By: Kathleen Hessman
You all have most likely seen one if not both of the scenarios before in your lives.
A favorite musical on Broadway becomes so popular film directors want to make it into a movie for audiences around the world to ’share the wealth.’ Examples of this are “Grease“, “The Sound of Music“, “West Side Story“, “Phantom of the Opera“, more recently “Mamma Mia“, and SEVERAL MORE.
Here’s a clip from one my favorite movie-musicals listed above, “The Sound of Music!”
Some of you may say to yourself…”Wow, I am so happy this was made into a movie, they put the film together perfectly and now I can watch my favorite musical at any time!”
But yes, some may say “Why did they take such a beautifully made Broadway musical and make it into a movie? They’re taking away the beautiful aspects of Broadway.”
I feel there has been some strange lack of creativity lately, in musicals on film and on Broadway.
This is a developed theory myself and my co-host on my radio show have been talking about for almost a year now.
The most new development in this creativity-lack is turning movies into musicals on Broadway. This has become so popular to the point where if you go and look at the listings right now, you’ll be quite surprised.
Here are the following movie-musicals on Broadway.
First off…you have your Disney musicals…These have been around forever and these are usually amazing. “Beauty and the Beast“ and “Tarzan” recently left Broadway, and have been replaced by “Mary Poppins” and “The Little Mermaid.” There’s also “The Lion King“, which has been on stage FOREVER (well… 10 + years…which is amazing for a show). I saw this a little while ago and I loved this play so much. It’s just as good as the movie.
Now here are some movies you may recognize that are on the show listings:
“Cry-Baby“
“Xanadu“
These 5 are very different, but intriguing movies that have been brought to the Broadway stage in recent times…. But let me ask you bloggers out there- what happened to fresh material?
There are also some musicals that have gone through this theory full circle: the one i’m currently thinking of is “Hairspray.” This show has gone from an original movie to a musical to a NEW movie based on the musical. I loved all 3 , but again, where’s the fresh material?
I have pleasantly been surprised by some of these new movie-musicals. From my previous post, “Legally Blonde: The Musical” blew me away. I loved it.
But now they’re bringing out “Shrek: The Musical” in the fall and they were thinking about bringing “Grumpy Old Men” to the stage, but I haven’t seen that appear yet.
I could talk about this for a very, very long time.
While I admit I love alot of the musicals in this theory, I wonder what will come next in the Broadway world.
Who knows what the future holds in Broadway…But hopefully, we’ll get even more fresh musicals that will bring us to our feet.
I will continue to talk about this theory specifically throughout the semester!
Here’s a clip from “Xanadu: The Musical” to end my discussion:
Hi,
I know you have a valid point and I too have noticed the trend toward rehashing the old familiar material, rather than risking the new and unproven. It is undoubtedly a financial decision on the part of Broadway Producers. It is both expensive and extremely risky to put a musical on Broadway. As such, every new work will be weighed against the potential for profit of every known work. This trend will likely continue as an effort to reduce the financial risk of loss. The ticket buyer seems to like the nostalgia of seeing a known work in a new form. Broadway is big business and business must reduce risk and keep an eye on profits. It is both understandable and lamentable. However, every effort goes into making these shows superior to all others perceived as competition. As such, the quality is there whether it is new material or old. I am an investor in the upcoming musical Cry Baby. Even though it is based on the Movie, I know the risk is as enormous as the production itself. There are no guarantees that using old material will result in success. However, New songs, dance, jokes, script, and sets take an abundance of creativity and vision whether working with old material or new.
Best Regards,
John Schimmoeller
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