Tick Tick BOOM! & 9 Other Movies Framed Like A Stage Play
Tick, Tick… BOOM! & 9 Other Movies Framed Like A Stage Play
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Whether the filmmakers mean to or not, there are several films that truly define the term “theatrical.”
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Movies based on plays are nothing new, some being as recent as movies like Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, but only a certain selection have truly captured the same amount of theatricality in their presentation. While there are a few classic films like those inspired by Shakespeare’s works, it takes a special breed to recreate a true theatre experience.
It’s difficult but certainly not impossible to create a film that feels like a stage play. Sometimes, it even happens unintentionally with creative cinematography and literal staging. But whether the filmmakers mean to or not, there are several movies that truly define the term “theatrical.”
10 The Hateful 8
While Quentin Tarantino’s nail-biting western isn’t a play, it very well could and should be. Not including the opening scene on the stagecoach, the entirety of the film could be staged as a murder mystery in the vein of Agatha Christie’s work. It’s very easy to compare The Hateful Eight to a play like The Mousetrap and And Then There Were None.
Both the film and Christie’s plays take place in an isolated location, such as the Monkwell Manor or Minnie’s Haberdashery, and involve a group of suspects with a murderer in their midst getting picked off one by one. If given the right treatment, a real stage adaptation of this brutal affair would sell out in no time.
9 Lorenzo
This Disney short film is more like a ballet (or in this case, a tango) that tells a story through dance. Lorenzo weaves a darkly comedic story of a spoiled fat cat who has his tail put under an evil dancing curse. Forced to tango and merengue with a possessed piece of his body, Lorenzo has to move and mambo against his will, until he’s forced to take matters into his own paws.
The short is very funny, but it also takes an exceptionally dark turn for a Disney project toward the end. Without going into spoilers, it’s quite shocking to see what a desperate cat is capable of. Not only is the short framed like a stage act in its angles and choice of music, but it even ends with the cast taking a bow as the curtain closes.
8 Birdman
The theme of the theatre never truly leaves Birdman in both terms of location and presentation. Former superhero actor, Riggan Thompson, tries to go legit on Broadway, the entirety of his artistic struggle and his interior monologues with his superhero alter-ego are presented in the tone and delivery of a dramatic reading.
Not only that but the film is shot in one continuous take, showing the ins and outs of a theatrical production while Riggan deals with his internal criticisms, represented by Birdman. It’s not just a dramedy, it’s a character study of fame and reputation.
7 Fantasia
It might seem strange, but there is a reason Walt Disney himself dubbed Fantasia “the concert feature.” The film, like a stage production such as an opera, a symphony, or other classical performance, begins with the assembly of the orchestra before the overture. Everything that follows is essentially an act in the production.
Along with narration from Deems Taylor, Mickey Mouse himself even breaks out of character to congratulate Maestro Stokowski. The show even has an intermission between halves of the production. Needless to say, Walt knew exactly what he was doing.
6 Moulin Rouge
The film is both Oscar-nominated and cult-film-status worthy, but it could be argued that modern musical films like Sweeney Todd and even La La Land take some level of inspiration from Moulin Rouge. In a way, Baz Luhrman’s beloved jukebox musical brought back the Broadway-esque archetype fans know and love today.
While it does take some inspiration from other mediums like silent movies and circus acts, there’s no denying that the stage musical motif is the star of the show. The fantasy sequences often resemble Broadway sets, the score, acting, and presentation are all big, grand, and over the top, and it all comes together in magical harmony as a true theatrical production should. It’s no wonder that it eventually went full circle and earned a Broadway adaptation.
5 Cabaret
It should come as no surprise that a film literally called Cabaret would take more than a few cues from cabarets and burlesque acts. Based on the musical of the same name and choreographed by the legendary Bob Fosse, the movie Cabaret holds up well and goes to great lengths to capture the elements of a seedy cabaret in the late 1930s. However, this only happens when the perspective shifts to inside the Kit Kat Klub.
That being said, having the film open with the introductory song by the ghoulish Emcee, sprinkling in a few stage acts, and closing with the drawing of a curtain does sell the stage play effect.
4 The Pirates Of Penzance
Based on the Gilbert and Sullivan opera of the same name, the film adaptation of Pirates of Penzance is one of those movies that knows it’s a movie, only it feels more like an opera trying to be a movie. While the cinematography and camera work are certainly movie-quality, the sets, performances, and acting all feel like something pulled straight from a staged version of the musical.
It’s corny, it’s over-the-top, but it’s all so self-aware that it makes for peak comedy. With performances from the likes of Kevin Kline and Angela Landsbury, one shouldn’t expect anything less than theatrical.
3 Jesus Christ Superstar
Both movie adaptations of the Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera deserve a mention, but both offer entirely different flavors to the table. The ’70s original Jesus Christ Superstar literally opens with a group of hippies in the Holy Land preparing to put on a passion play, but the 2000 remake feels more like a filmed staging of the musical.
But no matter which version a viewer decides to pick up, there’s no denying that the directors recognized that it was a musical first and a movie second. Both versions present different sides to the stage production, the original relying on the counterculture movement and the remake trying to be more like a musical-theatre experience with its staging, songs, and dance. Both are separate but equal parties who understood the assignment.
2 Tick, Tick… Boom!
One of the most recent entries into the musical-movie genre is Netflix’s Tick, Tick… Boom!, and it serves as an ingenious hybrid of both stage and screen. The film jumps back and forth between the life of composer Johnathan Larson and the delivery of his monologue in front of a crowd at the New York Theatre Workshop.
By doing this the film not only delivers on a solid adaptation of the stage production but a brilliant blending of the mediums. Larson’s life, work, struggles, and awesome songs are all well-represented visually and musically, but without sacrificing the storytelling element found in the stage medium.
1 Chicago
Of all the musicals to receive a film adaptation, Chicago had to be one of the most difficult to adapt. However, Rob Marshall took the original stage production into account when creating his Oscar-winning adaptation. Like the previously mentioned musical, Chicago blends its cinematic elements with its theatrical ones to create the best of both worlds.
On one side of the coin, the film’s dramatic and dialogue-heavy moments are treated as a normal movie, but it becomes a broadway-styled sensation when Chicago’s songs and musical numbers come out to play. Accompanied by a jazz band and an applauding audience, the film is a shining example of what a musical movie can be like.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/tick-tick-boom-similar-movies-told-stage-play/
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