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Musicals: From Stage & Film to Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

GMpasqua

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Originally Posted by mattCR
I have no idea how you really pull off "Miss Saigon" though I would applaud the effort. But I'm unsure of whether or not these are being made in a movie format or being shown as they are staged.
Frankly, there are several stage productions I would love to see held in tact, exactly as presented on the stage, and offered in Bluray. Things like "Avenue Q" .

I think when we say "Stage to Bluray" it's amazing how many musicals are unlikely to ever get movie versions - and probably shouldn't - but a staged production captured on Bluray would be an instant buy for me.

Several of these I have seen staged at various points. Some I love, some I loathe.. but I think that's part of the audience (as an example, I really enjoyed the book "Wicked" which the musical is based on, but the two are so wildly different I really checked out of the musical early).

But yeah, put out some staged production on Bluray, some behind the scenes, get me some "extras" of what goes on with stage hands, set design, timing, audience reactions, etc.. I'd buy.
The DVD of the stage version of "Kiss Me Kate" is quite good, don't know if it was shot in HD.
 

MatthewA

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Speaking of which, are we getting any more Rodgers and Hammerstein on Blu-Ray this year?



Originally Posted by GMpasqua /img/forum/go_quote.gif




[COLOR= #000000]Anniversaries in 2012:[/COLOR]



[COLOR= #000000]1982[/COLOR]


[COLOR= #ff0000]"Annie"[/COLOR] turns 30 next year - so you can be sure an anniversary edition will come out (like the anniversary edition in 1997 when the show turned 20)


"E.T. the Extra Terrestrial" will also be out next year in a special edition from Universal - they have been rumors


"Victor/Victoria" also turns 30


"[COLOR= #a52a2a]The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas[/COLOR]" also turns 30 next year - but Universal is planning a remake, so we might have to wait until that version hits theater screens



Wanrer Bros


"Gypsy" (1962) turns 50! (my guess - Warner will do something with this - they've announced Gypsy years ago for blu-ray)


My guess also "The Music Man" (also 1962) will get a 50th re-packaging - probably as a digibook.


Warner has already announced "Singing in the Rain" (60th) and "Camelot' (45th) for 2012


"The Pajama Game" was added at Amazon (with no release date) it celebrates it's 55th in 2012 so someone at least is thinking about it





And "1776" "Man of La Mancha" and "Cabaret" all turn 40 in 2012, so I wouldn't expect them any sooner



Annie at 30 reminds me of this:







E.T. isn't a musical, but it'll definitely get something.



Other unreleased, non-animated musicals with a multiple-of-5 anniversary next year:



1942


Holiday Inn (Universal)


Yankee Doodle Dandy (Warner)



1957


Funny Face (Paramount)


Les Girls (Warner)


Pal Joey (Sony)



1962


Billy Rose's Jumbo (Warner)


State Fair (Fox, I guess it will be a double feature with the superior 1945 version)



1967


Doctor Doolittle (Fox)


The Happiest Millionaire: (Disney, a long shot)


How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (MGM)


Thoroughly Modern Millie (Universal)



1977


Pete's Dragon: (Disney, probably not coming until Mary Poppins [which turns 50 in 2014] and Bedknobs and Broomsticks [which turns 40 this year] also come)



1992


Newsies: (was the lowest-grossing Disney film of all time, but it has a cult following)


The Muppet Christmas Carol (Disney)
 

Mike Frezon

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Matthew:


My favorite on your list (just above) of musicals with anniversaries next year?

The Happiest Millionaire! I know a lot of people dismiss it...but considering it's jam-packed with Sherman Brothers goodness and a great cast--I love it! The roadshow edition looks great on DVD and might be a real stunner on blu.

Next would be Newsies. I remember being in my local Best Buy on the Monday night before the DVD release of Newsies trying to convince an employee to sell me a copy! (I just happened to be in the mall on another errand.) No go. I had to go back the next day... This one could be marketed with a starring performance by Best-Supporting Actor winner Christian Bale!

And I think you and me have been around the block on this subject before...but I, too, love filmed version of stage productions. In fact, when I first heard about the recent limited run (4 nights, I think) of Sondheim's Company at Avery Fisher Hall (Neil Patrick Harris, Jon Cryer, Stephen Colbert, Christina Hendricks(!) AND many more) my FIRST thought was "damn, I hope someone is recording that for release!"

