Movie musical adaptations: Compromise over talent?

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

When it comes to a big screen adaptation of a popular musical, there will always be a few grumbles from theatre snobs and fans of the original stage show. This is because stage musicals don’t always adapt well onto the silver screen, as some things can be done on stage that can’t be replicated in a film, whilst some musical adaptations achieve success at the box office when others don’t, it’s always a tricky genre to get right.

However, there appears to be a trend to getting some success out of a musical film, and that’s through the power of the cast. Big stars in musicals make big money, probably because everyone’s curious about the quality of said stars singing voice. But musicals that feature theatre stars, unknowns or the original cast don’t tend to fair well at the box office.

Perhaps directors thought they could get away with using stars of the Broadway stage, in the hope that the musical would carry itself. But in the case of Rent, which used the original cast in the film production, the name itself didn’t carry it and despite winning four Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, the film failed to recoup its budget of $40 million grossing just over $31 million.

Maybe it bombed due to not having a big star in any of the title roles, or maybe audiences just felt it hadn’t made the transition from theatre to film very well. Although, when you look at musicals like Hairspray, the implementation of an all star cast that included Zac Efron, Michelle Pfeiffer and John Travolta, may have been the reason why the film grossed over $200 million worldwide.

This overlooking of Broadway and West End musical stars is truly a sad state of affairs, as talented actors and singers are not given major roles in musicals. Why would they, when the promise of a big star can draw in a wider audience.

Of course there are a few stars of the Broadway stage that made the successful transition to film, such as Barbara Streisand and Liza Minnelli. However these are two cases that occurred over 40 years ago, whereas today the performance appears to be compromised to get more people in the cinema, to see the big star of the moment struggle through two hours of singing.

Recent musicals have seen a few successes like Catherine Zeta Jones, Jennifer Hudson and Anne Hathaway, who all walked away with the Best Supporting Actress trophy at the Academy Awards. But when you remember that Miss Zeta Jones had a background in theatre training and Miss Hudson belted her way through a few weeks on American Idol, their performances were hardly surprising. For every nice surprise however, there’s a pretty nasty one waiting right around the corner.

In the 1996 adaptation of Evita, stars like Meryl Streep (who can sing it turns out) and star of Cabaret, Liza Minnelli were both turned down for the lead role in favour of the popular singer, yet questionable actress Madonna. The role of Eva Perón had originally been played in the West End by Elaine Paige, and had been originated on Broadway by Patti Lupone, who won a Tony Award for her turn in the lead. With the signature song of the musical being ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ the Broadway and West End versions carry some weight behind them, whereas the Madonna version, despite being successful in the charts, fails in its attempt to covey the message behind the song in a limited vocal range.

This compromise of performance can be seen once again in Pierce Brosnan who struggles to sing his way through the film adaptation of Mamma Mia.  Even though Abba weren’t the most vocally talented group in the world, it’s clear that they had a bit more pitch that Brosnan. Wh not give the role to somebody who could sing it? The use of stage actors for a relevant supporting part has been done before (just look at Samantha Barks in Les Misérables), and in this case the role could have been played much better by someone from the stage.

More recently we have been treated to the film adaptation of Les Misérables, which has so far grossed more than $400 million worldwide, and in part has been carried on the strength of it as a well loved musical, but that didn’t stop the use of an all star cast. Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman, and Oscar winner Anne Hathaway proved to be brilliant in the film, whilst other weren’t so great. Russell Crowe seems like the perfect choice for Javert due to his size, look, stage presence and notoriety but the key thing missing was his vocal ability, seen and heard clearly as he struggled next the other cast members for the whole 158 minutes. Helena Bonham-Carter also had difficulty with her part as Madame Thénardier, for anyone who has heard the original cast recording the role had a much larger voice unlike Bonham-Carter’s weak vocal, but she has admitted that she can’t sing herself so at least she’s honest. The two of them stand out for all the wrong reasons in the ensemble songs, and at times almost ruin them.

Although these performances don’t spoil a film – with the exception of Madonna in her lead role – they do take some magic away when you expect a big booming and belting voice, only to be met with someone talking through the song, as they can’t sing.

With the recent news that a movie adaptation of Wicked could happen sooner rather than later, due to the success of Les Misérables, one can only hope that the studio goes with a stage actress or the original actress, Idina Menzel, as anything less than this could compromise the musicals big voiced songs, especially ‘Defying Gravity’, which would ruin the musical altogether.

The same can be said for the long talked about Gypsy and Sunset Boulevard adaptations that have seen people like Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Glenn Close and Madonna’s names thrown around them. With the exception of Madonna any of these three Tony winners would be great for the film adaptations, that’s if the studio go with talent over star power, as these actresses popularity has waned over the years as young and brighter talents appear.

We can only hope that the future of musical film stars will rely on talent alone, and not how many column inches they can attract, but if they do stick with this formula lets hope the person they chose for the lead role won’t need the showstopper song changing too much. There’s only so many keys you can take a song down to…

Liza Minnelli's Latest Comeback

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

With an Oscar, an Emmy, multiple Tony Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award under her belt and over 50 years in the business that is show, Liza Minnelli is the definition of the term ‘living legend’.

Not content with sitting out her later years on a vast yacht in the baking sun telling stories about all the other greats she’s known – such as her mother, her father, Frank Sinatra or Sammy Davies Jr. – Liza continues to keep busy, and this year is no exception as she brings her celebrated gifts to the London stage for a one-night-only performance on March 1^.

