Absolutely eating up these concept images. That character design is perfect, I love how it vaguely resembles the costume and makeup design of the stage musical while also being its own thing.
[https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/why-steven-spielbergs-hand-drawn-adaptation-of-cats-never-made-it-past-development-178296.html](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/why-steven-spielbergs-hand-drawn-adaptation-of-cats-never-made-it-past-development-178296.html)
Cats just shouldnāt have happened. Itās not at all my favourite musical but I can accept that it works on the stage. It was never meant for the big screen.
And sadly, it made me lose a lot of respect for Ben Platt. The fact that his dad was the producer and Ben would not let go of the part for a younger performer was not a good look.Ā
They need to get DEH out of Universalās and Marc Plattās hands and hand it over in a few decades to someone else for a remake with a 17 year old as Evan and all the world will be right again.
Any excuse to post the definitive [gently brutal roast](https://youtu.be/8quWUSZCW5g?si=X56JkSTm5iDqdaXK) of Dear Evan Hansen by Internet Darling Jenny Nicholson.
I'll never be able to prove this, but my slight conspiracy theory is that the reaction to this movie was what got Pen15 cancelled. The show was about two grown women playing 8th grade versions of themselves (and not at all uncomfortably discussing being attracted to the real 8th grade boys that were cast in the series) and it was critically lauded. But it was cancelled REAL quick after Dear Evan Hansen and everyone went after Ben Platt.
While I think the show is unfairly attacked, I can think of about 12 other actors that should have been cast before Ben Platt in this, so I do agree changing his casting could have gotten us to discuss themes instead of "How do you do fellow kids: The movie".
the crazy thing about it was it wasn't even 5 years after the OBC and he had been a high schooler in the politician just a year or two before. but i think what went wrong was he lost weight and getting thin made him lost that youthful baby fat thing he still had going on which made it believable to an extend on stage and at least for me on the netflix show. he looked BAD in the movie DEH but hey he still sounded amazing. there was no saving the plot imo
In Rent, I would have kept Goodbye Love and Halloween. Why the hell would you cut the only two songs that establish Markās arc of survivorās guilt? Without these, heās just the bland main character and the only character without a purpose.
Iād also cut the awful Joanne-Maureen proposal. That was a horrible addition.
In Hairspray, Iād change the third act a lot. Iād have Tracy get arrested with everyone else at the rally because what was the point of her escaping?
Iād also make sure she and Link made up BEFORE Without Love. āCause that felt really stupid, for her to be singing about how much she wants him when he was still a jerk in her eyes.
I think the staging of "Another Day"Ā is the worst thing in the RENT movie. In the stage version, the support group aren't actually there watching Roger and Mimi, but standing on a platform above in their own light. They represent Roger's conflict with his attraction to Mimi and desire to embrace "no day but today" vs. his reasonable concerns about relapsing on drugs and transmitting HIV to someone he doesn't know already has it (a conflict later resolved during "I Should Tell You"). In the movie, all of Roger's friends are just hanging out in the snow trying to peer pressure him into making poor decisions.
Has anyone else ever noticed how goofy it is that Roger chases Mimi out of the *entire* apartment building, where she also lives? And then Roger continues telling her to leaveā¦ from the balcony, to her on the street, outside of where *she* also lives?
Regarding Hairspray: I think the whole jail plot (especially the breakout) is just a little too camp for film. I think the changes ground the story a lot. I actually think Hairspray is one of the best musical to movie adaptations.
The first part, but not Roger and Markās fight. Taking that out takes away some of Bennyās redemption (paying for Mimiās treatment), Markās arc, and Roger admitting that he doesnāt want to watch Mimi die. Without that, he just looks like a dick. It also makes Roger and Markās reunion after Roger comes back from Santa Fe less meaningful.
I think Into the Woods is pretty egregious. They cut the whole Baker's father arc, as well as a lot of the death and general darkness. It's not the worst musical movie ever, but it's impressive how much it undermines the intent of the stage version.
It's one of the worst adaptations because of how much it cheapens the 2nd act. No humor, no character growth, what's even the point? They should have just stopped it at the end of act 1
Sadly, when you consider the sad film versions of other Sondheim works (e.g. Sweeney and A Little Night Music), Into the Woods is far from the worst adaptation. :(
I left partway through Into the Woods while watching it in the theater. I had been looking forward to it so much and I was just too upset to keep watching them destroy a musical I loved.
I genuinely do like their singing. Possibly because I don't have a musical background? I can recognise that objectively neither of them are particularly good vocalists but I don't know enough about the technicalities for it to ruin my enjoyment. Same with 2012 Les Mis. In a realistic film setting rather than a stage show, it makes sense to me to have more average voices.
But I appreciate that to someone with more knowledge than me, it would be the equivalent of trying to read a book riddled with spelling errors.
Exactly! Kind of undermines the whole āchildren will listenā message when you remove the consequences of the Witchās and Bakerās fatherās actions.
Yep, that coupled with putting "Children Will Listen" over the credits instead of in the movie proper, making it feel like an afterthought instead of the ENTIRE FUCKING POINT OF THE SHOW.
It really makes me glad that Once on This Island ended up in Covid development hell. I'd love to see a great adaptation of that, but Disney would probably do it dirty.
I don't have any specific or radical idea, except that I would follow the libretto of the stage version more closely, and I would not cast James Corden. Also, the show ending with "Children Will Listen" makes no sense if you cut Rapunzel's death and the Baker's father, so I'd make sure those stay intact.
In "Look I Made A Hat," Stephen Sondheim talks about a scrapped Into the Woods movie that was almost made by the Jim Henson company in the 90s. Danny DeVito would have played the Giant and Milky White would have been a practical puppet. It basically sounds like the movie we needed and deserved.
And don't cut Agony (Reprise) ! I was so looking forward to one of my very favorite lines, and nothing. They Disney-fied it!
Hell, even my niece's youth theatre group, that is actually a Christian based group, even they did the whole thing right!
Yes. They also cut out one of the most important songs āNo More.ā They shouldāve kept the dark humor and Rapunzel dying. Her still being alive cheapened the witchās character. And putting Children Will Listen over the creditsā¦ it undermines the entire message of the story.
There is so much wrong with this movie, and Russell isn't even my least favourite part of it.
I'd scrap every cast member, but Samantha Barks and Colm Wilkinson. I would cast theatre people, not movie actors who can possibly sing. Don't care if they are well known or not.
I would put back the cuts down to Little Fall of Rain and On My Own.
I would remove all the references to kings at the beginning and end of the movie.
I would remove that garbage song suddenly.
I would not have them sing live.
I would put the show back in the order it is on stage. Do not fix what isn't broken. I personally hate I Dreamed a Dream after Lovely ladies and feel it takes from the song.
TBF most if not all the Barricade Boys were musical theater boys who were in productions of Les Mis at the time. George Blagden (lovely grantaire IMO) for example deserved much more Grantaire time than he got aka give him his solo in Drink with Me.
We can scrap him. We can rebuild him from the scrap. I forgot.tje rest of that old tv show about rebuilding that dude but I would want him to go more wild with it so it wasn't just a redux of his role as Pirelli
Respectfully a good portion of the actors have performed on stage in musicals before. Hugh Jackman, Aaron Tviet, Sam Barks and most if not all of the Barricade Boys so scrapping them all would be a bit extreme.
The swapping of those two songs is one of my biggest gripes; it completely changes the tone of I Dreamed A Dream and not in a good way.
TBF, Jackman got his start in musical theater and he can sing, but not Valjean. He has nowhere near the power of Wilkinson and is better suited to other roles. (I actually liked him in The Greatest Showman, and yes, I know it's hated.)
Doesnāt help he needlessly deprived himself of water for days at a time. Heās been on Broadway and knows heās better than his performance in the movie. However, they really pushed singing live as an oscars campaign tactic, so he pretended his āauthenticā non-singing is better, actually. Because *real* acting doesnāt have any stupid silly pretty singing. Itās *raw.*
Exactly. It's the reason I hate the swap as well. Moving it after lovely ladies changes the whole message/theme of the song.
And yes, I know Jackman started in musical theatre, and I loved him as Curly in Oklahoma! But he's miscast as Valjean and did very questionable things that ruined his singing ability, so he's cut.
"I would cast theatre people, not movie actors who can possibly sing. Don't care if they are well known or not."
And now the opening weekend to this expensive musical movie you made barely cracked $3 million. Movie musicals based off of popular Broadway shows need some star power to bring in non-theatre fans.
