Mamma Mia, Sweeney Todd? Which Is The Best Musical Movie?
Disney is heading in a new direction with its Christmas film offering this year by producing its first theatrical adaptation of a Broadway musical, Into the Woods. Directed by Rob Marshall, and based on Stephen Sondheim’s Tony award winning show of the same name, the film is set in an alternate world of various Brothers Grimm fairy stories.
Into the Woods is Disney's first Broadway adaptation
This modern twist centres around the original tale of a baker and his wife who have been cursed by a witch and must enter into the woods to break the spell so they can start their much-longed for family.
Further well-known classics intertwine with the desperate baker and his wife and they interact with other storybook characters while on their travels including Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel.
The production has attracted an all-star cast including James Corden, Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp and is due for release on 25 December.
Of course, while it’s Disney’s first Broadway adaptation, there are many other musical films that have made the move from stage to screen very successfully.
We look at some of the best.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Another adventure which sees Stephen Sondheim at the helm of music and lyrics, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was taken to the movies by Tim Burton in 2007.
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Johnny Depp took the lead as the Demon Barber who returns to London after penal transportation on trumped-up charges. Upon his return he realises his life is no longer the same and decides to open up a barbers on the upper floor of Mrs Lovatt’s meat pie shop.
But their venture doesn’t stop at haircuts and humble pies and the two team up on a mass-murdering spree with bloody results.
Cabaret
Currently in its third Broadway revival with Michelle Williams cabaret-ing as Sally Bowles until November and Emma Stone in talks to replace her, Cabaret has been a hit in New York and London on numerous occasions since its original production in 1966.
It was made into a film in 1972 starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Joel Grey in which it stayed true to its seedy Kit Kat Club roots, revolving around cabaret performer, Sally Bowles.
The film was an outstanding success with Rotten Tomatoes praising it for "great performances and evocative musical numbers [that] help Cabaret secure its status as a stylish socially conscious classic".
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Next page: Mamma Mia, Chicago
Mamma Mia!
For anyone who loves ABBA, Mamma Mia! the musical is a feast of Swedish song perfection.
The title takes its name from the band’s 1975 chart topper of the same name and began production in 1999, grossing over $2billion worldwide ever since.
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Centred around a young bride desperate to find out who her father is before her wedding day, this same plot transferred to the screen in 2008 with Meryl Streep as the singing single mother, Donna Sheridan, and Amanda Seyfried playing her daughter.
Critics admitted to secretly enjoying the fun film even though film expert, Mark Kermode, said it was: "the closest you get to see A-List actors doing karaoke".
Chicago
Delving into the criminal underworld, Chicago the musical was based on a 1926 play of the same name by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins about actual criminals and the crimes she reported on.
The original Broadway production opened in 1975 was adapted for the screen in 2002 with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger taking on the central roles of the two murderesses come showgirls, Velma and Roxie.
Directed by Rob Marshall, who is currently working on Into the Woods, the film won six Academy Awards and was the first musical to win Best Picture since Oliver! in 1969.