Ever since Grease: Live aired last year, people have been waiting for FOX to announce their next live musical. NBC has been doing their live musicals annually in December, and recently announced that they'll be doing Jesus Christ Superstar next Easter. As for FOX, the network just announced that they've got not one, but two live musicals coming up. Marc Platt will be producing both of them, and the choices themselves also couldn't be more different.
This December, they'll be doing the stage musical adaptation of A Christmas Story, which is probably the most recent musical to be done live on any network in general. The musical first premiered in 2009, and has constantly been re-worked before making its way to Broadway in 2012. The following year, it received three Tony nominations (including Best Musical). What I think is great about this choice is that while the musical itself isn't well-known, the original movie from 1983 certainly is as it's a classic shown on television a lot during the holiday season every year. I also think if they could snatch the right stars for the adult roles, it could create enough excitement in order to have a chance of being successful. This must also continue to be a great year for the songwriting team of Benj Pasek & Justin Paul. First, their latest musical, Dear Evan Hansen has become a hit on Broadway, then their awards success with the movie musical, La La Land, and now this holiday season, one of their earlier works will be produced on television and their next movie musical, The Greatest Showman will be released in theaters.
No airdate has been announced yet, but the other live musical FOX is planning to produce nonetheless is Rent. I think it's a perfect choice for the network given the show's popularity, universal appeal, and contemporary themes. While I understand some Rentheads may feel concerned that some of its content could be watered down by FOX, I can pretty much recall the same concerns everyone had when Disney announced it was going to be adapting Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine's Into the Woods for the big screen. I think some aspects will end up being censored, but the message should stay the same. I also hope this ends up attracting some exciting young stars to headline it. After all, when author Jonathan Larson was creating Rent, he was very adamant about having non-traditional musical theatre performers in the cast since it's suppose to be a rock opera.
So what do you think of these choices? Are you excited (like me)?
This December, they'll be doing the stage musical adaptation of A Christmas Story, which is probably the most recent musical to be done live on any network in general. The musical first premiered in 2009, and has constantly been re-worked before making its way to Broadway in 2012. The following year, it received three Tony nominations (including Best Musical). What I think is great about this choice is that while the musical itself isn't well-known, the original movie from 1983 certainly is as it's a classic shown on television a lot during the holiday season every year. I also think if they could snatch the right stars for the adult roles, it could create enough excitement in order to have a chance of being successful. This must also continue to be a great year for the songwriting team of Benj Pasek & Justin Paul. First, their latest musical, Dear Evan Hansen has become a hit on Broadway, then their awards success with the movie musical, La La Land, and now this holiday season, one of their earlier works will be produced on television and their next movie musical, The Greatest Showman will be released in theaters.
No airdate has been announced yet, but the other live musical FOX is planning to produce nonetheless is Rent. I think it's a perfect choice for the network given the show's popularity, universal appeal, and contemporary themes. While I understand some Rentheads may feel concerned that some of its content could be watered down by FOX, I can pretty much recall the same concerns everyone had when Disney announced it was going to be adapting Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine's Into the Woods for the big screen. I think some aspects will end up being censored, but the message should stay the same. I also hope this ends up attracting some exciting young stars to headline it. After all, when author Jonathan Larson was creating Rent, he was very adamant about having non-traditional musical theatre performers in the cast since it's suppose to be a rock opera.
So what do you think of these choices? Are you excited (like me)?