Those Holiday Movie Musicals
When the film of Rent, which has taken just three months to move from theatrical exhibition to DVD, opened at Thanksgiving, quite a few of the negative reviews blamed the piece itself rather than Chris Columbus' film version, accusing Jonathan Larson's musical of being dated or of sentimentalizing an era. But while it's true that some of the concerns and issues of Rent were more current when the show opened a decade ago and that Rent is now, to an extent, a period piece, Larson's show remains a vivid and moving snapshot of a time the film is set in 1989-'90 and place the East Village.
As seen on the recently-released DVD, the Rent film is a respectable but somewhat uninspired screen transfer of material that was difficult to bring to the screen. First of all, Rent doesn't benefit from being performed on "real" settings. The stage production employed an abstract unit design which barely began to suggest locations. In the film, the heightened nature of the composition can seem at odds with the realistic visuals.
When the musical Chess moved from London to New York, a show that had been entirely sung in the West End acquired a spoken book for Broadway, and the result was not beneficial. Something similar has happened with Rent's move from stage to screen. The stage Rent is an opera, just like its source, Puccini's La Boheme, and is almost entirely sung. With a screenplay by Stephen Chbosky, the film version made some of the music into spoken dialogue some of which still rhymes, and, as was the case with Chess, the dialogue can be an uneasy fit with the score.
The use of dialogue in the Rent film was probably inevitable, as it's unlikely that those involved would have taken a chance on filming a contemporary opera on realistic settings. The film of Dreamgirls will face a similar problem, as much of that show, especially the second half, verged on opera. One assumes that the Dreamgirls film will eliminate much of the show's sung recitative or make it into dialogue.
It's also the case that some of Rent's effectiveness back in 1996 derived from the high-powered performance energy of the cast. While most of those original leads are present in the film, that live energy is inevitably dissipated on screen where, as is customary, the performers are lip-synching to their pre-recorded vocals.
To make way for the dialogue, a good chunk of the stage score was dropped, including the numbers "On the Street," "We're Okay," "Christmas Bells," "Happy New Year," "Halloween," "Contact," and "Goodbye Love," with several other songs "You Okay, Honey?," Voice Mails made into dialogue.
Attempts to open things up the flashback montage during "One Song Glory," "Santa Fe" on the subway, "Take Me or Leave Me" at a bizarre engagement party are only partially successful. It's telling that one of the more effective moments is the film's opening, with the cast singing "Seasons of Love" lined up on stage, as in the Broadway production.
Of course, it's good to have so many members of that very special original company repeating on film. And generally speaking, the fact that they're almost a decade older than they were on stage isn't a problem. Some of them, notably Anthony Rapp, appear remarkably unchanged. Idina Menzel remains a firecracker as Maureen; Jesse L. Martin retains the warmth of his Tom Collins; Wilson Jermaine Heredia is still a memorable Angel; but Adam Pascal has less impact than he had in the theatre. Newcomers Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms are, respectively, a glamorous Mimi and an excellent Joanne.
The film of Rent does ultimately succeed in capturing the emotional essence of Larson's work, and is in the end affecting. Watching it, I was not at all sure that a better film could have been made of the show. And Rent is bound to have a healthy life on DVD, particularly as the two-disc set comes with some valuable extras. First and foremost is a feature-length 110 minutes documentary, "No Day But Today: The Story of Rent," retelling in detail the history of Larson and his show, from New York Theatre Workshop and the author's death on through Broadway and the film. This documentary will be of considerable value to future generations, who will now have easy access to this unique theatrical story.
Also valuable are the five deleted scenes offered, which allow us to see two of the cut songs. It's not surprising that Mark's solo at the cemetery, "Halloween," was omitted. But "Goodbye Love" is a fairly pivotal number that should have remained in the film, but was apparently deemed superfluous or too operatic. There's a Roger-Benny scene that makes the latter a more sympathetic figure. And there's an alternate ending, which has the cast returning to the theatre stage as in the film's opening. I'd say the ending ultimately used in the film was a better choice.
