Marshall and the Movies

I do love musicals, and I sure have invested a lot of time into them over the past four years.  My production of “Godspell” is in 10 days, and I’ll also delve into “Fiddler on the Roof” later this year.

But away from my school, there are some interesting developments on Broadway with new musicals.  They are always looking for new source material, and the flavor of the moment is finding it in movies.  It was announced today that “Newsies,” a movie I have only heard of once or twice, will be adapted into a Broadway musical.  And in other news, “Catch Me If You Can” will apparently be making a similar transformation.

I’m in the camp that believes movies should stay on the screen.  They aren’t meant to have their plots stretched to maintain interest over two and a half hours, and they aren’t meant to have spontaneous musical breaks.  What ever happened to originality in writing musicals?  We claim that movies are bad about recycling; look no further than Broadway for someone doing it worse.  Name the last new musical based on an entirely original premise.  I can’t.

Case in point – “Legally Blonde: The Musical.”  It debuted to horrible reviews, got almost no Tony nominations, and is now destined to become an audition favorite for teenage girls with no idea of the classics that made the craft what it is.

Sigh.  The corruption of the beautiful art.