The blu of Company with Raul Esparza is awesome...as is the 25th anniversary concert of Les Miz. The DVD of the London Stage Revival of Oklahoma (Hugh Jackman) is also terrific!) The older discs of Richard Harris in Camelot, Ben Vereen in Pippin and the Donny Osmond Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat are also a lot of fun. I've got a number of these types of productions on disc in my collection.

Some of my favorite DVDs are the cast album "making of"s such as the DA Pennebaker classic of Company, Guys & Dolls on the Record (Nathan Lane/Faith Prince), and The Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks (Lane/Broderick).
 

ahollis

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Originally Posted by MatthewA
Actually, Hello Dolly (the movie) replaced "I Put My Hand In" with "Just Leave Everything To Me", added "Love is Only Love" (the melody was cut from "Mame", but the lyrics are new), and cut the "Motherhood March" (whether they shot it or dropped it in preproduction I have no idea).

I have heard that The Producers shot but cut "King of Broadway", and that exacerbated the film's supposed problems (never saw the show or film).

I keep forgetting about "Just Leave Everything To Me." It seems so much more appropriate than "I Put My Hand In." I understand that "Motherhood" was never filmed.

The DVD of THE PRODUCERS has the "King Of Broadway" number on it. I wish they would have Incorporated it into the DVD release and not as an extra.
 

GMpasqua

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I would guess "The Happiest Millionaire" will be licensed out (Disney doesn't seem to be releasing live action on Blu-ray) as was the original DVD

Would be nice to have on blu (not holding my breath) especially since the DVD was not anamorphic
 

MatthewA

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Originally Posted by Mike Frezon
And I think you and me have been around the block on this subject before...but I, too, love filmed version of stage productions. In fact, when I first heard about the recent limited run (4 nights, I think) of Sondheim's Company at Avery Fisher Hall (Neil Patrick Harris, Jon Cryer, Stephen Colbert, Christina Hendricks(!) AND many more) my FIRST thought was "damn, I hope someone is recording that for release!"

The blu of Company with Raul Esparza is awesome...as is the 25th anniversary concert of Les Miz. The DVD of the London Stage Revival of Oklahoma (Hugh Jackman) is also terrific!) The older discs of Richard Harris in Camelot, Ben Vereen in Pippin and the Donny Osmond Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat are also a lot of fun. I've got a number of these types of productions on disc in my collection.

Some of my favorite DVDs are the cast album "making of"s such as the DA Pennebaker classic of Company, Guys & Dolls on the Record (Nathan Lane/Faith Prince), and The Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks (Lane/Broderick).
If you want to go even back further, there are televised productions of musicals from the 1950s and 1960s. R&H's Cinderella and Mary Martin's Peter Pan are the most famous, then there's Once Upon A Mattress with Carol Burnett, and there are others that seem to have been forgotten. Unlike the more recent ones these are more like stage shows than TV movies. Here's a guide to some of them with the author's opinions (disclaimer: everyone's got one):

http://musicals101.com/tv.htm
 

Matt Hough

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As I've said in other threads, Gypsy looks so spectacular on DVD that a Blu-ray would likely be mind-boggling. I wish Warners would make it happen.

I, too really enjoy stage productions shot on tape for purchase. How wonderful to be able to experience what the original productions of Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods looked like whenever we want. Too bad the original Follies wasn't filmed or recorded in its entirety. That's a show I will NEVER forget seeing live. I wish we could get fairly recent shows like Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman in their theatrical incarnations.
 

Mike Frezon

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The R&H Cinderella from 1965 with Leslie Ann Warren has been in my collection as long as I can remember. I grew up with that show (and the annual broadcasts of The Wizard of Oz, etc.).

What a treat when the 1957 original telecast (with Julie Andrews!) was found recently....and released onto disc! Which reminds me...I need to give that a spin again sometime soon.
 

Ethan Riley

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Just running down a few suggestions from earlier posts:

Pete's Dragon: I actually have a contact at Disney; he said the restoration is going to be problematic and the bluray (while inevitable) is not on the short list at the present time.

Mary Poppins will also be very, very problematic but they are indeed working on it. Expect it on blu for 2014.