Then there's the full-length audio-commentary track featuring a conversation between director Columbus and lead actors Rapp and Pascal. Comparisons are made between the film and stage production, and Columbus notes that the original cast members' bonding over Larson's death enhanced their chemistry in the film. The actors occasionally question the director's choices, while the director maintains that the film lets you get into the hearts and minds of the characters in a way that the stage production could not. Columbus, who at times seems less familiar with the Broadway production than you might expect, is proud of the film, and believes that those who loved the play will love the film. And such issues as the compromises in order to secure a PG-13 rather than an R rating are also raised.
Premiering in theatres just before Christmas, and due on DVD in May, The Producers barely qualifies as a movie version of a Broadway musical. That's because it often resembles a film of the actual Broadway production. The performances of original Broadway stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick seem at times to be pitched to the balcony, and can appear somewhat grotesque in close-up. This is especially true of the first Lane-Broderick scene, in Bialystock's office.
Some of what played so uproariously on Broadway is less amusing on screen. It would seem that The Producers is the kind of show that benefits from the response of a live audience. On screen, the performers appear to be waiting for the laughs they got live in the theatre. As a result, the material can curdle, and some who never saw the show on Broadway may wonder why it was considered one of the all-time sensations. Then too, the musical when put on screen is forced to withstand comparison with the original Producers film, a problem that the stage version easily surmounted.
Of course, we have had any number of extremely stagey film adaptations of Broadway musicals. Li'l Abner, The Music Man, The Pajama Game, and Damn Yankees come immediately to mind. But all of those, stagebound as they may have been, seemed more filmic than The Producers. That's because original stage director-choreographer Susan Stroman has transferred the property without much imagination.
True, several numbers have been opened up to include additional locations. And it's hard to figure out what else could have been done with a static number like Lane's eleven 'o clock solo, "Betrayed." Still, this seems a fairly lazy film, with one feeling that Stroman was content to simply film the show, without bothering to reconceive it for the screen. At times i.e. the "I Wanna Be a Producer" number, the film appears to be an overt homage to the heyday of Hollywood musicals in the '50s. But that effect is mitigated here by the lack of filmic style.
Of the cast newcomers, Will Ferrell is a natural for Franz, while Uma Thurman seems too innately delicate and classy for Ulla. The production is loaded with gifted performers in roles that range from cameos John Barrowman as the "Springtime for Hitler" singer to walk-ons Karen Ziemba in the "Opening Night" sequence. And given the billing they receive, there can be little doubt that the roles played by Andrea Martin and Debra Monk wound up on the cutting-room floor, as both are only briefly glimpsed.
The elimination of the "King of Broadway" number denies Lane his big-star establishing song, and cutting it also makes the film's opening scenes too reminiscent of the original Producers film. Yet the loss of the number doesn't seem crucial, even if it will be fun to see it when it appears on the DVD. "Where Did We Go Right?" is even less missed, with a line of dialogue taking the place of the song.
Having said all that, I must now admit that I was of two minds about the Producers film. When people talk about the best screen adaptations of Broadway musicals, I often find myself drawn to certain pictures The Music Man, Funny Girl, Bells Are Ringing simply because they preserve celebrated star performances. And it must be said that The Producers fits that category. It's hard to deny that there is considerable value in having the original Broadway performances of Lane, Broderick, Gary Beach and Roger Bart preserved. The first Beach-Bart scene is one of the film's better sequences. And, unlike the film of Rent, in which the original cast members were forced to reconceive their performances for a film which looks nothing like the Broadway show, The Producers gives us those original performances pretty much as they looked at the St. James Theatre.
One suspects that the problems with this Producers film might have mattered less had the film simply been a made-for-television movie rather than a theatrical film. But then the acclaim won by the show probably demanded this full-scale treatment.
And for all of the film's shortcomings, it's possible to enjoy it if one views it simply as a chance to experience or re-experience the show with most of its original leads and much of its original staging intact. The forthcoming DVD will at least offer future viewers the chance to see a reasonable fascimile of the original Broadway production.