Les Miserables hit it big this past Holiday season, and for good reason. Love or hate the film, Tom Hooper’s decision to use live set recordings of the actors (as well as go all out with the visual set pieces and costumes) gave the movie going audience the experience and immersion they couldn’t get from the stage show, and for a fraction of the ticket price. So now that one of the most popular and enduring Broadway shows has finally made the leap to the big screen, who should be next at bat?
This list of ten very good prospects range from shows still running to shows that were criminally under-run. Laughter, tears, and a heaping dose of well meaning mockery are to follow; and much like most musicals, there’s a suitably happy ending in store for all.
10. Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark
Let’s get the barn burner out of the way. Yes, I’m fully aware that I’m suggesting one of the most hotly contested turkeys in Broadway history for a film adaptation. You’re probably wondering why? Well, for starters, it’d be an awful lot easier to get the effects and images that Julie Taymor originally conceived in her traditional medium of film. Second, it’d be much easier on the cast and crew, as their lives wouldn’t be in as much danger making a Spider-Man movie as opposed to a Spider Man stage play. (Movie magic saves lives, kids.) Most importantly, we can all partake in an interesting failure without spending $100 a pop to do so.
We are currently seeking Film contributors on WhatCulture. To find out more about the perks of being a Film contributor, click here.
13 Comments
WE WILL ROCK YOU?
I tried to stay away from Jukebox Musicals. Rock of Ages has taught us that much.
I would like to see phantom of the opera redone with the les mis treatment (live vocals)
@ Steve – That’d be brilliant! Of course, we’d need to recast Gerard Butler STAT. Everyone else can stay, but he really needs to go.
Into the Woods! Could be amazing.
I was thinking about that, Laurence; but alas, my knowledge of the show is under par. Still, if I’m not mistaken, Amy Adams and (I think) Alfred Molina were both part of a Central Park revival last Summer. (And if Molina wasn’t present, he totally should be. Honestly, the stage is his friend.)
City of Angels would be a natural on film… and might catapult that property back onto stages. What a fantastic score!
Miss Saigon could be another fantastic adaptation. So much of what isn’t quite right about the stage version (the ghost, the helicopter, the virtually non-existent supporting cast, etc.) could be smoothed out in a film.
Next to Normal : “and the Oscar goes to… Toni Collette”
Once on this Island would be a natural choice for Disney to kick start their hand-drawn animation.
ps. Can you imagine Stephen Spielberg’s “Ragtime” — WOW
Ok, I’m going to skip the rest of your comments and go straight to Steven Spielberg’s Ragtime.
WTF?! Spielberg has been flirting with the Musical genre for so long, and THIS…THIS is the movie that I’ve been looking for to tell people he should totally direct. I was mulling it over the other day, and I couldn’t find the right musical. Then you came along and just blew the doors off, and for that you have my gratitude, Sir.
Trey Parker and MATT Stone would obviously direct Avenue Q. Or Michel Gondry, who has been known to have a very perverse sense of humor, and he’s worked on plenty of comedies.
I would LOVE a Gondry directed Avenue Q. I don’t think Parker/Stone would do it, simply because they’re content with adapting their own material, as opposed to trying to tackle others. They’d be fit for the job though if they changed their minds.
Marc Webb for Wicked, Sam Mendes for Miss Saigon, Steven Spielberg for Ragtime, all of which have live singing!
I never thought of Mark Webb for Wicked, though I’m still a fan of the animated approach because of the effects involved. As much as I like Webb, I think he needs some more shakedown time before going into digital effect heavy pictures.
Also, Mendes for Miss Saigon would be perfect!
They missed their chance with Les Mis by not letting the actors record. The whole thing with stage performances is that the undertones the whispers the emotion, the subtleties are lost. Only film can do this and it enhances the whole performance. As in Phantom. Gerard Butler reached inside the Phantom and showed with a brilliant performance how anguished and tormented this man was. With thwart if film and per-recording it allows the actor to take the action to a much higher level. But of course Phantom and Evita were supervised by the master Andrew Loydd Weber a master if the stage and film. No I won’t be seeing Les Mis, waste if time, it offers no more than the stage performance why bother.
Josn(hug) xxx