Amélie: The Broadway Musical
August 26, 2013 8:29 AM Subscribe
French film Amélie (2001) is going to be adapted into a Broadway musical by American composer Dan Messe (Hem), who will be creating new music for the score. Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is disgusted by these plans, but sold the rights anyway to support a charity.
The score by Yann Tiersen is one of the best things about the movie. Granted, it isn't the stuff of musicals but I just can't imagine the character of the film transferring without it.
posted by munchingzombie at 8:39 AM on August 26, 2013 [8 favorites]
posted by munchingzombie at 8:39 AM on August 26, 2013 [8 favorites]
If this actually sounded like a good idea I would excitedly ask "OU & QUAND?" but alas, it elicits only a "non merci".
posted by Cold Lurkey at 8:40 AM on August 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Cold Lurkey at 8:40 AM on August 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
Lots of accordion music, I hope.
Prepare to be disappointed:
posted by filthy light thief at 8:41 AM on August 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
Prepare to be disappointed:
Based on his descriptions and a graciously shared private demo, the music for Amélie will feel familiar for Broadway (think swelling choruses and narrative lyrics), while still true to Messé’s personal background and style.Emphasis (and tears) mine.
“It definitely sounds like me. One of the big challenges for me is that there is already iconic music associated with this piece. The Yann Tiersen score is amazing,” he gushes, drawing out the vowels in the last word.
“It’s like one of the best movie scores there is. It’s one of the reasons why I love the film. But, it’s not what I do. He’s a very different sort of composer than I am. And I’m not interested in doing Parisian music. I don’t think I’m even going to use accordion in my score. The music sounds like mine. But certainly, I’m not playing up the Americana elements either. I’m not having pedal steel and fiddle, but it’ll be hyper-romantic and playful more than anything.”
posted by filthy light thief at 8:41 AM on August 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
Human Fund?
posted by DU at 8:42 AM on August 26, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by DU at 8:42 AM on August 26, 2013 [5 favorites]
And I’m not interested in doing Parisian music.
Sir, then WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS PROJECT? Is it going to be moved to Portland?
posted by jetlagaddict at 8:43 AM on August 26, 2013 [10 favorites]
Sir, then WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS PROJECT? Is it going to be moved to Portland?
posted by jetlagaddict at 8:43 AM on August 26, 2013 [10 favorites]
I don't follow trends in Broadway-scale musicals, but it seems that with the Disney animated films becoming musicals that there's a Hollywoodification of Broadway: screw original stories, let's re-make something everyone already knows and loves! But with singing instead of explosions!
posted by filthy light thief at 8:43 AM on August 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:43 AM on August 26, 2013 [4 favorites]
Tant pis! This will suck. But Jeunet sounds like a good egg.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:44 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Admiral Haddock at 8:44 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Well, if anyone can do it, it's Messe. Hem is one of my favorite bands, and he's a big part of that sound. Might be a bit of a twist for Amelie, but...
posted by notsnot at 8:45 AM on August 26, 2013
posted by notsnot at 8:45 AM on August 26, 2013
I'm starting work on a musical about the life and works of Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Think of the sets! City of Lost Children, Alien 4, and the Delicatessan number will be amazing. And there will be this wacky bit where everyone thinks he's the director of Fifth Element - "Non! Non! Non!". I think we can get John Lithgow to play Ron Perlman.
posted by phong3d at 8:45 AM on August 26, 2013 [7 favorites]
posted by phong3d at 8:45 AM on August 26, 2013 [7 favorites]
Great, because if there's one thing I can picture Amelie Poulain doing, it's bursting into song.
posted by corey flood at 8:46 AM on August 26, 2013 [18 favorites]
posted by corey flood at 8:46 AM on August 26, 2013 [18 favorites]
Coming soon, Procrustes!™, the new Broadway Hit™ in which everything that doesn't fit into the Broadway Style™ is chopped off and replaced with too much vibrato, orchestral swells, overcomplicated group choreography and sudden mid-conversation song-and-dance numbers
posted by ook at 8:49 AM on August 26, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by ook at 8:49 AM on August 26, 2013 [5 favorites]
Human Fund?
Well, humans do have hearts, and children are small humans, so you're close:
posted by filthy light thief at 8:51 AM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
Well, humans do have hearts, and children are small humans, so you're close:
"For a long time I resisted, I turned down every offer. But 10 years later, there's a bit of a crisis. I support an organisation called Mecenat Chirurgie Cardiac (Heart Surgery Patronage). It costs 10,000 euros to save a child, I have already helped to save a good dozen children, and then I thought this could be an opportunity to save more," he said.Here's the (partially) English website, and Google auto-translation for more English text.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:51 AM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
Great, because if there's one thing I can picture Amelie Poulain doing, it's bursting into song.
Justifiable snark aside, I can absolutely picture this.
posted by lunasol at 8:52 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
Justifiable snark aside, I can absolutely picture this.
posted by lunasol at 8:52 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
the music for Amélie will feel familiar for Broadway
God forbid a Broadway musical ever not sound like every other Broadway musical ever.
I mean, having a house style is one thing, but being absolutely unresponsive to your source material is another. What's the point of adapting an established property if you're not going to keep a big part of what originally made it popular?
posted by echo target at 8:56 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
God forbid a Broadway musical ever not sound like every other Broadway musical ever.
I mean, having a house style is one thing, but being absolutely unresponsive to your source material is another. What's the point of adapting an established property if you're not going to keep a big part of what originally made it popular?
posted by echo target at 8:56 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
I can recall a musical where they kept the flavor of the original music.
And there is not enough napalm for Rock of Ages.
posted by munchingzombie at 8:57 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
And there is not enough napalm for Rock of Ages.
posted by munchingzombie at 8:57 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Every day brings us closer to the Planet of the Apes musical.
