Generally speaking, musicals tend to be more freely expressive than movies. Musical numbers allow characters to break the fourth wall and confess their feelings to the audience, whereas in a movie, their emotional state is treated more delicately, perhaps through facial close-up shots, or lingering frames of expressive body posture. I must say, I definitely prefer the sung heartfelt confession, since it is way less ambiguous and allows the plot to be packed more densely.
Musicals also have the advantage of being more removed from reality than film. Movies strive for gritty reality, even if they’re fantasy films. There is no place for song and dance, unless it’s a musical movie, a dream sequence (500 Days of Summer), or a drug-fuelled hallucination (Dumbo). And a “serious” movie would never be caught dead using a song as anything other than a plot device or a montage.
Here are five movies that I’d like to see as musical adaptations.
Frozen (2013)
After a childhood accident, Princesses Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Anna (Kristen Bell) are confined to the castle until Elsa can control her emotionally-linked ice powers. But Elsa loses control of her cryomancy on her coronation day, freezing the entire kingdom of Arendelle, and flees into the mountains. Undeterred, Anna sets out to find her sister and thaw the land.
Idina Menzel’s performance of showstopper “Let it go” was sub-par at the Oscars: her voice cracked, she wasn’t synced with the backing track, and she was – dare I say – pitchy? Award-show fans should have a second chance to hear the most mind blowing Disney track in years sung by a diva in sequins during an awards show. We can make that happen by adapting Frozen onstage, and letting it win the Tony Award for Best Musical. Frozen is already a musical to start with, though “Let it go” may eclipse the memory of all other songs in viewer’s minds.
The musical elements aside, Frozen is still the best canon Disney film since Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The characters are sympathetic, though the movie is refreshingly plot-driven rather than relying on the idiocies of the protagonists to generate excitement. Kristen Bell is a surprisingly good voice actor, and Idina Menzel is reliably expressive. Also notable is Josh Gad from The Book of Mormon as Olaf, a snowman who likes warm hugs. I am a little bit tired of seeing capital-L-Love as the deus ex machina, but it’s a Disney film – that comes with the territory.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Randle Patrick “Mac” McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is sentenced to a mental institution as part of his sentence for statutory rape. The ward is ruled by Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) who has reduced the other patients to terrified husks. Pitting himself against Nurse Ratched’s authoritarian regime, he becomes a rallying figure for the other inmates.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was the second film to sweep the Big Five Oscar categories: Best Director, Best Adapted/Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Picture. On the whole, I found it more depressing than uplifting. However, that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t make a good musical. Cabaret, for instance, ends with the rise of the National Socialist Party and the end of free-spirited flapper fun in Berlin.
McMurphy’s introduction of absurdity into the order imposed by Nurse Ratched signals the beginning of Chief’s rebirth: returning individualism and the ability of self-determination even as Nurse Ratched takes increasingly harsh measures to rein in the inmates. As such, this process should be accompanied by song and dance. The re-emergence of art to mark a return to individualism is a common visual device: for example, in We Will Rock You, classic rock is used to fight conformity as imposed by The Man. Also, I think that an asylum would be a fun place to set a musical: if one were to start breaking fourth walls and putting on songs-and-dance, might as well do it in a madhouse.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) proves that IQ ain’t nothin’ but a number as he tours the second half of the 20th century armed with nothing but an open heart.
Forrest Gump naturally lends itself to the musical format by nature of having an episodic structure rooted in reality, and a globetrotting protagonist who can be alternately perceived as endearingly childlike, and meditatively travel weary. It’s also essentially MODERN USA: GREATEST HITS. If Cirque du Soleil can develop a whole show about The Beatles, then Forrest Gump has more than enough material for a musical.
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Based on the books of the same name by Lemony Snicket, the three Baudelaire orphans are entrusted to their first cousin: the noxious Count Olaf (Jim Carrey) who is a gold digger and wishes to inherit the Baudelaire fortune through marriage and possibly incest. Count Olaf loses custody, but continues harassing the siblings as they are paraded in and out of the custody of a series of relatives.
This is a really awful movie with the barest resemblance to its literary inspiration. It would be a lot better off as a musical, with libretto by Tim Minchin and the set design by Tim Burton, or their lower-budget equivalents. We could get the foster homes out of the way and establish Olaf’s character through some witty musical numbers, before focusing on the underlying conspiracy. Unfortunately it seems that Lemony Snicket is an adherent of the Chris Carter (Lost) school of plot (obfuscate so that fans can’t figure out you’re improvising as you go) but it would be interesting to see how the revelations of later books are treated onstage.
American Pie (1999)
Four high school seniors make a pact to punch their v-cards before graduation.
American Pie is not particularly innovative in subject matter, but excellently executed, elevating itself to classic status, with extremely memorable scenes and predicaments (namely, the pie incident, the glue incident, and the pool table incident). The classic status of said predicaments, are, however, a disadvantage when considering a stage adaptation. How can American Pie be adapted while staying fresh yet true to source material?
I would suggest adding a Greek chorus to sing at moments when characters are caught in flagarante delicto and would be canonically too embarrassed to sing for themselves, whilst dressed in costumes appropriate to the setting. Oh, yes, I’d like to hear a serenade by unprofessionally-clad medical practitioners while Jim and his father are in the waiting room. Or some bakers, musically debating the pros and cons of fornication with various baked goods.
But really, American Pie is a classic, with or without the Greek chorus. I shan’t spoil it for you if you haven’t already watched it.
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