I agree with CapnHook - if its to be a movie of the Styne/Charlap musical - PAN should be played by a woman. I'm actually pretty sure that is the direction Zadan and Meron are going in...
these are the same guys that produced the television musical versions of "Annie", "Cinderella", and "Music Man" ?? as in the ones with Kathy Bates and Brandi and Broderick and etc., etc.?
god. I'm sure this one will be just as TERRIBLE then...
I'm glad a musical movie for TV is getting greenlit, but did it have to be PETER PAN? Haven't we filmed that one enough? Can't we do something that could use a decent TV/Film version?
PLEASE! Do not post anything negative or dramatic! DidYouReallyHearMe has LOST the ability to ignore such posts and he will comment! Please, help him.
With Clay Aiken in Spamalot, all of Broadway is singing a collective "There! Right! There!" -Me-
"Not Barker, Todd is the only person I've ever known who could imitate Katherine Hepburn...in print." -nmartin-
ANNIE and CINDERELLA were fine. THE MUSIC MAN was terrible.
I don't mind their "style" for the TV musical. It's very geared to a *FAMILY TV* audience. The teleplay adaptation has been my strongest grief because of the 'family' aspect.
PETER PAN is a very adult in tone and should be played this way. The kids love this, as opposed to dumbing it down for them.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
"Zadan said that the new Peter Pan will feature some contemporary elements, but will also honor the intentions of the creators. "It's not unlike what we've done with Hairspray...We're not taking the shows verbatim and putting them on film. We're reinventing them while honoring the basic material."
Sounds like they could use a boy if they want. I think today's audiences are going to accept a boy easier than a girl playing a boy.
Zadan/Meron didn't do BYE BYE BIRDIE. And before anyone mentions it, they also didn't do ONCE UPON A MATTRESS nor GEPHETTO. The musicals they did for television were GYPSY, CINDERELLA, ANNIE, and THE MUSIC MAN.
As for CINDERELLA, Brandi was servicable. I enjoyed Jason Alexander and Whitney Houston.
ANNIE was the better of the three for Disney. Kathy Bates, Alan Cumming, and Kristen Chenoweth were perfectly cast. Audra Macdonald brought new life to the character.
We won't discuss MUSIC MAN.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
I agree with whomever said this seems unnecessary. How can the Martin and Rigby versions be improved upon? Each was unique and wonderful in their own way. Although, since I never saw Martin live (owing to the fact that I was not born yet), I think Rigby will always be my favorite.
I actually liked The Music Man. I thought it was a much better adaptation than the first film. Same for Annie though I would have preferred not having so many songs cut. I thought they did an amazing job with Cinderella even though Brandi was miscast. I think the inclusion of the news songs was brilliant and should be the standard for all future stage adaptations as was done for the recent national tour. Gypsy was my favorite of the four. The cast was perfect and the adaptation was flawless. That's how you make a movie musical. Sure, the sets could have been a little more realistic, but aside from that, for what it is it's brilliant. If they fallow that same formula they should be fine though I hope they are able to use the updated Craig Barna orchestrations so as to incorporate the more Native American flavor of the two dance sequences.
They should scratch the idea of Peter Pan, and finally do something they planned to a few years ago, Annie Get Your Gun with Reba McEntire, and she is all Gung Ho for it too.
"They should scratch the idea of Peter Pan, and finally do something they planned to a few years ago, Annie Get Your Gun with Reba McEntire, and she is all Gung Ho for it too."
That might be fun. I'd love to see Mame, or something else that could use a good screen adaptation.
PLEASE! Do not post anything negative or dramatic! DidYouReallyHearMe has LOST the ability to ignore such posts and he will comment! Please, help him.
With Clay Aiken in Spamalot, all of Broadway is singing a collective "There! Right! There!" -Me-
"Not Barker, Todd is the only person I've ever known who could imitate Katherine Hepburn...in print." -nmartin-
My favorite idea was to bring DER GLOCKNER VON NOTRE DAME to the small screen in an English adaptation. Eisner planned this for TV (and not the American stage) before he left but those plans were scrapped when he left the company. Best part: it was NOT going to be a Wonderful World of Disney event. It was NOT going to be for kids. It was going to made more like a two-part mini-series for an older audience. Similar to what they did for the ANNE FRANK movie.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
ANNIE was fantastic. A great improvement on the original film. CINDERELLA was indeed very entertaining and even if Brandy was kinda meh, we did get fantastic performances from Whoopie Goldberg, Bernadette Peters, Victor Garber, Jason Alexander, and Veanne Cox. I look forward to see what stars they have been talking to.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
The tradition of an older female playing an adolescent boy is in the theater, where a willing suspension of belief is the norm. I think the immediacy of film would make such a thing awkward and distracting.
Mame was in the works with Julie Andrews, around the same time Herman was writing his autobiography, and most likely would have happened had it not been for her vocal issues. It then had a whole slew of compeltely inappropriate women attached to it. I wish they'd make it, as it is a film that could benefit from a remake. I also wish they'd remake My Fair Lady, and bring back something of the original's greatness, which was completely lacking under Cukor's rotten direction (inappropriately awarded Academy Awards notwithstanding).
I disliked a lot of things about Brandy's Cinderella (Goldberg, Houston and Alexander,among them), but Brandy wasn't one of them.
The TV version of Bye Bye Birdie was atrocious (excepting Williams, who was great), and The Music Man was beyond lousy. Annie was superior to its theatrical film version, in every way.
I do think it would be a mistake to cast a girl as Peter Pan, in a film. Particularly for Disney, who's definitive film version (albiet animated) is clearly a boy.