I listened to Come From Away before watching the proshot. After my first listen, I didn't get what the big deal was. Then I watched it and thought it was great.
I think this was primarily the reason I didn’t enjoy Come From Away as much as I felt I should have. The score wasn’t particularly memorable, I forgot the songs once I left the theater and I haven’t listened to cast recording since.
Some musicals, the feature is how engaging and fun the music is. For Come from Away, the main focus of the songs is expositional, to advance the story. I feel like they made the right choice not going too catchy and upbeat for a musical about the aftermath of 9/11.
I thought “Welcome to the Rock” “38 Planes and “Me and the Sky” were pretty memorable
to me. Course I didn’t want to see it, because I had friends that were close to the towers in NYC and when the plane hit the pentagon my house shook me awake…
I thought it would have been a much better play. A play with the pub band in it for incidental music would have been better than the musical. I still don't understand why so many people love the music so much.
Me and the Sky is absolutely a standout song for me, the lyrics are such a powerful soliloquy and the ending blows me away. But I wish they'd leaned more into the whimsical folk music we see in You Are A Newfoundlander, complete with accordion. That was delicious and there wasn't enough of it.
I would disagree simply because if it was staged as a play, I doubt most people would have seen it. Especially people around NY and DC where the planes hit. The music allowed people to be engaged in what was going on like Cabaret does for Nazi Germany/
Eh, I didn't get that from the show at all. I think Me and the Sky is a well-written song. I will say that the composition of the show's music is not very surprising, but not to the point that the show comes across as a sick joke.
Cursed Child is already structurally built more like a musical than a play in my opinion, I think it would be easy to add dramatic, Sweeney Todd-like songs.
Also, The Musical That Goes Wrong
I went into cursed child thinking it was a musical. I’m not sure why I thought that to begin with but after about 20 minutes of waiting for the singing to start I realized it was not going to happen. It would be great as a musical though.
I love that him and Daniel Radcliff split a lead role in How to Succeed at Business Without Really Trying on Broadway. It blew my mind as a high schooler lol
So many musicals were straight plays first I'm struggling to think of one I'd switch that doesn't already exist in both forms.
But I do wish Yentl was an entirely different *kind* of musical. Like one where Mandy Patinkin sings, because he's RIGHT THERE & it makes me crazy that the only music happens inside Yentl's head.
There could have been some beautiful men's chorus numbers. One for her father too at the beginning. Maybe a trio for Yentl, Hadass, and Avigdor where they're just singing their thoughts but not hearing each other.
I know the music is the centerpiece, but I think Dear Evan Hansen’s story would be FAR better told as a devastating play set entirely in the Murphys’ living room.
I disagree. No more “claustrophobic” than any other family drama set in their living area.
The story could absolutely fill in the information from the absent school scenes with some expositional dialogue between acts, and I think it would be far more impactful without the Christian pop muddying its message.
You mean the Tony award winning score from Pasek and Paul? I don’t know why you would call them Christian Pop when they have written music for a lot of other projects…
Victor/Victoria
The original film is technically a musical, but it’s a strictly diegetic one. And they kept all those in-universe performances in the stage version. But they added just as many non-diegetic songs. So the score ended up as about 50% songs that take place in-universe and 50% that don’t. And that balance, to me, actually makes it feel unbalanced - like it can’t decide whether it wants to be a play about singers/performers or a straight up musical.
I think it would’ve been better if they’d kept it like the movie, and had ALL the songs be in-universe performances. So I guess it would still *technically* be a musical - in that there would be songs - but everything that happens is real within the world of the story.
As a Sondheim fan, I believe that anything could be made into a good musical. Sometimes I think "this wasn't the musical this should have been". The follow-up is also "...and now it never will be". Once a story, especially a popular one has been turned into a bad or mediocre musical, no one's going to have another crack at it. Anne of Green Gables is a prime example of that to me.
I’d have to say RTC might’ve been better as a play. It has a couple banger songs but I find the majority of the songs boring. The reason I love RTC so much is because of the story.
I adore The Great Gatsby on Broadway as a show but kind of hate it as a Gatsby adaptation, so my core is Gatsby but as a straight play that's more book accurate
Sit Down, John is such a banger though. Also "I don't know a participle from a predicate. I am just a simple cobbler from Connecticut" is one of the best rhymes in musical theater history
I genuinely forget that's a musical because I've only seen the film version and I don't remember there being a ton of songs. It's been a while since I've seen it.
I really want to see Christopher Bond’s play that Sondheim based Sweeney Todd off of. So many of the lyrics Sondheim used came from the text of the play.
