Film is in the artistic evolution of the theater, and many stage plays have found their way from the playhouse to the picture house. Many iconic stage shows have been adapted into feature films, from the works of William Shakespeare to recent playwright David Mamet; the translation of stage show to a movie is a tradition that goes back more than a century. Many of these iconic plays became iconic movies, as films like A Streetcar Named Desire, Les Misérables, and 12 Angry Men were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and others like You Can’t Take It With You, West Side Story, and Chicago all won the Best Picture Oscar.
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While there are some stage shows like Hades Town and Hamilton that have yet to be adapted to the big screen (beyond just filming the stage show), there are many iconic plays that have been adapted in some form or another but are due for a reinvention, ones that need to be revisited on the big screen to showcase to an entirely new generation. The 2007 Russian film 12 (which was a reimagining of 12 Angry Men) or Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story shows there are still fresh ways to reimagine and adapt these iconic shows.
Movies based on plays have this benefit baked into their creative DNA, as the stage shows themselves are meant to run for years cycling out different performers, and are often revived to showcase a new angle for the story. These are stories that are meant to be reimagined, so a film remake is a natural step for these stories. These are five classic plays that need a big-budget Hollywood remake.
Our Town
United Artists
Written by Thorton Wilder and performed in 1938, Our Town is a drama that tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover’s Corners between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens. Most adaptations of Our Town have been television films or radio broadcasts, with the most notable film adaptation being the 1940 by from Sam Wood. Part of the reason for a lack of a more modern feature film is the very nature of the play being tied to the theater. While a straightforward story, the play itself highlights its nature as a stage show with the use of minimal props, highlighting the theater it is performed in and that the narrator of the play is named the Stage Manager, who often speaks directly to the audience.
Those elements that make it unique to the stage also make for an interesting challenge for adaptation that the right filmmaker could work with by either embracing and making the film resemble a stage show or giving it a bigger budget and playing it as reality while highlighting the elements that make the film unique like editing, music, and shot composition. A film adaptation can highlight how the story stays the same or differs when moving from one medium to another, and would fit in with the great self-referential meta-films of directors like Charlie Kaufman.
How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is 1961 musical by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, and tells the story of J. Pierrepont Finch, a young and ambitious man who, with the help of the real-life book the musical is based on and titled after, rises from window washer to chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company. A film was released in 1967 and the stage show itself has had two successful revivals, one in 1995 with Matthew Broderick in the lead role and another in 2011 to celebrate its 50th anniversary with Daniel Radcliffe as the star.
With the two successful Broadway revivals, a movie makes a certain amount of sense by either bringing back Radcliffe or a new actor in the role of J. Pierrepont Finch. The show’s 1960s setting makes for a chance to have some incredible production and costume design, and the breezy nature of the musical makes it a potential hit for either a spring musical or a late winter awards contender.
Guys and Dolls
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
One of the most famous musicals based on the title alone, Guys and Dolls premiered on Broadway in 1950. A classic Broadway musical, the 1955 film is equally famous for its casting of Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, and Vivian Blane. Set in Depression-era New York, the story centers on high roller Sky Masterson and a small-time gambler Nathan Detroit as they try to lock down a date and a location for a floating craps game while also balancing their romantic entanglements.
Nathan and a nightclub singer Miss Adelaide who he has been engaged to for 14 years and Sky as he begins to fall for Sergeant Sarah Brown, a sister at the Save a Soul Mission who happens to oppose gambling. It is a musical with great costumes, incredible romance, and multiple iconic songs including ‘More I Cannot Wish You’ and ‘Luck Be A Lady’ which makes it tailor-made for a big screen reimagining for a whole new audience.
Plans to remake Guys and Dolls have been in development for years, with at one point Joseph Gordon Levitt and Channing Tatum considered for the lead role. Recently in July 2021 director Bill Condon, who helmed the 2017 musical Beauty and the Beast, was announced to be developing a remake of Guys and Dolls but no recent announcements have been made since. When the film does arrive, however, it has the potential to be a huge hit with critics and audiences.
