Stage Musicals that should be made into movies

Cafe Society
1

Now after the success of “Chicago” and “Moulin Rouge”, Hollywood obviously would want to hop back on the Musical Train again.

There was a rumour going around a while back that they where going to remake “Guys and Dolls” which I find stupid. Why remake a classic starring Frank Sinatra AND Marlon Brando when there are so SO many better stage musicals out there begging for the chance to shine on screen (and not to mention the rumour of Vin Diesel being in negotiations for the remake- vomit) :mad:

So which Stage Musicals do you think should be made into a movie.

Without a doubt my top to choices are:

“Jekyl & Hyde”
“Into The Woods”

Both are extremely strong musicals (even if for vastly different reasons).

J&H is without a doubt my favorite musical ever and I would love for it to be made into a movie.

2

“CATS”–while there is a ‘live version’ of the stage show floating around, it is not the best that could be done, as there are multiple storyline and editing errors in that particular version. I’d LOVE to see CATS as a musical movie.:slight_smile:
And by the way…was anyone else besides me totally skeeved out when the fat guy (can’t remember his name…Satine’s mgr) put on a white sheet and started singing “Like a Virgin”? :shudder:
CJ

3

It’s a tricky question. And Guys and Dolls is a good choice: the original movie was a major disappointment, with Sinatra badly miscast; why they put him in a role originally designed for an actor who could not sing is beyond me. If he and Brando (who was quite good) had switched, it might have saved things.

As far as modern musicals are concerned, they are aimed for such a small audience that they are strong candidates to flop. Movie audiences won’t sit still for the pseudo-opera wannabes that all too many recent Broadway shows aspire to be. Nothing by Andrew Lloyd Weber or Stephen Sondheim (or their followers) is likely to be a successful movie. If you are going to make a movie of this ilk, the best choice by far is Les Miserables.

There’s a chance that Rent might be a good choice; the play is good and most people don’t mind the blatant pandering of the ending.

More likely to suceed are shows like The Producers or Hairspray – upbeat audience pleasers. I know they were already films, but that didn’t stop them from making Mame.

It also would be good to make better versions of some of the older musicals – Bye Bye Birdie screams for a decent movie made from it, since the original was so bad.

4

I’d love to see Phantom of the Opera, as well as Les Miserables and Sweeny Todd.

5

Les Miserables gets my vote too, but so does Miss Saigon.

What about Jesus Christ Superstar? (has that been done already?)

6

They already made a film version of Jesus Christ Superstar. It bombed.

I understand they’re finally getting around to doing Phantom of the Opera
Most of my favorite musicals have already been turned into films. But I admit I’d like to see them do Pippin as a real film (there’s a taped version of the stage play circulating, but you know that’s not the same thing).

7

Well, the first reason is that there the original movie version of the musical “Guys and Dolls” is ok, but it’s pure camp. Frankie was badly miscast: first, Nathan only has 2 songs in the original, so they changed a bunch of the lyrics in a really stoooopid way: “Why I’m good old reliable Nathan” :: barfs :: to give Frankie more to sing. And Nathan is Jewish. This is crucial to one of the songs (“Sue Me”) where Nathan uses Yiddish (“So, true? So nu. So sue me.”). It’s pretty clear that Frankie has no clue as to what he’s saying given how he misphrases the song.

The part for the singing male lead (Sky, who has like four or five songs) was given to a non-singer (for what it’s worth Brando does a decent job). They cut about four good songs (“Bushel and a Peck”, “More I Cannot Wish You”, “If I Were A Bell” (maybe…I can’t remember), “Marry The Man Today”)

Sure changes have to be made to transfer the musical to the stage, but cutting 4 songs, butchering the lyrics to at least two more doesn’t make for a good trade-off, IMO. Not for one of the 10 best musicals ever on Broadway (IMO)

Outside of “Guys and Dolls”, I’d kill to see “Camelot” done right (Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave? Barf.)

A new movie version of “Annie Get Your Gun” would be nice. Betty Hutton’s donkey braying doesn’t substitute for singing in my book.

I’d love to see “The Fantasticks” edited together correctly rather than the butchered version they released in the theater and on DVD (They cut “Try To Remember” and replaced “It Depends On What You Pay” with a terrible new song among other changes) Tje movie’s pretty well done: good cinematography, good acting, good singing (despite casting some doof who can’t sing at all as one of the fathers) but the editing is terrible.

“Fiorello!” would be a nifty movie muscial: witty, thoughtful (IIRC, it won a Tony AND a Pulitzer) and a great score. Although the lyrics on the last number would HAVE to be changed (From “I Shall Marry The Very Next Man”: “And if he likes me/what does it matter if he strikes me/I’ll fetch his slippers with my arm in a sling/just for the privilge of wearing his ring”. Um. Not so much.) but cutting one verse is minor.

“Where’s Charlie” was a huge hit musical by Frank Loesser. Apparently it WAS made into a movie (with Ray Bolger, star of the Broadway show) but for some reason it can’t be re-released. I’ve been looking for a copy for 20+ years and it’s just not available. If Jim Carry can sing and dance, he’d be a lot of fun in Bolger’s role.

“Once Upon A Matress” would be a hoot. A few years back, there was a rumor that Disney was going to do one of it’s remakes and had approached Carol Burnette to do the role of Queen Agrivanne which would be wonderful, but nothing came of it.

If we’re talking about “They’ll NEVER make it but wouldn’t it be cool if…?” type pipe dreams, I’d love to see some of the following:

“The Nervous Set”: An obscure as hell musical about '50s beatniks with a catchy score. (Which starred Larry Hagman!)

“Robert And Elizabeth” a hit West End musical about Robert and Elizabeth Browning. Whoever does the female lead had better have a good voice!

“Das Barbequ” What if Wagner’s Ring Cycle was done in a Broadway/Country-n-Western style and was set in Texas. Hysterical.

I’d love to see a muscial of “The Baker’s Wife” (if the book problems could be fixed), because the score is just so damned good. But the story’s just limp (An old baker and his young wife come to a new town. She’s dissatisfied with him and runs off with a hunk. He gets sad. She decides she loves the baker after all and comes back. That’s it. That’s the WHOLE plot.)

Sondheim’s “Saturday Night” would be a ton of fun and is a nifty period piece.

“Drat! The Cat!” is made for the big screen. It’s also damned obscure and not a chance in hell it would be made.

“On The Twentieth Century” is one of my favorite musicals, but with Madyline Kahn dead (dammit, she was the most underrated comedianne of the 20th century) I don’t see anyone else who has the range to do the role of Lily.

Fenris