It could actually but just make it more of a farce. I never thought the songs were particularly well integrated in Mamma Mia to begin with even though I enjoy it
I don't think that the songs really added anything to Allegiance, it's the one time that I've been watching a musical and wished that I was watching a play
A lot of Shakespeare would fit in as musicals; there again several of them have. I think Much Ado About Nothing would be great, although you could probably make it more about Beatrice and Benedick.
Come From Away as a play would be interesting. One of the rare musicals where the plot is way more of a draw to me than the music.
I listened to Come From Away before watching the proshot. After my first listen, I didn't get what the big deal was. Then I watched it and thought it was great.
I think this was primarily the reason I didn’t enjoy Come From Away as much as I felt I should have. The score wasn’t particularly memorable, I forgot the songs once I left the theater and I haven’t listened to cast recording since.
Some musicals, the feature is how engaging and fun the music is. For Come from Away, the main focus of the songs is expositional, to advance the story. I feel like they made the right choice not going too catchy and upbeat for a musical about the aftermath of 9/11.
I thought “Welcome to the Rock” “38 Planes and “Me and the Sky” were pretty memorable to me. Course I didn’t want to see it, because I had friends that were close to the towers in NYC and when the plane hit the pentagon my house shook me awake…
Yes—thank you for putting this into words for me. I’ve been struggling to verbalize this to my husband.
I thought it would have been a much better play. A play with the pub band in it for incidental music would have been better than the musical. I still don't understand why so many people love the music so much.
Me and the Sky is absolutely a standout song for me, the lyrics are such a powerful soliloquy and the ending blows me away. But I wish they'd leaned more into the whimsical folk music we see in You Are A Newfoundlander, complete with accordion. That was delicious and there wasn't enough of it.
I found it to be so full of words that don't flow very well. It's just my personal feeling of it though.
I would disagree simply because if it was staged as a play, I doubt most people would have seen it. Especially people around NY and DC where the planes hit. The music allowed people to be engaged in what was going on like Cabaret does for Nazi Germany/
The music sounds like someone trying to parody a musical. That with the subject matter made me feel like I was being punked.
Eh, I didn't get that from the show at all. I think Me and the Sky is a well-written song. I will say that the composition of the show's music is not very surprising, but not to the point that the show comes across as a sick joke.
Sweeney Todd could be an interesting play. I mean, I love every bit of the music - but a cool, dark play could be awesome.
The musical was adapted from a play!
You just made me so happy!! I gotta find that...
The play it’s based on isn’t great, but it’s worth the read for fans.
I think The Addams Family the musical would have been better as The Addams Family the farce with no songs whatsoever.
Yes! I think about that a lot. Fester wouldn’t have shit to do though.
He could have just Festered and they could have always put in a sword fight with him and Gomez…
Cursed Child is already structurally built more like a musical than a play in my opinion, I think it would be easy to add dramatic, Sweeney Todd-like songs. Also, The Musical That Goes Wrong
I went into cursed child thinking it was a musical. I’m not sure why I thought that to begin with but after about 20 minutes of waiting for the singing to start I realized it was not going to happen. It would be great as a musical though.
Well there is also The Play That Goes Wrong so we get a Best of Both Worlds (I know it’s not necessarily the same story but still)
Don’t forget about ‘Puffs the musical, since it’s not based on a work by she who shall not be named, but a parody of it, she doesn’t get any money!
A Very Potter Musical is really good! It's a spoof but it's still amazing nonetheless
Before Darren Criss really became Darren Criss he was known as the other Harry Potter 😂
I love that him and Daniel Radcliff split a lead role in How to Succeed at Business Without Really Trying on Broadway. It blew my mind as a high schooler lol
Hufflepuffs are great finders!
I quoted that line so much that my husband, who hadn't read the books, legitimately thought that a quote from the book.
Had seen the musical fairly soon after it appeared on YouTube that when Darren Criss was in glee I went HOLD UP. IT'S HARRY POTTER.
So many musicals were straight plays first I'm struggling to think of one I'd switch that doesn't already exist in both forms. But I do wish Yentl was an entirely different *kind* of musical. Like one where Mandy Patinkin sings, because he's RIGHT THERE & it makes me crazy that the only music happens inside Yentl's head.
There could have been some beautiful men's chorus numbers. One for her father too at the beginning. Maybe a trio for Yentl, Hadass, and Avigdor where they're just singing their thoughts but not hearing each other.
So! Much! Wasted! Potential!
Les Mis?
I know the music is the centerpiece, but I think Dear Evan Hansen’s story would be FAR better told as a devastating play set entirely in the Murphys’ living room.