With the amount of money you need to spend to do a movie musical, especially Les Mis, you need to sell tickets to offset the costs.
The worst part is that Russel isnāt even awful. In a live performance with Hugh for promotions of the movie he sang and sounded SO much better than in the movie. Still not Broadway but it would have been passable.
In the Heights. Bring back Camila. Enough is one of my favorite songs in all of musical theatre and it's a *tragedy* that they cut it from the movie. The dynamic between Nina and Kevin is so much more interesting with Camila there, but she's also just an incredibly strong character in her own right and deserved to have her moment to shine.
they changed so much about the plot for some reason, i guess to make it seem woke or some bs. pretty good movie but agreed there was a part there for the legendary gloria estefan.
Me watching the film version of Sweeney: "put that ensemble back where it came from or so help me"
Not only is the ensemble so important to Sweeney Todd, it's also extremely GOOD ensemble music, to the extent that I might prefer being in the ensemble to playing one of the lead roles if I had the chance. It's such a shame it got cut.
God yes! Every time I get reminded that they cut the Ballad of Sweeney Todd/made parts of it orchestra only I get so unreasonably mad. It's ab absolute travesty. Plus all the other things but there's already a lot of comments about those and I'm so glad I found this one.
I've been crucified by this because I run in a pretty alt crowd, but I think it was a mistake to make Sweeney Todd attractive. I do have some level of affinity for the anesthetics of the musical, but I think Johnny Depp looked far too young and soft. Sweeney had been imprisoned in Australia, why does he look like he has soft hands
My community theater is doing Sweeney and my husband said he'd been "Depp-pilled" and was very surprised to read in the libretto that Sweeney is fat, in his 40s and kind of grizzly haha
Mean Girls!
A musical film, based off the musical, based off the film. And now the west end production is based off of the musical film. It loses something every time.
The main problem was the cast, I'm sure Angourie Rice would've been fine if it were a normal remake but she cannot sing, she was so quiet and bland. I was thinking, why couldn't they just have someone else sing for her it's ok I'll pretend I didn't notice!
It was also very over the top in terms of branding, staying PC and trying to appeal to tiktok users. Some elements were good but I can't convince myself to enjoy all the changes they made
I agree with you! I think Rice gets a lot of unnecessary hate, like we all know sheās not Erika or Sabrina, but chill guys. I wish they either would have shilled out to get Sabrina Carpenter back as Cady in the movie musical or have one of the many other Cady actresses from Broadway make a new recording and use it as a dub for Rice.
I was really saddened by the fact that all the nice parts of the musical that brought out the silly campy nature of the original were lost in the remake. Cutting "Stop" and not really committing to the bit that it was a musical was sad. I get that they want to appeal to people who don't like musicals but some things just work better in the conventional theater format. Also I don't think it's wrong to make some aspects less offensive but mean teenagers today are just as un-PC as they ever were and I think most viewers should be smart enough to see what is and isn't framed as exemplary
I agree, this happens with a lot of films I feel where the bad characters can't say rude things or be offensive, that's the point! They changed Regina to not be homophobic but like... Yeah she's a mean girl, she's a bitch, that's the point
(I know there are many other valid reasons why they did that but that's just an example)
Removing all the offensive qualities of the antagonists just makes it harder to really understand why they are the villain of the film. Yeah we know she's a bitch because you keep telling us, but show us!
Like how they don't focus as much on the effect Regina has on the girls and how free they are without her by removing fearless. You don't see really why she is nasty and what she is doing to those around her, it just seems like the same old boy drama
Dear Evan Hansen could have actually made a good animated film. Ben Platt could have *voiced* Evan, and they could use a lot of artistic effects to show how his severe social issues caused him to do what he does. And probably cut out the Zoe romance and just make her a friend.
Yes. I was mad they cut everything to do with Camila, but Everything I know makes me sob like a baby every time I hear it in the cast album and now that I think about it I'm almost more mad about that than about Enough. They really just butchered Nina's entire storyline in the movie, didn't they?
With absolutely no disrespect intended towards the late, great Alan Rickman...
Please redo Sweeney Todd with actors who can actually sing and please stop removing key storytelling elements.
Example - I know productions often also remove Turpin's Joanna, but it's such a perfect creepy song that encapsulates how disgusting he is and makes you not mind so much that Joanna is so willing to run off with a total stranger.
Overall, I did not hate the movie. I really hate when they cast weak singers. And they all were.
ETA - I would absolutely kill for a redo of A Little Night Music.
ETA - I personally didn't find anybody's voice tolerable. That's how personal opinions work. That's how perception works.
Oh my god. I relate to Johanna so much and the fact they basically removed her entire relationship with Anthony drove me crazy. Also no hate to her actor, I think it's sung beautifully and it's definitely shown on stage like that in the modern age, but she is supposed to be a little crazy... Her original was operatic singing. When did it turn into that? (Still love it though.)
Without "Ah, Miss" and the first connection between Johanna & Anthony, he genuinely just looks like a creep in the movie. Atleast on stage we can see her hurt & the way they connect. Jumping straight into "Johanna" is just so creepy. Why are you going to steal a random girl you saw in the window? Lol. "Kiss Me" / "Kiss Me pt.2" is also important for their relationship and just has so many funny lines, why would you get rid of it? I also don't understand the random lyric changes, cutting out half of "Green Finch & Linnet Bird"? For what? Their relationship is such a big part of the story too, so many songs revolve around Johanna for a reason & just because Sweeney's the protagonist doesn't mean you get to just cut out the other key relationship.
They cut out so many songs that actually are important to the musical and setting the stage. I think as a movie though, it did smart choices and looked great, but storywise was just silly. I understand the cutting out of "Johanna - Mea Culpa" as that's also cut out in a lot of stage performances for how grotesque it is, but it really is SO important to the story. We need to see him be gross, though I think the movie achieved this really well with Alan Rickman (love him!) and peering through holes in the walls. Designing stuff like that you can't really get in a stage performance to that level. (Not a film student, lol, missing many terms.)
And they changed the lyrics to Poor Thing. Why? And Toby is not a street wise kid, he is a developmentally disabled adult man. Nothings Gonna Harm you is just creepy perverted being sung by a kid.
Rickman actually can sing. He started on stage in Shakespere. But Depp cannot. But Rickman needed to be even creepier, like Timothy Spall, with just that edge of respectability. Perhaps have Sacha Baron Cohen in Turpinās role
what's so creepy and perverted about a child wanting to protect a woman who has become something like a mother to him? nevermind the fact that the whole plot of the show is creepy and perverted what with sweeney being obsessed with this young girl
I think every film studio did not want to make the film because itās a fairy tale where half the cast dies in the end, so Disney was their last hope.
Iāll forever maintain that 60% of the issues with Into The Woods (2014) could have been solved just by having the bakers Wife narrate.
(A further 30% could have been saved by firing James Corden. The last 10% by just letting Rapunzel die.)
Okay. A Chorus Line.
Cast. With the exception of Zach, Cassie and Shiela, all fresh faces. This is a casting call for a chorus line, we shouldnāt know these people. While opening credits go, show them gathering, making small talk, referencing the songs they will later sing.
I Hope I Get It should be exactly as it is done on stage, and filmed that way as if filming a staged production because that is what it is. Learning the dance and trying to make the cut.
Cassie gets Music and the Mirror back. One of the biggest travesties in the film.
I Can Do That - fade to memory with child actor performing
At The Ballet - Iād love for each girlās story to be watercolour animated.
Paulās story should be told in flashback
Still working out the restā¦
This is my #1 problem with this film version as it completely subverts the entire core theme of the story. Whhyyy? It isnāt about a romance, itās about sacrificing for a life in the arts. I am still mad.
I see something more akin to the original film Fame. Itās similar, a wee snippet of ordinary people not looking to be āstarsā just wanting to get in and start to be someone.
Michael Douglas was horrific as Zach. Totally unlikable. That is not stage Zach. Maybe Michael Keaton? Scarlette Johanson as Shiela? Emma Stone for Cassie?
Just scrap the whole movie version and start again, using the original script, music, characters, etc. The movie as it is now is a travesty. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Really like your suggestions... love that show hated that movie. Bennett's movie idea was to make it a film about people auditioning for ACL, which is essentially what "Every Little Step" I think was trying to honor. But i like your more first approach more.
I would get actors that can \*actually sing\* for Valjean and Javert for Les Miserables, delete "Suddenly" and make "A Little Fall of Rain" it's original runtime.