Minnelli will be performing at the Royal Festival Hall in London as part of the Southbank Centre’s ‘Berlin in the 20s and 30s’ weekend, where she will perform songs from the legendary Cabaret, jazz standards and Broadway tunes. However, as she mentioned in The Telegraph, she’s still re-writing the show, so who knows what could happen.

The performance at the Royal Festival Hall will be her first performance at the venue since 1973, when she performed her renowned Emmy Award winning show Liza with a Z there.

The weekend will also see a screening of Cabaret, which celebrates its 41^st birthday this year and marks the 40^th anniversary of Minnelli’s Oscar win for her performance of Sally Bowles.

Aside from her one night engagement in London, this year appears to mark another comeback in the life of the legendary performer. With scheduled performances at the New York City Town Hall alongside Alan Cumming, a performance at the State Theatre’s 25^th annual benefit gala in May, a return to acting with a guest appearance as herself in TV shows Smash and Arrested Development and even, according to an interview with The Huffington Post, a new album in the works, it looks like Liza may be doing a few more appearances this year. Well here’s hoping she does.

Film news ...

Originally published on www.thefancarpet.com

Tina Fey discusses Mean Girls the Musical

It looks as though yet another hit film will be getting the Broadway treatment as funny woman Tina Fey confirms there are plans to adapt the teen hit Mean Girls into a musical.

The actress who recently co-hosted the Golden Globes and won a SAG award for her role in 30 Rock, both wrote and starred in the hit 2004 film that saw Lindsey Lohan become a house hold name, before the bad publicity.

Fey told E! News at the Screen Actors Guild Awards that the musical version could “maybe” be made.

She went on to say "We want to … I would love to, yeah.

I'm trying to develop it actually with my husband, who does all the music for 30 Rock. And I think Paramount's on board, yeah."

The potential musical would see the hit film join the ranks of other hit films to make the transition from screen to stage such as Legally Blonde, Sister Act and 9 to 5.

Whether the film will make its way to the stage is yet to be seen as these things to take, so for now watch this space.

Will J.J Abrams' Star Wars: Episode VII see a female lead?

With the announcement a few months back that a seventh Star Wars film was in the works the rumour mill of Hollywood has already been flying into overdrive, but a new announcement could put a new spin on the latest instalment in the franchise.

With everyone just getting over the fact that Star Trek director J.J Abrams will be directing the latest intergalactic adventure, it has been suggested the main character in the film could be a woman.

It has been reported that Kick-Ass 2 heroine Chloe Grace Moretz was pitched to the studio as the leading lady for the project when Matthew Vaughn was being considered for the directing role.

Although it isn’t clear whether this had any indication for Vaughn’s vision for the latest offering and nothing has been announced or set in stone for the project, it would be intriguing to see a female lead in an otherwise male dominated franchise that could bring it right up to date.

Meanwhile in other Star Wars news it has been announced that the planned 3D treatments of the remaining prequels of the film series have been shelved in order to concentrate on the upcoming film.

It looks as though we may just have to sit and wait as the rumour mill on this eagerly anticipated film continues to churn out more stories.

Review - Rock of Ages

Originally posted on www.moviemuser.co.uk

The film adaptation of the 2009 Broadway musical is two hours of high energy 80s rock music coupled with laugh out loud comedy, as we see a young girl search for fame and fortune in the bright lights of Hollywood, set against the underside of the rock music industry.

Filled with great songs of the classic rock era – which has no doubt led it be being one of the last decade's most popular musicals – the film makes you want to dance around and sing for the whole duration of the film. Although the music in the film is great, credit has to be given for the themes, of which several run through the film, with a sweet young love story evolving whilst the upside and downside of fame counterbalance each other in the background. Another theme that the film touches on is the clear mockery of the right wing with their wholesome image hiding a few dirty secrets.

The way the film has been shot also has to be given some credit, as director Adam Shankman has given it the look and feel of a 80s movie so that it looks as though it was shot in that era too. But what really brings this film to life are the actors, who are all brilliantly cast and really make you believe they are their characters.

Russell Brand (Lonny Barnett), who probably didn't need to work hard to play his part, has some brilliant one-liners and some of the funniest moments in the film. A particular highlight is his rendition of ‘I Want to Know What Love Is' with Alec Baldwin (Dennis Dupree), who also had his share of brilliant one liners. The pairing of these two works an awful lot better than I previously thought it would.

Mary J Blige as Justice Charlier steals the show in terms of vocal performance, nailing every song she sings. Her acting isn't bad either. Sadly Catherine Zeta Jones isn't on screen long enough, but for the moments she is, her hilariously deranged and psychotic portrayal of Patricia Whitmore had me in stiches and it's great to see her doing a movie musical again, almost 10 years after Chicago.

Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta give good performances as Sherrie and Drew, but sadly get upstaged by the supporting characters. At first I didn't think their voices were rock enough for the film, but as it progressed I warmed to them and they shone during their final performance.

I had a similar feeling towards Tom Cruise as Stacee Jaxx, who I don't think has a particularly good voice and isn't particularly convincing as a man who is supposed to ooze such sex appeal. However, as the film progresses and we get to see further into his character, you begin to warm to him and overall he is pretty good, considering he's never properly sung on film before (Magnolia doesn't really count).

A special mention has to be given to the endless pop culture references to 80s films and notable rock moments, the most memorable being Ozzy Osbourne's bat biting.

Despite not doing particularly well at the box office, Rock Of Ages is great fun and will have you dancing around singing 80s rock ballads for hours afterwards. If you liked the stage show, musicals or the 80s, then buy this and watch it, you won't be disappointed.