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You are here: Home / Music / Open Thread: Live TV Musicals I’d Pay to See

Open Thread: Live TV Musicals I’d Pay to See

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For all the internet hatred rained down upon Carrie Underwood, the live-broadcast Sound of Music was a ratings hit, so of course NBC plans to do more live musicals. The busy minds at NYMag‘s Vulture blog have a list of suggestions, including at least one that would definitely attract a non-Walmart-target-demo audience:

The Music Man
Trouble! Trouble right here in that there’s already been a TV adaptation of this back in 2003 — but it was pretty crummy, and no one remembers it. The solution is to get Neil Patrick Harris to grab his 76 trombones, and for Janelle Monae to be Marian the librarian.

I would absolutely pay money to hear those two duet “Goodnight, My Someone“…

Reader Interactions

58Comments

  2. 2.

    Suzanne

    I have been AWOL for the last couple of weeks due to just so much life insanity, including my next exam one week from today, but I am reading as much as I can and I oddly miss y’all.

  5. 5.

    Yatsuno

    @Suzanne: :: hugz ::

    And sorry for the slight tease on Book of Faces. I know this hasn’t been a fun time of year for you.

    On topic: Miss Saigon. There is no way that could NOT be a hot mess.

  6. 6.

    Suzanne

    @Yatsuno: Oh, good LORD, no worries. I’m not sensitive (or caring or loving or compassionate). ;)

    Mr. Suzanne and I leave for our first December trip tomorrow. Exam next week. Then both Spawn birthdays. Then Christmas. Then second trip. I am tired and have that light chest pain that comes from feeling exhausted and stressed for extended periods of time.

  8. 8.

    Yatsuno

    @Suzanne: Miss Saigon takes some delicate handling. Plus imagine the uproar if the lead actress isn’t Asian. It’s also tough for me to hear anyone but Lea Salonga do that role, but I occasionally get snobby like that.

    The Book of Mormon could work, but only on Comedy Central. And only after the current run closes.

  9. 9.

    Suzanne

    @Yatsuno: My child just climbed up on the coffee table, stood there with her arms over her head like an Olympic gymnast, and shit her pants.

    This is my life.

  10. 10.

    maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor

    I’d pay cash money to see Lady Gaga sing “Kind of Woman” in Pippin.

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    “West Side Story,” starring Justin Bieber as Tony and Mylie Cyrus as Maria. Special guest appearance by Beyonce as Anita!

    Also, too, G and I watched the new HBO documentary “Six by Sondheim” and it was just as great as people were saying. “Send In the Clowns” is a song that actually MAKES SENSE when you see the context.

    (The context: a woman re-starts an affair with an old lover, only to have him decide to stay with his wife. So the context is, Well, this certainly turned into a fucking farce.)

  13. 13.

    Suzanne

    I would enjoy seeing Cabaret. And you know what silly musical I have always loved is A Silly Thing Happened on the way to the Forum.

  14. 14.

    gogol's wife

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Somebody has posted the entire 1958 Hallmark Hall of Fame version with Alfred Drake on YouTube. Everyone else just has to bow down. I have a DVD of it now, but I used to go to the Museum of Broadcasting just to watch it over and over. I am not going to stand for their putting Adam Levine in there or some such abomination.

  17. 17.

    gwangung

    Miss Saigon? Too many brown people. And the casting directors will give themselves mental hernias trying to find the requisite cast (and they’d be totally trampled by all the Asian actors stampeding the doors to get a part that, for once, that they don’t have to chuck a casting director upside the head to get them to consider said actor for a part).

  18. 18.

    maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor

    @Yatsuno:

    Plus imagine the uproar if the lead actress isn’t Asian

    What? This part was created for Miley Cyrus!

    /Sid Kibbitz

  27. 27.

    Suzanne

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): There’s no closing song or anything. Just….BANG, and CURTAINS.

    So I am planning to wear a vintage pelt of stone martens to this party on Friday night. They are kinda grossing me out. Yet they are so awesome. I must drink heavily.

  28. 28.

