This past Saturday, March 27th, was World Theatre Day, which has been observed across the world since 1962 and includes celebrations of theatre and reflections on the themes of theatre and a culture of peace, to promote the art form across the world, to raise awareness of its value, to enable the theatrical community to network and promote as well as support each other on a broader scale and to enjoy the art form for its own sake.
Theatre, as I discussed last week, is important and has been with us in some form as far back as anyone can imagine and will be with us in some form forever more. The world of motion pictures began as an extension of theatre and shares many similarities, as well as numerous differences, so it’s hardly a surprise when movies end up adapted for the move from the silver screen to the stage. The results can be unpredictable, it doesn’t always work, but when it does… My, oh my! It can REALLY work!
Let’s take the 1992 movie ‘The Bodyguard’ – one of the biggest blockbusters of its time and also one of the best selling film soundtracks of all time. The combination of a soundtrack full of amazing music and a hit movie with a simple enough plot, combined with a love story and a lack of complicated special effects made it perfect for a conversion to the stage. Whitney’s signature songs from the soundtrack remain, of course, but the songs on the soundtrack not by her have been replaced by songs from Houston’s impressive catalogue, though they remain adamant the show isn’t intended to be a Whitney tribute show. Even Lovely Day by S.O.U.L System is gone – Sorry, Michelle Visage.
But I’ll be damned if these added songs don’t fit absolutely perfectly! There’s a little shifting around, with the show opening with ‘Queen of the Night’ and later in the club scene it’s replaced by a medley of hits for the famous rescue scene, which is done amazingly impressively, complete with slow motion and lighting effects almost reminiscent of ‘The Matrix’ and dazzling costumes and energy, culminating in a giant representation of the original movie poster created with smoke effects and the actors’ shadows. My description may not do it justice, but it’s a sight to behold.
I’ve had the absolute pleasure of seeing this show twice, once in each of the great Beverley Knight’s stints of starring in the lead role. I’m sad that the cast recording wasn’t done with Bev, but Alexandra Burke did a grand job as well. I’d just love to re-live Beverley’s stunning vocals, as she brought a power and a soul that enhanced the original songs. Put simply, the show is so stunning, I can’t watch the film anymore without feeling slightly disappointed. The danger with taking a film that’s not technically a musical is making the songs fit naturally rather than feeling shoehorned in, which this manages to do absolutely perfectly, from ‘All the Man That I Need’ when she wakes up next to him to ‘Run To You’ which is reimagined as a duet between the characters of Rachel and her sister who each fall for Frank, the titular bodyguard, singing to themselves in private but now with the addition of some spectacular harmonies, this show is an explosion of nostalgia (both for the original film and the largely 80s Whitney songs), of costume, imaginative production and staging and the hit of that love story and the drama of the (now reimagined as quite sexy) stalker. You might not be able to see our Bev in it anymore, but if you ever get the chance, it’s incredible! And it doesn’t end on a sad note either – The ever legendary track ‘I Will Always Love You’, still the best selling song by a female artist EVER and one of the songs to hold the top of the charts for an extended period of time (14 Weeks in The US and 10 weeks in the UK) in almost every country, is the finale to the film and remains as impressive and beautiful on the stage. However, to avoid leaving the crowd with a sad note, it’s followed for an audience participation rendition of ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ full of bright colours and an almost carnival atmosphere, sending you out of the theatre on a massive high.
But what about when a film to stage conversion misses the mark? Ok, that’s a little unfair, but in my personal opinion, Sister Act doesn’t do it for me. Sure, it’s a fantastic show, but for some reason (possibly licensing reasons) the original songs from the film aren’t in the show at all! Having watched the films countless times and owning the soundtracks and often singing songs from the films either in my shows or around the house, simply because they’re fantastic! I think if you ask anyone about Sister Act, it’s songs like ‘I Will Follow Him’, ‘My God’ (a take of ‘My Guy’) and ‘Shout’ that people always think of. However, while there are some decent songs in the musical, I found myself yearning for some of the musical familiarity from the films I’d grown up with. Though, I was excited to get tickets for this coming July where Whooping Goldberg was to reprise her role as Delores and Jennifer Saunders was to play the Mother Superior, so I was excited to see how I felt about it with that boost. The character of Delores may have been changed from Motown to Disco, which is still great, but for some reason doesn’t have the same punch for me. It must hit the right notes for some folk though, as the musical has been enjoying productions from the West End to Broadway since 2009!
Now, we can’t talk about movies that became successful shows without mentioning one of the classics, Sunset Boulevard. The 1950 film-noir movie wasn’t originally a musical, instead being a thriller about Hollywood discarding and destroying those who’s success has dwindled. It tells the story of a writer who strikes up an unexpected relationship with a reclusive former movie star, played by Gloria Swanson, who happens to be eager to make a comeback. The stage version feels like it’s been around forever, but has actually only been around since 1993. IT’s regularly hailed as one of the modern greats of musical theatre and the role of Norma Desmond has been played by legends such as Glenn Close, Patti Lupone and Betty Buckley both in the West End and on Broadway. It is set to go the other way and have the musical warned into a film, with Glenn Close reprising her legendary role and also serving as a producer along with Andrew Lloyd-Webber. As Close is my personal favourite in the role, I’m super excited about this, even if it had been slightly delayed by Covid. But then, who hasn’t been?
It might also surprise you to know that Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s version wasn’t the first attempt to turn the old film into a musical. Stephen Sondheim had been planning an adaptation, but was talked out of it. I’d love to know what that would have been like!
There are so many movies that have had a go at being turned into stage shows and Disney are well into that game too! With successes like the internationally successful ‘The Lion King’, which brought superb visual interpretations of animal costumes and the African plains to the stage, to ‘Beauty and the Beast’ which is a lavish interpretation featuring humans dressed as household items, which is a lot harder to do on stage, to ‘The Little Mermaid’ and its underwater world and fabulously camp sea witch, Ursula, and the magic filled, action packed ‘Aladdin’ – These have all enjoyed productions in a variety of countries. With these films being musicals already, half the battle is won for converting it to the stage, but the larger than life characters, use of magic and living up to the visuals while remaining faithful to the animated version presents its own challenges, but with the big budget of Disney combined with the intense love that people have for these films and for Disney as a brand, they always seem to rise to the challenge. We all love a little Disney magic – and when you combine that with the magic of theatre, there’s something really special there! Now, ‘Frozen’ is set to be the next Disney movie to make the leap to theatre, so I’m dying to see what they can do with that.
So do you have any favourite films that have become stage shows? Have I missed any absolute classics? Do you think the movie is better than the show with any of these or the show better than the movie? Share your thoughts in the comments and until next time, take a bow, stay safe, stay sane and stay… Vidalicious!
