FILM
ADAPTATIONS
Hollywood Actors That can Sing!
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Director: Joel Schumacher
Writers: Andrew Lloyd Webber (book & screenplay), Joel Schumacher (screenplay)
& Gaston Leroux (novel)
Cast:
Gerard Butler as The Phantom
Patrick Wilson as Viscount Raoul de Chagny
Simon Callow as Gilles André
Ciarán Hinds as Richard Firmin
Miranda Richardson as Madame Giry
Jennifer Ellison as Meg Giry
Minnie Driver as Carlotta Giudicelli
Victor McGuire as Ubaldo Piangi
Summary:
Deformed since birth, a bitter man known only as the Phantom lives in the sewers underneath the Paris Opera House. He falls in love with the obscure chorus singer Christine, and privately tutors her while terrorizing the rest of the opera house and demanding Christine be given lead roles. Things get worse when Christine meets with her childhood acquaintance, Raoul, and the two fall in love. The Phantom decides to kidnap her and imprison her with him in his lair. Raoul is now the only one who can stop him.
Review:
Les Misérables (2012)
Director: Tom Hooper
Writers: William Nicholson (screenplay), Herbert Kretzmer (screenplay), Alain Boublil (original
stage musical & screenplay), Claude-Michel Schönberg (original stage musical &
screenplay) & Victor Hugo (novel)
Cast:
Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean
Russell Crowe as Javert
Anne Hathaway as Fantine
Amanda Seyfried as Cosette
Eddie Redmayne as Marius Pontmercy
Aaron Tveit as Enjolras
Samantha Barks as Éponine
Isabelle Allen as Young Cosette
Daniel Huttlestone as Gavroche
Helena Bonham Carter as Madame Thénardier
Sacha Baron Cohen as Thénardier
Colm Wilkinson as Bishop Myriel
Summary:
Set in France during the early 19th century, the film tells the story of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who, inspired by a kindly bishop, decides to turn his life around. He eventually becomes mayor of a local town and owner of its factory. He is always alert to the risk of being captured again by police inspector Javert, who is ruthless in hunting down law-breakers, believing they cannot change for the better. One of Valjean's factory workers, Fantine, blames him for her being cast into a life of prostitution. When she dies, he feels responsible and agrees to take care of her daughter Cosette—though he must first escape Javert. Later, when Cosette is grown, they are swept up in the political turmoil in Paris, which culminates in the Paris Uprising of 1832.
Review:
Into the Woods (2014)
Director: Rob Marshall
Writers: James Lapine (screenplay & musical)
Cast:
Meryl Streep as The Witch
Emily Blunt as The Baker's Wife
James Corden as The Baker
Anna Kendrick as Cinderella
Chris Pine as Cinderella's Prince
Tracey Ullman as Jack's Mother
Johnny Depp as The Big Bad Wolf
Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood
Daniel Huttlestone as Jack
MacKenzie Mauzy as Rapunzel
Billy Magnussen as Rapunzel's Prince
Christine Baranski as Cinderella's Stepmother
Tammy Blanchard as Florinda
Lucy Punch as Lucinda
Summary:
Into the Woods is a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a musical format that follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel-all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them.
Review:
Chicago (2002)
Director: Rob Marshall
Writers: Bill Condon (screenplay), Maurine Dallas Watkins (play), Bob Fosse (book)
& Fred Ebb (book)
Cast:
Renée Zellweger as Roxie Hart
Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma Kelly
Richard Gere as Billy Flynn
Queen Latifah as Matron "Mama" Morton
John C. Reilly as Amos Hart
Christine Baranski as Mary Sunshine
Taye Diggs as The Bandleader
Summary:
Murderesses Velma Kelly, a chanteuse and tease who killed her husband and sister after finding them in bed together, and Roxie Hart, who killed her boyfriend when she discovered he wasn't going to make her a star, find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.
Review:
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Director: Bill Condon
Writers: Stephen Chbosky (screenplay), Evan Spiliotopoulos (screenplay) & Linda Woolverton (animation screenplay),
Cast:
Emma Watson as Belle
Dan Stevens as Beast
Luke Evans as Gaston
Ian McKellen as Cogsworth
Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe
Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza
Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette
Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts
Nathan Mack as Chip
Hattie Morahan as Agathe
Disney's animated classic takes on a new form, with a widened mythology and an all-star cast. A young prince, imprisoned in the form of a beast, can be freed only by true love. What may be his only opportunity arrives when he meets Belle, the only human girl to ever visit the castle since it was enchanted.
