Any film production that contains music and dance during the development of the argument is considered A musical, film genre directly associated with Broadway, undoubtedly the cradle of musical theater; which is also one of the most famous streets in Manhattan, in New York (United States) and which has around 40 theaters in its vast area that form the so-called “Broadway Circuit”.
There are innumerable hits that have been produced in Broadway theaters and that, thanks to their popularity, have been taken to the cinema where they have a greater reach and even success -in most cases- The most recent musical success based on a Theatrical play has been Tick, tick…Boom which, following current trends, premiered and is a complete success on the streaming platform Netflix.
1. Tick, tick…Boom! (from Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2021)
Based on the autobiographical musical by Broadway composer Jonathan Larson and what would be his first show that was performed by him at the Second Stage in New York in 1990, under the original title of Boho Days, as one of the songs in his film version is called.
This fine film follows an aspiring playwright working as a waiter in New York as he writes his play called Superbia, which he hopes will give him his big break. While trying to compose the title song, Jonathan (a great Andrew Garfield) is pressured by his girlfriend, Susan, tired of putting his career aspirations ahead of her own life; for his best friend, Michael, who has given up his aspirations for a job in advertising and, to top it off, as his 30th birthday approaches he is overcome with anxiety and wonders if his dream is worth it.
The real Jonathan Larson, after three years of working on what would become his debut feature and one of the most iconic musicals in history, RENT, died a day before the premiere in January 1996, as mentioned in the film. After his death, Pulitzer Prize winner David Auburn was asked to reconfigure Boho Days, which became Tick, Tick… Boom!, a small chamber musical for three actors, as we know it now, which premiered off-Broadway in 2001 and has even been performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda himself (the film’s director) in the role of Jonathan.
2. West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins 1961 and Steven Spielberg, 2021)
This musical premiered on Broadway in 1957 and was first made into a movie in 1961.. The plot is based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. but with a touch of the present that was lived in New York at that time.
Two gangs of young men fight to be the best, for the girls and basically to be the owners of the place. The Sharks of Puerto Rican origin, and the Jets, Americans of European origin.
The feature film, titled in Latin America as Love without barriers, like the play, was a great success and starred Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and Russ Tamblyn. It was awarded ten Oscars from the Academy, including best film, best director, best music, best supporting actor and actress, best costume, among others.
Sixty years later, in 2021, Hollywood’s King Midas, Steven Spielberg, presents us with his version of West Side Story (Love without barriers). This is the second film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway musical of the same name, which is itself a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
This version stars Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler Y Ariana DeBose, you are the last two winners at the Golden Globes for best leading and supporting actress in a musical or comedy, respectively.
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3. Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978)
The film adaptation of Grease starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John over time it has become the definitive version of the musical (at least in the traditional way). But few know that it was originally a Broadway play.
The stage musical has a book, music and lyrics by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The title is a direct allusion to the subculture of the greasers, a working-class youth movement. that emerged in the United States during the 1950s. The work explores typically adolescent themes such as rebellion, sexual awakening or group membership, all seasoned with a score full of reminiscences of the early years of rock and roll.
The film follows high school students Danny and Sandy after falling in love during summer vacation. Sandy transfers to Danny’s school, but discovers that he presents himself very differently from his friends, both experiencing the problems described in the script of the Broadway play. At the end of the tape, Danny wins Sandy back by winning a street race.
4. Jesus Christ Superstar (Norman Jewison, 1973)
Jesus Christ Superstar is an American film, based on the musical of the same name, by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice which first emerged as a concept album in 1970 and, a year later, made the leap to the Broadway stage. The play’s script loosely adapts the Gospels and focuses on the conflict between Judas Iscariot and Jesus of Nazareth during the week before his crucifixion: the last seven days of Christ’s life.
The film begins with the entrance to an anachronistic Jerusalem, located among ruins, in the middle of a desert inhabited by hippie actors who are preparing to stage the greatest story ever told. With the performances of the iconic: Ted Neley (Jesus of Nazareth), Yvonne Elliman (Mary Magdalene) and Carl Anderson (Judas Iscariot).
5. Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
Cabaret, directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey, is a loose adaptation of the 1966 musical of the same name, by composers John Kander and Fred Ebb, who in turn had based it on Christopher Isherwood’s novel Goodbye to Berlin (1939) and the play I Am a Camera (1951), inspired by that book.
The story takes place in Berlin in 1929, when Nazism was beginning to gain strength and revolves around the decadent Kit Kat Klub and the relationship of its main star, the English singer Sally Bowles, with the American writer Cliff Bradshaw, who comes to the city in search of inspiration for his novel.
This movie is a much looser adaptation of the Broadway musical, because only some of the songs from the show were reserved for the tape; however, the original songwriters for the play wrote the replacement songs. It differs from the stage production in that instead of being a traditional musical, where the characters sing to express their feelings, almost all of the songs take place inside the club.
Critics praised the film for daring to break the convention that musicals had to be bright and happy, and that Cabaret chose instead to embrace the darkness of its themes. Liza Minelli received the Academy Award for Best Actress and the film also took home seven more Oscars.
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6. Sweeney Todd (Tim Burton, 2007)
This film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s 1979 Broadway musical, which won 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical, It arrived in 2007 from the hand of the duo Tim Burton / Johnny Depp along with a great cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, among others.
The story takes place in London, where Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) was wrongly convicted and sent to Australia by a judge who was in love with his wife. After having served his sentence, he returns to London in search of revenge, having changed his identity. He calls himself Sweeney Todd and is a very peculiar barber, who often murders his customers, who later become raw material in Mrs. Lovett’s (Helena Bonham Carter) bakery.
7. Chicago (Rob Marshall, 2002)
Movie based on the Broadway musical of the same name. The play was written by journalist and playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins., who was inspired by his own experience to write the story that premiered in 1926 and was about women accused of the murder of their lovers. This story was so successful that Fred Ebb and John Kander bought the rights to make this story into the Broadway musical that opened in 1975 and that we know today.
The central characters of Chicago are Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a vaudeville artist, and Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) a housewife, two criminals arrested for crimes of passion who are in prison awaiting trial together in 1920s Chicago and whose lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) wants to turn them into celebrities chasing fame and try to reinvent their identities. to gain public opinion and save their own lives.
The film was nominated for thirteen Oscars and managed to win six. Catherine Zeta-Jones managed to obtain the statuette as best supporting actress; In addition, the film won the award for best film, best costumes, best artistic direction, best editing and best sound.
8. Rent (Chris Columbus, 2005)
Film adapted from the Broadway musical of the same name whose book, music and lyrics are by Jonathan Larson (the same as Tick, tick… Boom!) and that in turn It was based on the opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini. Its central plot revolves around a group of young bohemians struggling to get ahead in New York’s Alphabet City in the early 1990s, under the constant threat of AIDS.
The show was first presented in 1994 as a theatrical workshop of the New York Theater Workshop, the same stage where it would later premiere on February 13, 1996. Larson never knew the success of his work. On the morning of January 25, the same day the performances began, the young composer died at home due to an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm.
After being well received on the alternative circuit, Rent made the leap to the Nederlander Theater on Broadway, where it debuted on April 29, 1996 and It remained on the bill for twelve years, receiving different awards, including the Pulitzer and Tony for best musical.
The Columbus film details the struggle of a group of friends living in New York’s East Village at the turn of the 1980s-90s. The production featured six of the original actors reprising their roles. The plot highlights values such as brotherhood, love and loyalty, and revives an emblematic story as it touches on issues related to drugs, homosexuality and diseases such as AIDS.
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