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From: dtuttle@uw-june (David C. Tuttle)
Newsgroups: net.movies,net.theater
Subject: Re: Musicals: Stage to screen
Message-ID: <126@uw-june>
Date: Sat, 1-Jun-85 17:19:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: uw-june.126
Posted: Sat Jun  1 17:19:53 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 4-Jun-85 05:32:04 EDT
Organization: U of Washington Computer Science
Lines: 36
Xref: watmath net.movies:6517 net.theater:58

> From: adolph@ssc-vax.UUCP (Mark Adolph)
> Newsgroups: net.movies,net.theater
> Subject: Musicals: Stage to screen
> Posted: Fri May 31 17:38:58 1985

> ...What I'm trying to get at is that Hollywood seems to have a lot of
> troubling capturing the essence and appeal of musicals on film.  As
> evidence, I offer "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," "The Wiz," and
> "Cabaret."  "Wait," you'll say, "Cabaret was a great movie."  That's
> true, but the stage production was even better.  Why must musicals lose
> part of their appeal when they are moved to film?  Is this something
> that is a flaw of Hollywood, or is it a natural property of the two
> media?  Can the constraints of film vs the stage be overcome by exploiting
> the advantages that film has over a live performance?  Can a musical be
> done successfully on film any more without being a joke or looking silly?

It's true that Hollywood has had stage-to-screen-musical failures such as 
the ones above, as well as "Hair" (which you also mentioned) and "Annie."
But, to be fair, we cannot forget such films as "My Fair Lady," 
"The Sound Of Music," and "Amadeus," all screen adaptations that were well
deserving of Best Picture Oscars.  
Adapting a stage play is much like adapting a book, the only difference 
being that books tend to have more plot and less show, and stage plays 
tend to have more show and less plot (as you stated before).  Notice that
I say "tend to" -- that are many exceptions to this rule.  But, I cannot
agree with the statement that Hollywood has a *particularly* bad track 
record with respect to Broadway.
The basic point is, there are good Hollywood screenplay adaptors and BAD
Hollywood screenplay adaptors, no matter what the originating medium.
Yes, plots and scenes are often mangled in the transition, but the same 
is true for anything Hollywood gets its grubby paws on...sometimes it
works, and sometimes...
============================================================================
							David C. Tuttle
							Computer Sci. Dept.
							U. of Washington