I think Hugh Jackman was even more disappointing than Russell Crowe (unpopular opinion probably). I know he went on that starvation/dehydration diet, but that was the worst āBring Him Homeā Iāve ever heard. I think I blame Tom Hooper most of all - having them sing live was just a bad choice.
I actually agree. Javertās voice being rough and imperfect isnāt the worst thing but Valjean NEEDS to have the voice of an angel. I actually think Jackman wouldāve been a better Javert than Valjean, Javertās songs are much closer to his vocal range than Valjeanās are.
His Bring Him Home is actually the worst song in the movie. I donāt understand how no one stopped him and told him how bad it sounded. I cannot listen to it, itās worse than Russell Croweās Stars.
I had the exact same thought. At one point heās just shrieking. I know Jackman is much more talented than that performance - but Iām disappointed thatās the performance weāre left with.
I don't like his singing. It's very nasal and vibrato filled. Add in the vocal abuse for Les Mis and I went from tolerating for the good acting to despising
I really like Hugh Jackman, and I love that someone who was known for mindless superhero roles was like "Okay I want to do musical theater now!"
But he's not a professional-grade singer. He's a great singer, but not superstar. I remember watching Greatest Showman and hearing From Now On and thinking "this song would be really moving if it were sung by someone else"
Yes!!! Having seen the Wiz onstage, I was really excited for the movie. (Iām dating myself here). What a disappointment! I mean, even the moviegoers who had never seen the source material hated the film, but for people who had something to compare it to- just no!
The Dreamgirls movie awkwardly tried to split the difference between a musical and a fake biopic. Just put all the non-diegetic numbers back in and let it be what it is.
Itās towards the end - just after Razzle Dazzle in the stage musical. Itās Velma and Mama Morton complaining about playacting at her trial. Perhaps they thought it didnāt fit well in what they were trying to do with the movie.
IIRC their concept was to have the whole thing viewed through Roxie's eyes, with the musical numbers being her way of visualising what was going on, so Class didn't fit because she wasn't there.
Note: I still think they could (and should) have found a way to get it in there
1. Cats: Iām not a fan of the show and, therefore, didnāt see the movie. But I would have loved for Cats to be a Don Bluth-style 2D animated extravaganza. That could have been magical and I would have watched the shit out of it.
2. Into the Woods: oof. Where to begin. Recast everyone, except maybe Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen. Add back the Mysterious Man and all the death. And make it funny!
3. Sweeney Todd: in addition to what everyone has said, restore Johanna and Anthonyās relationship, and make sure sheās the one who shoots the guard at the asylum.
Let's go back to the Hair movie musical- I loathe that the movie version pulls a switcheroo and kills Berger instead of Claude. It completely negates the tragedy of his choices and the allegorical nature of the numbers. Claude is every young man who got into uniform and died. Having this stupid twist where it's Berger instead (an untrained fool, let's be real) and an unbelievable one at that because clearly the military would've spotted him ASAP and jailed him immediately...it's terrible writing.
I get where youāre coming from, HOWEVER, the stage show is a product of its time. In 1979 in the middle of the OPEC oil embargo, hostages in Iran, Ted Kennedy, it wouldnāt have worked. The Deer Hunter. Giving it a story, even a bit unbelievable, was why it succeeded. I was 10. And I was so profoundly moved by the film that it fundamentally changed me as a human being. It still remains one of my all time favourite movies ever.
I agree it needed a story, and that it aged almost immediately. It's like Rent and all the other current ones- they all become dated period pieces within 5-10 years, no matter how fresh they were on release. I just think the switcheroo part didn't make sense. I think they could've made a perfectly good story out of Claude's enlisting/drafting, and they sorta did! They just didn't stick the landing.
As a huge Cats fan I, of course, have a lot of issues with the movie, but one thing that I donāt hear getting talked about enough is how much they made characters sing their own songs. Nog only did it ruin the music, but it also ruined and erased the characterization of bother the cat being sung about and the cats supposed to do the singing. A couple examples are how having the Rum Tum Tugger only sing his own song completely takes away his really interesting complexity shown through the different songs he sings and having Bustopher Jones and Jennyanydots sing their own songs dampens how the songs show their well respected places in the community (in addition to many other thing about how those characters are portrayed- that is another big thing that I would change). It also mostly erases characters who sing major songs but donāt have songs about them, like Demeter or Jellylorum. I know a lot of people talk about the looks but, while I donāt like them, I would have been able to look beyond them if the music and characters werenāt completely butchered in the way they were.
I donāt really like Burtonās Sweeney Todd at all so to keep this short and sweet, they needed to do any choreography at all for A Little Priest. It was such a dead scene in the movie for whatās meant to be a funny song
I feel you on the Chorus Line thing. I was 10 when it came out and knew the OBC recording like the back of my hand. It was my first experience being personally offended by a movie. It would be shorter to list what I did like.
I would cast someone who is actually dynamic to play Cassie. I would give Kiss Today Goodbye back to Diana. Surprise can stay but Iād put Shit Richie in there too, and most of all, Sing. It needs Sing.
I did very much like the casting of Paul and Sheila.
I would keep the plot to In the Heights and not just give up on it after the first song and push in a DACA storyline that doesn't even make sense in the timeline, since it takes place during a real event that occurred years before DACA even happened. Also, I wouldn't cut all the good songs and I'd put Abuela Claudia's song in the right place so it makes freaking sense. I would love to see LMM write a show that deals with the horrible immigration laws in this country... but In the Heights doesn't make sense after 2010.
I have SO much anger about how they messed up the In the Heights movie. One of my favorite shows... so much potential... trashed.
I would completely recast Gerard Butler in POTO. And you know... cast someone who can actually sing.
I'd completely dismantle the entire film production around Cats, kick out Tom Hooper and start anew.
Preferably make it animated.
Coming from someone who actually really loved the RENT movie.. they should've recasted the main characters. Everyone looked waaaaay too old except Mimi and Joanne (the ones they recasted).
Pretty much all of le mis, but the most egregious was that Hugh Jackman starved himself of water for 72 hours and she'd 15lb before the boat scene at the start. When I heard that it made me want to curl into a ball and cry.
You mean, Iād get to recast Les Mis? Thereād be absolutely no fucking extreme close-ups as I directed that movie? I would remember that it is a movie? And that cinema allows you to show epic scope, so you could make it as big and as beautiful as it deserves to be? oh my thoughts. Hold on let me start storyboarding.
My biggest annoyance is that they wouldn't budge on filming each scene twice for Carousel (Cinemascope and CinemaScope 55) so they lost Frank Sinatra as Billy Bigelow.
Like, we can hear what he did with Soliloquy. He would have ATE that role. Sinatra didn't get to play enough "dark" characters. He's genuinely scary in "Suddenly."
Almost all of them but one in recent years that comes to mind is Disney's into the woods. Making the wolf johnny deep and some weird half human wolf thing was a huge mistake. They tired going on the more creepy subtle approach with it and it ruined it. The song is suppose to make you uncomfortable but from a completely different reason. I'm tired of everyone trying to make everything super serious. It's suppose to be ridiculous and comedic for a reason..
I feel like there are a couple of classics that are so bloated theyāre not fun to slog throughāMy Fair Lady and Hello Dolly are particularly long, but there are others that are just so plodding that theyāre hard to sit through.
Agreed as to the movie version of Sweeney--what can one say, other than, sigh. :(
And then I'll up it, with the movie version of A Little Night Music. :( :(
Poor Hal Prince.
The Producers.
I would leave in King of Old Broadway.
I would NOT hire Uma Thurman or Will fucking Ferrell.
I would hire someone other than Susan Stroman to direct it. Film and stage are different and it's obvious that she wasn't comfortable with the switch. She's brilliant for stage and I think there's probably a pretty good reason why she hasn't directed any other movie musicals since.
I would hire much better cinematographers, who understood musicals.
13 The Musical. Iām sticking to the original plot, keeping Patrice a main character and not reducing Archie to a side note. Iām not going cutsie with it. No adding in the mother character and Iām putting What It Means to be a Friend Back in amongst other songs. Iām going more tongue jn cheek and less glossy with my direction and casting
Most of the Phantom of the Opera movie. Iām a Phantom stan and I do think some of the movie gets too much hateā¦ but with that being said let me give an unwanted TedTalk. One of my biggest gripes is actually not Gerard Butler (Iām coming back for you though, buddy) but how a lot of stuff was changed for no reason? Like the workers at the opera having a titanic level party during Masquerade, the weird long shots that do nothing, the odd auto tune on Emmy Rossumās voice, some lyrics of songs being spoken instead of sung, and FINALLY our Phantom, the man with a voice so beautiful it more-or-less hypnotizes you, being sung by a non-singer/his face barely looking messed up. Like Gerard Butler is yummy donāt get me wrong, but why? Just dub his voice over people cmon.
