Saturday, March 14, 2009

Ten Musicals Adapted From Unlikely Movies

Browse the internet and one thing becomes clear, people love their lists. AV Club posts a new inventory every week. Joblo has the Ten Spot. There are the Cinematical Seven. On top of the usual year end lists, the box office lists, best of lists.
In general I also love a list. I think AV Club’s lists are among my favorite. They are usually well thought out and represent the tastes and interests of number of the staff writers. Even something like Empire Magazines list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, which seems to exist only to be a provocation, is great fun.
Some sites though are very lazy about their lists. It is as if the editors of a site see a list as an easy conversation starter for talkbacks, and more importantly some editors seem to think that the lists are easy to slap together. This week I came across a list at Virgin Media titled, “From screen to stage: 10 weird movie musicals.” I thought the idea of a list of musicals adapted from unlikely films was a great one. However the list itself has got to be one of the laziest lists I’ve ever seen. It is poorly researched, reporting on vague ideas like they are shows just waiting to be produced. Their list also touches upon the musical version of Shrek that opened on Broadway in December. In a commercial theater environment post Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, where Disney Theatrical has brought us musicals based on any number of their animated movies, who could find it “weird” that other cartoons found their way to the stage? They even include The Wedding Singer as one of their “weird” screen to stage adaptations. Say what you want about the quality of the source material and the musical itself, but a show based on The Wedding Singer is not out of left field. The movie is after all about a songwriter who makes his living singing, and the finally includes the lead character singing an original song to his love. It doesn’t take a great stretch of the imagination to adapt the movie into a musical.

In response to their list I have created my own. If you are interested in checking out Virgin Media’s insights into the upcoming crop of Movies Turned Musicals you will find their list here.

Before I begin, let me outline the two criteria for inclusion on the list.

1. It needs to be based on a movie. This eliminates The Lord of the Rings musical and Juile Taymor’s upcoming Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. (incidentally the little blurb I read about the show suggests it has more in common with Kiss of the Spiderwoman than the comic book.) While I don’t doubt that these shows were created as the result of the success of the movies, the musicals are not based on the movies themselves.

2. It has to be more than a half baked idea that is mentioned to MTV. This removes the Fight Club musical from the list, since there doesn’t seem to be anything going on with the adaptation beyond David Fincher's one off the cuff comment and Trent Reznor expressing interest in maybe writing the music. Besides given that the only person talking about it is David Fincher, it seems unlikely ever to happen. Fincher has been attached to too many projects that never materialized to even list here. It has to at the very least have had a reported workshop or reading. But unless something is too interesting to pass up I try my best to stick with musicals that have been produced, even if just regionally or at fringe festivals.

From Screen to Stage:
Ten Musicals Adapted From Unlikely Movies
1. Gladiator

Based on Ridley Scott’s 2000 Oscar winning film, this musical is still under development. The book and lyrics were written by Roger Hyams, and the music was by Gavin Greenway (incorporating the Hans Zimmer themes from the film).


Steve Blanchard (Maximus) rehearsing with Sean McDermott (Commodus).

This is the one entry that overlaps with Virgin Media’s list, and I thought it best to get it out of the way. The workshop was originally held at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood in May of 2006. Immediately the workshop there was some effort to bring the show to London’s West End. The internet was buzzing with the news that the show was to star Brian Stokes Mitchell as Maximus, and heading the production was to be William Nicholson. Nicholson wrote the screenplay for the Ridley Scott Film. Since those initial 2006 press releases and rumors there does not appear to be much forward movement.


2. The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein

Based on the 1974 comedy written by by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, the 2007 musical was written by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan; with music and lyrics by Mel Brooks. The Broadway production was directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman.

Shuler Hensley (The Monster) and Roger Bart (Dr. Frankenstein) are "Puttin' on the Ritz."

You have to admit that adapting a musical from a movie about Broadway producers looking to make a musical flop is inspired. However when the same creative team set out to make a musical out of Young Frankenstein I was left scratching my head. It was a black and white movie that alternately made fun of and stole from Universal horror films. How do you even begin to convey that on stage? By the way have I mentioned Mel Brooks?

3. The Last Starfighter: The Musical

Based on the 1984 science fiction adventure film directed by Nick Castle, The Last Starfighter: The Musical features music and lyrics by Skip Kennon and a book by Fred Landau. It was first presented at the Storm Theatre in New York City in 2004. The Storm Theatre presentation was directed by Peter Dobbins with choreography by Jennifer Paulson Lee. The show recieved a full production in 2007 at the New York Musical Theatre Festival under the direction of Elizabeth Lucas and choreographed by David Eggers.


4. Xanadu

Xanadu is a 2007 musical comedy with a book by Douglas Carter Beane, music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, based on the 1980 Olivia Newton John flop of the same name which was, in turn, inspired by the 1947 Rita Hayworth film Down to Earth.

