A few days ago, I wrote a rant about how movie reviewers don’t seem to like stage productions moved to the screen essentially unaltered, as happened with Rent and The Producers.
Today, I read some interesting articles related to this trend. First, according to the Daily News, neither Harvey Fierstein nor Marissa Jaret Winokur will be reprising their roles in the movie version of the musical Hairspray (which itself was based on a non-musical John Waters movie). At least they are not going with John Travolta as had been rumored, but still. The casting is still wide open, but this does mean that the Tony-winning cast will not be on the big screen. Turning to an older musical, Dreamgirls, which is finally being made into a musical, the Daily News also reported that Jamie Foxx is doing the Dreamgirls movie musical with Eddie Murphy and Beyonce. Those old enough will remember that this was Jennifer Holiday‘s breakthrough role. Others in the original cast included Obba Babatundé, Cleavant Derricks, Loretta Devine, Ben Harney, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and in the ensemble, Phylicia Ayers-Allen (now Phylicia Rashad).
What do you want to bet that these movies will get decent reviews, unlike the recent original stage musicals (which were hits) that moved to film?
[Even scarier: Jamie Foxx is doing a Miami Vice remake with Colin Farrell.]