And what a glorious day that will be.
posted by entropicamericana at 8:58 AM on August 26, 2013 [13 favorites]
And what a glorious day that will be.
posted by entropicamericana at 8:58 AM on August 26, 2013 [13 favorites]
Maybe if the whole musical was about how Amelie was determined not to sing, and then in the end kindly Monsieur Bretodeau sends her a tape of, like, maybe Kristin Chenowith singing a broadway hit (it could be the real Chenowith in a masterly-staged scene where like the tape dissolves into the real thing). Then Amelie goes to the roof of her building and sings just one glorious note - the perfect note. Fin.
posted by muddgirl at 8:58 AM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by muddgirl at 8:58 AM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
Next: Marcel Marceau -- The Rock Opera!
posted by briank at 8:59 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by briank at 8:59 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
All I want is my vision of an opera that takes the outline of the east cost vs. west coast rap wars of the 90's and translate into the Illiad, or something. Call it Rapera, call it the Rapiad, but it would be cool with some hella fine beats. Baz Luhrman, call me.
posted by jadepearl at 9:07 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by jadepearl at 9:07 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
Every day brings us closer to the Planet of the Apes musical.
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy, Doctor Zaius!
posted by entropone at 9:07 AM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy, Doctor Zaius!
posted by entropone at 9:07 AM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
Every day brings us closer to the Planet of the Apes musical.
They actually did this in a Simpsons episode once. ("Ooh, help me Doctor Zaius!")
posted by Melismata at 9:10 AM on August 26, 2013
They actually did this in a Simpsons episode once. ("Ooh, help me Doctor Zaius!")
posted by Melismata at 9:10 AM on August 26, 2013
That's nothing; just wait until Pacific Rim becomes a Broadway musical. It'll be like Lion King, only with kaiju. And robots.
posted by happyroach at 9:12 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by happyroach at 9:12 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
You know what'd be really cool? A dialog-free theatrical interpretation of Amelie which uses a lot of different dance styles with Tiersen's original score and brings in almost cirque-du-soleil type spectacle from the margins when it needs to.
This, though...
posted by Navelgazer at 9:13 AM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
This, though...
posted by Navelgazer at 9:13 AM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
it seems that with the Disney animated films becoming musicals that there's a Hollywoodification of Broadway: screw original stories, let's re-make something everyone already knows and loves
Yeah, I chuckled when I heard about Evil Dead: the Musical back in, oh, probably 2006 (what feels like ages ago now), or one of the others that started this massive wave, but now that there's Motherfucking Everything Ever Made: the Musical, I just sigh.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 9:13 AM on August 26, 2013
Yeah, I chuckled when I heard about Evil Dead: the Musical back in, oh, probably 2006 (what feels like ages ago now), or one of the others that started this massive wave, but now that there's Motherfucking Everything Ever Made: the Musical, I just sigh.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 9:13 AM on August 26, 2013
They actually did this in a Simpsons episode once. ("Ooh, help me Doctor Zaius!")
Cool, I'll have to check that out!
posted by entropicamericana at 9:14 AM on August 26, 2013 [8 favorites]
Cool, I'll have to check that out!
posted by entropicamericana at 9:14 AM on August 26, 2013 [8 favorites]
That's nothing; just wait until Pacific Rim becomes a Broadway musical. It'll be like Lion King, only with kaiju. And robots.
And directed by Julie Taymor.
posted by phong3d at 9:15 AM on August 26, 2013
And directed by Julie Taymor.
posted by phong3d at 9:15 AM on August 26, 2013
While Julie Taymor has gotten some bad press from Spiderything, her directing a Pacific Rim musical (with music by Thomas Dolby) would replace sliced bread as the standard against which we judge all things.
posted by munchingzombie at 9:18 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by munchingzombie at 9:18 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Every day brings us closer to the Planet of the Apes musical.
Given that "Aliens, the Musical" is already amongst us.
posted by rongorongo at 9:26 AM on August 26, 2013
Given that "Aliens, the Musical" is already amongst us.
posted by rongorongo at 9:26 AM on August 26, 2013
entropicamericana: Every day brings us closer to the Planet of the Apes musical.
And what a glorious day that will be.
Why not mine the entire Charlton Heston early 70s Sci-Fi canon while we're at it?
People...
Soylent Green is People!
The unluckiest people... in the world...
posted by Naberius at 9:30 AM on August 26, 2013 [10 favorites]
And what a glorious day that will be.
Why not mine the entire Charlton Heston early 70s Sci-Fi canon while we're at it?
People...
Soylent Green is People!
The unluckiest people... in the world...
posted by Naberius at 9:30 AM on August 26, 2013 [10 favorites]
Julie taymor's spiderman had problems because it was so ambitious and it pushed the form. She's the only Broadway artist aside from the south park guys whose work I would willingly go see.
posted by kingv at 9:34 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by kingv at 9:34 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
screw original stories
Was there ever a period where "original stories" were a big feature of the broadway musical? Actually, let me put that more directly: there has never been a time when "original stories" were a big feature of the broadway musical. Broadway musicals have always been "adaptations" for the most part--of plays, novels and films. Perhaps less so in the 1920s, but then the plots back then were pretty disposable (and interchangeable) vehicles for a bunch of barely related songs. This may be going to be a crappy musical--who knows--but it's not evidence of some new corrupting force in the Broadway musical scene.
posted by yoink at 9:34 AM on August 26, 2013 [5 favorites]
Was there ever a period where "original stories" were a big feature of the broadway musical? Actually, let me put that more directly: there has never been a time when "original stories" were a big feature of the broadway musical. Broadway musicals have always been "adaptations" for the most part--of plays, novels and films. Perhaps less so in the 1920s, but then the plots back then were pretty disposable (and interchangeable) vehicles for a bunch of barely related songs. This may be going to be a crappy musical--who knows--but it's not evidence of some new corrupting force in the Broadway musical scene.