Best Little Whorehouse in Texas: the existing print on dvd could use a little clean up and it wouldn't hurt if they remastered the sound. I hope next time around they offer the deleted scenes/songs as extras. It's well known that there was a Burt Reynolds number cut from the film that was actually shown on tv airings. I also knew one of the dancers from that film and he said they butchered about 30 seconds of the Aggie number because of nudity. He said there was a shot of swinging genitalia on full display in the shower sequence. It was considered so over-the-top for 1982 (it still probably would be) that they didn't dare even preview it the way it was shot (the majority of that bit is replaced by the close-ups of the three showers turning on). I have a feeling we're never going to see the original cut of that number (and I'm not even sure we want to lol). To understand the difference, compare to the soundtrack album and you'll notice there's an extra verse for that song which presumably would have taken place when they were still in the showers.

Hello Dolly: I love "Just Leave Everything to Me" about 10x more than "I Put my Hand in," although I'm glad it worked out the way it did because I can't imagine in 100 years Carol Channing singing that number!

Newsies: I don't think it's on the radar for Bluray, although Disney acknowledges its growing cult following. Ethan Riley actually was cast as a fill-in dancer in this film, but a scheduling conflict sent him over to a film called "Shout" with John Travolta instead. So he did "Shout" which was completely forgotten ten seconds after its release and never got to be in Newsies. There is hope: rumors of "Newsies" as a stage musical creep up from time to time. I think it would be a smash on Broadway--!

But hey--enough of Newsies. Doesn't anyone want to see "Shout" on bluray? Little known Travolta/Heather Graham film! It never even made it to dvd for all I know. You can only see my arm in that movie, but I have fond recollections of making it. We shot it on the backlot at Universal, in the area now known as Wisteria Lane. The Whorehouse was nearby at the time and some of us dancers toured through the mansion singing "Hard Candy Christmas" at the top of our lungs (we only knew the chorus, unfortunately). Eventually, the guard came by and quietly locked the door, setting up camp on a chair in front of the entrance. He never said a word but it was clear we'd been having too much fun. So we walked up the hill to the Psycho house instead, and to this day some of the Shout dancers swear they heard strange noises from the upper floor, which was completely empty of human life at the time...
 

Matt Hough

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Yep, I grew up with the Warren Cinderella as well and looked forward to its showings (which weren't always as annual as Oz). The Brandy remake of some years ago garnered great ratings, and I have it in my collection, but only for completist sake. I really disliked it.
 

GMpasqua

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Originally Posted by Ethan Riley
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas: the existing print on dvd could use a little clean up and it wouldn't hurt if they remastered the sound. I hope next time around they offer the deleted scenes/songs as extras. It's well known that there was a Burt Reynolds number cut from the film that was actually shown on tv airings. I also knew one of the dancers from that film and he said they butchered about 30 seconds of the Aggie number because of nudity. He said there was a shot of swinging genitalia on full display in the shower sequence. It was considered so over-the-top for 1982 (it still probably would be) that they didn't dare even preview it the way it was shot (the majority of that bit is replaced by the close-ups of the three showers turning on). I have a feeling we're never going to see the original cut of that number (and I'm not even sure we want to lol). To understand the difference, compare to the soundtrack album and you'll notice there's an extra verse for that song which presumably would have taken place when they were still in the showers.
[COLOR= #daa520]"The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" [/COLOR]originally opened in New York in 1982 in 4 Channel Stereo at the Rivoli Theater and the music was loud!! - but all videos have been in some form of manipulated mono

Burt's song was shown on TV (Dolly's song "A Gamble Either Way" wasn't but appears on her "Burlap and Satin" album)

I've seen the complete Aggie song - it's the same length as the soundtrack LP/CD. The cuts do not seem to be due to nudity (you can see the g-strings the dancer are wearing) Some of the dance steps seemed a bit lame compared to what is there (the Aggies build a pyramid in their towels and it does induce laugther for the wrong reasons)

In order to cut them some additional lyric verses needed to be cut (or the lyric would be cut off in mid verse)

There is also a whole scene missing where Dolly Parton interviews Andre Pike (Shy) to join staff as a "whore" that's where she sings a "Gamble Either Way"


It's a musical for Cryin out loud, put the songs back in - especially the ones Dolly sings - and in Stereo
 

Mike Frezon

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I couldn't stomach the Brandy remake of Cinderella either.

