Wednesday, November 11, 2020
The Prom: the challenges of adapting the stage to the screen
theconversation.com: There is growing excitement for the star-studded release of the Netflix film adaptation of the award-winning musical, The Prom. Inspired by a true story, the musical comedy follows a group of out-of-work Broadway actors who fight for lesbian teenager Emma Nolan to bring her closeted girlfriend Alyssa Greene to her high school prom.
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Here we go again. Another live musical turned into a film. We love it and hate it because these two mediums are so different and I think people don’t acknowledge how very different. However, the stacked cast of this soon-to-be-released Netflix film is enough to make me excited. What feels the most prevalent about this impending Netflix hit is that the plot itself is about people out-of-work on Broadway, and that is something that tons of people are currently experiencing. The content feels relatable in a way it hasn’t before. This article mentions that the film version is condensing the musical and that worries me… but as long as the orchestration is not modified alongside the condensing of the work I think this show can remain true to its original roots. I’m nervous to see people who don’t really sing on Broadway sing this piece. Will I still be watching it? You bet.
Like Ella and this article brought up, films and staged performances are so different from each other so it is pretty hard to have successful screed adaptations of stage shows. I do think it depends on the show that is being adapted. Some just work better as films that others do and I don’t know but it seems to be true. I don’t really know that much about The Prom, but I feel like reading past articles I haven’t heard the best things about it, so I am not too excited about this movie, but I definitely will watch it because I miss theatre and I am curious about it. Also, the cast is incredible so in theory, it should be good. It is always interesting to me how film versions of shows change the show because sometimes the changes they make make absolutely no sense to me, but they must make sense to someone because they did it. But sometimes I love the songs that are added in movie versions of shows and sometimes I hate them so I’m just interested to see how this goes.
Adapting the stage for the screen is very tricky. It's not just a matter of simply filming the onstage production. That can never be successful. The same with adapting the screen for the stage. Theatre and film are two different experiences. For starters, in the theater, things aren't necessarily made to be looked at from close up. That goes across all departments. The whole experience is done in such a way where you can sit in the audience and have your eyes guided by design elements and through direction to follow along and be engulfed in the storytelling onstage. There's lots to look at- even outside of the main action. It's okay if a song or dialogue is long because you have a full stage worth of entertainment. To a certain extent, you can choose your visual experience. On the other hand, production for the screen is in complete control of what your experience is like so they have to be very mindful of what they want to convey and trained in how to do so. They manipulate the viewer. They control what you see and how you see it. Composition, frames and camera angles are important here. They also have to be mindful of things like transitions and how long one shot or scene is because they can easily lose the viewer, as they can break away to look elsewhere like in theatre. In a certain sense, they are a broader set of eyes for the view so lots of thought needs to go into what's being seen and how it's being seen. Of course there's lots more to it, but I'm sure it's quite the process.
I, like many people, have mixed opinions when it comes to the movie adaptions of broadway musicals. Personally I love being able to turn on my favorite musical whenever I want and jam along to some of my favorite show tunes. And there are a few adaptations that I love for their cinematography as well. However I do think that on the stage is still the best way to watch any and all of the theatrical productions that were made into movies. The lip syncing aspect of the movies that the article mentioned does frequently grind my gears if not done well enough, but that doesn't stop me from watching it. I am very much looking forward to both the movie version of The Prom and In The Heights. I have not seen The Prom on stage so I am looking forward to seeing it at all because of the wonderful things that I have heard. And I am looking forward to In The Heights because it is one of my favorite musicals. And if they have a new song or a couple edits I will try to breath though that and enjoy the movie/musical for what it is.
I don’t know much about The Prom but I love queer storytelling and will probably watch this movie. There are some things that this article that I completely agree with. The focus on A-list stars is often a tactic of Hollywood but is starting to frustrate viewers. Emma Watson’s role in the Beauty and the Beast and Emma Stone’s role in La La Land is confusing, at best, to theater-loving audience members who probably know people who could sing better than either of these two actors. The Rent Live performance flopped because they had to use a prerecorded take after an actor injured himself. This choice makes no sense to anyone who works in theater who immediately asked, “here is the understudy? Where is the standby?” Interestingly though, Broadway is not immune to the idea of a big name. Look at how much Sutton Foster’s and Hugh Jackman’s name are being used to promote The Music Man. Look at the rotating carousel of famous people who did a week of Waitress. The biggest names are not always the best roles, but that is a lesson everyone needs to learn, and please stop casting James Corden in movie musicals.
First of all, I think someone needs to have a serious conversation with Ryan Murphy about taking an extended break. I genuinely think this man needs a year or two of self reflection before he can be allowed to work again. That being said, I’m interested to see what he will do with The Prom. My favorite movie musicals are the ones that most closely resemble their stage counterparts, in staging, camera work, aesthetics and otherwise. West Side Story, while problematic, is a good example of this. Murphy is known for his pretty dramatic stylistic choices that are a staple of almost all his work. And judging from the trailer, The Prom is no different. I understand the urge to want to do things that could never be done onstage in a film adaptation. But every time I’ve seen this ideology put into practice (like in Cats, or in some of the effects in Into the Woods) it has taken me out of the experience completely. Fancy camera work and CGI almost go against everything that theater is about. And I think that when these techniques are relied on, it is clear in the finished product that the film adaptation lacks most or all of the heart and personality of the original. Anyway, fingers crossed for The Prom, let’s hope Ryan Murphy can lay off the Instagram filters.
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