending. Are you referring to the film, or to the theatrical version? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/22 "2017-07-21T04:20:35Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Are you referring to the film, or to the theatrical version? Theatrical version. As early as 1914, Beerbohm Tree’s production was using the ending where Eliza returns to Higgins. Shaw HATED it. (“My ending makes money; you ought to be grateful,” protested Tree, to which Shaw replied, “Your ending is damnable; you ought to be shot.”) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/23 "2017-07-21T04:22:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Are you referring to the film, or to the theatrical version? I just answered my own question: > **[Herbert Beerbohm Tree](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Beerbohm_Tree)** > > Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager. > Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous programming and lavish productions, and starring in many of its productions. In 1899, he helped fund the rebuilding, and became manager, of His Majesty's Theatre. Again, he promoted a mix of Shakespeare and classic plays with new works and adaptations of popular no... Howard and Hiller’s version was filmed in 1938. **EDIT:** But thanks anyway! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/24 "2017-07-21T04:46:24Z")
I have to admit, I don’t like the original _Pygmalion_ ending, but maybe that’s linked to the performances of it I’ve seen. Higgins: She’s going to marry Freddy? Hahahahahaha… _Freddy?!_ HAHAHAHAHAHA… [curtain] It feels so _forced_ to me, somehow. Higgins slipping close to full-on sour-grapes. [example, though the entire adaptation is worth watching, in large part for who plays Liza](https://youtu.be/UhNk2eniBQ4?t=1h47m6s) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/25 "2017-07-21T05:06:36Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > [example, though the entire adaptation is worth watching, in large part for who plays Liza](https://youtu.be/UhNk2eniBQ4?t=1h47m6s) Wow! :eek: I’d be interested in hearing from the British contingent in the audience as to how her accent(s) stand up. (To be fair, Audrey Hepburn wasn’t British either; she was Belgian by birth.) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/26 "2017-07-21T12:08:15Z")
The 1939 movie “Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex” was on Broadway in 1930 for the husband and wife team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontane as “Elizabeth the Queen”. Those two were the leading lights on Broadway at the time and as a result made very few movies. Warner Brothers bought it as a vehicle for Bette Davis. She wanted Laurence Olivier as Essex but since he was relatively unknown, the studio went with Errol Flynn. Flynn and Davis didn’t like each other but very few people liked Davis (one who did was Vincent Price who was in the movie. 50 years later he didn’t find Davis so likeable while when they made “The Whales of August”). Not a very ggod movie but for some reason movies about Elizabeth tend to fall flat. The exception being the tv miniseries “Elizabeth R” with Glenda Jackson…perhaps you need extra time when doing a project on Elizabeth. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/27 "2017-07-21T13:05:13Z")
Jonathan Larson’s musical _Rent_ had [Daphne Rubin-Vega](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_Rubin-Vega) as Mimi Marquez. Rubin-Vega originated the role on Broadway. When the movie version was announced, she was unable to take the role due to pregnancy. The role was then given to [Rosario Dawson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosario_Dawson). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/28 "2017-07-21T13:31:54Z")
**American Splendor** : Harvey Pekar was played on stage by Dan Castellaneta (a.k.a. Homer Simpson) and in the movie by Paul Giamatti. Hey, they’re both brilliant! **Other People’s Money** : Lawrence Garfield was played by Danny DeVito in the movie and…Kevin Conroy, maybe?..in the play. It was a major play and a minor film. **Hello, Dolly** : Onstage, Ruth Gordon, Ethel Merman, Nancy Walker, Carol Channing. Movie: Barbra Streisand. Probably a good move. **A Few Good Men** : Onstage, Tom Hulce as Kaffee, Megan Gallagher as Galloway and Stephen Lang as Jessep. Film: Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson. Film and stage are unrelated businesses, honestly. Maybe Megan Gallagher would’ve been an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/29 "2017-07-21T13:32:10Z")
I actually think that the logical romance in MFL is between Eliza and Colonel Pickering. He’s the only one who treats her like a human being from the start. If you cast a younger actor in the role, it would work just fine. Why the producers of the movie version of _Mame_ went with Lucille Ball over Angela Lanbury is hard to explain. Ball was the bigger name at the time, but only as a TV actress, and Lansbury had a track record as a movie actress – including a couple of Oscar nominations – plus had won a Tony for the role. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/30 "2017-07-21T16:08:04Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I actually think that the logical romance in MFL is between Eliza and Colonel Pickering. He’s the only one who treats her like a human being from the start. If you cast a younger actor in the role, it would work just fine. > > Why the producers of the movie version of _Mame_ went with Lucille Ball over Angela Lanbury is hard to explain. Ball was the bigger name at the time, but only as a TV actress, and Lansbury had a track record as a movie actress – including a couple of Oscar nominations – plus had won a Tony for the role. Warner Brothers was probably blinded by Ball’s 20 year popularity on television. I remember around 1980 a “Playboy” interview with Blake Edwards & Julie Andrews. The interviewer was talking about how “Saturday Night Live” had tens of millions of viewers and how they would flock to theaters to see the Not Ready for Primetime player. Edwards responded that studios thought the same with Liberace (tv) and Kate Smith (radio) but it didn’t work. Ultimately the SNL crowd was pretty successful but it helps to have good vehicles suited to your talent…and Ball was about 15 years past Mame. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/31 "2017-07-21T16:59:11Z")
It was probably impossible to get Patti LuPone to do Evita in the film, but I really wish they hadn’t made it a Madonna vehicle. Despite the real-life parallels in their lives, I thought Madonna really lowered the quality of the movie. (Actually, that’s probably the source of my problems with her. It’s now _Madonna_, not _Evita_.) It’s not a horrible movie, but it could have been better with someone else. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/32 "2017-07-21T16:59:31Z")
