Recently, Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz hinted that he may incorporate an aspect from the Wicked movie into the stage show, specifically the new ending to the song "Popular" (though it remains a question if any performer can sustain those high notes eight times a week). But Schwartz's offhand comment to Buzzfeed UK, and the promised new songs for Wicked: Part Two, got those of us at Playbill thinking: What are the other times that movie adaptations of musicals ended up changing future versions of the stage show?
It's actually more common than you think. Whether it's original songs written for the movie that then got added to the stage show, or character changes that became stage canon, here are the biggest times that movie musicals made an impact on the stage shows that inspired them.
The Sound of Music
When adjusted for inflation, the 1965 Sound of Music film starring Julie Andrews is the highest-grossing Broadway musical adaptation of all time (approximately $1.3 billion in today's figures). And for good reason—it's a fantastic movie. And because it's so beloved, it changed the already Best Musical Tony–winning Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical that it was based on in more ways than one. The film is markedly different from the stage musical, with two new songs added ("I Have Confidence" and "Something Good") and the character of the Baroness Elsa being drastically reduced (her two songs from the stage score are cut in the film). Subsequent productions of the show staged after the film released have often incorporated those two songs written for the film. The latter, "Something Good," replaces the Captain and Maria's original love duet, "An Ordinary Couple," as it did in the movie.
Plus, the order of the songs in the stage show are sometimes moved around to match their placement in the film. On stage, "My Favorite Things" is sung by Mother Abbess and Maria when the latter is anxious about becoming the Von Trapp family's new governess, and Maria calms the children during a thunderstorm with "The Lonely Goatherd." On screen, "My Favorite Things" replaced "The Lonely Goatherd" in the storm scene, and "The Lonely Goatherd" was moved to its own new scene later on. Depending on how much of the film's changes are incorporated, each new production of The Sound of Music promises to be a unique experience. For instance, the 1998 Broadway revival incorporated almost all of the film's changes but retained both of the Baroness' songs, while the 2013 live TV version mostly returned to the original stage version, with the exception of swapping "An Ordinary Couple" for "Something Good."
Funny Girl
There's a reason that Funny Girl did not get a Broadway revival until 2022—the 1964 stage musical and its 1968 film adaptation have both become synonymous with Barbra Streisand. (Not for nothing, Jule Styne and Bob Merrill wrote many of the songs for Streisand's unique voice.) Though Streisand reprised her stage performance on screen, the film adaptation of Funny Girl still made a number of changes from the stage show.
Most of those changes were cuts: all the songs sung by the characters of Mrs. Brice and Eddie Ryan, and Streisand's sweeping love ode "The Music That Makes Me Dance." But the movie got some new material, too, including a new ending and some new songs. The show usually ends with a reprise of "Don't Rain on My Parade," which became "My Man" (a song made famous by the real Fanny Brice) for the film. Another Brice standard, "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You (Than Happy With Somebody Else)" was also added, along with a new, original title song. When it came time to revive the show for Broadway in 2022, that title song was added in—though unlike in the film, the song was sung by both the characters of Nick Arnstein and Fanny.
Many fans of Funny Girl on screen might be surprised that the show does not end with "My Man." But when Lea Michele closed out the Funny Girl revival, she did sing "My Man" during the curtain call, hearkening back to both the film and Brice, the woman who inspired it all.
Cabaret
Out of all the movie adaptations of musicals, perhaps the one that deviates the most from its source material (and to the best effect) is the 1972 Cabaret film. Not only were new songs added and songs from the 1966 stage show cut (de rigueur for any film adaptation, as we've already learned), the film cut out entire subplots from the stage show—Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz's doomed romance was replaced with a new (though no less tragic) love story between the much younger German Fritz Wendel and Jewish heiress Natalia Landauer. Plus, the character of Sally Bowles was changed from British to American (to suit leading lady Liza Minnelli), and the point-of-view character Clifford Bradshaw was renamed Brian Roberts.
Of the many changes made for the film, only a few of them trickled down to the stage show. The new songs that Kander and Ebb wrote for the film—"Mein Herr," "Maybe This Time," and "Money, Money"—were incorporated into future productions. Another factoid: The final lyric in "If You Could See Her" that's in the film ("she wouldn't look Jewish at all") is sung as "She isn't a meeskite at all" in the 1966 cast recording. That's because the "Jewish" line so angered live audiences during previews of the stage show that Ebb changed it to the apparently less offensive slur "meeskite" before reinstating the original lyric for the film. Subsequent stage productions have honored Ebb's original intention, too.
The film's biggest impact on the stage show was more tonal. When Cabaret was originally produced in 1966, its authors were limited in how they could depict the story's events and themes, perhaps most notably Cliff (a stand-in for Christopher Isherwood, who wrote the source material) and his bisexuality or homosexuality. Kicked off by the film version, each stage production has gotten closer to its source material, with the current revision going even father with Cliff's sexuality than the movie dared to in 1972.
