Yesterday I bought back Thursday's Three Line Reviews, so...what the heck. Might as well do a Friday Five Fave while I'm at it. Mr. Movie Junkie and I are celebrating 10years of marriage this weekend. Since I always hound the poor man about his gift-giving skills and his lacking the whole "sweep me off my feet" skill, he decided to go all out. Before anyone tells me I'm an ungrateful wife for complaining about past gifts, let me just say this is a man who, for my 30th Birthday, gave me a roast beef sandwich and fries from some place in Brooklyn and said "Happy Birthday". We don't live in Brooklyn. So...not only is a sandwich a crappy 30th Birthday gift...it was cold too. BUT...he's getting better. I've posted the awesome Christmas Gifts he gave me that I love and treasure.
And now...he's totally sweeping me off my feet. Because he...went...all...OUT for our 10 year anniversary!! Yay!! I'm talking spending the night in the Big Apple for a little mini-vaca!! I'm talking taking in everything the Big City has to offer! Broadway Play! Reservations for a Great Restaurant for Dinner! Brunch on Sunday! Shopping! Bright Lights, Big City, here we come!! But the best part is the Broadway Play. Because...well, I LOVE BROADWAY MUSICALS!!! Seriously. Right now...on my iPod...I'm listening to my Musicals Playlist. Everything from Grease to Hairspray to Annie Get Your Gun to Jesus Christ Superstar.
Broadway has been a huge part of my life. I saw my first play at nine and I was bitten by the Broadway Bug. There's nothing like it. I tear up every time I see a play, because it's such an experience for me. The hard work that comes together every day...every night...LIVE!! To make it the best it can for us, the audience. It's just amazing.
So, today's Friday's Five Faves are Movies that became a Broadway Play...or a Broadway Play that became a Movie. And only those that I've seen both on stage and on the screen (big or small). So...I guess I can call this one...hmmm...Broadway/Film Crossovers.
Here we go!
#5:
ANNIE:
Annie was my first Broadway Play. It was my 9th Birthday and I will never forget it. It wasn't just the play. It was the whole experience.
On that same day we went out to eat at a fancy restaurant, we took a carriage ride through Central Park, and Timothy Hutton held the door open for my Mother. So, it was a true NYC experience.
A year or so later, the movie came out. But that's not my favorite Broadway/Film crossover of Annie. I didn't particularly care for it, even thought little girls across the country were wishing their parents dead so they could be just like Little Orphan Annie. But I had seen the play and I knew and understood how much better the play was. Not to mention they left the song out: NYC. My favorite song from the play.
Flash forward to about 1999, when abc decided to remake the movie and air it as it's Sunday Family Movie. And. They. NAILED. It!!!! Not to mention NYC is in it!! And Miss Hanigan/Rooster was closer to the play than the original movie. LOVE IT!!
Skip the original and rent the remake!! You'll get a better idea of what the play was like.
#4:
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA:
I saw the movie before I saw the play. And loved the movie. Emmy Rossum is beautiful and Gerard Butler is amazing as the Phantom.
This was always one of my mother's favorite stories and I knew she would love to see the play. In all the years that she had bought me tickets to Broadway plays as gifts, this was the first and only time I was able to reverse the roles and get her the gift.
For Mother's Day, I had purchases a musical box with the Phantom's Iconic Monkey sitting on it. I managed to carefully tape two tickets between the Monkey's Cymbals. SHE LOVED IT!!
And the play was incredible, from the crashing chandelier, to the set, to the way the Phantom's voice would echo throughout the theater in a haunting way. This is a must for anyone who loves Broadway or wants to experience Broadway in it's finest.
#3:
THE PRODUCERS:
A movie that crossed over to Broadway then crossed back over to a remake of the original...or the play. However you want to see it.
Having never saw the original movie, I went to The Producers on Broadway as part of a Ladies' Day Out gathering and had a blast. Besides drinking Mimosas on the bus on our way into the city, and having more drinks before the play started, this play was just hilarious!!! My face was hurting from smiling so much. I smiled from beginning to end. I laughed endlessly. Where else could you find songs about Hitler and LAUGH.
Then, I rented the movie (starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane) because I wanted to see how close it was to the play. I can honestly say this is the only movie that is a remake of a play that is SO CLOSE TO THE PLAY!!! Any closer and it might as well have been filmed right in the theater. They truly did the play justice.
#2:
THE WHO'S TOMMY:
I first stumbled upon the movie Tommy in the middle of the night in my late teens/early twenties. I was on the couch with bronchitis or pneumonia or maybe a bad ear infection. All I remember was I was ill and couldn't sleep and I came across Tommy and pretty much muttered "What the f*ck is this?"
And then...I fell in love with it!! Maybe it was all the meds in me or lack of sleep or a fever, but I was completely engrossed. I thought it was the best thing since...Star Wars.
Months later, The Who's Tommy opened up on Broadway and the cast performed before the Thanksgiving Parade. As they danced and sang to Pinball Wizard, I turned to my mother and said "I MUST see that!!" So, guess what I got for Christmas that year!!
The play was beyond words. I became OBSESSED with it. I played the soundtrack over and over for YEARS. (I still play it and I know EVERY WORD!) I lived by Tommy!! It was my absolute FAVORITE play/musical ever!!!
Until...
#1:
RENT:
Yes. RENT. RENT is my life. I first saw RENT as the movie. It was actually the very first movie Netflix ever sent me. I watched it, not really knowing what to expect. And I was just blown away. It has such a message and I have been trying to live it's message ever since.
I sent the movie back to Netflix and ran out to buy a copy for myself. I watched it over and over and over. I bought the soundtrack and we listened to it over and over and over. Sadly, my husband knows every word. Not that he wants to. He just didn't have a choice.
Then, he bought tickets for us to see RENT on Broadway. It's so different from the movie, but still amazing. Better than amazing. It's so powerful. I was a blubbering mess by the show's end.
It was so amazing, that I bought tickets for my brother's birthday and went back a second time with him, his then girlfriend, and my mom. Again...I was blown away.
Then, the original Mark and Roger came back to reprise the roles they created (and also played in the in the movie). Yeah. I bought tickets for me and my BFF and went and saw it a THIRD time! This time, it was INCREDIBLE. The audience was WILD for Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal. The theater was just electrified!!
Then, there's that 1/2 time that I saw RENT...but we don't talk about that.
When RENT was coming to a close, I cried. The good news is, they did something that I believe ALL Broadway shows should do when the play is closing. They decided to film an actual production right in the theater and release it on the Big Screen, then DVD. I think that's a great way to share the play with people who can't make it to the Big Apple or can't afford tickets. And it's a wonderful way to memorialize the play.
If any Broadway Producers are reading this (I doubt it..but Hey. You never know!), think about filming the play before it closes and release it to the public. Everyone, from NYC to California, from rich to poor should experience Broadway in some shape or form. Broadway is not just plays. It's culture. It's art. And it should be out there. The crossovers to or from movies are just not enough. Take a hint from RENT and follow their footsteps.
And to everyone else...remember NO DAY BUT TODAY!
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