The Musical Remakes We Need
Published on Monday 14th September, 2.11pm, Written by Carrie Dunn
Here is what I have to say this week.
Why do we need a remake of Fame? Kevin Tancharoen’s remake of Alan Parker’s 1980 original hits cinemas on September 25th, and I shall be interested to note the ways in which it improves or adds to the highly enjoyable original.
And Baz Bamingboye’s been talking again this week about Keira Knightley’s possible starring role in a remake of My Fair Lady, the beautiful, glorious Oscar-winning masterpiece which starred Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison and the disembodied voice of Marni Nixon. How will this new version improve on a film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture? It’s intriguing.
Don’t think that I’m against remakes altogether, though. There are some musicals that have made it to the silver screen and ought to be done again — and done properly this time. Here are my suggestions for musicals that genuinely need a reimagining on film…
Rent
My main issue with this one was the sentimental decision to bring back most of the original Broadway cast, despite the fact they looked 15 years older than the characters they were playing (and the younger actresses, Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms, replacing the two who had the sense not to sign on for it). But there were other problems with it too — introducing themes and characters just a touch out of the order that would have made most sense; the jarring use of flashback and dream sequences; and some bizarre choices with orchestration. Still, on the plus side, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as Rent: Remixed.
Hello, Dolly!
I probably wouldn’t even have thought about this film had it not been for the wonderful revival at the Open Air theatre this summer, but for all Barbra Streisand’s many talents, she’s woefully miscast in this, simply because she’s 27 and not the meddling middle-aged matron required by the script. Her singing “Look at the old gal now, fellas!” is just risible. Still, an older woman carrying a film would never do in Hollywood, would it?
A Chorus Line
I’m still not sure whether this will ever work on screen, but another attempt is surely overdue, if only to wipe from our memories Alyson Reed’s terrible wig in the Let Me Dance For You flashback sequence. The songs omitted from Richard Attenborough’s original attempt, including The Music And The Mirror, Sing!, and Hello 12, Hello 13, should be reinstated (and while we’re at it, Surprise Surprise should be taken out and lost forever); and the big chunks of script that actually made us care about the characters need to be rediscovered. The only problem with replacing the 1985 original film would be that the famous closing shot of the gold-clad dancers, where one hoofer crashes to the ground and promptly gets back up hoping nobody has noticed, would be lost in the mists of time.
Even films that I’ve loved might still be worth revisiting — I’m also thinking that a version of Cabaret that has more of the stage show’s songs (and a Sally Bowles that isn’t as supreme a performer as Liza Minnelli) might be worth a stab; and a version of Chicago that doesn’t use the dream sequence cop-out for the musical numbers could be interesting.
Any more suggestions?
It’s a shame we won’t be seeing a Rent remake. Rent is the kind of show that has the sort of story problems that a good director could have fixed to make it better than the original stage show. Aging cast or not, the plot holes became bigger behind the camera. Spike Lee or Baz Luhrman might have done something clever with it… the guy who directed the worst of the Harry Potter movies, not so much.
By the way, legend has it that Daphne Rubin-Vega wanted to be in it, but taping happened when she was pregnant. Rubin-Vega claims Christopher Columbus did this so she could be pushed out.