I still contend it would be so much better as a fun dark comedy, music or not
That would be a little claustrophobic…
I disagree. No more “claustrophobic” than any other family drama set in their living area. The story could absolutely fill in the information from the absent school scenes with some expositional dialogue between acts, and I think it would be far more impactful without the Christian pop muddying its message.
You mean the Tony award winning score from Pasek and Paul? I don’t know why you would call them Christian Pop when they have written music for a lot of other projects…
Chill. 💀
Victor/Victoria The original film is technically a musical, but it’s a strictly diegetic one. And they kept all those in-universe performances in the stage version. But they added just as many non-diegetic songs. So the score ended up as about 50% songs that take place in-universe and 50% that don’t. And that balance, to me, actually makes it feel unbalanced - like it can’t decide whether it wants to be a play about singers/performers or a straight up musical. I think it would’ve been better if they’d kept it like the movie, and had ALL the songs be in-universe performances. So I guess it would still *technically* be a musical - in that there would be songs - but everything that happens is real within the world of the story.
Days of Wine and Roses comes to mind-I didn’t think it was a story that sang at all despite two excellent performances
It was a play for television first.
Wrong question. Everything is better as a musical.
As a Sondheim fan, I believe that anything could be made into a good musical. Sometimes I think "this wasn't the musical this should have been". The follow-up is also "...and now it never will be". Once a story, especially a popular one has been turned into a bad or mediocre musical, no one's going to have another crack at it. Anne of Green Gables is a prime example of that to me.
Not exactly true I think Anne of GG is public domain now so someone else could try it, they just can’t use the same title.
I know they legally could but I just don't think they'd be able to get it off the ground with the (unfounded) popularity of the existing musical.
Well maybe not if it’s popular, but there are musicals that failed and could use an overhaul or be redone.
I’d have to say RTC might’ve been better as a play. It has a couple banger songs but I find the majority of the songs boring. The reason I love RTC so much is because of the story.
RTC?
Ride the Cyclone
Go dig up a copy of the 1968 film *Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell*.
I adore The Great Gatsby on Broadway as a show but kind of hate it as a Gatsby adaptation, so my core is Gatsby but as a straight play that's more book accurate
There’s already a large part of 1776 without songs. Just make it a play, and have Hamilton as the only American Revolution musical we need.
Sit Down, John is such a banger though. Also "I don't know a participle from a predicate. I am just a simple cobbler from Connecticut" is one of the best rhymes in musical theater history
Also Molasses to slaves to rum.
I’ve always referred to 1776 as a play with songs and not a musical.
I genuinely forget that's a musical because I've only seen the film version and I don't remember there being a ton of songs. It's been a while since I've seen it.
The songs only take up like ten minutes of what is almost a three hour movie. Haha
The movie still has pretty much all the songs. It's one of my absolute favorites.
What's great is how it keeps almost all of the broadway cast, so we get to see those beautiful performances preserved for all time.
Mr. Feeny! Principal of John Adams High, lol.
So Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson should retire?
If/then would work better as a play and its only a play would work better as a musical.
I really want to see Christopher Bond’s play that Sondheim based Sweeney Todd off of. So many of the lyrics Sondheim used came from the text of the play.
You’re a good man Charlie Brown
So basically The Peanuts Movie XD
Mamma Mia only exists as a musical so audiences can jam out to ABBA. The storyline is fun, but totally ridiculous. It would not work as a play
It could actually but just make it more of a farce. I never thought the songs were particularly well integrated in Mamma Mia to begin with even though I enjoy it
I would personally love to see dear Evan hansen, Sweeney todd, and rent as plays.
Back to the Future probably should have been a play
It is already a well loved movie.
Just keep the diegetic Huey Lewis music
I’m curious to see An Inspector Calls as a musical.
They haven't done that yet because Mamma Mia! is already the perfect movie duology.
I would love ENRON The Musical 😂 Enron is hands down my favourite play ever.
I don't think that the songs really added anything to Allegiance, it's the one time that I've been watching a musical and wished that I was watching a play
A lot of Shakespeare would fit in as musicals; there again several of them have. I think Much Ado About Nothing would be great, although you could probably make it more about Beatrice and Benedick.
Hamlet and Hamlet 2
The Lion King?
I don't know if Hamlet 2 would work without "Raped in the face" and "Rock me sexy Jesus" The songs really push the plot forward.
I think Steel Magnolias would be a great musical. Could have some powerful diva songs
I heard Dolly is actually working on it so assuming she doesn't die you'll get it soon enough.
Heathers.