Movies Adapted From Broadway Musicals– All right!

Movies Adapted From Broadway Musicals–All Right!

I’m teaching a theater appreciation class this semester.  Guess what?  We’ve made it to musicals.

Oh my gosh, these students haven’t seen many classic musicals! I knew they’d enjoy Legally Blonde on stage and showed it in class.  They’d loved it. (Apparently, they all went home and finished it!)

During my preparation for the class, I ran on to this great list from Playbill.com of some musicals being adapted as movies.  After the success of The Greatest Showman, I’d say it was about time, wouldn’t you?

PRE-PRODUCTION

ALADDIN

• Production Company: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Lin Pictures

• Screenplay: John August

• Director: Guy Ritchie

• Cast: TBA

• An adaptation of the Disney musical with songs by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, and Tim Rice.

• Latest Update: Live-Action Aladdin Will Begin Filming This Summer (6/13/2017)

(Did you see The Greatest Showman?  You must if you haven’t yet.)

HELLO AGAIN

• Director: Tom Gustafson

• Cast: Audra McDonald, Cheyenne Jackson, T.R. Knight, Martha Plimpton, Rumer Willis, Jenna Ushkowitz

• An adaptation of Michael John LaChiusa’s musical based on Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde.

PRE-PRODUCTION

THE LION KING
• Release Date: July 19, 2019
• Production Company: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
• Screenplay: Jeff Nathanson
• Director: Jon Favreau
• Cast: Donald Glover, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Chiwetel Ejiofor, James Earl Jones
• A live-action adaptation of the Disney musical with songs by Elton John and Tim Rice.
• Latest Update: Elton John at Work on New Lion King Song for Beyoncé (2/15/2018)

IN DEVELOPMENT

13
• Production Company: CBS Films
• Screenplay: Bert V. Royal
• Director: TBA
• Cast: TBA
• An adaptation of Jason Robert Brown, Dan Elish, and Robert Horn’s musical about a teenager who moves from New York City to small-town Indiana.
• Latest Update: Teenage Dream! CBS Films Will Bring Jason Robert Brown’s 13 to the Big Screen (8/12/2014)

AMERICAN IDIOT
• Production Company: HBO
• Screenplay: Rolin Jones
• Director: Michael Mayer
• Cast: Billie Joe Armstrong
• An adaptation of Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer’s Tony nominated musical based on Green Day’s 2004 concept album of the same name.
• Latest Update: HBO Greelights Green Day’s American Idiot Film (10/6/2016)

BARE: A POP OPERA
• Producers: Hillary Butorac Weaver, Janet Billig Rich
• Screenplay: Kristin Hanggi
• Director: Kristin Hanggi
• Cast: TBA
• An adaptation of Jon Hartmere, Jr. and Damon Intrabartolo’s musical about the struggles of two gay high school students at a Catholic boarding school.
• Latest Update: Bare: A Pop Opera Film Adaptation in the Works (1/2/2018)

Check out my Dear Evan Hansen, the Broadway Musical lesson here: Dear Evan Hansen, the Broadway Musical

Upcoming Movie Musicals

BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL
• Production Company: Sony Pictures, Playtone
• Screenplay: Douglas McGrath
• Director: TBA
• Cast: TBA
• Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, and Paul Blake will produce a film adaptation of the musical about the early life and career of singer/songwriter Carole King.
• Latest Update: Beautiful, About Life of Carole King, Is Heading to the Silver Screen (3/22/2015)

CATS
• Production Company: Universal Pictures, Working Title
• Screenplay: TBA
• Director: Tom Hooper
• Cast: TBA
• An adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
• Latest Update: Andrew Lloyd Webber Pens New Song for Possible Cats Film (1/5/2018)

COME FROM AWAY
• Production Company: The Mark Gordon Company
• Screenplay: Irene Sankoff and David Hein
• Director: Christopher Ashley
• Cast: TBA
• An adaptation of Irene Sankoff and David Hein’s musical about the nearly 7,000 airplane passengers stranded in Gander, Newfoundland in the days following 9/11.
• Latest Update: Director Christopher Ashley Reveals Plans for the Come From Away Movie (12/27/2017)

FINDING NEVERLAND
• Production Company: The Weinstein Company
• Screenplay: TBA
• Director: TBA
• Cast: TBA
• Producer Harvey Weinstein has announced that a film adaptation of James Graham, Gary Barlow, and Eliot Kennedy’s musical is in the works.
• Latest Update: Broadway’s Finding Neverland to Close — Film Adaptation Planned (5/5/2016)

GUYS AND DOLLS
• Production Company: 20th Century Fox
• Screenplay: Danny Strong
• Director: Michael Grandage
• Cast: TBA
• A new film adaptation of Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows, and Jo Swerling’s Tony Award-winning musical.
• Latest Update: Michael Grandage to Direct Guys and Dolls Film Remake (5/31/2016)

GYPSY
• Production Company: TBA
• Screenplay: Richard LaGravenese
• Director: Barry Levinson
• Cast: Barbra Streisand
• A new film adaptation of Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents‘ classic musical starring Barbra Streisand as Rose.
• Latest Update: Barbra Streisand Gypsy Film Script Loses Backer/Distributor (8/3/2016)

IN THE HEIGHTS
• Production Company: TBA
• Screenplay: Quiara Alegría Hudes
• Director: Jon M. Chu
• Cast: TBA
• An adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes’ Tony Award-winning musical about the residents of the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.
Looking for a lesson about In the Heights?  Check out:  In the Heights