posted by yoink at 9:34 AM on August 26, 2013 [5 favorites]
Yeah, I can't believe they're making a musical out of "Pygmalion" - the play was great! What can they possibly add to it?
posted by phong3d at 9:41 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by phong3d at 9:41 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
I don't know that originality is necessarily the issue. Yes, Sweeney Todd is based on a book, and Chicago is based on an earlier play. But both are original in the sense of taking a risk on the unfamiliar. What's going on with Amelie, Spiderman, The Lion King, etc., is merely transferring a property that's made millions in one media to another media so the producers can make millions from people who want to see the same thing over and over again.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 9:46 AM on August 26, 2013
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 9:46 AM on August 26, 2013
an opera that takes the outline of the east cost vs. west coast rap wars of the 90's and translate into the Illiad
The epic poem is spelled with one L, but I think you've actually stumbled on your perfect title.
posted by echo target at 9:53 AM on August 26, 2013 [17 favorites]
The epic poem is spelled with one L, but I think you've actually stumbled on your perfect title.
posted by echo target at 9:53 AM on August 26, 2013 [17 favorites]
Like Sunset Boulevard the musical? Or Les Miserable which was a French Musical based on one of the most beloved French intellectual properties of all times, which was translated into English after it made tons of money in French?
Lazy, boring musicals are lazy, boring musicals no matter what inspired them.
posted by muddgirl at 9:53 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Lazy, boring musicals are lazy, boring musicals no matter what inspired them.
posted by muddgirl at 9:53 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Very doubtful that this will happen. Hundreds of projects are announced every year that never make it to a try-out
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:57 AM on August 26, 2013
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:57 AM on August 26, 2013
This is just the start of turning Amélie into the fantastically lucrative franchise it was always meant to be!
LEGO® Amélie™: The Videogame
Accordion Hero: Yann Tiersen edition
Amélie 2: 2 Fabuleux 2 Furieux
posted by oulipian at 10:00 AM on August 26, 2013 [12 favorites]
LEGO® Amélie™: The Videogame
Accordion Hero: Yann Tiersen edition
Amélie 2: 2 Fabuleux 2 Furieux
posted by oulipian at 10:00 AM on August 26, 2013 [12 favorites]
transferring a property that's made millions in one media to another media so the producers can make millions from people who want to see the same thing over and over again.
Amelie made 33 million in the US. That's boffo business for a foreign-language arthouse hit, but it's a rounding error as far as big studio budgets go. If the point of turning Amelie into a musical were to capitalize on sheer familiarity and popularity it would be "Harry Potter The Musical." Turning Amelie into a musical is roughly equivalent to Sondheim turning Smiles of a Summer Night into a musical back in 1973. It's not all that different, in fact, from turning the hit, Tony-award winning play, I Am a Camera (which had also spawned a not-very-successful movie) into Cabaret in 1967.
posted by yoink at 10:02 AM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
Amelie made 33 million in the US. That's boffo business for a foreign-language arthouse hit, but it's a rounding error as far as big studio budgets go. If the point of turning Amelie into a musical were to capitalize on sheer familiarity and popularity it would be "Harry Potter The Musical." Turning Amelie into a musical is roughly equivalent to Sondheim turning Smiles of a Summer Night into a musical back in 1973. It's not all that different, in fact, from turning the hit, Tony-award winning play, I Am a Camera (which had also spawned a not-very-successful movie) into Cabaret in 1967.
posted by yoink at 10:02 AM on August 26, 2013 [3 favorites]
Maybe it's because I live in Kentucky.. but can someone explain to me the fascination with reworking pop culture into musical on broadway form? Are broadway shows REALLY that profitable?
posted by DigDoug at 10:03 AM on August 26, 2013
posted by DigDoug at 10:03 AM on August 26, 2013
Mrs Mars and I have been working on a Godzilla musical for years. (kinda, sorta) It's called Stomp!
The lead is the daughter of a Japanese general. She loves the young scientist who is tryng to communicate with Godzilla and stop the military from provoking an attack. Her father, of course, just wants to destroy the monster.
In the third act Godzilla saves Tokyo from King Ghidorah, the general realizes that he has almost killed his own daughter is his single-minded desire for revenge, and our young lovers find each-other in the rubble of the battlefield.
posted by Eddie Mars at 10:07 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
The lead is the daughter of a Japanese general. She loves the young scientist who is tryng to communicate with Godzilla and stop the military from provoking an attack. Her father, of course, just wants to destroy the monster.
In the third act Godzilla saves Tokyo from King Ghidorah, the general realizes that he has almost killed his own daughter is his single-minded desire for revenge, and our young lovers find each-other in the rubble of the battlefield.
posted by Eddie Mars at 10:07 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
"New Amélie musical? Will she play ukeleles? I hope so!" the slime-creature gushed, his sluglike body quivering, soiling his tank.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:12 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:12 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Are broadway shows REALLY that profitable?
Yes,, if you get a hit--and lower risk than a film, especially if you're basing it on a property everyone already knows.
Godzilla musical
I'd definitely watch this.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:14 AM on August 26, 2013
Yes,, if you get a hit--and lower risk than a film, especially if you're basing it on a property everyone already knows.
Godzilla musical
I'd definitely watch this.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:14 AM on August 26, 2013
They made a musical of the movie The Producers. Then they made a movie of the musical. Which is about the production of a musical. And each iteration sucked some more of the life out of the original. Sometimes I hate Broadway.
