''It used to be that musicals strove to come up with new titles - but not so much anymore.''
Nowadays, it's pretty direct: ''Billy Elliot the Musical,'' ''A Christmas Story: The Musical,'' ''Moulin Rouge! The Musical,'' etc.
Obviously, the producers are counting on name recognition and the nostaglia for certain film favorites.
But in the 1960s and '70s, there seemed to be a number of Broadway musicalizations of movies that took on new titles, like ''Sugar'' (1972).
A musical of ''Lilies of the Field'' became ''Look to the Lilies'' (1970). A musical of ''East of Eden'' became ''Here's Where I Belong'' (1968). A musical of ''How Green Was My Valley'' became ''A Time for Singing'' (1966). A musical of ''Smiles of a Summer Night'' became ''A Little Night Music'' (1973). |
