Broadway musicals are bending the genres

Sunday, January 07, 2007

By Sharon Eberson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The dynamic "Dreamgirls" film that opened Christmas Day follows in the footsteps of one-name wonder musicals such as "Cabaret," "Evita," "Grease" and "Chicago" as dream projects that audiences have followed from stage to screen.


	Stephen Lynch in "The Wedding Singer," a new Broadway musical based on the 1998 film with Adam Sandler. Click photo for larger image. Related articles Dance Preview: 'Edward Scissorhands' reawakens as cutting-edge dance Q&A with Matthew Bourne

There's nothing new in Hollywood's borrowing from Broadway musicals, and now TV's getting in the game. Tony-winning musical director and Pittsburgh native Kathleen Marshall will be a judge on NBC's "Grease: You're the One That I Want," a TV contest to cast the leads in a stage production of "Grease." It's from the producers of "Dancing With the Stars" and debuts today.

Despite the constant give from the stage, there's a lot of take, too.

In fact, these days, one has to wonder: What would musical theater do without the film industry?

Disney is king of turning its animated films into stage adaptations, with "Tarzan" the latest to hit a New York stage, but its certainly not alone.

The latest trend is taking movies and reworking them as screen musicals with original songs -- with some rebounding back onto film in their new musical form, as Mel Brooks did with "The Producers" and will have the opportunity to do with "Young Frankenstein," his next film-to-stage musical adaptation. "Hairspray," with John Travolta assailing the Divine gender-bending role that won Harvey Fierstein a Tony, is due in a movie theaters in July.


The movie "Legally Blonde" will come to the stage in June. Click photo for larger image.

Just last month, it was announced that a musical version of the 1985 film "Desperately Seeking Susan" will land in London's West End, featuring the hits of Blondie and a new song by Deborah Harry. And earlier this year, it was announced that London would get "Gladiator, The Musical" (perhaps Julie Taymor can conjure up a few tigers and horse-drawn chariots for the Colosseum). Word is that Russell Crowe's stalwart general/gladiator will be played by Brian Stokes Mitchell, among the stellar voices of Broadway in recent years ("Kiss Me Kate," "Man of La Mancha").

Likewise Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" has cut through its big-screen roots to land on a stage near you -- the Benedum Center Friday through Sunday -- as a work of dance theater. The fantastical story of a sweet-natured "Frankenstein" cursed with scissors for hands, comes courtesy of avant-garde dance master Matthew Bourne, with the support of Burton and co-writer Caroline Thompson.


	"Gladiator" will soon be transformed into theater in London. Click photo for larger image.

Also this month at the Benedum: the Broadway musical "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," which began as a Steve Martin/Michael Caine screen comedy. The national touring company, part of the PNC Broadway Across America-Pittsburgh series, is here Jan. 23-28.

Here are some other movies that have danced and sung their way onto stages in recent years:

Film to stage

"Sunset Boulevard" (Broadway, 1994-97)

"High Society" (adapted from a film musical that was adapted from "The Philadelphia Story," Broadway, 1998)

"Urban Cowboy" (Broadway, 2003)

"Spamalot" (Broadway, 2005- present; adapted from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail") *

"The Color Purple" (Broadway, 2005-present)

"Billy Elliot" (London, 2005-present; Broadway-bound fall 2008)

"Dirty Dancing" (London, 2006-present; North American premiere set for fall 2007 in Toronto)

"High Fidelity" (Broadway, ran for two weeks last month)