Why make it into a musical?

[caitcerridwen]

Just heard some chatter today about the imminent Young Frankenstein musical, which made me wonder what I always wonder when getting such news. Why oh why must everything be turned into a musical?! Why??? It was perfectly wonderful on its own. Sitting there, minding its own business, being funny. And then you musical people come and add in songs. Songs! Ack. Why? Are things really more fun with song and dance? Is it just about money and making sure the visitors from Peoria come to NYC and spend lots of cash? Am I missing something here?

[Craig T Gustafson]

From Playbill.com:
Martin McDonagh?s acclaimed Broadway play, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, will play its final performance Sept. 3 at 3 PM.

As of that date, it will have played 16 previews and 142 regular performances at the Lyceum Theatre, where it began previews on April 19 and officially opened on May 3.

Prior to Broadway, Lieutenant played a sold-out limited run Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company (Feb. 8?April 9), playing 23 previews and 48 regular performances.

<font size="2" face="Times, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">This was one of the most acclaimed plays of the past several years and it ran 142 performances. The Producers has run longer than Oklahoma! and is still going. Given those realities, what reason would Mel Brooks have for not turning Young Frankenstein into a musical?

When The Producers was announced, I was kind of dreading seeing it (the original being one of my favorite movies), except for the fact that the man who wrote it the first time was handling the adaptation. The Producers show is different from the movie -- it's also one of the best evenings I've ever had in the theater. If Brooks and Meehan can do the job and get it right, that's great.

Being prejudiced against musicals is just as pointless as being prejudiced against plays. I like both, providing the quality is there. Just give me my money's worth and I'm ok.

I would have liked to be able to go to New York next spring and see The Lieutenant of Inishmore. I LOVE Martin McDonagh's plays. But the audience didn't support it that long.

As far as commerce vs. art goes: Mel Brooks made two films from the heart, The Producers and The Twelve Chairs. The Producers won him an Academy Award, but both films flopped at the box office and he couldn't get work as a director for over two years. He came back with a film aimed strictly as a crowd-pleaser, Blazing Saddles. This made his career hot again, and when writing Young Frankenstein, Brooks would get into arguments with Gene Wilder about gags vs. story. Wilder would say, "I don't want this to be Blazing Frankenstein", to which Brooks would reply, "And I don't want this to be an art film that fourteen people will see!" He had already been that route.

He's going where the audience is telling him to go.

So give Young Frankenstein a chance. After all, when I heard they were turning The Phantom of the Opera into a musical, I thought it was a lousy idea. Then it came out and...

oh.

Wait.

I was right about that, wasn't I?

Never mind.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ September 07, 2006 04:26 PM: Message edited by: Sgt. Bilko ]</font>

[Habelville]

I think some films or non-musical plays can be made into musicals but it depends on the subject matter.

An example of subject matter that is not a good fit for a musical would be the production of Nute Rocknie that I saw.

This would make a good drama, but as a musical it fell short.

When I see a musical, I would like to walk away being able to remember the melodies to at least one or two songs that were performed. Since I am a pit orchestra musician, I like to hear clear catchy melodies.

None of the melodies in this show were memorable.