Monday, December 9, 2013
SMASH LIVES! With the ratings success of Sound of Music: Live!, NBC has announced that they will do another one next year, with the only requirements being "they must be Broadway classics with a slew of familiar songs." So, South Pacific? The King And I? My Fair Lady? Camelot? Provide your musical and casting suggestions below. (And related to the headline, Hit List In Concert has drawn more than a few quite positive reviews, with some suggestion it could have an afterlife.)
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This does raise another thing: this is not a TV adaptation of a well-liked live stage musical, but a TV adaptation of the well-liked film of the live stage musical. The reason there was a constituency at all for Sound of Music is because the film has been in such rotation for so long. I think what the NBC executives are looking for is something that has enough of a base of interest to draw it in. Mr Finn's suggestions are well taken -- Big River is a great musical -- but other than serious musical buffs, who has seen most of these?
ReplyDeleteGrease could absolutely work through this filter. The Music Man, too. But no one under the age of 70 has seen the movie of Camelot, after all.
Do you honestly think a network is going to touch a show that has as a major song something titled "Tits and Ass?" Oliver! is a definite possibility, though, but I'd almost bank on My Fair Lady.
ReplyDeleteEh, do a small rewrite on the lyrics (and it's titled Dance: Ten, Looks: Three). But yeah My Fair Lady is probably way up the list.
ReplyDeleteGuys and Dolls, Gypsy, and South Pacific would have to be near the top of the list, maybe West Side Story, but I'll pick a dark horse for down the road: Legally Blonde. Well-known plot (but not known songs), great lead role, great slots for Broadway vets and non-Broadway smaller parts. (Okay, I want Beyonce or Pink as Brooke Wyndham.)
ReplyDeleteI saw a high-school performance (!) a few years ago, and they just did "*This* and *that*" instead of "Tits and Ass", pointing to the respective areas. It worked fine.
ReplyDeleteI keep coming back to "Singin' in the Rain" with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Justin Timberlake. Both have done live performances in the last two years and could be up for it. I remember we debated this as a Broadway revival a year or so ago. Who did we decide on as Kathy or Lena?
ReplyDeleteCurry is probably a no as he's recovering from a severe stroke from last summer.
ReplyDeletePirates of Penzance. Get a popular, hunky guy for the pirate king and bump Kevin Kline to the Major General. Use any top 40 female for Mabel.
ReplyDeleteI'd say 1776, but the lack of female roles probably dooms it.
ReplyDeleteIt won't be anything from the Disney catalog- but expect to see those on ABC soon.
My Fair Lady is a bit too...British. On the other hand I keep coming back to Oliver, which has the same issue.
Maybe the recent production of West Side Story, with some of the songs in Spanish. Make it a joint production with Telemundo.
Oh. I had missed that detail. How sad.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see Showboat. Whomever gets to sing Ol' Man River becomes a household name. It's such a beautiful show. But I would imagine they'd like it to NOT become "the hits of Oscar Hammerstein"
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot more in that show that is problemative for family-friendly viewing. (I mean, the Nazis are too, but that ship sailed a long time ago.) Chorus Line is full of frank conversations about sex and a decent amount of cursing. Hello 12, Hello 13, Hello Love, changes oh....down below...up above.... (Not to mention: "Imagine me this kindergarten teacher....And I thought, SHIIIIIIIIT! (Shit Richie!) SHIIIIIIIIIIIT! (Shit Richie!) What are you gonna be?.....") Yeah, that whole song is out.
ReplyDelete*problematic*
ReplyDeleteLegally Blonde is a good choice. It's why I think The Wiz can work - whether or not you've seen the Diana Ross/Michael Jackson thing, you know the source material, and a LOT of people know Ease on Down the Road.
ReplyDeleteFiddler seems an obvious choice, but it occurred to me last night that the next thing we get is Mary Poppins. Beloved movie, existing stage show, exceedingly family friendly, and if Saving Mr. Banks does well...
ReplyDeleteI've only seen The Wiz in the filmed version, never staged. How well does it work on that scale?
ReplyDelete[I will also renew my suggestion that NBC decide on the musical early enough that they can run a summer reality competition for the casting of 1-2 supporting parts.]
I think it works just fine - about as well as The Wizard of Oz does on stage. I suspect it'll have some of the same problems as The Sound of Music with the sets feeling like sets rather than sweeping vistas, but it's no worse a problem than any other show.
ReplyDeleteMaybe on ABC . . .
ReplyDeleteJust had another idea: Little Shop. Little Shop of Horrors. JGL.
ReplyDeleteI suspect Matt is right and it will be My Fair Lady. Fiddler could be a contender, but the star is . . . older and it would seem they will want that Underwood-style stunt casting. You can do that with Eliza. Harder with Tevye.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure any top 40 could sing Mabel's high notes, but otherwise, agreed.
ReplyDelete"My Fair Lady" is a good choice, but, again, Eliza is a deceptively difficult role to sing.
ReplyDeleteGreat point; I forgot how adult some of the show is. And I think it's probably out for a more fundamental reason, too: it's basically a show about show-business cynicism, which doesn't fit at all with the family-friendly holiday-tradition vibe they're going for.
ReplyDeleteGuys and Dolls with Justin Timberlake as Sky Masterson
ReplyDeleteMariah Carey could - and Precious proves she can act....just a thought.
ReplyDeleteBut with Fiddler, you have all sorts of supporting roles you can cast stars into. You put Mandy Patinkin in as Tevye for both bankability and chops. Then Streisand can do Yente (not my idea, but perfect) and you can do all sorts of things with the daughters - Zooey Deschanel, Maggie Gyllenhall, Taylor Swift, Hayden Panettierre, and Anna Kendrick.
ReplyDeleteThen for Goldie, Catherine Zeta-Jones or any bankable actress over 40. Hell, stick Meryl Streep in there.
The beauty of Fiddler is that you can do your stunt casting in smaller parts. Everyone talks about how Carrie Underwood spent ten months getting ready for the role, but Mandy Patinkin wouldn't need 10 months, and the high profile people in the smaller parts wouldn't have to commit that long.
And JGL as Nathan? I'd watch that.
ReplyDeleteIn the same classic musical/movie line of thought, they could do "White Christmas" pretty easily.
ReplyDeleteRemember in your dream casting that there is no way anyone attached to a show on another broadcast network (Deschanel, Panettierre) is going to be allowed to do this, at least in a major role. It's going to be interesting to see where they go--do they feel they need a Top 40 Star, or is the franchise name itself enough?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, since when do I need to deal with reality?
ReplyDeleteSecond, I can imagine a world in which ABC thinks it will help Nashville to have 18 million people watch Panettiere sing on NBC. (Deschanel less so.)
Much as I love her, I somehow I don't see Connie Britton as Golde...
"West Side Story"? I'm sure there's a ton of pop stars who would jump for leads in that. Change the "Jets" racial make up and you could put Rihanna and Usher in the lead roles. Or has it been overdone?
ReplyDeleteFor the daughters: Mila Kunis, Alison Brie (NBC already!), Lizzy Caplan, and fill in the last two parts with a couple of Haim sisters (trying to keep this as Jewish as possible). You are welcome.
ReplyDeleteIt was, in fact, a TV adaptation of a well-liked live stage musical. This explains the inclusion of songs that were cut from the film version, as well as and placement of the songs (My Favorite Things in the abbey).
ReplyDeleteAs I posted on Twitter, Little Shop with Timberlake. That's what I'd do.
ReplyDelete