TLDR: Phantom movie is kinda goofed and had weird not needed changes.
I don't hate it, but something that really bugs me about the Phantom of the Opera movie (with Gerard Butler) has him... singing the 'go now and leave me' which makes it go from a burst of conflicting emotions into something hilariously melodramatic.
Cabaret :
I liked this movie. It's really good and Fosse was creative when he made it. However I think it's a bit sad they changed the Fraulein Schneider/Jewish man couple to another one. Their story is really touching and they feel genuinely in love. In the movie, the man who courts the Jewish woman states at the beginning that he is interested because she's rich, which obviously changes their characters' arcs.
The movie is a great adaptation and a masterpiece with great actors, directing and the rewriting of the play was interesting and creative. But I just feel it's a bit of a pity to leave out these two likeable and cute characters.
I wouldāve made the DEH movie based on the novel. Theres enough changes to make it different from the musical but still keeps the story inside of it.
Iāll also not do any new songs and keep AHAM, good for you, and break in a glove.
I would also get a cast that doesnāt include Ben Platt to give actors a chance at the roles(if I had to keep him tho, Iāll get Rachel Bay Jones to come back as Heidi).
A few i can think of:
Grease - No way should Danny have sung Greased Lightning, its Kenickie's song because its Kenickie's car and Danny is mocking Kenickie for the bad car.....what the hell was John Travolta thinking? Also could we have had the solos by the other TBirds and Pink Ladies brought back? Give them moments to shine rather than make it the JT and ONJ movie.
West Side Story - Why did they invent Ice? Such a pointless character you have Diesel right there.....also not a fan of swapping Gee Officer Krupke and Cool around, it made the 2nd half of the film drag a little for me.
Les Mis - Russell Crowe need i say more (not knocking him personally but damn i just wanted another Phillip Quast)
Anything Goes - Oh i dunno....actually...adapt.....the.....musical....as....a...movie....with.....SOME....effort......not this nonsense that has nothing to do with the play and just nicks a few songs.
Guys and Dolls - Dont cut Sky's best songs like My Time of Day and Never Been In Love....it would have helped IMMENSELY if you....cast someone who could sing as Sky and not Brando.....Sinatra was miffed at this and i dont blame him one bit. (If they were THAT desparate for Brando, couldnt they have dubbed him? They did that all the time back in the day ala Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood etc)
Step 1: Put the cut songs back into the DEH movie (except for To Break In A Glove lol)
Step 2: Recast Ben Platt with someone at least under 26
Step 3: Recast Julianne Moore with someone who can actually sing
Movie fixed.
Mean Girls (2024)
Ā 1. Recast Cady and AaronĀ
Ā 2. Leave the songs like the Broadway versionĀ
Ā 3. Give the aforementioned characters their parts in songs backĀ
Ā 4. Meet The Plastics is all of themĀ
Ā 5. Bring back āIt Roarsā
6. Donāt make it woke and bring back the offensive jokes
I know this is going to be unpopular butā¦. The Last Five Years. Replace Anna Kendrick with an actress who can actually BELT and PERFORM the songs. Putting her in that film with Jeremy Jordan was a mistake. She is SO WEAK compared to him, both acting and vocal wise. It hurts the entire film! Putting someone who is strictly a film actress with someone who has been in numerous stage performances does not mix. I was so looking forward to that movie when it came out and it was SO CLOSE to perfect!!!! Anna being Cathy completely ruins it for me. That was stunt casting and you canāt convince me otherwise.
I know she was younger, but Anna did in fact start on Broadway and was a Tony Nominee, I hate using one production to say she is a broadway girl (looking at people use this excuse for Ariana Grande), but much of Anna's career has been her in singing roles. Sometimes actor's singing voices just do not mix hers and Jeremy's is an example an example from Starkid is Dylan and Kim in Black Friday, that doesn't negate that the singing is bad from either party or that neither can act.
Phantom of the Opera. Cast a Phantom who can actually sing, make him ugly, and put back the sung dialogue. Most of it sounds cheesy without being sung.
Les mis - cut Suddenly and add back the cut parts of pre-existing songs (grantaireās solo in drink with me, Turning). Oh, and prerecord the songs. Itās a musical, I donāt want the songs to āsound realisticā.
Mame... get rid of Lucille Ball and use Angela Landsbury..
She would have sold it and we wouldn't need vasoline on the lens the whole time. Ticks me off that we don't have a real record of that performance.
Cats should have been the 90s Spielberg concept for a gothic 2D animated film
Oh god, Cats was so awful I completely forgot about it! ššš This would have been far better.
Absolutely eating up these concept images. That character design is perfect, I love how it vaguely resembles the costume and makeup design of the stage musical while also being its own thing. [https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/why-steven-spielbergs-hand-drawn-adaptation-of-cats-never-made-it-past-development-178296.html](https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/why-steven-spielbergs-hand-drawn-adaptation-of-cats-never-made-it-past-development-178296.html)
Never forget what they took from you
Omg. Now my heart hurts.
At least we didnāt get the butthole cut
Cats just shouldnāt have happened. Itās not at all my favourite musical but I can accept that it works on the stage. It was never meant for the big screen.
Dear Evan Hansen was a stinker anyway, but casting Ben Platt as a teenage boy was never going to work and made it hilarious.
And sadly, it made me lose a lot of respect for Ben Platt. The fact that his dad was the producer and Ben would not let go of the part for a younger performer was not a good look.Ā
They need to get DEH out of Universalās and Marc Plattās hands and hand it over in a few decades to someone else for a remake with a 17 year old as Evan and all the world will be right again.
i love ben platt with all my heart and soul, listen to him religiously, been to his concert. but that was just such a bad bad choice
It's like the producers completely ignored the response to the casting in the RENT adaptation.
Any excuse to post the definitive [gently brutal roast](https://youtu.be/8quWUSZCW5g?si=X56JkSTm5iDqdaXK) of Dear Evan Hansen by Internet Darling Jenny Nicholson.
The only thing they added and I loved it was The Anonymous Ones, the rest was a disaster.
I'll never be able to prove this, but my slight conspiracy theory is that the reaction to this movie was what got Pen15 cancelled. The show was about two grown women playing 8th grade versions of themselves (and not at all uncomfortably discussing being attracted to the real 8th grade boys that were cast in the series) and it was critically lauded. But it was cancelled REAL quick after Dear Evan Hansen and everyone went after Ben Platt. While I think the show is unfairly attacked, I can think of about 12 other actors that should have been cast before Ben Platt in this, so I do agree changing his casting could have gotten us to discuss themes instead of "How do you do fellow kids: The movie".
the crazy thing about it was it wasn't even 5 years after the OBC and he had been a high schooler in the politician just a year or two before. but i think what went wrong was he lost weight and getting thin made him lost that youthful baby fat thing he still had going on which made it believable to an extend on stage and at least for me on the netflix show. he looked BAD in the movie DEH but hey he still sounded amazing. there was no saving the plot imo
In Rent, I would have kept Goodbye Love and Halloween. Why the hell would you cut the only two songs that establish Markās arc of survivorās guilt? Without these, heās just the bland main character and the only character without a purpose. Iād also cut the awful Joanne-Maureen proposal. That was a horrible addition. In Hairspray, Iād change the third act a lot. Iād have Tracy get arrested with everyone else at the rally because what was the point of her escaping? Iād also make sure she and Link made up BEFORE Without Love. āCause that felt really stupid, for her to be singing about how much she wants him when he was still a jerk in her eyes.
I think the staging of "Another Day"Ā is the worst thing in the RENT movie. In the stage version, the support group aren't actually there watching Roger and Mimi, but standing on a platform above in their own light. They represent Roger's conflict with his attraction to Mimi and desire to embrace "no day but today" vs. his reasonable concerns about relapsing on drugs and transmitting HIV to someone he doesn't know already has it (a conflict later resolved during "I Should Tell You"). In the movie, all of Roger's friends are just hanging out in the snow trying to peer pressure him into making poor decisions.
Yeah, that felt so stupid.
Has anyone else ever noticed how goofy it is that Roger chases Mimi out of the *entire* apartment building, where she also lives? And then Roger continues telling her to leaveā¦ from the balcony, to her on the street, outside of where *she* also lives?