Now the Drew Carey vehicle Gepetto I actually liked (well, parts of)!
 

GMpasqua

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Director Colin Higgins died a few years after "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" opened - I would think we would have gotten a director's cut and maybe an audio commentary if he lived.

Dolly Parton recorded all the songs from the Broadway Version (put these were just tests/demos and never included in the shooting script) would be great to hear them. A Dolly commentary would also be fun to hear
 

Rick Thompson

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Originally Posted by ahollis

I think you mean Samuel Goldwyn and not Jack Warner. Warner had nothing to do with GUYS AND DOLLS. They cut five songs from the Broadway play and added three. This was the norm for musicals that were transferred from Broadway to film. I also think that the biggest hits from the play were "Luck Be A Lady" and "Sit Down Your Rocking The Boat." Even the great Rogers and Hammerstein had a song added in SOUTH PACIFIC and songs cut from CAROUSEL and THE KING AND I, let alone the compete rearrangement of the songs in THE SOUND OF MUSIC. HELLO DOLLY had one song cut and one song added. Not sure it was because someone did not like a song.
You're right about it being Goldwyn and nor Warner. As for the R&H shows, they didn't have their essential life sucked out of them. SOUTH PACIFIC, CAROUSEL and THE KING AND I retain the essential spirit of those shows. GUYS AND DOLLS does not. The Nathan Detroit part was miscast, and there is no spirit of Broadway (as in the Damon Runyan New York that the musical inhabits) about it. It can have the most beautiful restoration in the world, but the end result will be a beautifully restored and gorgeous-looking dead carp.
 

MatthewA

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Originally Posted by Ethan Riley /forum/thread/310725/musicals-from-stage-film-to-blu-ray/60#post_3802611

Just running down a few suggestions from earlier posts:



Pete's Dragon: I actually have a contact at Disney; he said the restoration is going to be problematic and the bluray (while inevitable) is not on the short list at the present time.



Mary Poppins will also be very, very problematic but they are indeed working on it. Expect it on blu for 2014.

Would this have anything to do with the dupey, contrasty process shots or the normal fade of Eastmancolor negative? There have been rumors about them digitally recombining the animated sequences in Poppins from the separate negatives. Pete's Dragon (which the DVD calls "Fully Restored"; I guess they lied) was rumored to be about six minutes longer at the LA premiere (with several sources, including Maltin's Film Guide, listing the original running time as 135 minutes; the DVD and every video before it is 129); the soundtrack has extra verses of "I Saw a Dragon" and "Passamashloddy". Seems to be a recurring thing with Disney's post-Walt musicals. Even into the 1990s, The Muppet Christmas Carol had a key song ("When Love Is Gone") cut because kids were bored. They put it back into the video, released a widescreen laserdisc that had it, a pan and scan DVD that had it, and a DVD with the uncut version in pan and scan and the cut version in widescreen!



Speaking of which, I wish they would incorporate "A Step in the Right Direction" in some form to Bedknobs and Broomsticks, even if it's just a photo montage via seamless branching.




Originally Posted by GMpasqua
I would guess "The Happiest Millionaire" will be licensed out (Disney doesn't seem to be releasing live action on Blu-ray) as was the original DVD

Would be nice to have on blu (not holding my breath) especially since the DVD was not anamorphic
They set up a licensing deal to Mill Creek for Touchstone titles. Actual Disney movies probably aren't in the deal, and I don't see them releasing any non-current, non-hybrid live action unless it's tied into a remake or was a big seller, which this wasn't, or unless they can cut as many corners as possible. Disney's in-house DVD of Millionaire used the same non-anamorphic master Anchor Bay used, but put it onto a single-sided disc, compressed the heck out of it, put the Buena Vista logo before the overture (it's supposed to go between the overture and the credits), and supposedly made it look pretty bad. They do have an HD master of the 144 minute "short" version (I have heard they made even further cuts at one point) for Hallmark Movie Channel, and the parts I saw looked quite good. An uncut Blu-ray would be amazing.

The one post-1990 TV musical I want to see on Blu-Ray ain't Brandy's Cinderella (I can't even get through that one). It's Gypsy with Bette Midler. I suppose both it and the 1962 version (I'll buy that too) will be tied into the Streisand re-remake. It was made by the same company that did Lonesome Dove, so it must be with Genius Products.

