Burning Questions: Broadway's Cinematic Potential?
Tuesday, June 12, 2012 at 4:00PM Michael C. here in the aftermath of the Tony's to return the focus to where it belongs: Movies.
The film version of Porgy & Bess (1959) is rarely seen. Audra McDonald & Norm Lewis in the Broadway show, with movie star looks and thrilling voices, suggest its cinematic potential
As I've written before in this column, as a rule I don't go in for the sort of rose-colored nostalgia that assumes pop culture is on some kind of inexorable decline into the sewer and if only we could return the Golden Age of the 30's or the 70's or whenever then we would experience some kind of artistic renaissance. It is now as it ever was - a little quality, lots of junk.
But one trend I do resist, one that I mark as the undeniable decay of the natural order of things, is the movement toward reverse-engineering successful movies into Broadway shows and away from the reverse. I will fight this trend to my dying breath, or at least I will stand outside the stage production of Ghost and shake my old man cane at it like Carl from Up.
Yet there is hope. With Les Miserables finally landing in theaters this December, and August: Osage County getting the Streep treatment as we speak, maybe there is still a chance to return to the glory days of stage to screen transfers the way that Thespis intended. But with only so many big Broadway titles left unfilmed that brings me to this week's Burning Question: Are there any current Broadway shows that deserve the big screen treatment?
Let us start with the most obvious title:
The Book of Mormon
It should be no surprise that Trey and Matt have already confirmed a movie adaptation is in the works for this monster hit. There is every reason to believe that the sprawling story that travels from Utah to Uganda to an elaborate Spooky Mormon Hell Dream will make the leap to the big screen in spectacular fashion. Like most theater-goers I have not been able to procure tickets to the show but I've been enjoying the soundtrack immensely even if it doesn't quite reach the heights of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. But of course that's a high bar to clear, what with South Park being the best movie musical since Beauty and the Beast (ducks to avoid frenetically edited assault by Moulin Rouge fans)
Peter & The Starcatcher
Peter and the Starcatcher
If any title was ill-served by the Tony Awards show on Sunday it was this terrific Peter Pan origin story. The decision to show two minutes of out-of-context shtick completely failed to capture the wonder of watching the game cast deploy the basic tricks of theater to whip up a magical pirate adventure right in front of your eyes. This simple show captures the Pan spirit better than any movie I've seen, including the solid 2003 production. I am wary the simple child-like sense of play the stage show captures so thrillingly would be lost in a slick mega-budget film. If someone like Jean-Pierre Jeunet could lend a cinematic Starcatcher the same handmade quality he gave Amelie, then I think it could survive the translation in tact. That there is talk of adapting the material to a 3D computer animated film does not fill me with optimism.
Venus in Fur
If I could green light just one play for a top tier movie adaptation it would be this one. David Ives' play is the best theaterical experience I've had since Tracy Letts' magnificent Osage County in 2009. The deceptively simple story of the shifting power dynamics between playwright and actress during one long audition may seem too slight or stage bound for wide release but a great director can make even the most claustrophobic scenario as cinematic as Lawrence of Arabia. Think 12 Angry Men or Glengarry Glenn Ross or the riveting Natalie Portman/Clive Owen pas de deux from Closer. And if you believe in the tradition of film adaptations immortalizing the great performances of the stage like Brando in Streetcar or Barbra in Funny Girl - and you should - then you will agree that Nina Arianda's Tony winning work is too electric not to be preserved.
Nina Arianda & Hugh Dancy in "Venus in Fur"
Can you think of any more theatrical properties that demand to be on 3000 screens? Should I get over my belly-aching about broadway cash-ins and go see Newsies? Let me know in the comments.
You can follow Michael C. on Twitter at @SeriousFilm or read his blog Serious Film.
Reader Comments (33)
I would love to see Judith Light reprise her role in a film adaptation of "Other Desert Cities". So bummed most of the excellent Broadway cast of "The Normal Heart" won't be in the Ryan Murphy film.
I agree with you about musical adaptations of movies with one exception - "The Producers." For many years before it happened, I thought the movie was perfect for adaptation to the stage. And I was right.
I could also see a film adaptation of "The Boy From Oz".
I was just about to mention The Boy From Oz. If Les Mis is a hit then maybe some smart producer will finally recognize that Hugh Jackman is a big draw and greenlight a film version with him reprising his star-making role.