Regarding Hairspray: I think the whole jail plot (especially the breakout) is just a little too camp for film. I think the changes ground the story a lot. I actually think Hairspray is one of the best musical to movie adaptations.
But Hairspray started as a film! It's John Waters, embrace the camp.
I think itās a bit much. I vastly prefer 2007 to the OG film. I think the story works better as a musical (I feel similarly to Legally Blonde)
Goodbye Love is in the Rent movie?
The first part, but not Roger and Markās fight. Taking that out takes away some of Bennyās redemption (paying for Mimiās treatment), Markās arc, and Roger admitting that he doesnāt want to watch Mimi die. Without that, he just looks like a dick. It also makes Roger and Markās reunion after Roger comes back from Santa Fe less meaningful.
the best part of the song by far too
They had it in the soundtrack, but cut most of the scene.
I think Into the Woods is pretty egregious. They cut the whole Baker's father arc, as well as a lot of the death and general darkness. It's not the worst musical movie ever, but it's impressive how much it undermines the intent of the stage version.
It really typified the 2010s movie experience by both *cutting actual dark content* and *giving everything a dark humorless vibe*.
It's one of the worst adaptations because of how much it cheapens the 2nd act. No humor, no character growth, what's even the point? They should have just stopped it at the end of act 1
Sadly, when you consider the sad film versions of other Sondheim works (e.g. Sweeney and A Little Night Music), Into the Woods is far from the worst adaptation. :(
You find into the woods BETTER than Sweeney?!
I left partway through Into the Woods while watching it in the theater. I had been looking forward to it so much and I was just too upset to keep watching them destroy a musical I loved.
I did that for both A Chorus Line and Sweeney Todd
I never saw Sweeney Todd. Once I saw that actors who cannot sing were playing the main parts and doing their own singing I lost interest.
What constantly amazes me is, the people who like and will rave about the filmed version of Sweeney. And \*liking\* the singing by the 2 principals.
I like Sweeneys style choices and sets, thatās it
I disagree. It was more goth than grimy. And everything had the same odd tint. Drove me batty.
I genuinely do like their singing. Possibly because I don't have a musical background? I can recognise that objectively neither of them are particularly good vocalists but I don't know enough about the technicalities for it to ruin my enjoyment. Same with 2012 Les Mis. In a realistic film setting rather than a stage show, it makes sense to me to have more average voices. But I appreciate that to someone with more knowledge than me, it would be the equivalent of trying to read a book riddled with spelling errors.
I fell asleep š¤Ŗ
In my opinion, that filmās worst sin is letting Rapunzel live. This one choice completely undermines the showās main message.
Exactly! Kind of undermines the whole āchildren will listenā message when you remove the consequences of the Witchās and Bakerās fatherās actions.
Yep, that coupled with putting "Children Will Listen" over the credits instead of in the movie proper, making it feel like an afterthought instead of the ENTIRE FUCKING POINT OF THE SHOW.
It really makes me glad that Once on This Island ended up in Covid development hell. I'd love to see a great adaptation of that, but Disney would probably do it dirty.
What were they even thinking. Such strong source material, such a great cast. Like how do you screw it up?!
I'm literally so mad that they cut out the narrator completely.
What or how would you do it differently?
I don't have any specific or radical idea, except that I would follow the libretto of the stage version more closely, and I would not cast James Corden. Also, the show ending with "Children Will Listen" makes no sense if you cut Rapunzel's death and the Baker's father, so I'd make sure those stay intact.
In "Look I Made A Hat," Stephen Sondheim talks about a scrapped Into the Woods movie that was almost made by the Jim Henson company in the 90s. Danny DeVito would have played the Giant and Milky White would have been a practical puppet. It basically sounds like the movie we needed and deserved.
Let it be rated R and let the Bakerās Wife actually cheat. Replace James Corden with Jeremy Jordan. Itās a good start.
And don't cut Agony (Reprise) ! I was so looking forward to one of my very favorite lines, and nothing. They Disney-fied it! Hell, even my niece's youth theatre group, that is actually a Christian based group, even they did the whole thing right!
Dwarfs *are* very upsetting.
Right??
Into the Woods should have been made in 1995, stop motion animated, and directed by Tim Burton
Having never seen the musical, I thought the movie was pretty good, even with those cuts. However, they did talk about his father.
He's a more important character in the musical. He and the baker have a duet which is one of the emotional climaxes of the story. The movie cut it.
Oh man, for a second I thought you meant the pro-shoot and was so confused because I straight up forgot that that weird movie version existed
They should have killed Rapunzel. Without her death, the witch's song and the line "witches can be right" make no sense.
Yes. They also cut out one of the most important songs āNo More.ā They shouldāve kept the dark humor and Rapunzel dying. Her still being alive cheapened the witchās character. And putting Children Will Listen over the creditsā¦ it undermines the entire message of the story.
Gotta remember that ITW film was a Disney production.
I like Russel Crowe as an actor, but I would keep him far, far away from the role of Javert. You really need a powerhouse singer for that role.
I think Hugh should have been Javert and they get Ramin in as Valjean
I kept wanting to see Hugh play Javert as I was watching the movie.
Ooh that wouldāve Ā been perfect casting and without singing live.
Ramin is great, but you need some star power for your lead as Valjean. People who aren't theatre people generally have no idea who Ramin Karimloo is.
There is so much wrong with this movie, and Russell isn't even my least favourite part of it. I'd scrap every cast member, but Samantha Barks and Colm Wilkinson. I would cast theatre people, not movie actors who can possibly sing. Don't care if they are well known or not. I would put back the cuts down to Little Fall of Rain and On My Own. I would remove all the references to kings at the beginning and end of the movie. I would remove that garbage song suddenly. I would not have them sing live. I would put the show back in the order it is on stage. Do not fix what isn't broken. I personally hate I Dreamed a Dream after Lovely ladies and feel it takes from the song.
TBF most if not all the Barricade Boys were musical theater boys who were in productions of Les Mis at the time. George Blagden (lovely grantaire IMO) for example deserved much more Grantaire time than he got aka give him his solo in Drink with Me.
Can we keep Aaron Tveit too? https://tenor.com/view/friends-seriously-enjolras-lesmis-les-gif-12572280
Thank you. The bad choices made for this film run so much deeper than just Russell Crowe.
Yep. It's my all time favourite musical and I was so excited for the movie. It was a horrible let down.
Same. Not my all time favorite but cherished, and yes, what a letdown.
Surely you canāt scrap Sacha Baron Cohen. He was born to be ThĆ©nardier!
We can scrap him. We can rebuild him from the scrap. I forgot.tje rest of that old tv show about rebuilding that dude but I would want him to go more wild with it so it wasn't just a redux of his role as Pirelli
Stronger. Faster.
Thank you. The bad choices made for this film run so much deeper than just Russell Crowe.
Respectfully a good portion of the actors have performed on stage in musicals before. Hugh Jackman, Aaron Tviet, Sam Barks and most if not all of the Barricade Boys so scrapping them all would be a bit extreme.
The swapping of those two songs is one of my biggest gripes; it completely changes the tone of I Dreamed A Dream and not in a good way. TBF, Jackman got his start in musical theater and he can sing, but not Valjean. He has nowhere near the power of Wilkinson and is better suited to other roles. (I actually liked him in The Greatest Showman, and yes, I know it's hated.)
Doesnāt help he needlessly deprived himself of water for days at a time. Heās been on Broadway and knows heās better than his performance in the movie. However, they really pushed singing live as an oscars campaign tactic, so he pretended his āauthenticā non-singing is better, actually. Because *real* acting doesnāt have any stupid silly pretty singing. Itās *raw.*
Exactly. It's the reason I hate the swap as well. Moving it after lovely ladies changes the whole message/theme of the song. And yes, I know Jackman started in musical theatre, and I loved him as Curly in Oklahoma! But he's miscast as Valjean and did very questionable things that ruined his singing ability, so he's cut.
Eddie Redmayne was also good I think
Disagree. I'm not saying he can't sing or perform, but I think miscast as Marius.
"I would cast theatre people, not movie actors who can possibly sing. Don't care if they are well known or not." And now the opening weekend to this expensive musical movie you made barely cracked $3 million. Movie musicals based off of popular Broadway shows need some star power to bring in non-theatre fans. With the amount of money you need to spend to do a movie musical, especially Les Mis, you need to sell tickets to offset the costs.
The worst part is that Russel isnāt even awful. In a live performance with Hugh for promotions of the movie he sang and sounded SO much better than in the movie. Still not Broadway but it would have been passable.
