15 Movies We Would Like to See on Broadway
NEW YORK – JULY 10: Actors Patrick Dempsey and Amy Adams appear on set during the filming of Walt Disney Pictures ‘Enchanted’ in Central Park on July 10, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
15. Enchanted
This one seems like a no brainer. Enchanted is one of the most delightful Disney movies ever created. It’s Disney actually poking fun at themselves and their brand of fairy tale storytelling and it works. The film stars Amy Adams as the typical animated Disney Princess Giselle who suddenly finds herself in modern day live action Manhattan through a series of unfortunate events that involve an evil and jealous queen played by Susan Sarandon. Of course Giselle believes her One True Love Prince Edward (James Marsden) is coming to rescue her. But then she meets cynical divorce lawyer Robert (Patrick “McDreamy” Dempsey) and his daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey) everything begins to change.
Enchanted already has music including “Happy Working Song” and “That’s How You Know” which is one of the best Disney songs if only for the fact that Robert wonders how everyone in Central Park knows all the words. It’s one of those films everyone can enjoy because it’s funny and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is the kind of Broadway show where you could bring your entire family and everyone would have a good time. The combination of fairy tale and NYC setting would make for some great and creative set design and costumes. I’m thinking Cinderella style for Giselle’s big entrance.
NEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 25: KeKe Palmer attends the ‘Rodgers Hammerstein’s Cinderella’ Broadway curtain call with NeNe Leakes and KeKe Palmer at Broadway Theatre on November 25, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Another reason to bring Enchanted to the stage is because it commits the sin of casting Idina Menzel in the movie and NOT HAVING HER SING. What is the point of having such a queen in your movie musical if she isn’t allowed to use those magical pipes of hers? Put it on broadway and cast her in a larger role, maybe the evil queen this time.
The concerns surrounding adapting this film for the stage mostly revolve around the fact that it begins with animation to show Giselle in her fairy tale world before going into live action. There are plenty of creative ways to show this on stage including costumes, backdrops and stage design, and even puppets or masks or different actresses altogether. Also, it really isn’t that important overall in the story so it could be disregarded and Giselle could just travel from the fairy tale world to the real world without having to physically change her appearance.