Review:
West Side Story (1961)
Director: Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise
Writers: Ernest Lehman (screenplay), Jerome Robbins (play) & Arthur Laurents (book)
Cast:
Natalie Wood as Maria Nunez
Richard Beymer as Tony Wyzek
Russ Tamblyn as Riff Lorton
Rita Moreno as Anita Palacio
George Chakiris as Bernardo Nunez
Simon Oakland as Lieutenant Schrank
Ned Glass as Doc
William Bramley as Officer Krupke
led by Riff and the Puerto Rican Sharks, led by Bernardo. Their hatred escalates to a point where neither can coexist with any form of understanding. But when Riff's best friend and former Jet Tony and Bernardo's younger sister Maria meet at a dance, no one can do anything to stop their love. Maria and Tony begin meeting in secret, planning to run away. Then the Sharks and Jets plan a rumble under the highway - whoever wins gains control of the streets. Maria sends Tony to stop it, hoping it can end the violence. It goes terribly wrong, and before the lovers know what's happened, tragedy strikes and doesn't stop until the climactic and heartbreaking ending.
Review:
West Side Story is the award-winning adaptation of the classic romantic tragedy, "Romeo and Juliet". The feuding families become two warring New York City gangs - the white Jets
The Sound of Music (1965)
Director: Robert Wise
Writers: Ernest Lehman (screenplay), Howard Lindsay (stage musical book), Russel Crouse
(stage musical book) & Maria von Trapp (book)
Cast:
Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp
Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp
Charmian Carr as Liesl von Trapp
Nicholas Hammond as Friedrich von Trapp
Heather Menzies as Louisa von Trapp
Duane Chase as Kurt von Trapp
Angela Cartwright as Brigitta von Trapp
Debbie Turner as Marta von Trapp
Kym Karath as Gretl von Trapp
Peggy Wood as the Mother Abbess
Eleanor Parker as Baroness Elsa von Schraeder
Richard Haydn as Max Detweiler
Daniel Truhitte as Rolfe
Based on the memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, the film is about a young Austrian woman studying to become a nun in Salzburg in 1938 who is sent to the villa of a retired naval officer and widower to be governess to his seven children. After bringing and teaching love and music into the lives of the family through kindness and patience, she marries the officer and together with the children they find a way to survive the loss of their homeland through courage and faith.
Review:
Mamma Mia! (2008)
Stellan Skarsgård as Bill Anderson
Dominic Cooper as Sky
Julie Walters as Rosie Mulligan
Christine Baranski as Tanya Chesham-Leigh
Director: Phyllida Lloyd
Writers: Catherine Johnson (screenplay & musical book)
Cast:
Meryl Streep as Donna Sheridan
Amanda Seyfried as Sophie Sheridan
Pierce Brosnan as Sam Carmichael
Colin Firth as Harry Bright
Sophia Sheridan is 20 years old and lives with her mother Donna on an idyllic Greek island.
Hairspray (2007)
Director: Adam Shankman
Writers: Leslie Dixon (screenplay), Mark O'Donnell (musical play) &
Thomas Meehan (musical play)
Cast:
Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Edna Turnblad
John Travolta as Edna Turnblad
Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma Von Tussle
Christopher Walken as Wilbur Turnblad
Amanda Bynes as Penny Lou Pingleton
Queen Latifah as Maybelle "Motormouth" Stubbs
James Marsden as Corny Collins
Brittany Snow as Amber Von Tussle
Zac Efron as Link Larkin
Elijah Kelley as Seaweed J. Stubbs
Allison Janney as Prudence "Prudy" Pingleton
In 1960s Baltimore, dance-loving teen Tracy Turnblad auditions for a spot on "The Corny Collins Show" and wins. She becomes an overnight celebrity, a trendsetter in dance, fun and fashion. Perhaps her new status as a teen sensation is enough to topple Corny's reigning dance queen and bring racial integration to the show.
Review:
Annie (1982)
Director: John Huston
Writers: Carol Sobieski (screenplay), Thomas Meehan (book)
Cast:
Aileen Quinn as Annie
Albert Finney as Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks
Carol Burnett as Miss Agatha Hannigan
Tim Curry as Daniel Francis "Rooster" Hannigan
Bernadette Peters as Lily St. Regis
Ann Reinking as Grace Farrell
Geoffrey Holder as Punjab
Roger Minami as The Asp
Toni Ann Gisondi as Molly
Rosanne Sorrentino as Pepper
Lara Berk as Tessie
April Lerman as Kate
Robin Ignico as Duffy
Lucie Stewart as July
In the depths of the 1930's, Annie is a fiery young orphan girl who must live in a miserable orphanage run by the tyrannical Miss Hannigan. Her seemingly hopeless situation changes dramatically when she is selected to spend a short time at the residence of the wealthy munitions industrialist, Oliver Warbucks. Quickly, she charms the hearts of the household staff and even the seemingly cold-hearted Warbucks cannot help but learn to love this wonderful girl. He decides to help Annie find her long lost parents by offering a reward if they would come to him and prove their identity. However, Miss Hannigan, her evil brother, Rooster, and a female accomplice, plan to impersonate those people to get the reward for themselves which put Annie in great danger.