Didn’t Jeff Conaway play Danny Zucko in the stage version of **Grease**? ISTR there was some unhappiness when he didn’t get the film role. ETA…from what I remember, Madonna lobbied for the role of Evita. One of her music videos featured her in an Evita-type role, which she sent to the producer/director/studio. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/33 "2017-07-21T17:18:57Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Didn’t Jeff Conaway play Danny Zucko in the stage version of **Grease**? ISTR there was some unhappiness when he didn’t get the film role. Well, Conaway got a significant supporting role as consolation. Barry Bostwick had played the role on Broadway (with Conaway as understudy and eventual replacement) and got a Tony award for it, but if nothing else, I can see age being a factor: Bostwick: Born in 1945 Conaway: Born in 1950 John Travolta: Born in 1954 These guys are supposed to be playing a high-school student. I can picture Bostwick and Conaway aging out of contention for the film adaptation, and even Travolta was 24 at the time. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/34 "2017-07-21T18:30:52Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, Conaway got a significant supporting role as consolation. I always picture Jeff Conaway saying to himself, “Well, at least I’ll get to sing a cool song”–“Greased Lightin’” is Kenickie’s song in the stage musical–only to have them turn around and give the song to Travolta! Poor guy. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/35 "2017-07-21T19:00:46Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I actually think that the logical romance in MFL is between Eliza and Colonel Pickering. He’s the only one who treats her like a human being from the start. If you cast a younger actor in the role, it would work just fine. Then you’d have to omit Higgins’s line about their being “two old bachelors.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/36 "2017-07-21T19:11:08Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Phantom of the Opera starring Gerard Butler. Really? With all the stage actors who performed the role, Joel Schumacher went with Butler, who had NO singing experience. > > No wonder the film tanked. When someone gave me the DVD, I regifted it This has always bothered me. It’s not as if The Phantom is an inconsequential character (like Tarzan is in the Bo Derek version of Tarzan). He has major singing parts, after all. There’s a _reason_ people liked Michael Crawford in the role. Butler sings about as well as Russell Crowe does, Og help us. Not only that, but apparently in an effort to not offend people, the Phantom isn’t particularly repulsive. He looks like he has a bad sunburn, or a case of Rosacea, or something. If I was a patron who paid to see the young Phantom in the sideshow, I’d feel ripped off. The proper response of Christine Daea when she tears off his mask ought not to be a scream, but “Oh.” Finally, I’m annoyed at the people at Swarovsky for their so-delicate chandelier. They provided one for the film, but in every version that chandelier crashes down onto the patrons (well, except the 1960 Herbert Lom version, where it crashes down on the stage. And the Phantom. But that’s another story). In this one we get to see the chandelier chain tearing through walls and ceilings, but the chandelier doesn’t actually do anything. “Swarovski --Our Chandeliers don’t kill Opera Patrons!” ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/37 "2017-07-21T19:42:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think the most bizarre example is the casting of Raymond Massey in _Arsenic and Old Lace_. The whole point of the character of Jonathan was that he looked like Boris Karloff. In the Broadway play, they achieved this by casting Boris Karloff in the role. > > But Karloff was still appearing on stage when the movie version was filmed so they cast Massey in the role of somebody who looked like Karloff. And then the studio put the movie on the shelf for three years before releasing it. In those days, theater companies had more clout than movie studios. When an author sold the film rights, there was usually a clause requiring that the film not be released until after the stage version finished its initial run. The Broadway production of A&OL ran longer than anyone expected. This is also why there has never been an English-language film of Agatha Christie’s _The Mousetrap_. The London stage version is still going, after 65 years. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Why the producers of the movie version of _Mame_ went with Lucille Ball over Angela Lanbury is hard to explain. Ball was the bigger name at the time, but only as a TV actress, and Lansbury had a track record as a movie actress – including a couple of Oscar nominations – plus had won a Tony for the role. I have heard it claimed that Lucille Ball put up a large portion of the money for the production. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/38 "2017-07-21T20:26:53Z")
In _Little Shop of Horrors_, Seymour and Audrey were played by Lee Wilkoff and Ellen Greene, but only Greene got to do the movie version. Rick Moranis was beyond perfect, no doubt, but that had to hurt for Lee… ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/39 "2017-07-21T21:19:10Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Julie Andrews did not have any film experience prior to My Fair Lady, but she went on to star in Mary Poppins that same year for which she won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actress. So I doubt she regretted not being cast as Eliza Doolittle. [Here she is accepting the Oscar.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ7d4Rx7ftI) But for the punchline, when she thanks the man who made her famous role possible, [there is her Golden Globe acceptance thank-you.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeBCcfwWpug) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681/40 "2017-07-21T22:42:39Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > [Here she is accepting the Oscar.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ7d4Rx7ftI) > > But for the punchline, when she thanks the man who made her famous role possible, [there is her Golden Globe acceptance thank-you.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeBCcfwWpug) Yes, Dame Julie can be a shady lady (from Seville, if you prefer)… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recasting-the-movie-without-star-of-the-stage-version/784681.md?page=3)