As for Whorehouse, exactly how did a stereo film become a mono one on home video? For a 1950s film I can see them "misplacing" the stereo tracks, but for a film from 1982? What's interesting is that there isn't even a credit for Dolby Stereo in the film. The 4 track sound must have been the only stereo mix. But what gives?
 

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The ads for the film (see the New York Times) even state 4 Channel Stereo. The original VHS said it was Stereo but it was Mono, even the DVD has very little separation if any but claims a stereo mix. The laserdiscs were all mono.

It's possible only a few theaters got Stereo prints. Not every theater would receive stereo prints back (cost cuts on prints going to second run theaters etc.) It's possible no theaters got Stereo prints and the ads were wrong (the ad sheets were probably prined and sent to theaters ahead of time)

You would think Universal would re-mix the film, the Multi-track elements must be around for the songs at least
This was a Dolly Parton Musical in a year when at least 5 musical films were released, and this made the most money, you would think the film would have played somewhere in Stereo
 

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regarding new Annie print, why in the hell would someone make a mono print? this was a dolby stereo film and there must be a DS soundrack negative, in fact, there may only be a DS neg, no need for mono as it's backward compatible. Perhaps the projection was mono?
 

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It's not cut, it's just moved....And it lost it's place too...So many bad decisions were made on so many levels with this film, still I went to see it twice! why not? Compared to the dreck being made now, this is a masterpiece....



Originally Posted by GMpasqua

Who's idea was it to cut the show's hit number "Tomorrow" from the film?

I've heard that neither Ray Stark nor John Huston liked the song....this is why the rights were purchased guys....because of that song!



Yet when Annie meets Sandy and they are homeless on the streets (in the dead of winter) she sings "Dumb Dog" (and it's June and Annie's wearing a sweater! in New York! It's got to be 75 degress (no one else has a sweater...they're all running throught the city sprinklers to keep cool)
 

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Yes, it was like that in the theater. Margaret Boothe(a very nice lady and one of the treasures of MGM and the motion picture industry, RIP) was the supervising film editor, and possibly was stone deaf by this point. But the "extras"s are all ADR'd anyway. Hell, I was watching parts of The Ten Commandments and the "looping" of the extras in that film is ludicrous as well. What about the festival scene in The Sound of Music when Max is making announcements about the fate of the Von Trapps and there is a very loud, grumbling "Third Reich" from the audience...this kinda thing not new and I would not call it a mistake or error, it's just a creative decision. Sometimes things are done in the film-making process, that while appearing odd or strange to the general public, actually were done for a reason. Perhaps the street scenes in Annie woud have been even more dead and lifeless w/o the dubbing!


Originally Posted by Ethan Riley
Yeah, I asked about that too. I wonder if it sounded like that during theatrical release, or if it's just something that happened when the film started appearing on home video. Although, some of those omnies are hilarious, like "I saw his picture in the paper with President Roosevelt!" and my favorite: "Capiche, caposh!"

I'm certain that all the audible dialogue you can hear in (noisy) Annie was scripted, but I've done extra work where they've asked the extras to provide omnies. Generally, the extras behave and deliver dialogue that's pertinent to the scene, but on occasion we've been known to screw around a little. One time I was doing a movie called "Tin Cup" that Cheech Marin was in, and one of the extras kept saying "It's me, Dave! Open up the door, I've got the stuff!" Now if the sound levels had been particularly bad in Tin Cup then maybe you'd have heard some the contributions of some of the wittier extras...
 

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and not just that but many would argue that The Sound of Music is a better film that it was a stage show. Carousel was ruined, too many cuts and the changes to the plot take away the emotional impact of Billy's death.



Originally Posted by Rick Thompson
You're right about it being Goldwyn and nor Warner. As for the R&H shows, they didn't have their essential life sucked out of them. SOUTH PACIFIC, CAROUSEL and THE KING AND I retain the essential spirit of those shows. GUYS AND DOLLS does not. The Nathan Detroit part was miscast, and there is no spirit of Broadway (as in the Damon Runyan New York that the musical inhabits) about it. It can have the most beautiful restoration in the world, but the end result will be a beautifully restored and gorgeous-looking dead carp.
 

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