Awesome Musical Movies: No Play? It’s Okay!

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Anushka Agashe, Staff Writer

Let me guess: you couldn’t get tickets to see Hamilton and now you’re going through musical withdrawal. We’ve all been there, but there are plenty of Broadway musicals that have been adapted to movies to fill the void! Here are some popular movies based on Broadway productions:

  1. Annie

There have been a few different adaptations of the musical about the red-haired orphan Annie, but the most recent one came out in 2014 and features Quvenzhané Wallis, Jamie Foxx, and Cameron Diaz. The movie is about Annie, a foster kid, and William Stacks, a billionaire who’s running for mayor. The movie follows what happens when a street-smart Annie and a privileged Stacks live together.

  1. Chicago

Chicago came out in 2002 and tells the tale of two 1920s club performers who commit murder and go to prison. The two women, Roxie and Velma, contend for the help of Billy Flynn, the best lawyer in Chicago. In the process of getting to court to become acquitted, the two are turned into celebrities by the media and the movie shows what happens to both of them inside and outside the jail alongside the effect of the media frenzy on both the two criminals and everyone around them. The movie stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, and Richard Gere.

  1. Grease

Grease is one of the most well-known musicals of all time, but it still deserves a place on this list. It’s about good-girl Sandy and bad-boy Danny and their respective friends. Sandy and Danny have a summer fling, but when school starts, their romance might not survive the divisions between their wildly opposite cliques. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John play the lead characters, and the movie includes such famous songs as “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’,” and “We Go Together.”

  1. Hairspray

The movie Hairspray came out in 2007 and is a film about Tracy Turnblad, a passionate dancer who wins the chance to star on her favorite dance show. While there, she decides the segregation apparent on the show isn’t fair, and, along with the people around her, decides to work towards integrating the show, without losing the fun and music of the movie.

  1. Into the Woods

Into the Woods came out recently, and it has a well-known cast. When a baker and his wife are cursed by a witch, the must go into the woods to collect four items so they may have a child. On their quest, they meet Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Jack. Everyone is on their own quest in the dangerous woods, but somehow they keep meeting each other on their way to get what they can’t have.

  1. Les Misérables

This movie is a heartbreaking look at the time before and during the French Revolution when most of France’s population lived in poverty. Prisoner Jean Valjean is freed by Javert and immediately breaks parole. Jean Valjean lives his life as mayor for years, but Javert swears to hunt him down. After eight years, Valjean becomes the guardian of a girl named Cosette, and the rest of the play follows her romance with Marius Pontmercy and the boys of the barricade, who stage a revolt against the French government.

  1. Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! centers around a mother and daughter duo in the Greek islands. The mother, Donna, owns a hotel, and the daughter, Sophie, is getting ready for her wedding day. Donna is having fun with her two friends getting ready for the wedding, but Sophie has secretly invited three men, one of whom is her father, even though no one, including Donna, knows which one it is. The movie follows what happened when all these people are brought together on one island.

  1. The Phantom of the Opera

In The Phantom of the Opera, the disfigured Phantom hides out under an old Parisian opera house and plans to get closer to singer Christine Daae. He forces people to give her starring roles, but she falls in love with another man. The Phantom tries to keep her by his side, while the other man tries to rescue her from the Phantom. This love triangle is the basis of this 2004 movie based on the classic stage musical.

  1. Rent

Rent is not as cheerful a musical, but it is profound nonetheless. It is based on set at the beginning of the 1990s and follows a group of New Yorkers who must deal with love, loss, careers, and the AIDS epidemic. The movie takes place over a year, and we see the various struggles the characters face.

  1. The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music is a classic musical which tells about the real-life Austrian Von Trapp family. The story is about Maria, a rebellious nun, who is sent to act as a governess for the seven Von Trapp children. She brings love and music into the household, and especially the children’s widower father. Complications, including the impending control of Austria by Germany, arise in this touching story.

  1. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

This isn’t your typical musical. Sweeney Todd centers around barber who was wrongfully sent away from London for 15 years for a crime he didn’t commit. When he comes back, he vows to kill the judge who sentenced him. To do this, he begins to slit people’s throats when they come to him for a shave. The pie-store owner below him, Mrs. Lovett, acts as an accomplice, using the bodies in her pie shop, and the movie has an all-star cast.

 

Photo Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrU6pX0oeZo