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:18 AM on August 26, 2013
posted by Mental Wimp at 10:18 AM on August 26, 2013
the general realizes that he has almost killed his own daughter is his single-minded desire for revenge
Get that general in a giant robot and it's sold.
posted by bleep-blop at 10:18 AM on August 26, 2013
Get that general in a giant robot and it's sold.
posted by bleep-blop at 10:18 AM on August 26, 2013
As opposed to a East Coast/West Coast rap musical, how about a musical version of "The Warriors", since that's already based on Xenophon's "Anabasis"?
Or would that devolve immediately into "West Side Story"?
posted by jclarkin at 10:22 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Or would that devolve immediately into "West Side Story"?
posted by jclarkin at 10:22 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
They made a musical of the movie The Producers. Then they made a movie of the musical. Which is about the production of a musical. And each iteration sucked some more of the life out of the original. Sometimes I hate Broadway.
IMDB: It (the 2005 movie) is a movie about a play based on a play about a play based on a movie about a play.
posted by Melismata at 10:28 AM on August 26, 2013
IMDB: It (the 2005 movie) is a movie about a play based on a play about a play based on a movie about a play.
posted by Melismata at 10:28 AM on August 26, 2013
Coming soon, Procrustes!™, the new Broadway Hit™ in which everything that doesn't fit into the Broadway Style™ is chopped off and replaced with too much vibrato, orchestral swells, overcomplicated group choreography and sudden mid-conversation song-and-dance numbers
Fittingly for Procrustes, if it isn't chopped off, then it's eloooongaaaated. All notes will be held until the singer collapses for want of air; all dance numbers will continue until the dancers drop to the floor; and the musical itself will go on until the audience revolts and walks out into the chill of NYC at 4 AM in the middle of winter.
posted by thomas j wise at 10:33 AM on August 26, 2013
Fittingly for Procrustes, if it isn't chopped off, then it's eloooongaaaated. All notes will be held until the singer collapses for want of air; all dance numbers will continue until the dancers drop to the floor; and the musical itself will go on until the audience revolts and walks out into the chill of NYC at 4 AM in the middle of winter.
posted by thomas j wise at 10:33 AM on August 26, 2013
The film was pretty winsome and cute, and was accused of purveying a cleaned-up fantasy Paris, so it's kind of fair game for Broadway, IMO. We're not talking about Mesrine: with a song in his heart.
posted by Segundus at 10:46 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Segundus at 10:46 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Hmmm, I am taking it as the Muse inspiring me to mistype the Iliad as the Illiad, 'cause you don't mess with a Muse when a rap opera about the east coast vs west coast is needing a name.
posted by jadepearl at 10:49 AM on August 26, 2013
posted by jadepearl at 10:49 AM on August 26, 2013
Oh man, I totally have to find our old Amelie-parody video for my college dorm to share with y'all. It was way better than the Triplettes de Belville one.
posted by maryr at 10:49 AM on August 26, 2013
posted by maryr at 10:49 AM on August 26, 2013
What we really want, apparently, is quirky whimsy. But not too quirky or whimsical. Lose the accordions. In fact, just ditch the whimsy all together, why don't we?
Christ, what a quirkhole....
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:08 AM on August 26, 2013
Christ, what a quirkhole....
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:08 AM on August 26, 2013
Oh man, I totally have to find our old Amelie-parody video for my college dorm to share with y'all. It was way better than the Triplettes de Belville one.
Yes. Yes, you do.
posted by jennaratrix at 11:08 AM on August 26, 2013
Yes. Yes, you do.
posted by jennaratrix at 11:08 AM on August 26, 2013
What we really want, apparently, is quirky whimsy. But not too quirky or whimsical.
TBH, much as I love Jeunet, Amelie could actually have done with a touch less quirk and quite a bit less whimsy. It was a little too in love with its own whimsicality. Not, on the other hand, that it will be improved by swelling orchestras and a double extra helping of sentimentality, which is the probable outcome of Broadwayfication.
posted by yoink at 11:13 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
TBH, much as I love Jeunet, Amelie could actually have done with a touch less quirk and quite a bit less whimsy. It was a little too in love with its own whimsicality. Not, on the other hand, that it will be improved by swelling orchestras and a double extra helping of sentimentality, which is the probable outcome of Broadwayfication.
posted by yoink at 11:13 AM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
can someone explain to me the fascination with reworking pop culture into musical on broadway form? Are broadway shows REALLY that profitable?
If you are lucky enough to play the long game. Thusly:
* If you produce a movie, you pay a whole lot up front, and most of the profits happen up front, while the film is in theaters. You'll probably get way more people coming to see it, because it's in way more theaters than just one, and also because people only pay about $10-12 per ticket (as opposed to Broadway's $50-200 per ticket). But the downside is, your movie usually is only in theaters for a couple months, and then you have to rely on DVD sales. You may get a lot of money up front, but then the profit slacks way off.
* If you produce a Broadway show, you also have to pay a whole lot up front, and you have less people coming to see it when it first opens because you have only one performance space and people are less likely to pay those huge prices. But - if you are able to keep your show open, time is much more so on your side, because people keep coming to spend that much money. And - there is a natural savings after a few months, when the big splashy celebrity you got to play the lead when the show opens leaves when their contract is up, and you can get an equally-talented-yet-less-well-known person in as their replacement - but not pay them quite as much.
Also, a lot of the people who come to Broadway are tourists, who aren't even necessarily going to Broadway because they're a big fan of your show - they're going to Broadway because it is A Thing To Do In New York, like the Statue of Liberty or the Bronx Zoo. That kind of thing doesn't happen with movies so much - people at their homes, when they idly consider seeing a movie, may look over what's available and just decide to stay home if they don't like anything, but people who are visiting New York will idly decide to see a show, and may see your show even if they're kind of lukewarm about it because they will feel obligated to see something because well, they're there in New York. So if your show is able to survive long enough, you'll be able to take advantage of the casual tourist market a lot more easily.
