Sunday, June 3, 2007

Movie Musicals...past their prime

It seems as though more and more musicals based on films continue to leak through the cracks and hit the mainstream (which, along with Disney's role in reinventing Broadway and Times Square alike, is most likely the main contributing factor to the shift in focus from talent to spectacle on Broadway), despite the notion being a bit past its prime.

I recently read an article on http://www.playbill.com that announced renouned director Trevor Nunn will be helming a musical adaptation of Gone With the Wind. I couldn't help but groan to myself a little bit. I've also been reading about the development of John Waters' Cry Baby, which is having its out of town tryout at the La Jolla Playhouse, and moving to Broadway afterwards. I have enjoyed my fair share of movie musicals, but I do feel a bit sad that more original material is not being put out there.

Looking at a list of the 31 musicals on Broadway right now, 12 of them are based on movies of the same name, and 6 of them are based on real people and/or feature unoriginal music.

I look forward to the point where more original material is put out there, rather than adaptations of films and other unoriginal material.

1 comment:

Kim said...

Can we say Hairspray? A movie based on a musical based on a movie-musical? Oy. But, um, will I see it? Probably.