The current pandemic scenario has forced shut all the theaters and with it, went the magic the shows created. People do not know when they will be able to visit the Broadway and enjoy another performance but till then, here is a list of musicals and dramas that were recreated for box office:
- Hamilton
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical has been every theatre’s main attraction since August 2015. Even though the theatres may have shut down for now due to pandemic, it is a sure contention that the theatres will be packed again whenever it goes live—the same for the filmed version of the show available for the Disney+ audience. Miranda promises to deliver a fantastic, well-crafted movie at some point very shortly, though he primarily aimed at providing the spectators with a chance to see the show as it was intended.
- Rent
The East village riff off on Puccini’s “La Boheme” by Jonathan Larson was treated like “Hamilton” of its day. This play used to pack the Theatre Workshop of New York back in 1996, and the Broadway producers were quick to bring it to them. But when they realized that there were not theatres free to accommodate this transfer, the producers refurbished an old Nederlander Theatre where the show ran for 12 years continuously. Rent’s production for big-screen tanked horribly. The people who saw the show in the Broadway theatres are the only ones who have fond memories of it.
- The Phantom of the Opera
This masterpiece created by Andrew Lloyd Webber is an immensely popular musical show with a global appreciation since it premiered at Her Majesty’s Theatre on London’s West End in 1986. Its Broadway production opened nearly two years later, and one of the most dreaded New York Times critic Frank Rich had to admit that the musical was utterly irresistible and packed with entertainment. One of the key highlights of the show is its creative stagecraft, which went missing when Joel Schumacher unveiled his film adaptation in 2004. The movie was two decades late to the party. Though it managed to retain the zeal of the original production, the chemistry was lacking between leads Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum. The film managed to do an average business in the box office.
- Chicago
John Kander and Fred Ebb celebrated lousy behavior in 1920 with their musical “Chicago”, and it was revived in 1996. The revival starred Bebe Neuwirth and Ann Reinking. 2002 saw Rob Marshall’s adaptation of the musical with all the shimmer and glamour of the 1920s kept intact. Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones featured in the second film adaptation. It was received extremely well by the audience, and the people went wild, ensuring that the movie became a box office smash and won the Best Picture Award.
- Jersey Boys
A famous jukebox musical, Jersey Boys, revolves around the journey of the 1960’s pop quartet The Four Seasons. Struck by nostalgia, the older generation filled the Broadway Production when it premiered in 2005, and the show ran till 2017. But the utter charm of the show was massacred by director Clint Eastwood in his poorly lit 2014 movie version. Neither did it come remotely near the success of the original piece, nor could it stop the audience from dozing off mid-movie.
- Les Miserables
Victor Hugo created a French Revolution epic that was one globally loved musical. The show fell off the shelf because the initial production had to close in 2003, but its constant tours across 42 countries and translation in 21 languages kept its memory safe in our minds when Tom Hooper came in with his adaptation. The movie was blatantly tone-deaf and entirely forgettable. Anna Hathaway earned her award for the uncomfortable rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream,” but Hooper’s idea of shooting the numbers without a click track left the movie unengaging.
- Cats
Let us be blunt about Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats”: It’s unbearable. Creating an adaptation of T.S. Elliot’s Poetry, this hit-maker went very wrong with this specific musical. The whole narrative finds its basis on one good song “Memory”.
- A Trip to Chinatown
This musical comedy show is a massive Asian caricature created by Charles H. Hoyt and premiered back in 1891. Being one of the longest-running musicals in early Broadway and making history, it was not revived since the Taft Administration existed. It was adapted in the silent film era and starred Hollywood’s first-ever Asian-American star, Anna May Wong.
- Fiddler on the Roof
A famous piece by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick talks about a Russian Jew desperate for his suddenly independent daughters. Nobody expected it to become a Broadway hit back in the 1960s or a brilliant movie directed by Norman Jewison in 1971. Topol played the part of Tevye and though he did not bag the Best actor Oscar that year, he most definitely deserved to take it home.
- A Raisin in the Sun
This drama is all about a Chicago family waiting to get a $10,000 inheritance after the family’s patriarch dies. A product of Lorraine Hansberry, it was a path-breaking achievement for African American theatre in terms of success, cast and content. Lloyd Richards Cemented himself as an all-time success amongst theatrical directors. The film adaptation was mostly excellent, primarily because the material and storyline are just too influential to not work well.
- A Streetcar Named Desire
Find a Theater enthusiast and give them a time machine, all of them will turn the dial to go watch the 1947 Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.” This production is the rulebook for all the method-acting ideas. The 1951 movie by Kazan was a top-notch entertainer but casting Vivien Leigh and not Tandy for the role of Blanche was something we wish we could change.
