It’s slightly odd that movie versions of stage musicals did not follow on the heels of 1927’s The Jazz Singer, the first talkie, quite as hotly as expected, especially since The Jazz Singer was a musical film based on a stage play (although not exactly a musical).
Among the first, if not the first, stage musical to receive a movie adaptation was 1929’s Little Johnny Jones, based on a 1904 show by George M. Cohan, completely forgotten now but for the songs “Give my Regards to Broadway” and “The Yankee Doodle Boy,” (AKA “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy.”) After that, the floodgates opened and, from the 1930s on, virtually every hit Broadway show was snapped up by the studios, keen to repeat their success on the big screen.
The trend continued, really taking hold in the 1990s when movie stage musicals based on non-musical films began to crop up regularly in every stratum of the theatrical world, from tiny Off-Off Broadway shows to lavish star-studded extravaganzas. The range of movie stage musicals seems similarly broad, as evidenced by these titles, with everything from adult fare to downbeat documentaries to Depression-era anti-drug propaganda making the grade.
Mean Girls (2004)
With the social media revolution around the corner, Mean Girls could not have arrived at a more opportune moment. Its acid wit and intuitive grasp of the high school caste system capturing the imagination of Girl World like few movies had before, creating the internet meme practically overnight and cementing zingers like “So fetch,” and “On Wednesdays we wear pink,” into the lexicon. With a razor-sharp script from Tina Fey (based on the 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman) and a superlative ensemble cast headed by Lindsey Lohan,it set a benchmark for teen comedy that has yet to be bested.
With book by Fey and an abundance (an overabundance even) of songs by Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin, Mean Girls the musical premiered at Washington D.C.’s National Theater in 2017 before transferring to Broadway the following year. Although reviews were generally positive, critics couldn’t dispel a mood of mild disappointment, most noting that while the ingredients were there, the giddy thrill of the original was missing.
As the slightly modified movie version has discovered, Mean Girls is still a very hard act to follow.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
The cult comedy troupe’s first narrative movie was a typically silly, yet surprisingly sharp-eyed retelling of the Arthurian legend.
Spamalot (a portmanteau of Camelot and Spam, the pink meat-adjacent ingredient of a famous MP sketch), written by Jon Du Prez and veteran Python Eric Idle, featured a clutch of riotous song-and-dance numbers (“We’re Knights of the Round Table, We Dance Whenever We’re Able” etc.). Produced and directed by Mike Nichols and starring Tim Curry as King Arthur, it opened on Broadway in 2005, netting three Tony Awards, including Best Musical. With constant productions since, it remains one of the most successful movie stage musicals to date.
Hairspray (1988)
Set in his beloved Baltimore in 1962, and based loosely on real events, John Waters’ first foray into the mainstream (or the fringes of it, at least) is an uproarious ode to the TV dance-a-thons of his youth, a big-haired, big-hearted celebration of tolerance, inclusion and killer tunes.
Hairspray, the musical, was born in 1988 when theater producer Margo Lion saw the movie on TV. A quick phone call to Waters, who gave the project his blessing, and it was game on. With music and lyrics by Marc Hairspray Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, opened in Seattle in 2002 with Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tracy and Harvey Feirstein as Edna. It received 13 Tony nominations and one eight, including Best Musical.
In 2007, the stage show became a movie starring newcomer Nikki Blonsky and John Travolta as Edna, perhaps the most inspired casting decision in the history of musicals. Make that music, period.
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
As sophisticated as Hollywood romcoms get, The Philadelphia Story starred Katherine Hepburn as a divorced socialite whose plans to remarry are complicated by her aristocrat ex-husband (Carey Grant) and the intrusions of a tabloid journalist (James Stewart, who scooped a Best Actor Oscar for his performance).
The 1940 musical it spawned, appropriately titled High Society, boasted an equally stellar cast in the shape of Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra, plus the added bonus of Louis Armstrong and a brace of show-stopping musical numbers by Cole Porter, including the classics “Well, Did You Evah!” and “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
Four decades later, on April 27, 1998, a stage production of High Society, embellished with several Porter songs from other shows, opened, at the St. James Theatre on Broadway.
Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
An Off-Broadway fave before hitting the big screen in 1986, the musical version of Roger Corman’s comedy-horror classic, about a milquetoast flower shop clerk who cultivates a giant, carnivorous plant, falls squarely into the stage-shows-that-surpass-their-source category.