West Side Story
The 1961 West Side Story film didn't actually change too much from the stage version—no big stage subplots or characters were cut, and no new songs were added. Certain songs were reordered: "Tonight" was placed after "America," "I Feel Pretty" was placed before the rumble (it's usually sung as the Act 2 opener after the climactic events of Act 1), and "Cool" was placed after the rumble.
The biggest change in the West Side Story film was the "America" number, which had numerous lyrical changes. The original 1957 stage version has the character of Anita calling Puerto Rico an "ugly island, island of tropic diseases." Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the 1961 film and is herself from Puerto Rico, objected to those lyrics so much that she threatened to quit the film over it; Stephen Sondheim then changed the lyrics in rehearsals to "Puerto Rico, my heart’s devotion, let it sink back in the ocean.”
But that wasn't the only change. The number was originally conceived for the stage as an argument between Anita and her boyfriend, Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks gang. But then, director-choreographer Jerome Robbins wanted an all-female dance number (since it's mostly the men dancing in the show), so "America" came to be between Anita and another Puerto Rican woman, Rosalia, who otherwise does not have very many lines in the show.
In the film, "America" reverted back to being a duet between Anita and Bernado—with Anita being pro-mainland and Bernado being anti-mainland. This enables Bernardo to actually have a singing part (which he doesn't have in the stage show) and lets the Puerto Rican characters interact with each other. This change to "America" has sporadically been used—the 2009 Broadway revival had the all-female "America" but the 2020 revival used the mixed-gender version (along with the film dialogue that led up to that scene). The 2022 film version is also sung by the Shark boys and girls, though the lyrics were revised further, with Anita beginning the song with, "Puerto Rico, you lovely island, island of tropical breezes" before voicing her greater love for her new home. So for future productions of West Side Story, they now have at least three different versions of "America" to choose from, making any new production truly a surprise.
Grease
The 1972 Broadway musical Grease was written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. But when it came time for the show to be adapted into a 1978 film, more writers were added to the mix—including multiple songwriters. Story-wise, the film follows the stage version pretty closely, but there were nevertheless changes. We got an added a drag race scene that is impossible to do on stage, the character of Sandy became Australian (to mirror Olivia Newton-John, who played her), some raunchier language got toned down for the film's PG rating, and we lost the stage show's framing device that makes most of the events a flashback from a high school reunion. That last one also meant the opening number, the Rydell High Alma Mater, was cut.
Yet the biggest changes made for the film, that have often come back to productions of the stage show, were in new songs. There was a new opening song called "Grease (is the Word)," Sandy's new song "Hopelessly Devoted to You," Danny's "Sandy" (which replaces the stage show's "Alone at the Drive-In"), and the iconic finale, "You're the One That I Want" (which replaced the stage score's "All Choked Up"). All have become, arguably, the songs most associated with Grease. Though they've been used in subsequent stage versions of Grease, they require separate licenses because Jacobs and Casey didn't write them. "Grease" was written by Barry Gibbs, and "Sandy" was written by Louis St. Louis and Screamin' Scott Simon, while "Hopelessly Devoted" and "You're the One That I Want" were written by pop songwriter (and frequent Newton-John collaborator) John Farrar. So for those looking to do Grease, make sure you ask the right people for permission.
Evita
For the 1996 Evita film, based on the 1976 Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, perhaps the change that got theatre fans buzzing was the key changes to the songs sung by Eva Perón, played by Madonna. For starters, Madonna's keys are quite a bit lower than the stage versions, which no doubt is what contributed to original Evita Patti LuPone's dislike of the film (luckily, the stage show remains a belter's paradise). One song newly written for the film has since been incorporated into the official version of the show as of its 2006 London and subsequent Broadway revivals: "You Must Love Me," for which Lloyd Webber and Rice won an Oscar.
Another change that was made for the film that is sometimes done on the stage is having the character of Eva sing "Another Suitcase in Another Hall." The song is usually sung onstage by Juan Perón's mistress and the narrator character of Che, after Eva catches her in Perón's bed. In the film, Eva sings the song after her failed relationship with Agustín Magaldi, who brings her to Buenos Aires. In the 2019 revival of Evita at New York City Center, "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" became a duet between Perón's mistress and Eva, as both reflect on being women who are always on the move and frequently used by men.
Dreamgirls
Similar to Evita, only one song that was written for the 2006 Dreamgirls film made it back into the musical on which it was based. Dreamgirls the film was a particularly star-fueled affair, with Beyoncé, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Hudson (who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Effie White) leading the cast—so it's no wonder the film featured four new songs. The one that did make it back into the Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen stage show was "Listen," sung in the film by Beyoncé as Deena Jones. Beginning in the 2009 U.S. national tour, "Listen" became an 11 o'clock number between Deena and Effie. The lyrics were also revised beginning for the 2016 West End revival, making the song worth a re-listen.