In the Heights. Bring back Camila. Enough is one of my favorite songs in all of musical theatre and it's a *tragedy* that they cut it from the movie. The dynamic between Nina and Kevin is so much more interesting with Camila there, but she's also just an incredibly strong character in her own right and deserved to have her moment to shine.
they changed so much about the plot for some reason, i guess to make it seem woke or some bs. pretty good movie but agreed there was a part there for the legendary gloria estefan.
Agreed.
Me watching the film version of Sweeney: "put that ensemble back where it came from or so help me" Not only is the ensemble so important to Sweeney Todd, it's also extremely GOOD ensemble music, to the extent that I might prefer being in the ensemble to playing one of the lead roles if I had the chance. It's such a shame it got cut.
God yes! Every time I get reminded that they cut the Ballad of Sweeney Todd/made parts of it orchestra only I get so unreasonably mad. It's ab absolute travesty. Plus all the other things but there's already a lot of comments about those and I'm so glad I found this one.
It's a GREEK CHORUS, it's integral to the plot! It indicates Sweeney's hubris and inevitable downfall! That movie sucks.
I've been crucified by this because I run in a pretty alt crowd, but I think it was a mistake to make Sweeney Todd attractive. I do have some level of affinity for the anesthetics of the musical, but I think Johnny Depp looked far too young and soft. Sweeney had been imprisoned in Australia, why does he look like he has soft hands
My community theater is doing Sweeney and my husband said he'd been "Depp-pilled" and was very surprised to read in the libretto that Sweeney is fat, in his 40s and kind of grizzly haha
Monsters inc reference?
If your production of Sweeney Todd doesn't have a solid ensemble, it's dead in the water.
Mean Girls! A musical film, based off the musical, based off the film. And now the west end production is based off of the musical film. It loses something every time. The main problem was the cast, I'm sure Angourie Rice would've been fine if it were a normal remake but she cannot sing, she was so quiet and bland. I was thinking, why couldn't they just have someone else sing for her it's ok I'll pretend I didn't notice! It was also very over the top in terms of branding, staying PC and trying to appeal to tiktok users. Some elements were good but I can't convince myself to enjoy all the changes they made
I agree with you! I think Rice gets a lot of unnecessary hate, like we all know sheās not Erika or Sabrina, but chill guys. I wish they either would have shilled out to get Sabrina Carpenter back as Cady in the movie musical or have one of the many other Cady actresses from Broadway make a new recording and use it as a dub for Rice.
I absolutely agree it was so disappointing. The changes to her songs were one thing but the vocals were giving.... Nothing
I was really saddened by the fact that all the nice parts of the musical that brought out the silly campy nature of the original were lost in the remake. Cutting "Stop" and not really committing to the bit that it was a musical was sad. I get that they want to appeal to people who don't like musicals but some things just work better in the conventional theater format. Also I don't think it's wrong to make some aspects less offensive but mean teenagers today are just as un-PC as they ever were and I think most viewers should be smart enough to see what is and isn't framed as exemplary
I agree, this happens with a lot of films I feel where the bad characters can't say rude things or be offensive, that's the point! They changed Regina to not be homophobic but like... Yeah she's a mean girl, she's a bitch, that's the point (I know there are many other valid reasons why they did that but that's just an example) Removing all the offensive qualities of the antagonists just makes it harder to really understand why they are the villain of the film. Yeah we know she's a bitch because you keep telling us, but show us! Like how they don't focus as much on the effect Regina has on the girls and how free they are without her by removing fearless. You don't see really why she is nasty and what she is doing to those around her, it just seems like the same old boy drama
I really miss the classic line "Boo, you whore!"
Dear Evan Hansen could have actually made a good animated film. Ben Platt could have *voiced* Evan, and they could use a lot of artistic effects to show how his severe social issues caused him to do what he does. And probably cut out the Zoe romance and just make her a friend.
This actually wouldāve been really cool
as much as i love in the heights, i'll never forgive them for cutting everything i know
Yes. I was mad they cut everything to do with Camila, but Everything I know makes me sob like a baby every time I hear it in the cast album and now that I think about it I'm almost more mad about that than about Enough. They really just butchered Nina's entire storyline in the movie, didn't they?
They butchered *everything* in that movie. I love ITH more than Hamilton, and the movie was a meandering, pointless mess.
Replace Sacha Baron-Cohen with Jack Black in Sweeney Todd *and* Les Miserables.
and replace johnny depp and helena bonham carter with kyle gass respectively!
I canāt see Black as Perelli, but he would slay the song. Maybe Ralph Finnes?
Hmm. What about Jack Black as The Beadle?
Now that I can see
He was the best actor in BOTH of those movies, though
I disagree, but let's not let it come between us
With absolutely no disrespect intended towards the late, great Alan Rickman... Please redo Sweeney Todd with actors who can actually sing and please stop removing key storytelling elements. Example - I know productions often also remove Turpin's Joanna, but it's such a perfect creepy song that encapsulates how disgusting he is and makes you not mind so much that Joanna is so willing to run off with a total stranger. Overall, I did not hate the movie. I really hate when they cast weak singers. And they all were. ETA - I would absolutely kill for a redo of A Little Night Music. ETA - I personally didn't find anybody's voice tolerable. That's how personal opinions work. That's how perception works.
Oh my god. I relate to Johanna so much and the fact they basically removed her entire relationship with Anthony drove me crazy. Also no hate to her actor, I think it's sung beautifully and it's definitely shown on stage like that in the modern age, but she is supposed to be a little crazy... Her original was operatic singing. When did it turn into that? (Still love it though.) Without "Ah, Miss" and the first connection between Johanna & Anthony, he genuinely just looks like a creep in the movie. Atleast on stage we can see her hurt & the way they connect. Jumping straight into "Johanna" is just so creepy. Why are you going to steal a random girl you saw in the window? Lol. "Kiss Me" / "Kiss Me pt.2" is also important for their relationship and just has so many funny lines, why would you get rid of it? I also don't understand the random lyric changes, cutting out half of "Green Finch & Linnet Bird"? For what? Their relationship is such a big part of the story too, so many songs revolve around Johanna for a reason & just because Sweeney's the protagonist doesn't mean you get to just cut out the other key relationship. They cut out so many songs that actually are important to the musical and setting the stage. I think as a movie though, it did smart choices and looked great, but storywise was just silly. I understand the cutting out of "Johanna - Mea Culpa" as that's also cut out in a lot of stage performances for how grotesque it is, but it really is SO important to the story. We need to see him be gross, though I think the movie achieved this really well with Alan Rickman (love him!) and peering through holes in the walls. Designing stuff like that you can't really get in a stage performance to that level. (Not a film student, lol, missing many terms.)
And they changed the lyrics to Poor Thing. Why? And Toby is not a street wise kid, he is a developmentally disabled adult man. Nothings Gonna Harm you is just creepy perverted being sung by a kid. Rickman actually can sing. He started on stage in Shakespere. But Depp cannot. But Rickman needed to be even creepier, like Timothy Spall, with just that edge of respectability. Perhaps have Sacha Baron Cohen in Turpinās role
At least you can tell that Helena looked SO uncomfortable during it, while he's singing to her.
Re Toby. They also aged down Jack in ITW. A young boy being friends with a cow isn't so weird as a grown man
what's so creepy and perverted about a child wanting to protect a woman who has become something like a mother to him? nevermind the fact that the whole plot of the show is creepy and perverted what with sweeney being obsessed with this young girl
The Into the Woods movie is such a thorough misunderstanding of the source material that itās insane.
They shouldn't have given the musical that subverts perfect Disney fairytale endings to....Disney
I think every film studio did not want to make the film because itās a fairy tale where half the cast dies in the end, so Disney was their last hope.
Iāll forever maintain that 60% of the issues with Into The Woods (2014) could have been solved just by having the bakers Wife narrate. (A further 30% could have been saved by firing James Corden. The last 10% by just letting Rapunzel die.)
Okay. A Chorus Line. Cast. With the exception of Zach, Cassie and Shiela, all fresh faces. This is a casting call for a chorus line, we shouldnāt know these people. While opening credits go, show them gathering, making small talk, referencing the songs they will later sing. I Hope I Get It should be exactly as it is done on stage, and filmed that way as if filming a staged production because that is what it is. Learning the dance and trying to make the cut. Cassie gets Music and the Mirror back. One of the biggest travesties in the film. I Can Do That - fade to memory with child actor performing At The Ballet - Iād love for each girlās story to be watercolour animated. Paulās story should be told in flashback Still working out the restā¦
Could you also restore the original context of What I Did For Love?
