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re: It sounds like there should be a number called "Don't Speak!"

Posted by: Delvino 11:40 pm EDT 03/18/14
In reply to: re: It sounds like there should be a number called "Don't Speak!" - AlanScott 11:14 pm EDT 03/18/14

I recall how Mel Brooks took lines from "Young Frankenstein" ("Roll in the Hay") and did exactly what you mention in turning them into songs: literalize their more subtle charms. Sometimes, a line that lasts seconds on the screen is memorable for just that reason: brevity, and our resulting gasp (and laugh). When we hear the same sentiment attenuated, expanded, the moment loses its power and its humor.


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re: It sounds like there should be a number called "Don't Speak!"

Posted by: AlanScott 12:26 am EDT 03/19/14
In reply to: re: It sounds like there should be a number called "Don't Speak!" - Delvino 11:40 pm EDT 03/18/14

Yeah, you totally want to avoid that kind of thing. You might put the line "Don't Speak" into a song, but you'd have to let it surprise the audience.

Since you brought up Young Frankenstein, one big mistake made there that's not repeated here is the use of enormous sets. The YF sets were very impressive, but that's the kind of thing that you probably want to avoid when putting a movie onstage. Movies can give us closeups, and you need to approximate that. Not that the sets here are small (although the Village apt. set is nicely undersized), but they're not massive, and the stage feels on the small side.

The same mistake was made long ago by Santo Loquasto — although he may have simply been doing what he was asked for — in Singin' in the Rain. Massive sets, very impressive, and exactly not what that show needed.

Although Bullets is in a big theatre, they'd done their best to make it feel intimate.


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re: It sounds like there should be a number called "Don't Speak!"

Posted by: newintown 09:10 am EDT 03/19/14
In reply to: re: It sounds like there should be a number called "Don't Speak!" - AlanScott 12:26 am EDT 03/19/14

I think this whole exchange skirts around the de-evolution of adaptation - a good theatrical adapter wouldn't use "don't speak" at all, either in a song or dialogue - that line is too memorable, too much a part of the experience of watching the movie. A talented adapter would create their own iconic moment, every bit as good as (or better than) "don't speak."

For my money, a good adapter also would create a new title, change the story line to be more musical, add or delete characters - in other words, create a new work only based upon the film, not slavishly adhering to it, filling it out with irrelevant songs.

Some shows actually do this - Grey Gardens and Gentleman's Guide to name two. But mostly, it seems to be a game of plopping the screenplay on stage with plugged-in tunes.


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