Plays that Did Not Become Movies
My theme for the next two weeks is "Hit
Broadway Plays that Did Not Become Movies."
Surprisingly, this list for the last 60 years has
been relatively short, especially if TV productions
are counted as films. In the 20 years from 1949 to
1969, only 4 Tony-winning plays were not made into
movie musicals. Since 1970, the list is longer, but
several of the plays in the last four decades have
been broadcast on television or the Broadway or
London versions have been recorded on tape and are
now available on VHS or DVD.
In the next two weeks, I'll be adding entries
for plays that meet the following criteria: (1) won
Tony award for Best Musical, (2) no VHS or DVD
version is available, and (3) ran for at least 600
performances in its original run on Broadway. Using
those criteria, my list is very small: Fiorello
(1960), Applause (1970), Big River (1985), The
Mystery of Edwin Drood (1986), City of Angels (1990),
and the Will Rogers Follies (1991). I'm also
including one hit musical that did not win the Tony
award but does meet the other criteria - Miss Saigon
(1991). Of the 9 plays, I had the good fortune to see
one of them, "City of Angels," early in
its run and before it won the Tony award.