And, there is an entire industry set up in New York catering to the less-well-off aspiring theatergoer - both locals and tourists know about the half-price ticket booths in the city, where you can queue up for same-day tickets for a discount. If a Broadway show has been around a while, and ticket sales are starting to flag, they often offer half-price tickets through the booth - and the people who couldn't have afforded the full-price tickets pounce, which keeps your income up.
(factual part of analysis over, opinionated theater professional rant begins)
The bigger problem Broadway is facing, though, isn't whether or not it's profitable. The problem is what the producers think it takes for a show to becomeprofitable, and the way they ascertain that. The biggest reason why you're seeing so many "Hollywood-gone-to-Broadway" things now is because someone else did it earlier, and so it feels like a safe bet. The reason that Rock Of Ages exists is because other "Jukebox musicals" like Mamma Mia happened first. The reason that The Book of Mormon happened is because other "post-ironic" shows like Avenue Q and Urinetown happened first.
I don't mean that as a slight against Parker and Stone, mind you - their work is legitimately and seriously good, and they know the musical form really well. But without a small pattern of those "quirky", self-aware shows before them, it would have been much, much harder for Parker and Stone to get a producer to back them, because it would have been perceived as being an unknown commodity, and therefore, too risky.
And this impulse on the producer's part, to back the safe bets, is strangling Broadway. I grew up wanting to work on Broadway, but I very quickly saw the politics and such there, and realized that the kind of theater I want to do wasn't on Broadway at all - it's off-Broadway, where people are actually doing unique and creative work, and taking risks. It's where the bulk of the straight dramas happen - straight plays, the kind of thing I wanted to do most, are few and far between. Even the British companies who want to bring productions to New York skip over Broadway altogether and stage them in Brooklyn or in weird alternative venues; maybe at Lincoln Center, but that's not considered a Broadway house.
Every so often you get a wild card like Passing Strange, which probably got a pass because it would have been relatively cheap to produce (small cast, no set, minimal tech requirements), or Patrick Stewart's one-man production of A Christmas Carol, which had a single big-name as an actor and minimal production elements; or when Daniel Radcliffe came here with Equus, which probably got in because "come on it's Harry Freakin' Potter going naked, of course people are gonna see it". But those shows most likely wouldn't have gotten on Broadway if it had been Sid Yablonski in Equus or A Christmas Carol. So the straight dramas, and unique shows, don't always get as much of a chance - because the producers want to go with the safer bets.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:17 AM on August 26, 2013 [10 favorites]
If you are lucky enough to play the long game. Thusly:
* If you produce a movie, you pay a whole lot up front, and most of the profits happen up front, while the film is in theaters. You'll probably get way more people coming to see it, because it's in way more theaters than just one, and also because people only pay about $10-12 per ticket (as opposed to Broadway's $50-200 per ticket). But the downside is, your movie usually is only in theaters for a couple months, and then you have to rely on DVD sales. You may get a lot of money up front, but then the profit slacks way off.
* If you produce a Broadway show, you also have to pay a whole lot up front, and you have less people coming to see it when it first opens because you have only one performance space and people are less likely to pay those huge prices. But - if you are able to keep your show open, time is much more so on your side, because people keep coming to spend that much money. And - there is a natural savings after a few months, when the big splashy celebrity you got to play the lead when the show opens leaves when their contract is up, and you can get an equally-talented-yet-less-well-known person in as their replacement - but not pay them quite as much.
Also, a lot of the people who come to Broadway are tourists, who aren't even necessarily going to Broadway because they're a big fan of your show - they're going to Broadway because it is A Thing To Do In New York, like the Statue of Liberty or the Bronx Zoo. That kind of thing doesn't happen with movies so much - people at their homes, when they idly consider seeing a movie, may look over what's available and just decide to stay home if they don't like anything, but people who are visiting New York will idly decide to see a show, and may see your show even if they're kind of lukewarm about it because they will feel obligated to see something because well, they're there in New York. So if your show is able to survive long enough, you'll be able to take advantage of the casual tourist market a lot more easily.
And, there is an entire industry set up in New York catering to the less-well-off aspiring theatergoer - both locals and tourists know about the half-price ticket booths in the city, where you can queue up for same-day tickets for a discount. If a Broadway show has been around a while, and ticket sales are starting to flag, they often offer half-price tickets through the booth - and the people who couldn't have afforded the full-price tickets pounce, which keeps your income up.
(factual part of analysis over, opinionated theater professional rant begins)
The bigger problem Broadway is facing, though, isn't whether or not it's profitable. The problem is what the producers think it takes for a show to becomeprofitable, and the way they ascertain that. The biggest reason why you're seeing so many "Hollywood-gone-to-Broadway" things now is because someone else did it earlier, and so it feels like a safe bet. The reason that Rock Of Ages exists is because other "Jukebox musicals" like Mamma Mia happened first. The reason that The Book of Mormon happened is because other "post-ironic" shows like Avenue Q and Urinetown happened first.
I don't mean that as a slight against Parker and Stone, mind you - their work is legitimately and seriously good, and they know the musical form really well. But without a small pattern of those "quirky", self-aware shows before them, it would have been much, much harder for Parker and Stone to get a producer to back them, because it would have been perceived as being an unknown commodity, and therefore, too risky.
And this impulse on the producer's part, to back the safe bets, is strangling Broadway. I grew up wanting to work on Broadway, but I very quickly saw the politics and such there, and realized that the kind of theater I want to do wasn't on Broadway at all - it's off-Broadway, where people are actually doing unique and creative work, and taking risks. It's where the bulk of the straight dramas happen - straight plays, the kind of thing I wanted to do most, are few and far between. Even the British companies who want to bring productions to New York skip over Broadway altogether and stage them in Brooklyn or in weird alternative venues; maybe at Lincoln Center, but that's not considered a Broadway house.
