15 Movies We Would Like to See on Broadway

John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson and George Clooney run through a field in a scene from the film ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’, 2000. (Photo by Universal/Getty Images)

 4. O Brother Where Art Thou

O Brother Where Art Thou is an amazing movie musical and not just because it features George Clooney “singing” (sadly that’s not actually his voice that is used in the film, I was devastated when I found out). The soundtrack to the film, produced by T. Bone Burnett, has sold more than 8 million copies and was the first soundtrack to win a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2002.  Oh and it’s also the film that inspired the folksy sound of Mumford & Sons‘ first two albums. It has music success written all over it and would make a great play on the Great White Way.

The story of O Brother Where Art Thou revolves around three convicts (Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson) in 1930’s Mississippi who break out of jail to look for a hidden treasure Clooney’s character, Everett McGill has supposedly buried. They also become a band and try to help Everett get back together with his wife, all while confronting Sirens, the police, and the KKK along the way. It’s a funny adventure story, featuring a range of music styles  that showcases country, folk, gospel, and bluegrass.

The setting in the American South provides ample opportunity for creative costumes involving suspenders and hats and the story would allow for the cast to play their own instruments onstage  a la Once.  It’s one of those movies that would not require much done to it for an adaptation to work because it has so much going for it already. It could even have a stripped down stage and just let the music speak for itself.