Arsenic and Old Lace
Warner Bros.
Written by Joseph Kesselring, Arsenic and Old Lace was first performed in 1941 and revolves around the eccentric Mortimer family. Mortimer Brewster is a play critic who discovers that his two aunts Abby and Martha Brewster have been poisoning elderly men and that they are using family member Teddy’s delusion that he is Theodore Rosevelt to get him to dig graves for the dead bodies, as he thinks he is digging the Panam Canal. Meanwhile, Mortimer’s murderous brother Jonathan has escaped prison and has changed his face to resemble actor Boris Karloff (a meta-joke, as Karloff played the role on Broadway) who wants to murder his brother. Mortimer must balance all these aspects of his family while keeping them concealed from the police and his girlfriend Elaine who he wants to marry. The play was adapted into a successful film in 1944 by director Frank Capra and starred Cary Grant as Mortimer.
Even though the play was written over 80 years ago, the basic premise still lands with audiences as a laugh-out-loud screwball comedy with plenty of misunderstandings, physical comedy, and jokes. The dark nature of the story also gives it an added edge that even many modern studio comedies tend to avoid. This stage play is ripe for a modern remake, as it could be as much of a hit with audiences as it was when it originally premiered. The right cast and the right director who can blend the dark and comedic elements together could reintroduce this classic to a whole new generation.
Camelot
Warner Bros. - Seven Arts
With how many versions of the King Arthur legend that have been adapted to film, particularly recently, it feels odd that there has not been a new film version of Camelot. This 1960 musical with Alan Jay Lerner crafting the book and lyrics with Frederick Loewe on music is an adaptation of the King Arthur legend, specifically the 1958 novel The Once and Future King. It was previously adapted in 1967 and was a box office hit.
The reasons for the play not seeing a comeback could be simple: King Arthur films have struggled at the box office for years. The play is also now so closely tied in with the Kennedy Administration, which was dubbed ‘The New Camelot’ by the press due to it being a favorite of First Lady Jackie Kennedy, who compared her husband John F. Kennedy to Arthur in the play. However, despite the close association with one particular period, the time feels right for a new film version of Camelot. Unlike other tellings of the King Arthur myth, Camelot’s focus on Arthur’s reign as king and his relationship with Guinevere, and her romantic affair with Lancelot seems like a story that would work very well today. Update the aesthetics of the play in a film but keeping the bombastic music makes for an exciting contrast and one that will catch many people’s attention.
The Man Who Came To Dinner
The Man Who Came To Dinner is one of those plays that feels like it is begging for a big screen remake. Written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart in 1939, The Man Who Came To Dinner is set in 1930 shortly before Christmas, and focuses on the famously outlandish and also incredibly demanding New York City radio wit Sheridan Whiteside. Sheridan slips on a patch of ice outside the local Stanley’s home, who he was set to have dinner with. Injuring his hip, Whiteside must stay at the house for a month, inserting himself into the family’s life while also making incredible demands of his assistant Maggie as he begins to fear he may lose her to a local reporter.
There are many elements that make The Man Who Came To Dinner perfect for a modern film adaptation. One is simply the large nature of the cast, which is the perfect opportunity to make a big all-star spectacle akin to the films of the Hollywood Golden Age. The other is just how richly defined all the characters are, with all having interesting lives that go beyond the story that could be expanded upon for a film. The play is a great example of how there are no small parts because each part offers a performer incredible room to showcase their unique talents.
Another element is more timely. After the COVID-19 pandemic, many audiences can relate to and sympathize with the sensation of being stuck in place, and if the film can tap into that shared experience then it could have serious longevity. An all-star cast and a perfect release date set around the holidays to match the film’s Christmas setting could also position The Man Who Came To Dinner as a major awards contender and one every studio should be considering.