The movie version, directed by Frank Oz and starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, and Steve Martin, hits it out of the park. Among its many delights are a stomping score by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, cameos from Bill Murray, Christopher Guest, and Jim Belushi, fabulous creature effects from Dark Crystal alumnus Lyle Conway and, the cherry on the cake, legendary Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs as the voice of Audrey II, the flesh-eating flora at the center of it all.
Barbarella (1968)
The musical version of director Roger Vadim’s swinging sixties space romp, written by Eurythmics mastermind Dave Stewart, premiered in Vienna on March 11, 2004. It starred Austrian actress Nina Proll as Barbarella (a role immortalized by Jane Fonda in the movie), with (often-scanty) costumes by David Dalrymple and Patricia Field and sets by Rolling Stones stage designer Mark Fisher.
Described by Variety as “A near overdose of sexed-up eye candy topped with a liberal sprinkling of over-the-top camp,” the show ran until January 2005. A strictly limited cast recording was distributed via lottery to 100 members of the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien music club.
Groundhog Day (1993)
Like the movie, Groundhog Day: The Musical finds grumpy TV weatherman Phil Conners reliving the same freezing cold day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, over and over again for no apparent reason other than to teach him to play nice with others. The show was written by Danny Rubin (who co-wrote the original screenplay with director Harold Ramis), and songwriter Tim Minchin. It premiered in London in the summer of 2016 with Andy Karl in the lead.
As with Sunset Boulevard, Stephen Sondheim briefly considered a musical version of Groundhog Day before deciding the film could not be improved. The show’s eventual director, Matthew Warchus, had no such qualms. “Our version of Groundhog Day is going to be both instantly recognizable, and utterly different,” he told the BBC in 2014. “The central conceit is perfectly suited to the theatre… It has the potential to be complex, dark, visually fascinating, and thematically rich, whilst still being a joyous romantic comedy with cool tunes and lots of gags.”
Audiences and critics seemed to agree.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Against the old-world glamor of the French Riviera, rival conmen Steve Martin and Michel Caine compete to dupe an American heiress out of her fortune, concocting ever more elaborate schemes to bag the prize, never suspecting that they, too, are being conned.
Director Frank Oz’s delightful crime caper, penned by Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro, and Paul Henning, had all the ingredients of a smart, sophisticated stage musical. Jeffrey Lane and David Yazbek’s 2005 adaptation fizzes like a freshly popped bottle of Moet.
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Andrew Lloyd Weber’s blockbuster musical update of Billy Wilder’s classic Hollywood satire first opened in London in 1993. Starring Patti LuPone as faded screen queen Norma Desmond, it had extensive international runs and numerous tours but lost money due to astronomical staging costs. (All the backstage drama would make great fodder for a movie, a stage musical, or both.)
Lloyd Weber was not the first to consider a musical version of Sunset Boulevard. Gloria Swanson, star of the original movie, was involved in a failed project in the 1950s, and in 1960, Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim began an adaptation. Sondheim quickly abandoned following a chance meeting with Billy Wilder.
“You can’t write a musical about Sunset Boulevard,” Wilder snapped. “It has to be an opera. After all, it’s about a dethroned queen.”
The Full Monty (1997)
Based on the popular 1997 Britcom, in which a group of unemployed steelworkers put on a strip show to earn cash, The Full Monty shifts the action to Buffalo, New York, but retains the original’s earthy humor and emotional core, exploring themes of friendship, self-esteem, and societal expectations.
With a book by Terrence McNally and music and lyrics by David Yazbek, the show had its world premiere in San Diego on June 1, 2000, and opened on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on October 26.
Grey Gardens (1975)
A Maylses Brothers documentary exploring the lives of reclusive eccentrics Edith Bouvier Beale and Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale, mother-and-daughter relatives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and one-time New York socialites, might seem an odd choice for a musical adaptation, especially one charting the Beale’s descent from the glittering highlife to almost complete isolation at their squalid, cat-infested East Hampton mansion.
