Some movie musicals work, others flop. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at five movie musicals that did justice to their stage versions, and five that couldn’t hold a candle to the original.
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00:00 "Hello, darling. Hello, darling."
00:07 Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at five movie musicals that did justice to
00:12 their stage versions, and five that couldn't hold a candle to the original.
00:16 "Stop milking it!"
00:17 "So you catch me in a right of place, put it away on a lot of shelves."
00:25 Number five, didn't work. The producers.
00:28 "How dare you condemn me without knowing all the facts?"
00:31 "Oh, Mr. Bialystock, I wasn't condemned."
00:33 "Shut up! I'm having a rhetorical conversation."
00:36 Adapted from his own 1967 movie of the same name, Mel Brooks' 2001 Broadway farce about
00:41 two crooked producers became the most decorated show in Tony Awards history at the time.
00:46 Considering it had the same director and co-leads as the stage production,
00:50 how could the movie version go so wrong?
00:53 Well, for starters, they didn't bother to adapt its humor for the screen.
00:57 "Why bloom go so far camera right? Bloom no like oola."
01:02 In some ways, the movie feels more like they just captured the stage play on camera
01:07 rather than a movie in its own right.
01:09 Loaded with theatrical gestures and fourth-wall breaking jokes that just
01:12 didn't play well for the camera, the producers was a box office flop.
01:16 "I'm drowning! I'm drowning! I'm drowning here! I'm going down for the last time!"
01:24 Number 5. Worked - West Side Story
01:27 "They make 'em cannonballin' down to the sky, gleaming a tie, right as we roll."
01:33 In 1961, Tony and Maria's epic love story captured movie audiences just as it had
01:38 on Broadway four years earlier. 60 years later,
01:41 Steven Spielberg had a lot to live up to with his remake.
01:45 West Side Story is the kind of melodramatic, dance-heavy musical that just isn't as at
01:49 home on movie screens anymore. But when the adaptation finally arrived,
01:53 it infused the story with new life and a fresh, modern perspective without
01:57 robbing it of what makes it so special and so thrilling.
02:00 A clever alteration to the character Doc allowed for original star Rita Moreno to
02:13 deliver one of the score's most haunting songs. It's a tribute to Spielberg's
02:17 ability to celebrate the past while still remaining in the present.
02:21 "Hold my hand, and we're halfway there. Hold my hand, and I'll take you there."
02:33 Number 4. Didn't work - The Phantom of the Opera
02:36 "So silent, good monsieur. Did you think that I had left you for good?"
02:45 It took nearly 20 years for this one to make it to the big screen. Maybe they should've
02:49 waited a little longer. Andrew Lloyd Webber's show is legendary for its extravagance,
02:54 its romance, and its incredibly demanding music.
02:58 The minimum requirement for its stars should be that they can sing.
03:01 "Down we plunge to the prison of my mind. Down that path into darkness deep as hell."
03:15 As the Phantom, Gerard Butler is already a bit too young and handsome,
03:19 but his dodgy vocals rob the character of his charm. And the problems only start there.
03:24 The movie feels overly long, stuffed with sets that are underlit and musical numbers that are
03:29 robbed of much suspense. For many fans, it's enough. For everyone else who hadn't seen and
03:34 loved the musical, it might've left them scratching their heads and wondering what
03:38 all the fuss was about. "It's nothing short of shocking. He is mocking our position. In addition,
03:42 he wants money. What a funny apparition. To expect a large retainer, nothing plainer. He
03:47 is clearly quite conceited." Number four, worked. Dreamgirls.
03:51 Based on the real-life careers of musical acts like the Supremes and the Shirelles,
04:08 the 1981 production of Dreamgirls was a Broadway sensation. The 2006 film was pitched perfectly
04:14 to the modern-day audience. Starring Beyoncé, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson,
04:20 who would win an Oscar for this, the movie blended everything that made the show so great
04:24 with incredible cinematic technique. "Make my living, off of my town. And I gave a hit,
04:33 and it goes around and around and around and around." Its chart-friendly score, incredible ensemble,
04:41 and iconic moments helped it gross over $100 million at the box office. Coming out after
04:47 some other, less successful musical adaptations only helped it stand out for everything it got
04:52 right. "I'm staying, I'm staying. I'm you, I'm you, I'm you. You're gonna love me."
05:06 Number three, didn't work. Nine. The last time director Rob Marshall had directed a musical,
05:12 it was a smash hit. More on that later. His 2009 follow-up about a director in crisis took on a
05:18 meta quality when it bombed. "How I wish it didn't have to be so, but we cut the losses starting now.
05:27 Strike the set and keep it for some side show. Tell the cast and crew that they can all go."
05:36 Based on the 1982 Broadway musical, which has as its source the Italian film Eight and a Half,
05:41 Nine is a slick but shallow and joyless rendering of a fascinating story.
05:46 Star Daniel Day-Lewis is a great actor, however he's not exactly a music man.
05:51 "Not to be crushed, or the market assault. I would like to be Christ, Mohammed, Buddha,
05:57 but not have to believe in God. And you know I mean it with all of my heart."
06:03 The show is a series of vignettes that bounce back and forth between past and present,
06:07 but this didn't translate well to the screen. The addition of unnecessary original songs didn't help
06:12 matters much either. Critics were fairly consistent. Nine is all flash, no substance.
06:18 "Thank you." "What for?"
06:19 "Thank you for reminding me I'm not special."
06:23 Number three, worked. Chicago.
06:25 "Come on babe, why don't we paint the town? And all that jazz."
