Movies based on Broadway Musicals are either a hit or miss.
Don’t get me wrong! Some of the movies that have come out are absolutely amazing. You have Grease, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd, and Les Miserables. All of those are absolutely amazing adaptations. There’s Sound of Music and Annie (specifically the 1982 film, in my opinion). We’ve even had In the Heights released earlier this year, and I have heard nothing but praise for the film. The Netflix version of The Prom is a favorite between some of my friends. I’m a huge fan of the Hamilton pro shot that was released on Disney+. All of these are incredible.
But then you have the movies that just aren’t the same as its Broadway counterpart.
This doesn’t include productions that were inspired by movies made before the musical. Musicals like Heathers, Mean Girls, and Beetlejuice are fairly amazing in my opinion in either form of media. But sometimes the cross-media doesn’t transition well.
I am talking about the films that make you go “why?”
Cats is one of those films that kind of terrify me. The original music is great, but its CGI cat and human hybrid actors personally scares me. There was nothing that really made me enjoy the movie version. But I know I was uncomfortable. Although I particularly enjoyed the 2014 remake of Annie, I didn’t really like how some of the songs were turned into modernized pop.
This particular fear of the next Broadway adaptation: Dear Evan Hansen.
I absolutely loved Dear Evan Hansen when I saw it live back in 2019 but when they announced that it would have a movie counterpart, I absolutely became suspicious. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, the music, everything about the live version. It’s one of my favorite musicals that I’ve seen.
But they’ve cut certain songs from the movie that drove the plot in the musical.
Now, I won’t spoil the movie; I’m unsure if all of my readers have seen the musical, have heard of it, or know how the plot goes. But three songs, one of them being my favorite, got cut, and these absolutely drove the plot. These three songs are Does Anybody Have a Map?, Disappear, and Good for You. In a way, these songs being cut is somewhat problematic in my head, especially when the story is a somewhat sad one. But those songs were absolutely needed, and I fear that because these songs were removed, those who don’t know the original tale won’t be able to fully understand the meaning of the show.
Although I feel like this is going to be a good movie, I don’t have a lot of faith that it will live up to the expectations of the original musical.
Although I feel like this is going to be a good movie, I don’t have a lot of faith that it will live up to the expectations of the original musical. This isn’t an article to say ‘oh, boycott the movie’. Absolutely not. I’m sure people will enjoy it. But I think it should be kept in mind that this story, this show, is not going to live up to the expectations for those who have seen the show or understand what it’s about.
I’ll be Waving Through a Window for this one.