Every so often you get a wild card like Passing Strange, which probably got a pass because it would have been relatively cheap to produce (small cast, no set, minimal tech requirements), or Patrick Stewart's one-man production of A Christmas Carol, which had a single big-name as an actor and minimal production elements; or when Daniel Radcliffe came here with Equus, which probably got in because "come on it's Harry Freakin' Potter going naked, of course people are gonna see it". But those shows most likely wouldn't have gotten on Broadway if it had been Sid Yablonski in Equus or A Christmas Carol. So the straight dramas, and unique shows, don't always get as much of a chance - because the producers want to go with the safer bets.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:17 AM on August 26, 2013 [10 favorites]
I have no opinion on this, not being a fan of Broadway musical adaptations of popular films in the first place.
But I love love love Hem and I'm glad Messe pulled out of the hole he was in, got the band back together, and recorded Departure and Farewell.
posted by eyeballkid at 11:19 AM on August 26, 2013
But I love love love Hem and I'm glad Messe pulled out of the hole he was in, got the band back together, and recorded Departure and Farewell.
posted by eyeballkid at 11:19 AM on August 26, 2013
Man, one of the best evenings I had was watching Amelie with a grumpy Parisian - "Ah this is the metro stop with all those murders."
That's nothing; just wait until Pacific Rim becomes a Broadway musical. It'll be like Lion King, only with kaiju. And robots.
Oh you would watch watch it, if only for the epic Kaidonovskyss' Ukraine Hardhouse number.
posted by The Whelk at 11:19 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
That's nothing; just wait until Pacific Rim becomes a Broadway musical. It'll be like Lion King, only with kaiju. And robots.
Oh you would watch watch it, if only for the epic Kaidonovskyss' Ukraine Hardhouse number.
posted by The Whelk at 11:19 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
(although when I read the headline I imagined a kind of ballet-inspired, wordless thing with all the narration in French so the whole thing is kind of a circus/panto with awesome painted sets so clearly I am not of a commercial bent.)
posted by The Whelk at 11:21 AM on August 26, 2013
posted by The Whelk at 11:21 AM on August 26, 2013
And this impulse on the producer's part, to back the safe bets, is strangling Broadway. I grew up wanting to work on Broadway, but I very quickly saw the politics and such there, and realized that the kind of theater I want to do wasn't on Broadway at all - it's off-Broadway, where people are actually doing unique and creative work, and taking risks.
But how different is this, really, from the Broadway of the 40s thru, what, 90s? Was there ever a golden age when Broadway producers were clamoring to put risky, experimental theater on the Great White Way? There are, of course, examples scattered here and there in the history of Broadway, but they're the exceptions that prove the rule. Perhaps the biggest change is just the drop off in the audience for live theater (and the rise in its cost): there are far fewer theaters in "Broadway" now than there were in the 1920s or even the 1960s: what used to be "marginal Broadway" is now "off-Broadway" by necessity. If you looked at just what the top-grossing 40-odd theaters on Broadway were showing in the 1950s, I doubt it would look all that strikingly different from what "Broadway" now shows--would it?
posted by yoink at 11:28 AM on August 26, 2013
But how different is this, really, from the Broadway of the 40s thru, what, 90s? Was there ever a golden age when Broadway producers were clamoring to put risky, experimental theater on the Great White Way? There are, of course, examples scattered here and there in the history of Broadway, but they're the exceptions that prove the rule. Perhaps the biggest change is just the drop off in the audience for live theater (and the rise in its cost): there are far fewer theaters in "Broadway" now than there were in the 1920s or even the 1960s: what used to be "marginal Broadway" is now "off-Broadway" by necessity. If you looked at just what the top-grossing 40-odd theaters on Broadway were showing in the 1950s, I doubt it would look all that strikingly different from what "Broadway" now shows--would it?
posted by yoink at 11:28 AM on August 26, 2013
If you looked at just what the top-grossing 40-odd theaters on Broadway were showing in the 1950s, I doubt it would look all that strikingly different from what "Broadway" now shows--would it?
Actually, it wouldn't, and that's precisely the problem.
The shows from the 1940's and 1950's were novel for their time. They were a reflection of contemporary tastes. But those same tastes and styles from the 1940's are still regarded as the model for musical theater today. Every cliche you're thinking of when someone says "Broadway show" - the Broadway of the 30's, 40's, and 50's is where that came from.
When I speak of a theater producer taking risks, I'm not talking about "experimental" theater - I'm talking simply of theater that actually is a more of a reflection of contemporary tastes. We've had only a couple "rock musicals", In The Heights has so far been the only show to even have an element of hip-hop that I'm aware, and the only reason a punk show got produced was because Green Day has a lot of cred. I'm not aware of a rap show making it to Broadway, or something that isn't based on a prior trend - not a prior work, mind you, a prior trend.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:38 AM on August 26, 2013
Actually, it wouldn't, and that's precisely the problem.
The shows from the 1940's and 1950's were novel for their time. They were a reflection of contemporary tastes. But those same tastes and styles from the 1940's are still regarded as the model for musical theater today. Every cliche you're thinking of when someone says "Broadway show" - the Broadway of the 30's, 40's, and 50's is where that came from.
When I speak of a theater producer taking risks, I'm not talking about "experimental" theater - I'm talking simply of theater that actually is a more of a reflection of contemporary tastes. We've had only a couple "rock musicals", In The Heights has so far been the only show to even have an element of hip-hop that I'm aware, and the only reason a punk show got produced was because Green Day has a lot of cred. I'm not aware of a rap show making it to Broadway, or something that isn't based on a prior trend - not a prior work, mind you, a prior trend.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:38 AM on August 26, 2013
Bjork needs to star. I mean, I love ... uh... the actress who played Amelie, but if it's going to be broadway, I want a Bjork version
posted by symbioid at 11:41 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by symbioid at 11:41 AM on August 26, 2013 [2 favorites]
Also, there were way more straight dramas on Broadway in the 30's and 40's - Death of a Salesman, Streetcar Named Desire, The Iceman Cometh, basically all the stuff you maybe had to read in high school. The number of straight dramas has gone way down in subsequent years, and that is because the average musical just plain makes more money than the average straight drama, so producers prefer to back musicals, and the dramas don't get picked up.