JEKYLL & HYDE
• Production Company: TBA
• Screenplay: TBA
• Director: TBA
• Cast: TBA
• Production company RP Media has reportedly purchased the film rights to Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse’s popular musical.
• Latest Update: Film Rights Purchased for Jekyll and Hyde Musical (1/21/2013)

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT
• Production Company: STX, The Really Useful Group, Rocket Pictures
• Screenplay: TBA
• Director: TBA
• Cast: TBA
• An animated feature based on Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical.
• Latest Update: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John Are Working on a Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Movie (3/28/2017)

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
• Production Company: Marc Platt Productions, Warner Bros.
• Screenplay: Matthew Robinson
• Director: Greg Berlanti
• Cast: TBA
• A new film adaptation of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s musical about a man-eating plant.
• Latest Update: New Version of Little Shop of Horrors Film in the Works (12/7/2016)

LYSISTRATA JONES
• Production Company: Branded Pictures Entertainment, Peck Entertainment
• Screenplay: Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn
• Director: Andy Fickman
• Cast: TBA
• Andy Fickman is developing a film adaptation of Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn’s musical about a group of high school cheerleaders who refuse to “give it up” until their basketball-player boyfriends score on the court.
• Latest Update: Lysistrata Jones Will “Give It Up” on the Big Screen; Andy Fickman Will Direct Film Adaptation (6/14/2013)

MATILDA
• Production Company: TBA
• Screenplay: Dennis Kelly
• Director: Matthew Warchus
• Cast: TBA
• An adaptation of Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly’s musical based on the Roald Dahl novel.
And if you’d like a unit about Matilda to teach, check out:  Matilda 

MEMPHIS
• Production Company: Alcon Entertainment,The Mark Gordon Company, Warner Bros.
• Screenplay: Joe DiPietro
• Director: TBA
• Cast: TBA
• An adaptation of Joe DiPietro and David Bryan’s Tony Award-winning musical about a white radio DJ and his love for a black singer at the dawn of the Civil Rights movement.
• Latest Update: Film Adaptation of Tony-Winning Musical Memphis In the Works (10/15/2012)

MISS SAIGON
• Production Company: Cameron Mackintosh, Working Title Films
• Screenplay: TBA
• Director: Danny Boyle
• Cast: TBA
• Producer Cameron Mackintosh has said he would like to make a a film version of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg’s 1989 musical as a follow-up to Les Misérables.
• Latest Update: Has Miss Saigon Film Found Its Director? (3/11/16)

OLIVER!
• Production Company: Walt Disney Studios, Cube Vision, Marc Platt Productions
• Screenplay: Danny Strong
• Director: Thomas Kail
• Cast: Ice Cube
• A new film adaptation of Lionel Bart’s Tony Award-winning musical.
• Latest Update: Danny Strong to Pen Script for Disney’s Oliver! Remake, Directed by Hamilton’s Thomas Kail (1/18/2018)

PIPPIN
• Production Company: The Weinstein Company, Storyline Entertainment
• Screenplay: James Ponsoldt
• Director: TBA
• Cast: TBA
• An adaptation of Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson’s musical.
• Latest Update: Craig Zadan and Neil Meron Will Partner with Weinstein Company for Film Version of Pippin (12/9/2013)

SOUTH PACIFIC
• Production Company: Chicagofilms
• Screenplay: Lynn Grossman
• Director: Michael Mayer
• Cast: Hugh Jackman, Justin Timberlake, Michelle Williams
• A new film adaptation of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Tony Award a and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, with a screenplay incorporating additional details from James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific.
• Latest Update: South Pacific, Directed by Michael Mayer, May Return to Screen With Michelle Williams (5/10/2013)

SPRING AWAKENING
• Production Company: Playtone
• Screenplay: Steven Sater
• Director: TBA
• Cast: TBA
• An adaptation of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s Tony Award-winning musical.
• Latest Update: Duncan Sheik Reveals Plans for Filming of American Psycho and Spring Awakening (4/28/2016)

SUNSET BOULEVARD
• Production Company: Paramount Pictures
• Screenplay: Christopher Hampton
• Director: TBA
• Cast: Glenn Close
• An adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, and Christopher Hampton’s musical based on the classic Billy Wilder film.
• Latest Update: Sunset Boulevard, Starring Glenn Close, Inches Closer to the Big Screen (8/17/2017)

THE PROM

• Production Company: Netflix

• Screenplay: Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin 

• Director:  Ryan Murphy

• Cast:  Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Kerry Washington and James Corden

• Latest Update:  Movie released on December 2020 

WEST SIDE STORY
• Production Company: Amblin Entertainment
• Screenplay: Tony Kushner
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Cast: TBA
• A new film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents‘ classic musical.
• Latest Update: Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner West Side Story Remake Issues Casting Call (1/25/2018)

WICKED
• Production Company: Marc Platt Productions, Universal Pictures
• Screenplay: Winnie Holzman
• Director: Stephen Daldry
• Cast: TBA
• An adaptation of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s popular musical about the life of the Wicked Witch of the West.
• Latest Update: Think You Know Everything About Wicked? Think Again. (7/10/2017)

Isn’t amazing how the Wizard of Oz book prompted three musicals?  The original Wizard of Oz, The Wiz and now Wicked!

Here’s a lesson about the Broadway musical The Wiz which might interest you if you teach drama, language arts or music:

The Wiz, Broadway Musical 

Or the highly popular musical, Hairspray!  Or maybe you’d rather have your students study Costume design through Hairspray? 

Here’s one where the movie was made first and then the musical:

Ground Hog Day

That’s quite a hefty list.  I’m so excited to see some of these.  How about you?

P.S. As of this writing, Legally Blonde is not slated to be adapted, but you never know….

Contact me at dhcbaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net