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After reading that Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaal had been cast in a remake of the musical Damn Yankees, we were cautiously optimistic. Carrey as the Devil? Seems about right. Gyllenhaal as an ordinary guy who sells his soul to play professional baseball? Sure. However, a few important pieces are missing: director, script, and leading lady Lola, a seductress in the Devil’s employ, who must be able to sing and dance. There’s a lot of room for error here. Musicals get a bad rap in general, so a poorly made film is like a salt-bath for a wounded art form.
Even when starting with good material, translating stage-to-screen is easy to screw up - Chicago and Dreamgirls were well-received, but The Producers and Rent flopped. Then there are movies like Mamma Mia which, despite its box office success, did nothing to contradict the genre’s reputation for being fluffy and, well, kind of stupid. And we won’t even start on High School Musical. We’re all for finding a larger audience for musical theater, but are these projects really helping?
Nine, a musical based on Federico Fellini’s 8½, is due out in November. We love this show and think the cast, directed by Chicago's Rob Marshall and led by Daniel Day-Lewis, will be great. Mostly. Hopefully Penelope Cruz will sound as sexy belting "A Call From The Vatican" as she's sure to look. We’re nervous to hear Nicole Kidman’s "Unusual Way," one of the most beautiful songs in the score, although at least she’s proven she can carry a tune. But we nearly fell off our chairs upon learning that Maury Yeston, the original composer, has penned a few new songs for the movie, one of which will be … a dance number for Kate Hudson? Let that sink in for a minute.
Ready for more? Coming soon to a theater near you:
Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle is rumored to be bringing My Fair Lady back to the silver screen. Fame has just been re-made. Rick Astley, who last surfaced rickrolling a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float, is writing a musical that we can only pray will not include a fully orchestrated arrangement of "Never Gonna Give You Up."
And last, but of course not least: Kanye West is working with Motown Legend Lamont Dozier to compose what we suspect will be titled Kanye West presents Kanye West in: 'Kanye West: The Kanye West Story.'
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Well, if finding a large audience for musicals is the goal, then from what I hear, High School Musical fits the bill.
I'm not a big Jim Carrey fan, but this project sounds kind of interesting. And I've got to say that I agree that the Mama Mia on Broadway was really stupid...but I am not ashamed to say that I really enjoyed it.
It's Stephen Daldry who is doing "My Fair Lady" ... blech. http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/people,1972,daldry-takes-on-clunky-my-fair-lady,73970?WTmc_id=rss
I won't see this. Keira "The Emoter" Knightley? Too annoying.
Why do something like this unless you can make it better? It's impossible to be better than Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison in this movie and for this guy to say that the original was not very good is really delusional.
I like that High School Musical is introducing a younger audience to musical theatre, I just hope it doesn't set their standards in terms of quality.
And I also liked Mamma Mia - it was exactly what I expected it to be. But I love musicals to begin with =)
Yikes, sorry for the repeat posts - my computer is freaking out on me.
Rob, I think we're both right -- that article is from mid-February, when Daldry was "in negotations" - I can't find any confirmation of his attachment to the project, and the Danny Boyle rumors started last week. Either way, blech is right. I'm not a big fan of this show in the first place, and Kiera Knightley? Boo.
LOL at Julienne... Her 'puter had the hiccups...
we can only pray will not include a fully orchestrated arrangement of "Never Gonna Give You Up."
We so obviously aren't praying for the same thing. Overexposed meme or not, any Rick Astley musical that doesn't include that has no reason for existing.
tomato, tomahto.