Who asked for a carbon copy?
However, as for who wants that? I mean... I think a musical being adapted for film should be made to work, but the less tinkering the better because more often than not (Cabaret aside) it doesn't change it for the better. When a musical I love is being made into a film, I'm not excited to think "I've seen the show on stage and can again, I'm ready for whatever new version and "interpretation" this director has for the show on film"... a film isn't just another production. I hated the business with the kid they added for the production in Central Park, but that was just for that. A movie is forever. It is the production most people in the world will see of it, and the thing they will in theory always go back to. If it's bad, they think the musical is bad. And if it's bad in part because of changes made for the film, that's always upsetting. And if it's good, then the film becomes the standard... and if it's good with changes made for the film, that's great but one always wonders what it would have been like if the director had just tried it the way it was written. (thank goodness there will always be the recording of the original production, however that is still watching a film of the play on stage, and relatively few people will ever seek it out or know it's there)
I'm just rambling. But this thing with ITW and Rob Marshall, is that I think he is a twit and I think he has proven that he doesn't trust the audience and that he doesn't trust musicals... for those two reasons, I don't trust him with making THE movie of a great musical and making the sometimes tough choices about adaptation because I think he is the type who is very quick to say "well that doesn't work, I have a new idea instead" rather than being able to think creatively and effectively about how to make something work.
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