Just a random idea... why don't they do movie musicals anymore? (I mean, live ones, not Disney animation.) I think there are a few stage plays that would work pretty well as films, certainly better than a lot of the garbage that's out there today. If they made a movie out of my current favorite, "Once on This Island," I'd probably camp out in the theater to see it as many times as possible.

So this is just me rambling late at night. Two basic questions: #1, why no modern movie musicals? #2, what stage musicals would you like to see brought to the silver screen?

Why are there no modern movie musicals?
I thought the Disney bomb "Newsies" was a musical.

If so, that's why.

IMHO the last great musical was "Fiddler on the Roof"

Entertainment Weekly once said the the reason no one makes live action musicals anymore is because today's audances are so cynical they would never accept a world where everyone can just burst into song dance numbers. Today's audance want something more realistic, like Will Smith as a secret government agent who deals with alien imigration.

I love musicals, "Fiddler on the Roof" being one of my all-time favorites, as I've stated before. But I only love certain musicals. "Oklahoma!" is great, but another Rodgers and Hammerstein one, "Carousel" wasn't nearly up to par, and it also starred the same two leads from "Oklahoma," Shirley Jones (man, what a fox she was back then!), and Gordon MacRae, father of the recently deceased Meredith MacRae, of TV's "Petticoat Junction". I used to work at a Lake Tahoe casino and passed Shirley in the underground hall, but I never said anything to her other than hi when she said it first to me. I kinda wanted to, though.

I think another reason musicals probably aren't made these days is cuz no good ones are either being written, or else no one wants to finance them, maybe for the reason Brian stated above. See, studio heads think they know what every single person out there likes or wants. Well, they don't. Many people would love to see a new musical now and then, myself included, if the acting, writing, story and of course music were done right. I love "Grease" and have the soundtrack remastered. Likewise "Fiddler" but it's not remastered, darn it. "West Side Story" was good, and way back when I liked, believe it or not, "Godspell," and even "Jesus Christ Superstar," but for the music mostly. Not so much the words but the music itself.

Now, if you like great big Westerns with some great musical scores you can't go wrong with "How the West Was Won." Although not really a musical, it's got a fantastic remastered 2 CD soundtrack (it's in my CD drive now), with about 139 minutes total! That's only 26 minutes less than the movie's running time. "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" also has a great score, but I don't have its soundtrack.

Musicals cost a ton of money to make. I loved the film version of "A Chorus Line", but was surprised to hear that it cost $25 million, a huge amount of money in 1985. This film had only one marquee star (Michael Douglas, who was just beginning to hit his stride) and took place on basically one set-an empty theater (a real Broadway theater, the Mark Hellinger.) Still, after years in development, the pic bombed.

I haven't seen that many musicals, but I had interesting thoughts about each:

"TOMMY": They changed the music way too much, and the look was horrendous, but I liked some of the arrangements (such as Tina Turner doing The Acid Queen).

"JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR": I liked Carl Anderson, and the actual score, but nothing else. The music director ought to have been shot, because the arrangments of the orchestra and vocals alike were dreadful, at times. The look was a very unwise mix of biblical and contemporary devices, and the chorus was completely tone-deaf.

"EVITA": I loved this one, apart from virtually all of the singing beind obviously dubbed. It was a well filmed, excellently sung, and generally beautiful show. This is actually my favourite musical.

Miramax films is in pre-production on a movie version of the Broadway musical "Chicago".

Ooh! I like that one, yes I do...

You know, with that Matrix/Crouching Tiger technology musical dance numbers could beocme REALLY interesting.

Hasn't a "Chicago" movie been in development longer than "Evita" was?

Maybe now with the new technology, musicals will come back in, b/c one of the reasons the blockbuster musicals weren't made for awhile was the dancing. Movies like "West Side Story" and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" had such intricate dance sequences, and the dancers somehow had to stay warmed up and ready to dance through hours of waiting, and then be able to do it all perfectly through numerous takes. It just wasn't possible. Even the amazing Bob Fosse gave up on Hollywood after "Kiss Me Kate." (But at least he did that one - some of the best movie dancing ever!)

"Chicago" would be cool - I just love "All That Jazz".

Is the musical version of Saturday Night Fever the only non musical film(well no-one sings along, but there's plenty of music,)to be turned into a stage musical?

Not any more. The musical of "The Producers" (based on one of the funniest movies ever) just won a slew of Tony awards.

There was also a musical version of "Carrie", one of the most tasteless ideas I ever heard of.
Ray: Fosse did not abandon Hollywood. Didn't he direct the film version of "Cabaret?" Also, see his autobiographical ode to pills and death "All That Jazz" (1979), with Roy Scheider as Fosse (called Joe Gideon there, but with a goattee like Fosse) and Jessica Lange as the Angel of Death.

Footloose is also now a musical
And music from ABBA has been couples into a pretty coherent story called Mama Mia

IMHO JOHN WILIIAMS MADE "Fiddler on the Roof" the most popular stage play ever...I've never heard the original score, but now, everywhere you go, you hear the Williams version of the music.
BTW...Isaac Stern passed away today. (1920-2001)
A great loss in the world of music

I saw Moulin Rouge just now. I still think they should make more movie musicals, which is why I will support Moulin Rouge no matter what... but I hope, when they do make more, they'll be better than that piece of trash.

I hate musicals, but I LOVE CHICAGO.

IMHO the last great musical was "Fiddler on the Roof"

Fiddler is now on back Broadway, in a pretty well received revival. Alfred Molina stars as Tevye. I wonder if he says his line from Raiders of the Lost Ark: "Throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip."

I liked the movie version of A Chorus Line, I may be the only soul on earth who did. Saw it in the theaters three times. But...I was blown away when I heard that it cost $25 million, an enormous sum in 1985. Especially considering that it had only one marquee-name star (Michael Douglas) and most of the action took place at a Broadway theater (the Mark Hellinger theatre was used to shoot the film.)

Re Adam: July 04 2001 8:39

Now there is a remake of The Producers. Does this make it the first movie based on a musical based on a movie?

Yup. And Hairspray would be the second.

According to IMDB, a remake of My Fair Lady is in the works. The 1964 original was (IMHO) as close to a perfect movie musical (heck, a perfect movie) as you can get. What unqualified actor(s) would they cast? Russell Brand as Henry Higgins? Christina Aguliera or Lady Gaga as Eliza Doolittle? Daniel Radcliffe or Rupert Grint as Freddie Eynesford-Hill? My head is spinning over this, and not in a good way. Excuse me while I vomit...

A film version of Cats opens today. The concept of major stars (like Idris Elba) dressing in cat costumes seems silly enough. The deal breaker for me is that Taylor Swift inhabits one of those costumes. That's enough to keep me far away.

Why? Taylor Swift is cute, and she knows how to sing.

Well, once they were mad loves, but now they've got bad blood... ;-)