Musicals are all about presence, spectacle, high emotions, and lowered expectations of realism. It seems natural that that format would translate pretty well to film, and most of the time it does. But there were a few decades there where Hollywood studios were barely making anything but musical pictures. While the movie musical will never be quite as popular as it once was, there are still one or two big ones a year that keep the dream alive.
There are times, however, when that dream turns into a nightmare. There are few experiences worse than sitting down to watch a musical adaptation of a famous show, only to realize half an hour or an hour or a full 90 minutes in that, oh no, this is really bad, and it’s only getting worse, and there are two more hours left. The bad movie musicals are spectacles in and of themselves, and while we wouldn’t want to watch any of them ever again, they’re still fascinating examples of just how bad things can get if you’re not careful.
To “celebrate” the worst examples of the form, we’ve gathered the ten worst movie adaptations of beloved stage shows, each adapted from a Broadway or off-Broadway musical whose popularity was enough to convince some studio that they must create a filmed version of this thing that people like. A few of these have become cult classics in their own right, whether because they’re so bad they’re kind of incredible, or because fans are stubborn, and tend to like what they like even if the vast majority of people don’t. Most, however, are hated for very good reasons, and we’ll never let them forget it.
The Worst Movie Adaptations of Famous Broadway Musicals
Sometimes the dream of a movie adaptation of your favorite musical turns into a nightmare.
READ MORE: The Best Movie Musicals For People Who Hate Musicals
The Differences Between the ‘Wicked’ Movie and Show
The Wicked movie is faithful to the long-running Broadway show — but it does make a few significant changes to its source material.
