What hath "Mamma Mia!" wrought?

Whose works would you like to see made into a musical? What musical- based-on-a-rock-star’s-ouevre* would make you want to crawl up into a ball and die?

*If you can think of a better term for this musical beast, let me know.

Anyway -- Marc Almond's work would be fantastic, so there's a counterexample. The inevitable Dylan production will be a farrago of nonsense.

(Enjoyed Mamma Mia! very much, btw.)

Years ago, I actually wrote an outline for the Smiths musical. (I think it's still up on my web site.)

I'd pay a tenner for that!

Oh, wait a second: http://www.ohwhatanight.com/

I'm probably way late to this, but Um, did I just see a trailer for the movie version featuring Meryl Streep???

You did. (He said, six months after the question.) So did anyone see the film?

reviewers are lolling at brosnan

No - if I wanted to see piss drunk ABBA karaoke on an island, I'd go on holiday to Greece with a bunch of middle aged permatanned swingers.

Count me in.

Not too interested in this sort of karaoke musical, really.

Andersson and Ulväus should compose a new musical instead. "Chess" was actually (musically) quite good.

I was talking about this movie with a friend today. If you haven't seen it, don't even think about subjecting yourself to this asswipe. I'm warning you, it is unbearable. I don't hate Abba, but really this movie is horrible. And if I said that already on other threads I don't care. It bears repeating, yo. Avoid at all costs. Put on "Voulez Vous" instead. Preferably on LP.

Rather "The Visitors", "The Album", "Super Trouper" or "Arrival" than "Voulez-Vous". Otherwise: Yep!

Oh stop. It's not bad. Actually, "Voulez Vous" is one of the best parts.

lol musical theatre geeks

Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?

http://www.challops.com/images/2.gif

I'm hardly the first person to critique franchise flix, sister.

which is absolutely my point

Also, no one here said musicals in general = bad.

omg this is classic ILX, ya'll.

There's gotta be better ways of coming on to me, Rev.

Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?
Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?
Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?
Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?
Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?
Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?
Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?
Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?
Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?
Can someone explain to me why sooooo many moviegoers can accept Batdork, Spiderfuck, Iron Ass, the Incredible Stupid (wait - didn't Ang Lee just do the Hulk? we NEED another one so soon???), Jerks of the Caribbean, etc. whizzing around skyscrapers or turning into green roid ragers or shooting webs out of their hands or whatnot but they cannot accept someone bursting out into song?

Aw Bimble, come on. You're seriously one of my favorite posters. Rise above, sweetest.

aw, dude, don't you see that I'm doing that because I admire your post?

No, I didn't see that. Okay back to l-u-v. xoxoxoxo

hahahahahah
P. E. A. C. E.
Y. O.

There's gotta be better ways of coming on to me, Rev.

-- Kevin John Bozelka, Sunday, July 20, 2008 3:52 AM (Sunday, July 20, 2008 3:52 AM) Bookmark Link

your schtick is so boring at this point

Rev, check your email, dude. Just tryin' to be friendly.

Anyway, the best scene is definitely "Dancing Queen." Geir is correct about the karaoke aspect (even though he apparently hasn't seen/heard the film). It would be a nightmare having to listen to the sound track album. But you get the sense that the filmmakers knew that. So with "Dancing Queen," they simply pile on the voices until the song becomes preposterously euphoric. Every woman on the island (and then some) joins Meryl & Co. as they go skipping down to the pier and upping the "unrealistic" ante. And boy does it ever work! (Again, in the movie theater; I imagine it'd be pretty flat on disc, esp. when they insert big climactic Bway pauses between "See that girl" [one measure] "Watch that scene" [another measure] "Diggin' the dancing queen.")

And believe it or not, I kinda dig that it was conceived as a feminist anthem rather than the gay fight song it's become (which isn't to say that the moment couldn't be appropriated as gay gay GAY). It ties in beautifully with what I find to be the film's most intriguing feature - the parade of (relatively) sagging middle-aged flesh, something you wouldn't see in...well, some other movies. Brosnan definitely makes up for his crap singing by showing off his stomach sans six-pack. Reason enough right there to cherish the musical.

hahahah Kevin likes the Brosnan stomach. Dancing Queen, etc. I love it.

It's not how low can you go, folks, it's how GAY can you go. It's all about the GAY.

Abba need to write some new songs. I'm bored of all the old ones.

id watch this

Mamma Mia="My Two Dads" with another potential father

I like good movie musicals (of which there haven't been any made in at least a decade or two), but this movie looks so fucking embarrassing.

what would you say was the last good one?

i can't really bring one to mind myself.

i would've liked dreamgirls if the songs werent so lame.

Yeah, I would've probably liked Chicago if the direction weren't so lame.

Sweeney Todd was the last good one I saw. Didn't really completely have the spirit of the stage musical, and Helena Bonham Carter sleptwalk through the first half, but it was still good overall.

Problem with movie musicals based on existing stage musicals is that you invariably have to cut 30 minutes and stuff that works on stage doesn't up close. That and you usually wind up casting big names who aren't right for the part to sell tickets.

Sweeney Todd's a decent version of a great musical. I don't think the film's all that, but it's good.

Chicago was awesome. Adapted enough from the stage musical to where it worked on its own merits.

I'm struggling to think of what it would be myself. I'm sort of wondering if it might not be something like One from the Heart (admittedly, I might be the only one who doesn't loathe that movie).

Of course, they all probably are great compared to Mamma Mia, if the clips I just saw on the CBS Sunday morning show are any indication.

Yea, the main problems with the Sweeney film is that A. a lot of the humor was removed, and B. There was less development in his descent into madness, it seemed to have just happened from the getgo.