Review:
Annie (2014)
Director: Will Gluck
Writers: Will Gluck (screenplay), Aline Brosh McKenna (screenplay), Thomas Meehan (stage play book) & Harold Gray (comic strip "Little Orphan Annie")
Cast:
Quvenzhané Wallis as Annie Bennett
Jamie Foxx as William "Will" Stacks
Rose Byrne as Grace Farrell
Cameron Diaz as Miss Colleen Hannigan
Bobby Cannavale as Guy Danlily
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Nash
In this modern remake of the classic Broadway show ANNIE, the character "Annie" is portrayed as this beautiful little 10 - 12 year old girl hopelessly lost within the NYC foster care child program, yet smart, tough and bright enough to survive the fast-paced New York City streets. Forced to stay with her mean foster mom, Miss Hannigan, Annie somehow manages to tough-it-out in Harlem until one day she accidentally and literally runs into the wealthy billionaire and NYC Mayoral candidate, Will Stacks. Saving her from almost being hit by a car (while simultaneously being video taped by an unknown passerby) Stacks and his political team decide to use the life-saving incident to boost his polls for the upcoming NYC election. Taking Annie into his penthouse home, Stacks begins to fall "head-over-heels" for the adorable little Annie. Meanwhile Annie only has one hope and that is for her parents to someday come back and rescue her from the foster care program.
Review:
Rent (2005)
Based on Puccini's 'La Boheme', 'Rent' tells the story of one year in the life of friends living the Bohemian life in modern day East Village, New York City, 1989-1990. Among the group are our narrator, nerdy love-struck filmmaker Mark Cohen; the object of Mark's affection, his former girlfriend, Maureen Johnson; Maureen's Harvard-educated public interest lawyer and lesbian lover Joanne Jefferson; Mark's roommate, HIV-positive musician and former junkie, Roger Davis; Roger's new girlfriend, the HIV-positive drug addicted S&M dancer, Mimi Marquez; their former roommate, HIV-positive computer genius Tom Collins; Collins' HIV-positive drag queen street musician/lover Angel; and Benjamin Coffin III, a former member of the group who married for money and has since become their landlord and the opposite of everything they stand for. Shows how much changes or doesn't change in the 525,600 minutes that make up a year.
Review:
Director: Chris Columbus
Writers: Stephen Chbosky (screenplay) & Jonathan Larson (book)
Cast:
Anthony Rapp as Mark Cohen
Adam Pascal as Roger Davis
Rosario Dawson as Mimi Marquez
Jesse L. Martin as Tom Collins
Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Angel Dumott Schunard
Idina Menzel as Maureen Johnson
Tracie Thoms as Joanne Jefferson
Taye Diggs as Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III
Grease (1978)
Director: Randal Kleiser
Writers: Bronte Woodard (screenplay), Jim Jacobs (original musical) &
Warren Casey (original musical)
Cast:
John Travolta as Danny Zuko
Olivia Newton-John as Sandy Olsson
Stockard Channing as Betty Rizzo
Jeff Conaway as Kenickie
Barry Pearl as Doody
Michael Tucci as Sonny LaTierri
Kelly Ward as Putzie
Didi Conn as Frenchy
Jamie Donnelly as Jan
Dinah Manoff as Marty Maraschino
During a visit to America, Australian Sandy meets Danny Zuko at the beach and falls in love. She is heartbroken when summer ends and she has to return home and their last kiss on the beach is a very emotional one. But fate lends a hand -- her parents decide to stay in America and she finds herself attending the same school as Danny. But Danny at school is different from Danny at the beach. He is the leader of the T-Birds, a black leather-clad gang, and has a reputation to keep up. He can't be seen to fall in love with just one goody two shoes girl. Sandy is upset and seeks solace with some new friends she has made - a girls' club called The Pink Ladies. But her prim and proper virginal ways do not fit in and she soon finds herself almost alone. A change must be made. Does she attempt to get her man by turning him into a jock? Or must she get rid of her "Sandra Dee" image?