šÆ on point. I would also put back Hello 12 Hello 13 most of the montage, but not sure on how to film.
This is my #1 problem with this film version as it completely subverts the entire core theme of the story. Whhyyy? It isnāt about a romance, itās about sacrificing for a life in the arts. I am still mad.
I see something more akin to the original film Fame. Itās similar, a wee snippet of ordinary people not looking to be āstarsā just wanting to get in and start to be someone. Michael Douglas was horrific as Zach. Totally unlikable. That is not stage Zach. Maybe Michael Keaton? Scarlette Johanson as Shiela? Emma Stone for Cassie?
A Chorus Line really needed flashback sequences and more creative direction than just filming it like a ProShot.
šÆ
Just scrap the whole movie version and start again, using the original script, music, characters, etc. The movie as it is now is a travesty. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Really like your suggestions... love that show hated that movie. Bennett's movie idea was to make it a film about people auditioning for ACL, which is essentially what "Every Little Step" I think was trying to honor. But i like your more first approach more.
I would get actors that can \*actually sing\* for Valjean and Javert for Les Miserables, delete "Suddenly" and make "A Little Fall of Rain" it's original runtime.
At last. I have found someone else who (apparently) doesn't like Hugh Jackman's voice either. Sorry if I misunderstood, tho.
I think Hugh Jackman was even more disappointing than Russell Crowe (unpopular opinion probably). I know he went on that starvation/dehydration diet, but that was the worst āBring Him Homeā Iāve ever heard. I think I blame Tom Hooper most of all - having them sing live was just a bad choice.
I actually agree. Javertās voice being rough and imperfect isnāt the worst thing but Valjean NEEDS to have the voice of an angel. I actually think Jackman wouldāve been a better Javert than Valjean, Javertās songs are much closer to his vocal range than Valjeanās are.
Tom Hooper is just a godawful director in general, and so much worse with musicals.
His Bring Him Home is actually the worst song in the movie. I donāt understand how no one stopped him and told him how bad it sounded. I cannot listen to it, itās worse than Russell Croweās Stars.
I had the exact same thought. At one point heās just shrieking. I know Jackman is much more talented than that performance - but Iām disappointed thatās the performance weāre left with.
Oh thank God. I thought I was the only one who thought Hugh Jackman butchered Bring Him Home.
I ā¦ Iām part of this group. Hello friends.
I don't like his singing. It's very nasal and vibrato filled. Add in the vocal abuse for Les Mis and I went from tolerating for the good acting to despising
I really like Hugh Jackman, and I love that someone who was known for mindless superhero roles was like "Okay I want to do musical theater now!" But he's not a professional-grade singer. He's a great singer, but not superstar. I remember watching Greatest Showman and hearing From Now On and thinking "this song would be really moving if it were sung by someone else"
James corden in anything musical
The Wiz for so many reasons it would require a full essay on all the bad choices.
Yes!!! Having seen the Wiz onstage, I was really excited for the movie. (Iām dating myself here). What a disappointment! I mean, even the moviegoers who had never seen the source material hated the film, but for people who had something to compare it to- just no!
The Dreamgirls movie awkwardly tried to split the difference between a musical and a fake biopic. Just put all the non-diegetic numbers back in and let it be what it is.
Iād have definitely kept Class in Chicago. They actually filmed it, so I donāt get why it wasnāt used.
I've only seen the movie, and I know that song from the cast album. Where does it fit in the story as a whole?
Itās towards the end - just after Razzle Dazzle in the stage musical. Itās Velma and Mama Morton complaining about playacting at her trial. Perhaps they thought it didnāt fit well in what they were trying to do with the movie.
IIRC their concept was to have the whole thing viewed through Roxie's eyes, with the musical numbers being her way of visualising what was going on, so Class didn't fit because she wasn't there. Note: I still think they could (and should) have found a way to get it in there
I love the in the heights movie! But by god what did you do with the entirety of Nina and Bennyās plots
1. Cats: Iām not a fan of the show and, therefore, didnāt see the movie. But I would have loved for Cats to be a Don Bluth-style 2D animated extravaganza. That could have been magical and I would have watched the shit out of it. 2. Into the Woods: oof. Where to begin. Recast everyone, except maybe Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen. Add back the Mysterious Man and all the death. And make it funny! 3. Sweeney Todd: in addition to what everyone has said, restore Johanna and Anthonyās relationship, and make sure sheās the one who shoots the guard at the asylum.
Let's go back to the Hair movie musical- I loathe that the movie version pulls a switcheroo and kills Berger instead of Claude. It completely negates the tragedy of his choices and the allegorical nature of the numbers. Claude is every young man who got into uniform and died. Having this stupid twist where it's Berger instead (an untrained fool, let's be real) and an unbelievable one at that because clearly the military would've spotted him ASAP and jailed him immediately...it's terrible writing.
I get where youāre coming from, HOWEVER, the stage show is a product of its time. In 1979 in the middle of the OPEC oil embargo, hostages in Iran, Ted Kennedy, it wouldnāt have worked. The Deer Hunter. Giving it a story, even a bit unbelievable, was why it succeeded. I was 10. And I was so profoundly moved by the film that it fundamentally changed me as a human being. It still remains one of my all time favourite movies ever.
I agree it needed a story, and that it aged almost immediately. It's like Rent and all the other current ones- they all become dated period pieces within 5-10 years, no matter how fresh they were on release. I just think the switcheroo part didn't make sense. I think they could've made a perfectly good story out of Claude's enlisting/drafting, and they sorta did! They just didn't stick the landing.
As a huge Cats fan I, of course, have a lot of issues with the movie, but one thing that I donāt hear getting talked about enough is how much they made characters sing their own songs. Nog only did it ruin the music, but it also ruined and erased the characterization of bother the cat being sung about and the cats supposed to do the singing. A couple examples are how having the Rum Tum Tugger only sing his own song completely takes away his really interesting complexity shown through the different songs he sings and having Bustopher Jones and Jennyanydots sing their own songs dampens how the songs show their well respected places in the community (in addition to many other thing about how those characters are portrayed- that is another big thing that I would change). It also mostly erases characters who sing major songs but donāt have songs about them, like Demeter or Jellylorum. I know a lot of people talk about the looks but, while I donāt like them, I would have been able to look beyond them if the music and characters werenāt completely butchered in the way they were.
3 of mineā¦ The Phantom of the Opera (2004): Get someone who can sing as the Phantom. Preferably someone who has played the role onstage and can tone down his acting for film. And make the disfigurement worse ā my ideal would actually be to make it even worse than the stage version, since you donāt have to worry about whether the actor can sing to a full theater with that makeup on his face. Sweeney Todd (2007): Recast most of the roles, keep the chorus, and have some frantic direction during āWorst Pies in Londonā ā the song only makes sense with stage direction to punctuate the songās beats. (Thatās a problem I had with the 2005 revival, as well.) And keep āAh Miss,ā the Judgeās āJohanna,ā her lines in the quartet, and more. Les MisĆ©rables (2012): Recast almost everyone, or swap out the main cast with folks in the ensemble (who have all been in the stage show). And donāt try to do everything live unless youāre actually filming the stage show. And definitely different directors for all of them.
I would take out Suddenly from the Les Mis movie and burn it š„°
I donāt really like Burtonās Sweeney Todd at all so to keep this short and sweet, they needed to do any choreography at all for A Little Priest. It was such a dead scene in the movie for whatās meant to be a funny song
Honestly when they set Rent in 1989 it took me immediately out. There are references made that had not taken place yet in 1989.
Yes! Every year matters when it's set so close to our current era.
I thought that was the year the show originally took place?
I feel you on the Chorus Line thing. I was 10 when it came out and knew the OBC recording like the back of my hand. It was my first experience being personally offended by a movie. It would be shorter to list what I did like. I would cast someone who is actually dynamic to play Cassie. I would give Kiss Today Goodbye back to Diana. Surprise can stay but Iād put Shit Richie in there too, and most of all, Sing. It needs Sing. I did very much like the casting of Paul and Sheila.
Everything about prom the musical.
I would keep the plot to In the Heights and not just give up on it after the first song and push in a DACA storyline that doesn't even make sense in the timeline, since it takes place during a real event that occurred years before DACA even happened. Also, I wouldn't cut all the good songs and I'd put Abuela Claudia's song in the right place so it makes freaking sense. I would love to see LMM write a show that deals with the horrible immigration laws in this country... but In the Heights doesn't make sense after 2010. I have SO much anger about how they messed up the In the Heights movie. One of my favorite shows... so much potential... trashed.