06:33 A few years before Nine tanked at the box office, director Rob Marshall was celebrated
06:37 for practically reviving the entire movie musical genre with Chicago. From the unforgettable All
06:43 That Jazz to the deliciously deranged Cell Block Tango, the Kander and Ebb musical got
06:48 a lurid and splashy update for the 21st century.
06:51 "Every time you show your mind, I get up in the air, I get up in the air, I get up and sing,
06:56 I get up and sing, I betcha you would have done the same."
07:00 While the story takes place in the Jazz Age, it was a musical for the present. This wasn't
07:04 some outdated and naive song and dance show. Dark, sexy, and ingeniously staged,
07:10 Chicago's sense of wicked irony captivated audiences and scored major awards attention.
07:15 It was the first musical in over three decades to win the Best Picture Oscar.
07:19 "I'm gonna kill you!"
07:36 Number 2. Didn't Work. Dear Evan Hansen. Ben Platt won a Tony for his work as this
07:41 title character, but what made him great on Broadway didn't come across on screen.
07:46 "Start with stars in our eyes, we start believing that we belong, but every sun doesn't rise,
07:55 and no one tells you where you went wrong."
07:59 To combat Platt's advanced age in the role of a high schooler, the filmmakers made the decision
08:04 to give him a hairstyle that bafflingly aged him up about another 10 years. But that's just
08:09 the beginning. "You obviously should not talk to her, you are a literal disaster."
08:12 If you're gonna have a protagonist who makes as many morally questionable decisions as Evan Hansen,
08:18 you're going to have to make your movie overwhelmingly good. The show doesn't
08:21 exactly absolve Evan of his sins, but the movie seems determined to make him more of a bystander
08:26 in his own story. Taking itself way too seriously, it's not even fun to watch in a campy way.
08:33 "Words fail, words fail, there's nothing I can say."
08:42 Number two, Wirt, Funny Girl.
08:45 "The greatest star, I am by far, but no one knows."
08:56 Audiences who weren't lucky enough to catch Barbara Streisand's star-making performance
09:01 on Broadway in 1964 finally got to experience it on screen four years later. While the original
09:07 show was plagued by script problems, the movie salvaged the best parts of the story and swapped
09:12 out some songs to fit Streisand's movie debut. As a movie, it's a classic, but as a star vehicle,
09:18 it's unimpeachable. "Get ready for me love, 'cause I'm a comer. I simply gotta march,
09:24 my heart's a drummer. Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade."
09:31 Funny Girl is as much about Streisand as it is about the woman she's playing.
09:34 From her allegedly offbeat looks to her crystal clear voice, the movie became a perfect showcase
09:40 for everything that was endearing about Streisand herself. "Forever, forever."
09:59 Before we unveil our top picks, here are a few honorable mentions.
10:03 "Didn't Work." A chorus line. The movie fundamentally misunderstands what the original
10:08 show is about. "What does he want from me? What should I try to be? So many faces all around,
10:19 and here we go." "Didn't Work." "Rent." The whimsy of its bohemian ideals were lost in the transfer
10:26 from stage to screen. "Dearly beloved, we gather here to say our goodbye. Here she lies."
10:43 "Worked." "Little Shop of Horrors." Even a more upbeat ending couldn't dull Little Shop's edges.
10:48 "I'm just a mean green mother from outer space, gonna tash your ass, gonna rock this place. I'm
10:54 mean and free, and I am bad." "Worked." "Hairspray." Had people dancing in the aisles. "You're joining
11:04 this program already in progress." "Let's go." "Worked." "Grease." The decision to revise the
11:13 original story paid off big time and made it a classic. "Maybe it might be slow."
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11:37 Number 1. Didn't work. Cats. "Who'd have ever supposed that that was Grisabella?"
11:51 Director Tom Hooper's mix of overwrought operatics and gritty realism didn't endear everyone to his
11:57 vision for Les Miserables, but at least that movie was competent. Cats is a nightmare come to life.
12:02 "Now put the icing on the cake." "Why did you want another Jellicle life?"
12:07 "I can't keep being in this kitchen." Given the show's threadbare plot,
12:11 the movie version was always going to be an uphill battle. But instead of leaning into its
12:16 fantastical elements and sense of whimsy, the movie tries to streamline the narrative in a way
12:21 that just reveals its weaknesses. It was a bomb in every department, from its Snapchat-like filter
12:27 effects to its musical numbers, which look less like Broadway and more like the Uncanny Valley.
12:31 It's gone down in history as an all-time low for the genre.
12:35 Number 1. Worked. Cabaret. Here's an example of a screen adaptation that
12:46 perfectly adapts the source material. "Leave your troubles outside. So,
12:52 life is disappointing? Forget it. In here, life is beautiful."
12:58 Cabaret received a massive overhaul on its way to movie theaters. Bob Fosse's masterpiece cut
13:03 several elements from the original 1966 production. Many songs, entire characters,
13:09 and major subplots are done away with, but it never feels like you're missing anything.
13:13 "Come taste the wine. Come hear the band. Come blow your horn. Start celebrating.
13:21 Right this way, your table's waiting." Focusing on nightclub singer Sally Bowles
13:26 and her relationship with an English writer in 1930s Berlin, the themes of creeping fascism are
13:31 conveyed through editing and sound design. Its numbers have become iconic in their own right,
13:36 and some of the new songs written for the film were even added into the show's score
13:40 for subsequent live stagings. "So I do what I do. When I'm through, then I'm through,
13:47 and I'm through. Toodaloo." What other movie musicals could have made this list?
13:54 Tell us in the comments. "Yes, I'd do anything." "Anything?" "Anything for you."
14:00 Do you agree with our picks? Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo.
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