MEMORABLE STAGE SHOWS THAT DISAPPOINTED AS A FILM (1 Viewer)

[cinemiracle]

Some musical stage shows that I raved over but was extremely disappointed ,even hated, when they were filmed were:

MAN OF LA MANCHA
A CHORUS LINE
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
LES MISERABLES

How many other HTF users have similar hates as far as great stage shows that disappointed on film

 

[Bernard McNair]

A Chorus Line is one of my very favourite stage musicals; the movie was very disappointing. Going back even further Anything Goes is the quintessential Cole Porter musical; plays very poorly as a film. The stage version of The Producers was(imho) one of the great Broadway musicals with its original cast; the movie did not work nearly as well; very disappointing that the song that introduced Max Bialystock was cut from the film.

 

[Matt Hough]

I really hate it when movie musicals drop most of the stage score, especially when the songs help build or expand characters. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum did that and is one of the reasons it doesn't work nearly as well for me as a film as it does on the stage. Bye Bye Birdie dropped too many songs and also changed part of the plot which was not to my liking.

 

[AndyMcKinney]

The stage version of The Producers was(imho) one of the great Broadway musicals with its original cast; the movie did not work nearly as well.

Yes, the filmed version of the Lane/Broderick Producers was a disappointing bore. I don't think I even made it halfway through before turning it off.

 

[Bob Furmanek]

Top Banana?

http://www.3dfilmarchive.com/lost-3-d

 

[Bob Cashill]

There was no "movie" in A Chorus Line, making it a pointless endeavor. Many stage musicals of yesteryear were truncated or otherwise changed for the movies.

 

[GlennF]

I agree with all the ones mentioned but would have to add MAME. (Of the other ones listed MAN OF LA MANCHA holds a special place as the one musical film I can find no redeeming virtues in. Virtually every other musical I can find some sequence/song/performance to enjoy - this movie -no,no and no again.)

 

[PODER]

In addition to the ones listed above, I'd have to add FINIAN'S RAINBOW, CAMELOT and the truly godawful
PAINT YOUR WAGON.

 

[Everett S.]

The star of Paint Your Wagon should have been the singer of They Call The Wind Maria! What a great voice!!!

 

[GlennF]

That was Harve Presnell. His most famous role was the male lead in the movie THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN. One of those people who would have had more of a film career if he had come along in the 40's or 50's.

 

[Mike Frezon]

In addition to the ones listed above, I'd have to add FINIAN'S RAINBOW

I didn't want to post this as a thread crap in the Finian's Rainbow thread. And I hope none of the denizens over there find me here!

But I have never seen this film before and I recorded it off TCM (it aired on St. Patrick's Day).

And I watched it last night--well, at least the first half of it--and think I'll be hitting the "delete" button without going any further. Someone over there told me if I liked Tommy Steele in The Happiest Millionaire that I'd like him in this (and I suppose that's true). But I find Fred Astaire to be vastly underutilized in this. And the screenplay is a mess! I have no idea what's going on half the time. And the music is...odd. Sounds like a random mix of standard American classics (Old Devil Moon) with some classically Irish tunes and then some really odd Showboat-like minstrel songs thrown in.

Now I've never seen a stage production of Finian's Rainbow, so maybe this still amounts to a threadcrap...but good gosh this seems like a really bad film! Sorry!

 

[KPmusmag]

Two oldies that I love, The Desert Song and Noel Coward's Bitter Sweet, have never had faithful film adaptations.

IMO Sondheim's A Little Night Music is a strangely poor film considering it had its original stage director and several original cast members.

 

[KPmusmag]

I really hate it when movie musicals drop most of the stage score, especially when the songs help build or expand characters. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum did that and is one of the reasons it doesn't work nearly as well for me as a film as it does on the stage. Bye Bye Birdie dropped too many songs and also changed part of the plot which was not to my liking.

I totally agree with you. Another example is Brigadoon - a good film but so many lovely songs are left out, and although I am a huge Gene Kelley fan, those songs were written for a voice like Robert Goulet or Harve Presnell.

I do like two changes in Bye Bye Birdie; having Albert sing "Happy Face" with Rosie - that is a charming scene, and I like the song "Bye Bye Birdie". But the entire second half with the energy drink or whatever exasperates me no end. And so many songs cut.

 

[KPmusmag]

I didn't want to post this as a thread crap in the Finian's Rainbow thread. And I hope none of the denizens over there find me here!

But I have never seen this film before and I recorded it off TCM (it aired on St. Patrick's Day).

And I watched it last night--well, at least the first half of it--and think I'll be hitting the "delete" button without going any further. Someone over there told me if I liked Tommy Steele in The Happiest Millionaire that I'd like him in this (and I suppose that's true). But I find Fred Astaire to be vastly underutilized in this. And the screenplay is a mess! I have no idea what's going on half the time. And the music is...odd. Sounds like a random mix of standard American classics (Old Devil Moon) with some classically Irish tunes and then some really odd Showboat-like minstrel songs thrown in.

Now I've never seen a stage production of Finian's Rainbow, so maybe this still amounts to a threadcrap...but good gosh this seems like a really bad film! Sorry!

Well, the film follows the stage play almost word for word and note for note so I doubt you would like it any better.

I happen to love the score, but I will confess that I usually fast forward through some of the scenes when I watch the film. It was a rather daring show when written in 1947; for mainstream entertainment, it is overtly "in-your-face" with social satire.

 

[bujaki]

The 1929 version of THE DESERT SONG hews closely to the original stage version. The MGM Technicolor remakes of SHOW BOAT and THE MERRY WIDOW are sorry messes.

 

[Mark-P]

I didn't want to post this as a thread crap in the Finian's Rainbow thread. And I hope none of the denizens over there find me here!

But I have never seen this film before and I recorded it off TCM (it aired on St. Patrick's Day).

And I watched it last night--well, at least the first half of it--and think I'll be hitting the "delete" button without going any further. Someone over there told me if I liked Tommy Steele in The Happiest Millionaire that I'd like him in this (and I suppose that's true). But I find Fred Astaire to be vastly underutilized in this. And the screenplay is a mess! I have no idea what's going on half the time. And the music is...odd. Sounds like a random mix of standard American classics (Old Devil Moon) with some classically Irish tunes and then some really odd Showboat-like minstrel songs thrown in.

Now I've never seen a stage production of Finian's Rainbow, so maybe this still amounts to a threadcrap...but good gosh this seems like a really bad film! Sorry!

I agree it's not a particularly good film, however I do like the choreography. I don't know how far you got, but the 67 year old Astaire still has some really astonishing dance moves in it.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I saw one dance number featuring Fred with Petula Clark that starts on a gazebo (I think) and then becomes more of a group dance out in the fields.

Not a typical Astaire number as there are lots of edits. But Fred was still doing really well. It was just...uninspired.

 

[Jimbo64]

Mame is the worst of the worst, the only scene I can sit thru is the title number and that's only because Lucy doesn't open her mouth

 

[cinemiracle]

A Chorus Line is one of my very favourite stage musicals; the movie was very disappointing. Going back even further Anything Goes is the quintessential Cole Porter musical; plays very poorly as a film. The stage version of The Producers was(imho) one of the great Broadway musicals with its original cast; the movie did not work nearly as well; very disappointing that the song that introduced Max Bialystock was cut from the film.

I agree with you in that THE PRODUCERS was very disappointing as a film. It must have even bored the projectionist at my local as he stopped the film before final credits had finished.

 

[cinemiracle]

Mame is the worst of the worst, the only scene I can sit thru is the title number and that's only because Lucy doesn't open her mouth

Unfortunately Lucille Ball was very miscast in the title role.