What I found humorous were all of the songs where they actually cut the portion where the title was to be sung. For instance, "God That's Good!", they cut the part where the people sing "God that's good". Was wondering if when making cuts they were using a dartboard. But still good overall.

Mamma Mia is theatre for tourists who don't go to the theatre much who decide "hey, let's see a show while we're here".

Best movie musical in the last ten years? Easy, the South Park movie.

that's what Brian Boitano do!

Cannibal: The Musical will always be a favorite of mine though.

Ned OTM, pretty much.

i liked sweeney todd but that's another one where i just dont dig the songs. maybe i'm a philistine.

south park for sure, but i feel like animated films are a different territory.... just cuz it's easier to get away with an animated musical (despite the fact that so many suck) than a live-action, which is always gonna be a ballsier move.

man, the music in Sweeney Todd is amazing...(granted, it was largely butchered by the actors/actresses in the movie).

Moulin Rouge was fairly ballsy in a number of ways, but was also irritating in more ways, so I'm voting no on that one being great.

I enjoyed Moulin Rouge, but it's not one that has repeat play potential...

Every woman on the island (and then some) joins Meryl & Co. as they go skipping

Hmmmm.... I read this as "skinnydipping".....

I like good movie musicals (of which there haven't been any made in at least a decade or two)

Good to great musicals of the last twenty years not already mentioned:

1989 Earth Girls Are Easy
1990 Alexandria Again and Forever
1990 Cry-Baby
1995 Haut bas fragile
1997 Destiny
1998 The Hole
2000 Dancer in the Dark
2004 Beyond the Sea
2007 Les Chansons d'amour
2007 Enchanted

This is to leave out countless Bollywood films (Kal Ho Naa Ho is a recent fave) and controversial choices that would get me pelted. It's also to leave out films I didn't dig but others no doubt would such as: The Happiness of the Katakuris, Rainbow Around the Sun, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The American Astronaut, etc.

And for those of you in the market for a gay porno musical, check out Romeo and Julian from 1994.

Each of those choices, though, sort of proves my (as yet admittedly unspoken) point that Hollywood musicals in the white elephant vein are simply not in the DNA of current filmmaking. Much as I liked Happiness of the Katakuris, it's not exactly The Pajama Game (a genre model I presume Mamma Mia aims to replicate).

in that case, the audience must be snoring....

Hollywood musicals in the white elephant vein are simply not in the DNA of current filmmaking

Agreed. But I derive an immense amount of pleasure from From Justin to Kelly and the High School Musical franchise and those are about as unrevisionist as you can get (hell, even the Astaire/Rogers were saucier). And I'm not sure how white elephant they are but for me, Rent, Chicago, Dreamgirls, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd, etc. were all serviceable-plus.

Much as I liked Happiness of the Katakuris, it's not exactly The Pajama Game (a genre model I presume Mamma Mia aims to replicate).

Actually, The Pajama Game (which I adore) is a bit of an anomaly as classical Hollywood musicals go since it concerns the sadly untypical musical subject of a labor dispute. But yes, that's more the model for Mamma Mia! than (thank gawd) Katakuris.

wot, no hairspray?

I mentioned it above.

Maybe I was letting subjectivity seep in when I said it's not in the DNA. Looking over that list, it's probably still there. It's just that I think the format only shows its age and lack of vitality in the new films. Personal opinion only, of course, but it's probably worth mentioning that even most musical fans don't share your high opinion of Rent, for instance.

well, you'd be right in my case--Rent was baaaaaaaaaaad.

Sweeney Todd's a decent version of a great musical. I don't think the film's all that, but it's good.

-- Noodle Vague, Sunday, 20 July 2008 13:54 (5 hours ago) Link

I performed a song from Sweeney Todd at my high school talent show, and I placed highly at the end with votes etc. I heard it was made into a film. I don't want to see the film. :)

Rev, check your email, dude. Just tryin' to be friendly.

-- Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Sunday, July 20, 2008 4:18 AM (Sunday, July 20, 2008 4:18 AM) Bookmark Link

????? Didn't get any email from you.

I briefly listened to the soundtrack the other day and it's kind of remarkable how most of the songs sound pretty close to their original versions. What upsets me though is precisely that: if you want to recreate the sound of the original songs as closely as possible, why not just have the actors lip-synch to the originals?

"Artistic" decision, I'm sure. Plus, given that Universal is reservicing Abba Gold, it could be one more move toward whetting people's appetite for the originals.

What made those songs so special in the first place is how just perfect the studio recordings sounded. It's kind of insulting to me at least that the people who concieved this think it's all the same.

So in case people have forgotten about it (and since it hasn't been mentioned here yet) there's already a great movie set to ABBA songs and it's called Muriel's Wedding.

When I first saw the billboards for the Mamma Mia musical (I was probably pretty late in knowing about it, tbh) I assumed it actually was a stage version of Muriel's Wedding, only with the cast singing. I saw the film tonight. I was wrong.

The direction in this film is beyond awful. Like she was actively trying to ruin the songs. Of course nothing could, and I dug it. and Amanda Seyfried.

My daughter loves the shit out of this movie and has been playing the OST a lot. It's horrible beyond belief.

Alice (you know, rock chick, Ramones fan at three, etc) is in love with the soundtrack, and is more or less not just singing along with it, but rehearsing/practicing!!

Well, I guess her Abba moment had to come, now rather than later.

What kind of people went/are going to see this movie?

people with eyes, ears and a UK passport, apparently

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7701723.stm

thats the story that made me o_O

pete baran loved it!

i thought it was ace and make no apologies for this fact

Sweeney Todd's a decent version of a great musical. I don't think the film's all that, but it's good

i thought it was awful in just about every respect, tbh.

Enchanted was repped up above, which was excellent.

Ned OTM re: South Park: The Movie.

Didn't see Mamma Mia. Looked shit tho.