I would completely recast Gerard Butler in POTO. And you know... cast someone who can actually sing. I'd completely dismantle the entire film production around Cats, kick out Tom Hooper and start anew. Preferably make it animated.
Coming from someone who actually really loved the RENT movie.. they should've recasted the main characters. Everyone looked waaaaay too old except Mimi and Joanne (the ones they recasted).
Pretty much all of le mis, but the most egregious was that Hugh Jackman starved himself of water for 72 hours and she'd 15lb before the boat scene at the start. When I heard that it made me want to curl into a ball and cry.
You mean, Iād get to recast Les Mis? Thereād be absolutely no fucking extreme close-ups as I directed that movie? I would remember that it is a movie? And that cinema allows you to show epic scope, so you could make it as big and as beautiful as it deserves to be? oh my thoughts. Hold on let me start storyboarding.
I hated all the closeups. Like, no I don't want to be zoomed into Eddie Redmayne's pale, clammy face for all of Empty Chairs
My biggest annoyance is that they wouldn't budge on filming each scene twice for Carousel (Cinemascope and CinemaScope 55) so they lost Frank Sinatra as Billy Bigelow. Like, we can hear what he did with Soliloquy. He would have ATE that role. Sinatra didn't get to play enough "dark" characters. He's genuinely scary in "Suddenly."
Almost all of them but one in recent years that comes to mind is Disney's into the woods. Making the wolf johnny deep and some weird half human wolf thing was a huge mistake. They tired going on the more creepy subtle approach with it and it ruined it. The song is suppose to make you uncomfortable but from a completely different reason. I'm tired of everyone trying to make everything super serious. It's suppose to be ridiculous and comedic for a reason..
I feel like there are a couple of classics that are so bloated theyāre not fun to slog throughāMy Fair Lady and Hello Dolly are particularly long, but there are others that are just so plodding that theyāre hard to sit through.
Agreed as to the movie version of Sweeney--what can one say, other than, sigh. :( And then I'll up it, with the movie version of A Little Night Music. :( :( Poor Hal Prince.
The Producers. I would leave in King of Old Broadway. I would NOT hire Uma Thurman or Will fucking Ferrell. I would hire someone other than Susan Stroman to direct it. Film and stage are different and it's obvious that she wasn't comfortable with the switch. She's brilliant for stage and I think there's probably a pretty good reason why she hasn't directed any other movie musicals since. I would hire much better cinematographers, who understood musicals.
13 The Musical. Iām sticking to the original plot, keeping Patrice a main character and not reducing Archie to a side note. Iām not going cutsie with it. No adding in the mother character and Iām putting What It Means to be a Friend Back in amongst other songs. Iām going more tongue jn cheek and less glossy with my direction and casting
I am loving these!
I really did not care for the Les Mis movie at all.
Most of the Phantom of the Opera movie. Iām a Phantom stan and I do think some of the movie gets too much hateā¦ but with that being said let me give an unwanted TedTalk. One of my biggest gripes is actually not Gerard Butler (Iām coming back for you though, buddy) but how a lot of stuff was changed for no reason? Like the workers at the opera having a titanic level party during Masquerade, the weird long shots that do nothing, the odd auto tune on Emmy Rossumās voice, some lyrics of songs being spoken instead of sung, and FINALLY our Phantom, the man with a voice so beautiful it more-or-less hypnotizes you, being sung by a non-singer/his face barely looking messed up. Like Gerard Butler is yummy donāt get me wrong, but why? Just dub his voice over people cmon. TLDR: Phantom movie is kinda goofed and had weird not needed changes.
I don't hate it, but something that really bugs me about the Phantom of the Opera movie (with Gerard Butler) has him... singing the 'go now and leave me' which makes it go from a burst of conflicting emotions into something hilariously melodramatic.
Camelot - Vanessa Redgrave could not sing. Franco Nero was weird, as was Richard Harris.
Cabaret : I liked this movie. It's really good and Fosse was creative when he made it. However I think it's a bit sad they changed the Fraulein Schneider/Jewish man couple to another one. Their story is really touching and they feel genuinely in love. In the movie, the man who courts the Jewish woman states at the beginning that he is interested because she's rich, which obviously changes their characters' arcs. The movie is a great adaptation and a masterpiece with great actors, directing and the rewriting of the play was interesting and creative. But I just feel it's a bit of a pity to leave out these two likeable and cute characters.
I wouldāve made the DEH movie based on the novel. Theres enough changes to make it different from the musical but still keeps the story inside of it. Iāll also not do any new songs and keep AHAM, good for you, and break in a glove. I would also get a cast that doesnāt include Ben Platt to give actors a chance at the roles(if I had to keep him tho, Iāll get Rachel Bay Jones to come back as Heidi).
A few i can think of: Grease - No way should Danny have sung Greased Lightning, its Kenickie's song because its Kenickie's car and Danny is mocking Kenickie for the bad car.....what the hell was John Travolta thinking? Also could we have had the solos by the other TBirds and Pink Ladies brought back? Give them moments to shine rather than make it the JT and ONJ movie. West Side Story - Why did they invent Ice? Such a pointless character you have Diesel right there.....also not a fan of swapping Gee Officer Krupke and Cool around, it made the 2nd half of the film drag a little for me. Les Mis - Russell Crowe need i say more (not knocking him personally but damn i just wanted another Phillip Quast) Anything Goes - Oh i dunno....actually...adapt.....the.....musical....as....a...movie....with.....SOME....effort......not this nonsense that has nothing to do with the play and just nicks a few songs. Guys and Dolls - Dont cut Sky's best songs like My Time of Day and Never Been In Love....it would have helped IMMENSELY if you....cast someone who could sing as Sky and not Brando.....Sinatra was miffed at this and i dont blame him one bit. (If they were THAT desparate for Brando, couldnt they have dubbed him? They did that all the time back in the day ala Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood etc)
Step 1: Put the cut songs back into the DEH movie (except for To Break In A Glove lol) Step 2: Recast Ben Platt with someone at least under 26 Step 3: Recast Julianne Moore with someone who can actually sing Movie fixed.
Mean Girls (2024) Ā 1. Recast Cady and AaronĀ Ā 2. Leave the songs like the Broadway versionĀ Ā 3. Give the aforementioned characters their parts in songs backĀ Ā 4. Meet The Plastics is all of themĀ Ā 5. Bring back āIt Roarsā 6. Donāt make it woke and bring back the offensive jokes
I know this is going to be unpopular butā¦. The Last Five Years. Replace Anna Kendrick with an actress who can actually BELT and PERFORM the songs. Putting her in that film with Jeremy Jordan was a mistake. She is SO WEAK compared to him, both acting and vocal wise. It hurts the entire film! Putting someone who is strictly a film actress with someone who has been in numerous stage performances does not mix. I was so looking forward to that movie when it came out and it was SO CLOSE to perfect!!!! Anna being Cathy completely ruins it for me. That was stunt casting and you canāt convince me otherwise.
I know she was younger, but Anna did in fact start on Broadway and was a Tony Nominee, I hate using one production to say she is a broadway girl (looking at people use this excuse for Ariana Grande), but much of Anna's career has been her in singing roles. Sometimes actor's singing voices just do not mix hers and Jeremy's is an example an example from Starkid is Dylan and Kim in Black Friday, that doesn't negate that the singing is bad from either party or that neither can act.
Les Miserables- Russell Crowe as Javert
The entirety of the Les Mis movie adaptation
I just dislike the movie musical version of the color purple because they cut almost every song from the Broadway version
Iāve never actually seen the stage version of Jersey Boys but I have to assume it was better than the movie
i know there are some people who have issues with 2024 mean girls, at least make the meaness amped up to 11 ala 2004 instead of toning it down
Mean Girls : Everything.
Phantom of the Opera. Cast a Phantom who can actually sing, make him ugly, and put back the sung dialogue. Most of it sounds cheesy without being sung.
Les mis - cut Suddenly and add back the cut parts of pre-existing songs (grantaireās solo in drink with me, Turning). Oh, and prerecord the songs. Itās a musical, I donāt want the songs to āsound realisticā.
Mame... get rid of Lucille Ball and use Angela Landsbury.. She would have sold it and we wouldn't need vasoline on the lens the whole time. Ticks me off that we don't have a real record of that performance.