Cheyenne Jackson (Sonny) and Kerry Butler (Clio). Picture from AP Photo/Paul Kolnik Studio, Peter Lueders

Directed by Christopher Ashley and choreographed by Dan Knechtges, the musical opened on Broadway where it earned an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Best Book.

5. Reefer Madness

Based on the 1936 propaganda film Reefer Madness (aka Tell Your Children) (aka Dope Addict) (aka Doped Youth) (aka The Burning Question), this musical satire opened in Los Angeles in 1998. The book and lyrics were written by Kevin Murphy and the music was composed by Dan Studney and the show was originally directed by Andy Fickman (who has since moved on to Race to Witch Mountain).


The show open and closed quickly Off Broadway 2001 and was choreographed by Paula Abdul.


6. Silence! The Musical

Based on the 1991 Academy Award winning psychological thriller The Silence of the Lambs, directed by Jonathan Demme, the musical was created by Jon and Al Kaplan. Silence! premiered at the Lucile Lortel Theater during the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival, and was directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli.


Jenn Harris (Clarice Starling) and Paul Kandel (Hannibal Lecter). Photo by Dixie Sheridan


The project originally premiered as a handful of songs on available on the internet. The recordings became so popular that the live show was conceived and staged. If you visit Jon and Al Kapan’s website you can enjoy their other parodies including: 24: Season Two: The Musical, "What's in the Box?" from Se7en: The Musical , "I'm Not Going to Be Ignored, Dan" from Fatal Attraction! The Musical, and "Murphy, It's You" from RoboCop: The Musical.

7. Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical

Based on a 1978 pornographic film Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical was a 2002 Off-Broadway musical. Conceived by Susan L. Schwartz the musical was adapted and originally directed by Erica Schmidt; with music composed by Andrew Sherman; Tom Kitt and Jonathan Callicutt provided additional music and lyrics.


Needless to say while the musical was raunchy it contains far less sexual content than the movie.

8. Harold & Maude

Based on Colin Higgins screenplay for Hal Ashby’s 1971 cult classic, this 1982 musical had book and lyrics by Tom Jones (one of the creators of The Fantasticks) and music by Joseph Thalken. The musical debuted in 2005 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey under the direction of Mark S. Hoebee.

Eric Millegan (Harold) and Estelle Parsons (Maude) in the Paper Mill Playhouse production. Photo by Jerry Dalia

Like most everything else on the list, I haven’t seen the show, but tackling this adaptation seems problematic for two reasons. First: the original film has a classic soundtrack from Cat Stevens. Once you excise his music from the musical, one of the greatest things about the movie is lost. Second: cars play a very important role in the movie. Maude is constantly stealing cars, including Harold’s. One of the symbols of Harold’s growth is his relationship with his car culminating in his driving his jaguar/hearse over a cliff. Cars never translate well to the stage, and I imagine that the automobiles are lost in the translation.


9. The Fly

This 2008 opera was based on David Cronenberg's 1986 film The Fly which was based on the short story of the same name by George Langelaan. The music was composed by Howard Shore with the libretto being provided by playwright David Henry Hwang.

Ruxandra Donose (Veronica) and Daniel Okulitch (Seth Brundle)


It's an opera I know, but tell me that a singing Brundlefly isn't the strangest idea you ever heard? It should be noted that unlike most musical adaptations of movies the opera version of The Fly was created by a number of the 1986 film’s creative team. David Cronenberg, Howard Shore, and Denise Cronenberg (the director’s sister and frequent collaborator) all worked on both the film and the opera.

10. Little Shop of Horrors

Based on the low-budget 1960 Roger Corman comedy, this 1982 musical had book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music from Alan Menken. The original Off Broadway run was also directed by Howard Ashman.

Lee Wilkof (Seymour) and Marty Robinson (Audrey II)

Little Shop of Horrors is the father of all musical adaptations of cult films. Evil Dead The Musical, and the upcoming Toxic Avenger The Musical all wish to have half the critical acclaim and success of Menken and Ashman's five year and 2209 performance run.

Bonus!

11. Heathers
Earlier this week Hollywood Reporter published a short article about the development of the musical version of Heathers. The show is being developed by Andy Fickman, who directed the musical version of Reefer Madness. He is working with Reefer Madness partner Kevin Murphy, who is writing the book and lyrics, and composer Larry O'Keefe, who received a Tony nomination for his work on Legally Blonde.

Apparently the material is far enough along that they put together a reading in Hollywood. The readings included Kristen Bell from "Veronica Mars" as Veronica Sawyer and Christian Campbell as J.D.. Bell and Campbell it should be noted were in the New York cast of Reefer Madness.