Musicals which can never live up to the film version.

Grease

Seeing Grease on stage for the first time when I was about 13 was such a disappointment. I darent go again.

I absolutely loved the WSS tour a couple of years ago with Louis Maskell and Katie Hall, and miss my vhs of the Donmar Cabaret; both better than their filmic counterparts. Admitedly WSS is great as a result of the movie because of the recognition but still...

I honestly think the Dreamgirls film is better than the musical! Better character development!

Wow, really? I really hated the film, especially thought it was horribly miscast (Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy and yes, even Jennifer Hudson) and some of the story arcs particularly involving Jimmy were ridiculous. The stage show characterisations just had so much more charisma and was so much tighter without some of the unnecessary new songs.

I agree the original Aladdin animation from Disney is much better than the current musical!! Same with Little Mermaid and Tarzan.

The only 2 live action musical movies that really stand the test of time are The Sound of Music and Grease, both have glorious singing leading ladies, who really know how to act through song. What we see nowadays (Les Mis) is a bunch of actors struggling with the material, acting in spite of song. A director basically apologizing for the artform.

I agree about the animated musicals, Aladdin and the Little Mermaid, they had this quality and fluidity in both animation and embracing the artform of sung thoughts, where the stage versions fall flat, it looks like a sack of potatoes on stage.

Sorry I have stumbled by mistake into a Film Forum?



The very idea that a DVD can be better than any possible live version is ….suspect. What is it about those versions that you find so admirable?

The performances? Well we’ll have to see who emerges to better them

The rewriting of the way it plays out? Again, not all stage productions follow the same script.

And then there’s the magic that happens on a certain night in a certain theatre…



As to the films you’ve chosen

Cabaret. I can remember my reaction the first time I saw it, but it is less with each repeat. Something that isn’t true in the theatre. Was really moved by the Donmar production. Yes it’s a great film, but better than a really good live production? (Happily we can have both).


WSS. May have a point as the live productions have to follow a template and that’s a buzz killer. Does anyone know when it’s out of copywright? Overdue for a reinvention me thinks.


TSOM. Too long. JA too Old. Should have a Government Health Warning as Medical evidence exists linking frequent watching to the onset of Diabetes. Never liked the piece until I saw the Regents Park version a couple of summers ago. It was a real drama.


Chicago. Much as I admire the film, live it’s just so much more ….sexy (can I say that these days?) and seductive. As an audience member you are meant to realise you’ve been taken in by the razzle dazzle. Maybe the current tired stage version is not the best argument for this, but it has legs!!!!!!!


Oliver. Film best watched in bits as its rather long. As for Shani Wallis, well at least she’s the exception in a marvellous cast.



PS I do realise you don’t really mean it, just having a little fun. I mean you can’t really mean it???

My contribution: Hairspray. Yes, John Travolta was a helluva misstep, but the film was significantly better than the musical and will remain so until the stage version incorporates all the changes from the movie, up to and including Link's redemptive moment of dancing with Little Inez, and Little Inez's subsequent winning of Miss Teenage Hairspray. Yeah, some great songs from the show did go AWOL for the movie, but they are sacrifices I am willing to make.

Julie Andrews is a sublimely great Julie Andrews in the film, but it wasn't until I saw the Regent's Park production that I realised how unconvincing she had been as the problem that the nuns were wondering how one would solve. I think My Favourite Things and The Lonely Goatherd work better in the film, but otherwise, the stage version has a LOT more going for it than devotees of the film would have you believe (including the cut songs, and the nun choruses being treated less as background music).

Definitely anything Disney.

I didn't care much for Chicago the film, the stage show was MUCH better. Same for Dreamgirls.

Chitty Chitty bang bang...

I think Mary Poppins shouldn't count because it's not an adaptation of the film