I have worked on or with two shows that absolutely, positively could have been picked up and moved to off-Broadway, at least, or even Broadway. But they were dramas, which made them more of a risk on investment, and that meant it never happened.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:41 AM on August 26, 2013
I have worked on or with two shows that absolutely, positively could have been picked up and moved to off-Broadway, at least, or even Broadway. But they were dramas, which made them more of a risk on investment, and that meant it never happened.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:41 AM on August 26, 2013
But those same tastes and styles from the 1940's are still regarded as the model for musical theater today. Every cliche you're thinking of when someone says "Broadway show" - the Broadway of the 30's, 40's, and 50's is where that came from.
I don't think that's quite accurate. Plonk someone down in Girl Crazy, Oklahoma, or The Sound of Music and they'll know immediately that they're not in a contemporary Broadway show. I think Andrew Lloyd Webber is primarily responsible for the ghastly homogenization of modern Broadway musical idiom, and that's more a post-70s phenomenon, starting with Evita and Cats. But that's perhaps to quibble, because I would agree that the musical idiom of the "Big Broadway Hit" is weirdly static and has now been pretty unvarying for 40 odd years.
posted by yoink at 12:14 PM on August 26, 2013
I don't think that's quite accurate. Plonk someone down in Girl Crazy, Oklahoma, or The Sound of Music and they'll know immediately that they're not in a contemporary Broadway show. I think Andrew Lloyd Webber is primarily responsible for the ghastly homogenization of modern Broadway musical idiom, and that's more a post-70s phenomenon, starting with Evita and Cats. But that's perhaps to quibble, because I would agree that the musical idiom of the "Big Broadway Hit" is weirdly static and has now been pretty unvarying for 40 odd years.
posted by yoink at 12:14 PM on August 26, 2013
I am speaking more broadly when I speak of "trends" - yeah, Oklahoma is different from A Chorus Line, say, but they both still have similar pacing, they both have big show-stopping numbers and quiet solos, etc.
Granted, some of this may indeed be because of dramaturgy in general - some of these are tropes that you find in film and television and books and every kind of storytelling. But there wasn't that much of a tradition of musicals before the early 1900's or so - the work of Gilbert and Sullivan was close, but they were still seen more as light opera than "musical theater" - so the 30's and 40's were really breaking new ground, which...every musical has followed since then.
You're right, though, that there was indeed a change that happened in the 70's. I wouldn't chalk that up entirely to Andrew Lloyd Webber so much as I'd chalk that up to the sheer force of the Baby Boomers trying to Do New Things, and so suddenly there was a period when you got Godspell and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar - except wait, even there you've got a case where one "Bible show" came first and other people tried to get on the bandwagon. But that period made Andrew Lloyd Webber a Name, and so that started its own trend...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:25 PM on August 26, 2013
Granted, some of this may indeed be because of dramaturgy in general - some of these are tropes that you find in film and television and books and every kind of storytelling. But there wasn't that much of a tradition of musicals before the early 1900's or so - the work of Gilbert and Sullivan was close, but they were still seen more as light opera than "musical theater" - so the 30's and 40's were really breaking new ground, which...every musical has followed since then.
You're right, though, that there was indeed a change that happened in the 70's. I wouldn't chalk that up entirely to Andrew Lloyd Webber so much as I'd chalk that up to the sheer force of the Baby Boomers trying to Do New Things, and so suddenly there was a period when you got Godspell and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar - except wait, even there you've got a case where one "Bible show" came first and other people tried to get on the bandwagon. But that period made Andrew Lloyd Webber a Name, and so that started its own trend...
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:25 PM on August 26, 2013
I think Amelie is actually a good match for a musical. Sappy, faux-naïf, emotionally manipulative, isn't that how it's supposed to be?
posted by dhoe at 12:51 PM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by dhoe at 12:51 PM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
so suddenly there was a period when you got Godspell and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar - except wait, even there you've got a case where one "Bible show" came first and other people tried to get on the bandwagon. But that period made Andrew Lloyd Webber a Name, and so that started its own trend..
But actually, musically speaking Dreamcoat and Superstar are much more interesting (and much less Standard Broadway Formula) than Evita or Cats. It's really only "I Don't know How to Love Him" in Superstar that hits that "Don't Cry for Me"/"Memories" vein that so many Broadway musicals have tried to tap since. 60s/70s musicals actually had quite a lot of interesting musical experimentation (you've got Hair on the one hand and Sondheim on the other etc.). There is a weird kind of smoothing out that happens from the 80s on: The Wicked, Miserable Phantom Cats of Argentina kind of thing.
they both still have similar pacing, they both have big show-stopping numbers and quiet solos,
But that's just the recitative/aria thing coming over from opera. As you say, I think you get to a point where you're just talking about the nature of dramatic structure. It's like complaining that novels have protagonists who tend to undergo some kind of crisis.
posted by yoink at 12:59 PM on August 26, 2013
But actually, musically speaking Dreamcoat and Superstar are much more interesting (and much less Standard Broadway Formula) than Evita or Cats. It's really only "I Don't know How to Love Him" in Superstar that hits that "Don't Cry for Me"/"Memories" vein that so many Broadway musicals have tried to tap since. 60s/70s musicals actually had quite a lot of interesting musical experimentation (you've got Hair on the one hand and Sondheim on the other etc.). There is a weird kind of smoothing out that happens from the 80s on: The Wicked, Miserable Phantom Cats of Argentina kind of thing.
they both still have similar pacing, they both have big show-stopping numbers and quiet solos,
But that's just the recitative/aria thing coming over from opera. As you say, I think you get to a point where you're just talking about the nature of dramatic structure. It's like complaining that novels have protagonists who tend to undergo some kind of crisis.
posted by yoink at 12:59 PM on August 26, 2013
But actually, musically speaking Dreamcoat and Superstar are much more interesting (and much less Standard Broadway Formula) than Evita or Cats. It's really only "I Don't know How to Love Him" in Superstar that hits that "Don't Cry for Me"/"Memories" vein that so many Broadway musicals have tried to tap since.