Another musical I think could work is Ragtime. Based on an important historical novel, tons of parts for women and minorities, a sprawling yet intimate plot - if that doesn't scream prestige film adaptation, what does?
And, of course, FOLLIES.
I always thought "Miss Saigon" was very cinematic...I mean the helicopter scene, hello! If Les Miz is a success, then I hope this will be the next to come on screen.
I don't live in NY, but everybody was talking about Fences, with Washington and Davis
Caroline or Change starring Audra McDonald would be the best stage to screen transfer ever. I'm convinced Wicked might never happen which is a travesty. Considering a former Glinda, Megan Hilty, is now well known you'd think they'd cast her and get the ball rolling.
I also ditto the sentiments regarding Venus in Fur, one of my favorite theatergoing experiences of the year. Clybourne Park would make a fascinating film, especially with that bristling dialog. My other suggestions are as follows:
Musicals: Ragtime, Follies, The Scottsboro Boys, Miss Saigon, Next to Normal
Plays: Other Desert Cities, Take Me Out
I need a NEXT TO NORMAL movie like I need oxygen. Obviously WICKED deserves a big screen adaptation. I won't hold my breath for either one though.
denny: Ragtime was filmed in 1981 by Milos Forman.
The "Rebecca" musical looks preposterous.
Oh, the wonders never cease
Plays that need to be made into movies: Ruined, Dunsinane, Jerusalem, Tusk Tusk, Our Class, The Pride, Prayer for My Enemy, The Reporter, How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found, The Retreat from Moscow, Democracy.
It's an odd choice, but I think a Master Class movie could work really well. It would be the teacher (played by Tyne Daly, naturally) travelling around NYC to meet with three students in one day. It would be a character study of the Maria Callas character and a big showcase of three singing actors. Sierra Boggess is surely camera ready enough to recreate her performance on the big screen. Audra McDonald is just a bit too old to play that part now. Oh, what could have been 15 years ago.
I still think reworking The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee as a mockumentary musical would be great. Age up the characters to make the contest even more insignificant and cast the best singing actors you can find. Use the dream sequence trick from "The 'I Love You' Song" to justify the big song and dance numbers and fill the rest with improv. It could be a riot.
Outside of the current theatrical slate I'd be thrilled to see Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman get the big screen treatment
Well my top choices have already been said, so I will second FOLLIES and NEXT TO NORMAL, which would both make excellet, excellent movies.
Also, this past year's SONS OF THE PROPHET, one of the greatest theatrical experiences I have ever had, would make a fantastic movie (thoughit was off Broadway).
I WANT THEM ALL.
I say this knowing that I'll probably never see a NY Broadway production ever in my life, but honestly, some things are better left on the stage. I just saw "Carnage" a few weeks ago, and that really didn't work. Even the great Roman Polanski couldn't make that uber-stagey material cinematic. I have no doubts that the live theater experience was a riot, but I think not having that actor spontaneity or audience participation diminished that work as a whole. But if the work can be made into a viable film, I'll be right there to watch when it's released. I'll be there to see the film version of "August: Osage County" on opening night! Not b/c I've seen this live, but because I read the play and know how incredible the source material is. If I can't see the OBC in all their glory, then let's see what Meryl and co. do with the play instead. The rambly, lost point I'm trying to make is that as appreciative as I am to get any slice of theater any way I can get it, if the work has to stay on stage, sometimes that's not the worst thing. You couldn't pay me to go see "Rock of Ages," for example. NYC can have that ish. Middle America passes. :-)
HBO is supposed to be making a movie version of "Ruined" FYI, starring Oprah and Condola Rashad. This was before all of her OWN fiasco business, so that might be put on hold indefinitely.
BTW - a musical which deserves way more love than it ever got, "Sideshow" would make one hell of a movie.
All I want is a Next to Normal movie. Robert Downey, Jr., Toni Collette, Anna Kendrick, and Aaron Tveit, fresh off Les Mis. Done. Then In the Heights, but just as long as they cast real Hispanic actors and J.Lo has nothing to do with it.
I would love to see Fences with Denzel and Viola, and Follies as well (but only with Bernie!)
Oh my god, a Next to Normal adaptation with Toni Collette would be PERFECT...she needs a musical.
"Company"
"Gypsy," this time with Toni Collette as Madame Rose
FOLLIES. And it would have to be handled with kid gloves. I vote it should be directed by someone like Almodovar or Todd Haynes or Ang Lee. No Condon, no Marshall. Someone who can really understand the operatic pathos of a musical. It would also have to be cast with people who can actually sing the roles. I love Nicole Kidman, but she has no business singing Sally.
