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11 Movies That Should Be Musicals

Films that need to shift from screen to stage...

BY Dan Goodswen May 19th 2009 12:12PMFILED UNDER: Features

 

Army of Darkness (1992)

The film: After the events of Evil Dead II, Ash (Bruce Campbell) is transported to medieval England, where he must once again do battle with the deadites.

Why It ought to be a musical: The slapstick and screwball humour will translate well to stage, and - imagine the hordes of deadites battling medieval knights through the medium of dance…

Kind of like Michael Jackson’s Thriller meets the video for Run DMC vs. Jason Nevins' ‘It’s Like That’. A multiple-styled, dance battle to end all dance battles.

Music & lyrics by... Danny Elfman, bringing some of the dark and witty lyrical stylings he used so well on The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Hit songs: 'My Name Is Ash... And This Is My Boomstick', 'Groovy', 'Goodie Little Two Shoes', 'Buckle Up Bonehead', 'Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart' and the roof-raising showtune 'I May Be Bad But I Feel Good'.

Producer’s notes: Bruce Campbell. If you cast him, they will come.

Next: There Will Be Blood

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Comments (10)

1: jollieoldtime says

They totally made Evil Dead a musical off-Broadway.
They basically spent the entire time throwing blood on the audience. It was awesome.

Posted: May 20th 2009 // 8:30PMAlert a moderator

2: mic2803 says

definately 300 the musical starring john barrowman as Leonidas. giant elephants with the same technique as the west-end lion king. music and lyrics by muse perhaps?

Posted: May 20th 2009 // 10:49PMAlert a moderator

3: ebrown2112 says

Kevin Smith's ok, but New Jersey's finest? You're forgetting John Sayles.

Posted: May 22nd 2009 // 9:35AMAlert a moderator

4: Kelisha888 says

Well, at least you mentioned Sondheim - who at least knows how to write a musical. I can't help but thinking Andrew Lloyd Weber should write the music to Blade Runner.

Posted: May 22nd 2009 // 12:11PMAlert a moderator

5: jws1272 says

There's a production of Evil Dead:The Musical playing here in Cleveland, Ohio, USA right now. I've got tix for May 29! Not in the Splatter Zone (yes, they do spray blood at the audience), but tix nonetheless. Can't wait to see it. I've seen some footage from the Toronto production, & they DO reference the Boomstick speech from AOD.

Posted: May 22nd 2009 // 8:01PMAlert a moderator

6: Phoenixtorn says

I saw the Evil Dead musical twice when it was here in Toronto (and saw the cast perform some of the songs at a convention). It was great and so much fun! An army of Darkness Sequel would be pretty spectacular. lol

Posted: May 22nd 2009 // 10:28PMAlert a moderator

7: dgoodswen says

It has become an unrelenting priority to get tix to the Evil Dead musical... in the splatter zone!

Posted: May 23rd 2009 // 1:40AMAlert a moderator

8: MovieDearest says

I'm pretty sure I just read recently that "Heathers" is being turned into a musical ... so one down, 10 more to go!

And don't forget the odd rumor that "Fight Club" may be turned into a musical, as well as "Wet Hot American Summer".

Posted: May 23rd 2009 // 7:07AMAlert a moderator

9: shovel says

Heathers! the Musical. awesome. but it can't happen without "cornnuts," either a rock ballad or dancy number for heather's last words. ooh. perhaps the old jingle "bust a nut" can be used.

Posted: May 23rd 2009 // 11:12PMAlert a moderator

10: magic8387 says

"The Jerk". It's already got a couple of musical pieces in it, and room for so many more. Open with his black family singing on the porch, the big dance number where he finds his rythym, along with "I'm somebody now!", "He hates these cans", "I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit", A musical pitch of the Opti-grab, "I AM A n****r!" and of course "All I need is..."

It'd be perfect.

Posted: May 24th 2009 // 11:37PMAlert a moderator

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