Let's be clear, Broadway is not out of ideas. Book of Mormon has proved that pretty conclusively. However, once producers realized that they could take a film that everyone has heard of and stuff a few million up its back porch like it was a drug mule, then they could pretty much guarantee at least a return on their investment, or possibly even full-fledged hits like Legally Blonde and Hairspray.
To quote [title of show]...
"Movies make good musicals?""Well... they make musicals."
Adapting a movie for the stage isn't always a bad thing. The Producers and Hairspray were already halfway there in their original formats; no reason not to take them the rest of the way. Ditto with The Wedding Singer.
Just like Hollywood, though, they've now gone through all the workable remake commodities and are really starting to struggle. Some of what is coming up needs very badly to be whacked on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper and given a firm "NO!"
Musicals like...
Based on the Oscar-winning 1990 hit film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost is one of those romantic stories that somehow manage to be both epically Shakespearean in magnitude while also being eye-rollingly anchored in the '80s.
The stage adaptation has already done well in London, and is scheduled to hit America in March 2012. Apparently, some real high-tech effects are used, but trust us, no amount of stage magic is ever going to erase the fact that someone tricked us into watching Demi Moore make out with Whoopi Goldberg.