I'd pin that on Andrew Lloyd Webber, then. Dreamcoat was his, which paved the way for Godspell, and then aso for Jesus Christ Superstar which was also his, and once he had "cred" then he went on to do Evita which was also his, and then that gave him even more "cred" and he became a producing darling for a while ("Oh, Webber's got a new musical? Great, write him a check."). So I think the "sameness" you're hearing in particular is because it was just one guy behind all those shows you named.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:35 PM on August 26, 2013
I'd pin that on Andrew Lloyd Webber, then. Dreamcoat was his, which paved the way for Godspell, and then aso for Jesus Christ Superstar which was also his, and once he had "cred" then he went on to do Evita which was also his, and then that gave him even more "cred" and he became a producing darling for a while ("Oh, Webber's got a new musical? Great, write him a check."). So I think the "sameness" you're hearing in particular is because it was just one guy behind all those shows you named.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:35 PM on August 26, 2013
EC, we're really talking past each other. I know full well that all those shows were ALW. My point was that neither Dreamcoat nor Superstar are in the mold of the generic modern day musical (for the most part). I'm saying that it was in Evita and Cats that he really perfected the "modern musical sound" and that he pretty much sets the framework for that sound from that time forward.
posted by yoink at 3:38 PM on August 26, 2013
posted by yoink at 3:38 PM on August 26, 2013
My point was that neither Dreamcoat nor Superstar are in the mold of the generic modern day musical (for the most part). I'm saying that it was in Evita and Cats that he really perfected the "modern musical sound" and that he pretty much sets the framework for that sound from that time forward.
Right, and I acknowledged that you were right that things got a little different in the early 70's. I speculated that such a thrust of experimentation came about through the Baby Boomer demographic. It's just that ALW was the guy from that period who ended up coming out on top, and the he settled back down and stopped being interesting and went all Evita on us.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:53 PM on August 26, 2013
Right, and I acknowledged that you were right that things got a little different in the early 70's. I speculated that such a thrust of experimentation came about through the Baby Boomer demographic. It's just that ALW was the guy from that period who ended up coming out on top, and the he settled back down and stopped being interesting and went all Evita on us.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:53 PM on August 26, 2013
And there will be this wacky bit where everyone thinks he's the director of Fifth Element -
True story: I once contributed a short spec for the story of Luc Besson negotiating with Gary Oldman to appear in Fifth Element. It didn't fly.
posted by ovvl at 6:01 PM on August 26, 2013
True story: I once contributed a short spec for the story of Luc Besson negotiating with Gary Oldman to appear in Fifth Element. It didn't fly.
posted by ovvl at 6:01 PM on August 26, 2013
A good portion of The Illiad has already been written, I think.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 6:24 PM on August 26, 2013
posted by Jon Mitchell at 6:24 PM on August 26, 2013
I think Amelie is actually a good match for a musical. Sappy, faux-naïf, emotionally manipulative, isn't that how it's supposed to be?
Dismissiveness of an entire genre or form usually speaks to expertise of that genre or form, so I'd guess yes!
posted by Navelgazer at 7:46 PM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Dismissiveness of an entire genre or form usually speaks to expertise of that genre or form, so I'd guess yes!
posted by Navelgazer at 7:46 PM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
something tone-deaf and soulless is coming to Broadway? is nothing sacred anymore????
Snark aside, this seems very silly. Amélie is basically a feature-length Yann Tiersen music video directed by Jeunet.
posted by threeants at 7:49 PM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Snark aside, this seems very silly. Amélie is basically a feature-length Yann Tiersen music video directed by Jeunet.
posted by threeants at 7:49 PM on August 26, 2013 [1 favorite]
Every day brings us closer to the Planet of the Apes musical.
Ape 1: I'm an APE! I'm an APE! I caught a human and now I can't let him ESCAPE!
Ape 2: I'm an APE! YOU'RE an APE! We caught a human who talks, and now our mouths are AGAPE!
Gorilla Chorus: Tuuuurnnn arounnnddd, Brighhhht Eeeeeeyes.....
(etc)
posted by The Deej at 6:23 AM on August 27, 2013
Ape 1: I'm an APE! I'm an APE! I caught a human and now I can't let him ESCAPE!
Ape 2: I'm an APE! YOU'RE an APE! We caught a human who talks, and now our mouths are AGAPE!
Gorilla Chorus: Tuuuurnnn arounnnddd, Brighhhht Eeeeeeyes.....
(etc)
posted by The Deej at 6:23 AM on August 27, 2013
As promised, my college dorm's Amélie-inspired rush video, vintage 2002, featuring me as the off screen voice shouting "SAMEDI!". (The Triplets de Belville one was actually a film noir parody, but used the animated film's music.) You can see our culture revolved pretty heavily around cooking (and that our French was... not great.).
posted by maryr at 12:40 PM on September 4, 2013
posted by maryr at 12:40 PM on September 4, 2013
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Nononononononono.
I wouldn't see this even if they somehow got Audrey Tatou for the lead and for me that is saying something.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:33 AM on August 26, 2013 [5 favorites]