But the 2006 show won praise from critics for the sympathetic treatment of its subjects and outstanding performances from the cast, particularly Christine Ebersole as Little Edie. Wrote Stephen Holden in The New York Times: “[Grey Gardens] brings to mind two phrases seldom linked nowadays: ‘Broadway musical’ and ‘artistic integrity.’ The songs, with music by Scott Frankel and lyrics by Michael Korie, sustain a level of refined language and psychological detail as elevated as Stephen Sondheim’s.”
Billy Elliot (2000)
Tailor made for a musical adaptation, the British hit movie starred Jamie Bell as a working-class kid from a depressed northern town, devastated by the mid-80s miners’ strike, who escapes his grim surroundings and equally grim future by taking ballet lessons.
With music by Elton John, and book and lyrics by Lee Hall (who wrote the film’s screenplay), Billy Elliot: The Musical opened to rave reviews in London’s West End in March 2005, picking up a boatload of prestigious awards, including the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical, before relocating to Broadway in 2008, making it one of the most successful movie stage musicals of the 21st century.
The Producers (1967)
The smash-hit musical version of the Mel Brooks comedy, in which a washed-up theater maven and his timid accountant plan to cash in on a guaranteed flop titled Springtime for Hitler by stiffing investors on the insurance, debuted on Broadway in 2001.
Starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane in the roles originally played by Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel, it went on to win a record 23 Tonys and was, in turn, adapted into a movie in 2005. Of all movie stage musicals, it ranks as the most successful.
Kinky Boots (2005)
Taking its title from the 1964 novelty song by Avengers stars Honor Blackman and Patrick Macnee, Kinky Boots told the true(ish) story of a struggling shoe company owner teaming up with a drag queen to produce high-heeled feminine footwear for men.
A Britcom very much in the vein of The Full Monty, it also featured a killer soundtrack, with songs from Nina Simone, David Bowie, and James Brown interspersed with a selection of covers – “Yes Sir, I can Boogie,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” and “These Boots are Made for Walking” among them – sung by lead actor Chiwetel Ejiofor.
With all that in the mix, a musical adaptation was practically guaranteed. Boasting music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper and book by Harvey Fierstein, Kinky Boots opened in Chicago in October 2012, going on to runs in New York and London and winning awards for Best New Musical on both sides of the pond.
Ghost (1990)
Although it couldn’t hope to capture the magic of the original, a movie so hot it made pottery foreplay, Ghost The Musical gave it a spirited go.
It featured music and lyrics by Glen Ballard and Dave Stewart, dipping a toe into more mainstream waters after 2004’s Barbarella, and visual effects by Paul Kieve, the only stage illusionist ever to win a New York Drama Desk award. The show opened in Manchester, England, in March 2011, transferring to London later that year and opening on Broadway in April 2012.
Legally Blonde (2001)
The movie, starring Reese Witherspoon as a ditzy sorority gal who enrolls at Harvard Law School to win back her ex, but instead finds her life’s calling, was a fluffy pink soufflé with a stirring core of female empowerment nestling amid the goo.
The 2007 Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, and book by Heather Hach, offered more of the same, adding songs and dance numbers to the mix, but sensibly keeping the recipe intact.
Rocky (1976)
The ultimate underdog story got a musical makeover in 2014, with Stallone himself bestowing his seal of approval by co-writing the book with Thomas Meehan.
Following the events of the movie closely – you’d better bet there’s a training montage – and featuring a boxing ring that extended into the audience, the critically acclaimed production set its stall out in bruising style with a clutch of original songs, including “Ain’t Down Yet,” My Nose Ain’t Broken,” “Fight from the Heart,” and “My Nose Ain’t Broken (Reprise).”
Johnny Guitar (1954)
Director Nicholas Ray’s dreamlike Western/noir, starring Joan Crawford as a hard-bitten saloon owner – “as sharp and romantically forbidding as a package of unwrapped razor blades,” according to critic Bosley Crowther – spawned an equally strange and stylized Off-Broadway musical in 2004.
Reefer Madness (1936)
By equating the effects of marijuana to those of angel dust and/or demonic possession, this high-camp anti-weed screed enjoyed cult status for decades before the affectionate, if merciless, musical send-up came along in 1998.
With book and lyrics by Kevin Murphy and music by Dan Studney, Reefer Madness: The Musical quickly attracted a cult following of its own, poking fun at contemporary attitudes to drugs while mining the original’s already hilarious antics for yet more subversively dark comedy.