Wow, what’s up with me covering every single film-to-musical adaptation recently? First it was that Back to the Future number and now one of Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway, which fittingly enough is about a playwright who wants to put on a Broadway play. They already have the thing written, all they need to add are musical notes, preferably in the margins of the script so it appears “musical-y.” Anyone who knows Woody Allen’s musical background is familiar with his prepossession with his clarinet. He’s very “in-tune” with his musical side (hayuk), so he’ll be very involved in creating songs for the production. The musical will likely see the light of day (or neon, more likely) sometime in 2013.
I’m probably one of possibly two diehard Woody Allen fans working on this blog, and I can say that Bullets Over Broadway is one of Woody’s sharpest and most biting films. It actually hurts if you’re at all a creative type. It explores the difference between those who have talent and those who don’t and what it takes to produce something truly meaningful. The plot follows a playwright (John Cusack) who wants to put on a Broadway play of his, but he needs funding to make it happen. His manager sets him up with a financier, who also happens to be a gangster. His trophy wife (Jennifer Tilly) is stricken with a desire to act, yet lacks any and all talent to do so. Being forced to cast her in his play, Cusack must make numerous other compromises along the way, sacrificing his ego for the good of the play.
One can only wonder what a successful production of this will be like, but they’ve got some good inspiration in The Producers, since it has a very similar setup. Hopefully it won’t be devolved into something sillier, since what’s great about Bullets Over Broadway is how it balances that fine line between drama and comedy, and that’s how it should remain, no matter what medium it’s converted to.
[Via IndieWire]
