Musicals: From Stage & Film to Blu-ray (2 Viewers)

[Mike Frezon]

Uh oh. I wonder what other kind of trouble I can get into at amazon.co.jp???

 

[Ethan Riley]

Says Region A. I guess that plays in North America?? I'm gonna get it.

 

[Doug Bull]

Says Region A. I guess that plays in North America?? I'm gonna get it.

Yes it's region A
It plays perfectly on my US Sony region A Blu-ray player.

As I said previously, both the Picture and Sound are great.
I rate it about the same quality as the current blu-ray of "Chicago"

It's a nightmare to follow the Japanese Menu and feature buttons, but once you fluke and memorise them it becomes a piece of cake.
The back cover gives you some indication.

Good luck and enjoy.

Doug.

 

[Joe Lugoff]

1952: Where's Charley?1954: Rose Marie1956: The Vagabond King1960: Can-Can

 

[Mike Frezon]

Thanks, Doug!

I may come back for some more help if I can't figure out the menus!

The weird thing is that my order says I can expect delivery sometime between this Tuesday or Thursday! THAT would be amazing!

 

[Doug Bull]

Thanks, Doug!

I may come back for some more help if I can't figure out the menus!

Of course you could invite your Japanese friends around for a viewing or do a crash course in Japanese, otherwise you're on your own.
Let us know how you get on and what your thoughts are.

When you successfully click on all the right spots you'll be in for a treat.

Doug.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

To this day I'm baffled by how lame the movie of the Producers musical is compared to the stage show, which is brilliant. Dunno how they messed it up so badly.

 

[Ejanss]

To this day I'm baffled by how lame the movie of the Producers musical is compared to the stage show, which is brilliant. Dunno how they messed it up so badly.

They hired the choreographer to pretty much PUT the musical on film, without widely opening it up out of its brassy stage-burlesque delivery and stagebound format--And then cutting out the show's most famous original number, "The King of Broadway", just because that would've looked even stagier. (It survives well on the deleted scenes, though.)

Not to mention, like Hairspray:TMM, we already had the original movie source on film, and the Producers musical wasn't as outrageous as Brooks' original--C'mon, I thought they would've put Lorenzo St. DuBois and "Love Power" into the stage version, instead of giving the German writer his big Will Ferrell moment, and excuses for more Broadway-gay in-jokes.
(Oh, and this was the time when Matthew Broderick in the 00's was just starting to look really, disturbingly old, up close....Which depressed the heck out of us old WarGames fans.)

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Frankly, I would've preferred a straight-up film of the stage production!

 

[MatthewA]

The Sherman Brothers' 1976 musical The Slipper and the Rose just came out on Blu-ray, and it has a stage version that has done some UK and US tours since the 1980s.

Frankly, I would've preferred a straight-up film of the stage production!

Had they not snipped out King of Broadway, that's basically what it would have been! Whose idea was it to cut a key song that explains character motivation? That whole song is his backstory and it shouldn't have been cut.

More ideally, Mel should have directed it himself and let Susan choreograph.

 

[Doug Bull]

Even with all those problems It's still a favourite of mine. My Wife and I both love it. (the movie that is)

The King of Broadway is included on the blu-ray extras, but I can't remember if it's 1080p or not.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I never thought it was that bad; it may have been a little old hat for the cinema, is all.

 

[MatthewA]

I wish they'd make more of these "old hat" movie musicals. There's plenty of stuff from the Golden Age that never got a movie version, and failing that, one could always write an original score.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I wish they'd make more of these "old hat" movie musicals. There's plenty of stuff from the Golden Age that never got a movie version, and failing that, one could always write an original score.

I could never figure out why they didn't do a movie of "Little Me," and star Sid Ceasar in it. I don't know; maybe it was too stagey and show-businessey. The novel itself could have been hilarious in a sort of mockumentary style. They could still do it and get away with it.

 

[JohnMor]

So many fine pieces still left unproduced. And I really wish the original Streisand-Sondheim film musical would have transpired. Ah well.

 

[Todd J Moore]

I suspect The King of Broadway was cut just to make sure the thing didn't get an R rating. Some of the other material may have been pushing it and since that song outright drops the F bomb, well...shame, because it's a great number. But I, too, rather love the movie all the same.

 

[Matt Hough]

I could never figure out why they didn't do a movie of "Little Me," and star Sid Ceasar in it. I don't know; maybe it was too stagey and show-businessey. The novel itself could have been hilarious in a sort of mockumentary style. They could still do it and get away with it.

Well, I love the score for Little Me, and it was certainly a tour de force for Sid Caesar on stage, but all those disguises probably wouldn't have worked on film, and since the stage show was not a box-office success (it only ran six months and didn't make back its investment; the show wasn't a hit in either of its major Broadway revivals either), no studio likely would have wanted to take a chance with it.

Besides, didn't Fox do a bit of the same idea with What a Way to Go! only with lots of different men?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I suspect The King of Broadway was cut just to make sure the thing didn't get an R rating. Some of the other material may have been pushing it and since that song outright drops the F bomb, well...shame, because it's a great number. But I, too, rather love the movie all the same.

They could've just changed that word if they'd really wanted to.

 

[Ejanss]

I wish they'd make more of these "old hat" movie musicals. There's plenty of stuff from the Golden Age that never got a movie version, and failing that, one could always write an original score.

Disney's reportedly jump-starting a big-budget version of the oft-shelved "Into the Woods" movie (heavily beating their Once Upon a Time comparisons into the ground), and there was talk of bringing the recent "Guys & Dolls" revival back to a (better) movie version, but that was a while ago.

It goes in cycles: The Bette Midler "Gypsy" got everyone looking at TV, "Cats" got everyone looking at direct-to-disk, "Chicago" got everyone looking at movie versions, "Memphis" got everyone looking at PPV-to-disk, and now "Sound of Music" has everyone looking at TV again for the old classics.

 

[Matt Hough]

Disney's reportedly jump-starting a big-budget version of the oft-shelved "Into the Woods" movie (heavily beating their Once Upon a Time comparisons into the ground), and there was talk of bringing the recent "Guys & Dolls" revival back to a (better) movie version, but that was a while ago.

NBC hasn't announced their next live Broadway classic for next year's holiday season, but my two guesses were The King and I and Guys and Dolls. G&D may not quite be the family fare they're looking for, but I'd love to see a more complete version of the stage show on TV with a first-rate cast of singing actors.