    Karen in GA

    @Comrade Scrutinizer: That was on a few years ago with Hugh Jackman.

    Rocky Horror with Michael Sheen as Frank N. Furter. Because I’m pretty sure that deep down, he’s the second coming of Tim Curry.

    (How scary is it that I almost said Tim Conway? Although the cast of The Carol Burnett Show doing Rocky Horror would be a beautiful, beautiful thing.)

  30. 30.

    Yatsuno

    @Karen in GA: I’m still loving the Avenue Q idea. It’ll never happen, at least not in the US. But I missed the tour when it came out this way and I haven’t forgiven myself for it.

  33. 33.

    Suffern ACE

    Hmmmm. In this day and age of globalism and diversity, I was thinking of something more sophisticated in a foreign setting. Maybe “Oh, Calcutta?” I don’t think it’s been on network TV before.

  34. 34.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suffern ACE: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade

  38. 38.

    Suffern ACE

    @gwangung: the gentleman’s guide to love and murder is getting good reviews. Kinky Boots does participate in the ticket lottery and during the weeknights you might stand a chance of winning $37 tickets. I, of course, never win.

  39. 39.

    gwangung

    @Suffern ACE: Like those choices!

    Im a little constrained. A friend is in a new musical from the Mouse, and another is debuting a musical, so I have to choose wisely….

  40. 40.

    Suffern ACE

    @gwangung: Matilda also does the lottery. I did win that one. I loved Mrs. Trunchbull. The other lottery participants right now are kind of so so.

  41. 41.

    Radio One

    As long as we’re mostly talking about insane options here, how about Godspell? I’ve never seen a staged production of the show live, but the 70’s movie is definitely one of the weirdest movies I’ve ever seen.

  43. 43.

    ? Martin

    Just got back from concert #4. Really, super impressed by how good these students are. Pleased to see that they are able to train a few students on the harp. Just so impressed at how good the music program is, particularly with virtually no funding from the school district.

  45. 45.

    wasabi gasp

    I’m not much into musicals unless they have transvestites in them. That’s one of those things I’ve noticed about myself, anyway, so with that limited scope and the mention of Neil Patrick Harris up top, I put Hedwig and Neil together. Then I surprise upon chopper’s comment and think, hey, I’m going to Broadway. Sounds like a good time.

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    @wasabi grasp

    So Oliver! is out of consideration, then.

    Although Rosie O’Donnell as Bill Sykes and Julian Clary as Nancy would be a memorable night off-off-off-Broadway.

  48. 48.

    YellowJournalism

    I want them to do “Wicked” because it is probably the only way I will ever get to see it. My luck, they cast Kristen Stewart in the lead with whatever reject from Idol or The Voice as Glinda.

    I think “West Side Story” would actually work well for TV if given the right cast and director. I would love to see “Once Upon a Mattress” done with Carol Burnett in some role.

  52. 52.

    NotMax

    Come to think of it, it has been like 35 years since the last made for TV production of Amahl and the Night Visitors.

    The story has always left me cold, but the music remains fetching.

    Also too, would want to see Neil Patrick in a Gilbert & Sullivan musical.

  54. 54.

    maurinsky

    I’d love to see Ruthless! The Musical, but I don’t know who’d they cast. There is a transvestite in the show, though, so wasabi gasp, you might enjoy it. It’s a rewarding show for lovers of musical theater and campy movies.

  55. 55.

    gogol's wife

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Sorry I missed this last night, but in case you come back: I did the props for that charming little musical at a certain liberal-arts college in the frozen wastes. It was a blast — great show!

  56. 56.

    John PM

    The Pajama Game with Hugh Jackman, although since the musical shows unions in a good light, it might be a non-starter.

    BTW, I was a “Steam Heat” dancer in my high school production, which is funny to anyone who has seen me dance.

  57. 57.

    Pluky

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): Especially as Mr. Sondheim began to (but didn’t finish) explain the reference: should an accident happen during a circus performance, the call goes out to “send in the clowns” to distract the audience from the unexpected tragedy.

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