NEXT TO NORMAL. Toni Colette, please. Again. Embrace the form. None of this "a musical that takes place in Diana's head." It's a musical.
INTO THE WOODS. Now that Amy Adams is doing it, maybe she can take this to the screen. With Audra as the witch? Angela Lansbury as the grandmother? Joanna Lumley as the Cinderella's Stepmother? Beth Ditto as Little Red Ridinghood?
THE LIFE. I have no idea if this would ever fly. But Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce can team up again for this.
I wish Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music would be remade properly with people who can sing (and Maggie Smith playing Madame Armfeldt).
Volvagia - I know the book was adapted to film, but the musical version wasn't.
HOW could I forget Next to Normal? Especially when Toni Collette is SO SO PERFECT for that part! I need that movie in my life NOW. I did hear rumblings a while about a film version, but it was going to be directed by Ron Howard or Rob Reiner or something, which filled me with dread. It needs a director with more of an edge. John Cameron Mitchell, I believe we've found your next project!
THE LIFE! YES! Jennifer Hudson would OWN in that.
Alejandro, I could kiss you for that "Life" idea. Seriously. Ditto Robert G. for the "Spelling Bee" mocumentary brainstorm.
I think JRB's "Parade" would translate beautifully to the screen, as well as his "The Last Five Years." Heck, I've even envisioned his "Songs for a New World" as a story of people from disparate backgrounds whose lives intersect in unexpected ways.
Miss Saigon, hands down! I've been waiting for that one for years....I hoped for Newsies for a long time, glad they transferred that one....
Would love to see Into the Woods as well....and most of us are all waiting for Wicked :)
"Master Class" has been completed, with Faye Dunaway.
Actually, speaking of John Cameron Mitchell, I want him to direct a version of THE SECRET GARDEN. It's beautiful and he was in it, so why not? And you don't have to do anything wacky with it, since it's set in the Victorian era, why not just make it like an old Victorian stage play (opened up slightly like Ingmar Bergman's MAGIC FLUTE). Don't people just assume that everyone sang and danced in that era anyway?
I'm surprised WICKED hasn't been made into a movie already even though I don't really like the music, but it's awfully cinematic and since it's set in a magical land already, why not sing?
FOLLIES would work pretty well since it's already so artificial anyway. Someone call Meryl and get this made. She's at least the equal of Alexis Smith and maybe even Jan Maxwell so there's a part already for her.
Passion, Avenue Q, Merrily We Roll Along, Falsettos," anything August Wilson.
(And I'd rather see Meryl as Sally or Carlotta than as Phyllis.)
Scratch that. Meryl's too old for both Sally and Phyllis. But she'd be electrifying as Carlotta and would kill as Stella or Hattie.
I'm so worried about INTO THE WOODS. The show works due to how well it breaks the fourth wall and self-awareness. Both things have worked well for movies in the past, but I don't think they would make for a very good - or even passable - INTO THE WOODS film. It'll need lots of retooling - by way of nature, stage-to-film adaptations generally do, but this one would need it more than others - to be even a decent movie. And I hate saying that because I love musicals and INTO THE WOODS is such a lovely show.
Oh, and completely unrelated to the rest of my post, but Robert Downey Jr. needs to play Herbie in the GYPSY movie.
Next to Normal. Done. We need more small, contemporary family drama movie musicals. Not everyone who breaks into song is a French revolutionary or a dancing gangster.
URINETOWN! Yes!
Can't get some hacky Ron Howard type directing this shit though. It has to be someone who knows how to adapt subversive material to the big screen and make it relevant to audiences. If John Cameron Mitchell is available, I'd pick him. But he'd be great for "Next to Normal" too! Dilemma!
I think you can cast older for Follies since in 1971 women didn't age as well in the public eye as they do today.
I'd go with the following:
Sally: Meryl
Phullis: Michelle Pfeiffer
Buddy: Jason Alexander (can Stanley Tucci sing?)
Ben: Victor Garber, Hugh Jackman
Carlotta: Bebe Neuwirth (she's a possible Phyllis too), Patti LuPone
Stella: Can Kathy Bates sing?
Solange: Catherine Deneuve
Hattie: Shirley MacLaine
Heidi: Christa Ludwig and Diana Damrau