Musical News & Tom Hardy in London Road
Monday, June 8, 2015 at 10:01AM
Manuel here. I’m still drunk on showtunes after last night’s Tony Awards (so glad I finally bought my tickets to Fun Home yesterday, anticipating its various wins!), so what better way to keep the mood going than continuing to talk musicals!
And while I could point out NBC’s The Wiz cast Stephanie Mills (the original Dorothy) as Auntie Em, or that Paul Dano’s Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy opened to respectable reviews this weekend, or that we should all be actively anticipating that Dolly Parton TV movie musical, "Coat of Many Colors," or that Spike Lee’s Chiraq (a musical comedy adaptation of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata set in Chicago) has cast Jennifer Hudson, Kanye West and Dave Chappelle (with rumors of Common joining the cast), I realized I needed to talk about London Road which opens this Friday in the UK:
London Road, which includes Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy in its ensemble cast, is an adaptation of the award-winning National Theatre production about the arrest of Steve Wright, an Ipswich man who was convicted of murdering five sex workers in 2008. Rufus Norris's film uses the dialogue from the real townsfolk who were interviewed by author Alecky Blythe as they came to terms with the fact that a serial killer had been living in their community.
I mean, you had me at “Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy” but it sounds like a fascinating show (anyone catch it in London?) and an intriguing film adaptation. Check out the trailer below:
There’s no US date set for this yet, but I can’t be the only one looking forward to seeing Tom Hardy sing (he must sing though the trailer gives me no indication that he does), can I? It just makes me confident that more challenging musicals may make it to the screen. Last Five Years already made it, but what other unorthodox musicals do you think would be well-suited for the screen?
Reader Comments (9)
Wow. I'd never heard of this, but it looks stunning. Also looks like one of those musicals that will prompt plenty of reactions along the lines of "I just don't UNDERSTAND why they're SINGING" which I just hate, because it's just another form of stylization. That's all. I will watch Olivia Colman in absolutely anything, so I hope it comes to the US at some point.
I'd love to see a movie version (or, hell, even a major stage revival) of Working.
Re: The Wiz news, YES GOOD HOORAY.
I am now existing on the foolish hope that this means they saw my casting suggestions and it will just be a slow rollout of announcing then. Or at least that they also cast Titus's Burgess as the lion, so I won't have to burn NBC to the ground and salt the earth.
I know it would be really challenging but "The Scottsboro Boys" by Kander and Ebb could be an interesting film. The subject matter, based on a true case about nine African-Americans accused of raping two white women and their sham of a trial, doesn't seem to be an obvious choice for a musical. I saw a revival in L.A. few years ago and it's a very difficult but amazing show.
Love, love Olivia Coleman - hoping to see this, Hardy is a bonus.
Is Company unconventional? I own a copy of the production lead by Neil Patrick Harris and think it could work as a film.
After last night's Tony's, it wouldn't surprise me if Fun House became a movie either. It would probably end up being directed by Ryan Murphy and butchered beyond all recognition, but I just have a feeling that someone's (*cough*Harvey*cough*) gonna try and hop on that train sooner or later.
London Road looks promising, though, and I had no idea Chiraq was a musical! I'm not too keen on Jennifer Hudson being in the cast, but I love Spike Lee and School Daze is one of my favorite films of his so here's hoping this'll be as good.
thefilmjunkie: The exact details of this project leave me strongly suspecting that this was something that John Cusack pitched to Spike. I could buy Spike Lee wanting to try a full musical, but Chicago? Lysistrata? Yeah, don't be SURPRISED if you see Cusack listed as a producer on this.
I was lucky enough to see London Road at the National and it was extraordinary, one of the most profound experiences I've had in a theatre. The only thing that could improve it is Olivia Colman.
@Volvagia: Not sure what's so weird about him adapting a Greek comedy, he wouldn't be the first storyteller to do so. Your suspicions regarding Chicago/Cusack make more sense, but Chicago and New York aren't entirely dissimilar and the subject matter is right up Lee's alley. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now, but it hardly matters because he had me at "musical".
LONDON ROAD was absolutely amazing onstage. What made it extraordinary is that the song lyrics were taken verbatim from the interviews that writer Alecky Blythe did with residents of the community where the murders took place. The result is very odd and powerful; a finely grained portrait of a community battling through a difficult moment in the spotlight. But it's definitely NOT conventional song structure, and was highly non-naturalistic and theatrical.
Could be a big risk in the translation to film - it has the same director and cast but (as we know) theatre directors don't always succeed in movie (cf. former National Theatre AD Nicholas Hytner). Can't wait to see it though, opens here in UK this weekend