5. Enchanted
Yuck, I hear you cry - her first choice is a saccharine-sweet Disney film! I had these initial reservations about Enchanted, but its actually quite brilliant. A stage version would offer plenty of opportunity for mockery of the Disney princess film genre, especially since the success of Wicked with their witching parallels. Visually, the films innovative mixture of animation and live action offer opportunities for a director and their team to play about with the possibilities of the theatre, especially in utilising a chorus, sets and lighting to their most exciting full. Plenty of other Alan Menken soundtracks have been fantastic on stage, including Little Shop of Horrors (off-Broadway to film to Broadway) and Beauty and the Beast (still the eighth-longest running show on Broadway), as their often perfectly cheesy and upbeat moods can give way for perfectly primed emotional numbers and Menken has a true skill. While Enchanteds songs are not (yet) particularly well known or admired, they may flourish in a theatrical setting, particularly as they are actually quite diverse. Happy Working Song is a delightful send up of the Whistle While You Work staple of the genre, whilst others are more contemporary, like pop number Ever Ever After. There is plenty of opportunity for knowingly sending up clichés that the audience know and simultaneously giving them an uproariously fun time with songs that are more likely to be heard on the radio. Theres even a song that didnt make it into the movie, the duet Enchanted, so there is scope for the musical to be extended past the films relatively small five numbers.