How can you adapt a stage production for film and make its structure work? An hour and a half into In the Heights, Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the 2008 Tony Award winner for Best Musical, the protagonist Usnavi asks his young audience of adorable children if they want to take a break from the story he’s telling. That's not a Hamilton reference, it's a meta-joke about how, if we were watching the play, you would take an intermission—and it highlights something that I think about a lot. Structural changes need to happen when stage plays and musicals are adapted to the big screen, because the mediums are literally different structures. Put bluntly: movies have three acts, and plays have two acts. That isn’t always the case. There are several one-act musicals (shout out Once On This Island), and Peter Pan has three. But structure needs to be taken into consideration. Jamming or stretching that into a film arc is often clumsy if not done well. Read More...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Tuesday, 15 June, 2021