From Mrs. Doubtfire to Fight Club: Six Movies That Should (And Shouldn't!) Be Musicals

Love screen to stage adaptations? You're in luck: 20th Century Fox is the latest movie studio to get in on the Broadway musical game, which means we’ll soon see some of our favorite films hitting the stage with full song-and-dance treatment. Some of the studio’s flicks have already conquered Broadway (like Big, 9 to 5 and Young Frankenstein), while others are long in the works (like Moulin Rouge and the Broadway-bound Ever After). We figured we’d offer up our suggestions for some 20th Century Fox movies that should definitely hit the Broadway stage—and some that absolutely shouldn’t.

Mrs. Doubtfire
The Robin Williams-starrer sure seems like a natural fit for the stage, with a juicy comic role for a leading actor (as a divorced man who impersonates an elderly housekeeper to spend time with his children) and dozens of opportunities for wacky onstage mix-ups. Plus, Harvey Fierstein!
Must Cast: Rob McClure as Daniel Hillard
Must Sing: “The Whole Time?!”

The Devil Wears Prada
Fashion! Journalism! Bitches! All the ingredients are here for a chic stage adaptation of the smash hit film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, in which evil takes a human form as a tyrannical magazine editrix. Paging William Ivey Long!
Must Cast: Patti LuPone as Miranda Priestly 
Must Sing: “No No, That Wasn’t a Question”

My Cousin Vinny
Broadway loves its law dramas, but the courtroom hasn’t seen ineptitude on the level of this 1992 comedy about an inexperienced New Yawk lawyer who defends his two cousins when they’re accused of murder in the rural South. Can we enlist the Jersey Boys for elocution lessons? 
Must Cast: Lesli Margherita as Mona Lisa Vito for the win!
Must Sing: “Imagine You're a Deer”

Working Girl
This corporate tale of employee-boss vengeance put Melanie Griffith on the A-list (well, a list) and featured Sigourney Weaver as a hilariously douchey executive. Round up some of Broadway’s fiercest sopranos, tease their hair up like it's the '80s and give this Girl the greenlight!
Must Cast: Megan Hilty as Tess McGill
Must Sing: "Dim Sum, Tess (I Like It, Contribution-Wise)"

Waiting to Exhale
Hold your breath for a musical version of this cult favorite about the lives and loves of a group of African-American women. With Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett leading the film’s cast, there’s a ton of potential for dazzling vocals and plenty of soul to go around.
Must Cast: Audra McDonald as Bernadine Harris
Must Sing: "Get Your Sh*t and Get Out!" 

Never Been Kissed
This bawdy 1999 film about a romance-less reporter who goes back to high school (Drew Barrymore) is a fantastic musical just waiting to happen. Equal parts loser love story and high school comedy, we’re counting on this to be our favorite show of the 2019-2020 Broadway season.
Must Cast: Lindsay Mendez as Josie Geller
Must Sing: “I’m Not Josie Grossie Anymore”

And as for the movies that shouldn't take the stage...

Cast Away
Unless Alan Cumming performs this as a one-man installation piece at MoMA, we’ll leave this on the island.

Dude, Where’s My Car?
That’s exactly what you’ll be asking yourself when you leave during intermission.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
The track record for vampire musicals on Broadway? Not bloody good.

From Justin to Kelly
Completely empty theater, from orchestra to mezzanine.

Fight Club
The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not make a musical of Fight Club.

We Bought a Zoo
No, we didn’t.