Student Blog: Silver Screen to Stage

Sometimes what your favorite comfort film needs is only a touch of music.

Although I don't really enjoy movie musicals, there are some musicals that are based on iconic movies that are among my favorite stage productions of all time.

Seeing some iconic characters, re-interpretations can be more refreshing than you may have imagined. Rather than filling the shoes of the iconic actors/actresses that originated the protagonists of the listed movies, the roles are re-imagined as new versions of themselves; they are not the same characters; they are re-interpretations.

Sometimes the familiarity of the story we are watching enables the audience to discover more about the other aspects of the plays and the details and makes the audience feel more connected since we already know the story. There is a risk with re-creating such successful works of art on new platforms; some productions may be setting themselves on failure if they try to do every aspect of the movie on stage. What makes a stage production successful is how it adapts a movie, takes its story, and recreates it in a way that preserves the essence while showing some other aspects that were not highlighted in the movie version. It needs to show something new while preserving the basics and the familiarity of the story.

Having said that, here are my favorite stage productions that are based on movies:

-Beetlejuice

-Moulin Rouge

-Mrs. Doubtfire

- Legally Blonde

- School of Rock

- Catch Me If You Can

- Waitress

- Pretty Woman

- Tootsie