Plenty of challenges going from screen to stage

Let's do a price check.

The 20th anniversary DVD edition of the 1987 film "Dirty Dancing" has a list price of $14.98 (or $9.49 if you buy now from Amazon.com). "Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story on Stage," now making its American premiere at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre, has tickets running between $30 and $150.

In these times of economic uncertainty, buying the DVD of "Dirty Dancing" would seem to make better fiscal sense. It's cheaper and can be watched whenever you wish, compared to a one-time stage show.

But that same reasoning would prevent you from seeing some buzz-heavy Broadway shows headed to Chicago, which also happen to be screen-to-stage adaptations. Tours of the Broadway musicals "Xanadu," "Legally Blonde" and "Mary Poppins" hit the Windy City in 2009, while November sees Northlight Theatre's regional premiere of "Grey Gardens," a critically acclaimed 2006 musical adaptation of the 1975 documentary about the quirky and squalor-bound Beale relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Even more screen-to-stage properties are set to bow on Broadway this season: "White Christmas," "Billy Elliot - The Musical," "9 to 5 - The Musical" and even "Shrek - The Musical." True, "Shrek" was originally a book written by William Steig, but most people know it from DreamWorks' animated blockbusters.

Screen sources

For years many theater afficionados and critics have turned their noses up at the trend of new musicals trying to cash in on well-known film titles. They bemoan the notion that Broadway increasingly looks to movie multiplexes and Blockbuster Video outlets for inspiration.

But those who finance and create musicals are quick to point out that Broadway shows are rarely born without being influenced by something else and can become classics with film sources.

"Broadway has always adapted shows from other mediums, whether it's from a novel like 'Tales of the South Pacific,' which became 'South Pacific,' or from plays like 'Liliom,' which became 'Carousel,'" says Stewart Lane, a Broadway producer tied to "Legally Blonde - The Musical" and the upcoming Broadway revival of David Mamet's "American Buffalo" helmed by Goodman Theatre artistic director Robert Falls.

"(Musicals) can be based upon a poem, on a ballet or even a painting," concurs playwright Douglas Carter Beane. "Almost since the movies have been talking, people have been basing musicals on them."

Best known for his plays "As Bees in Honey Drown" and "The Little Dog Laughed," Beane is largely credited for turning what is regarded as one of the worst movie musicals ever made, "Xanadu," into a critically successful Broadway musical in 2007.

Beane says many film-inspired shows initially changed their names to distinguish themselves. For example, Stephen Sondheim's 1973 musical based upon Ingmar Bergman's 1955 film "Smiles of a Summer Night" became "A Little Night Music," while the Academy Award-winning 1950 film "All About Eve" became the 1970 Lauren Bacall vehicle "Applause."

But nowadays, it makes economic sense for musicals to keep their inspirational movie monikers.

Brand recognition

"The cost of mounting a new musical has become astronomical - anywhere between $10 million and $20 million," says Stuart Oken, a Chicago-based Broadway producer with Elephant Eye Theatrical and a former executive vice president of Disney Theatrical Productions. "Brand awareness is very important, and if you have it, you've got a leg up."

Currently, Oken is developing musicals based upon the life of martial arts star Bruce Lee, the 2003 film comedy "Saved!" and "The Addams Family" (Oken says the original illustrations by cartoonist Charles Addams are its main inspiration, not just the TV show and films).

Yet Oken explains that it's not always necessary to have an instantly recognizable title or property. He cites non-film-based musicals such as "A Chorus Line," "Rent," "Spring Awakening" and "In the Heights," which have cut through America's cultural clutter to become award-winning hits.

Even having a recognizable title is no guarantee it will be a smash.

"The thing that made 'The Lion King' work was not just that it was this enormously successful cartoon, but that (director/designer) Julie Taymor found a theatrical approach that made it fresh and new," Oken says.

He adds that it's crucial for film-based shows "to be able to surprise and delight the audience in ways they don't expect," even if they go in already knowing the plot and characters. "There are a number of adaptations of movies that did not do that and, as a result, have had a modest or limited success."

Give them what they want?

In some cases having a recognizable title can be a burden or a challenge.

Take, for instance, "Dirty Dancing." How do you re-create the iconic film moments of actors Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze balancing on an overturned log or practicing lifts in the middle of a lake?

"For me, it's a bit of a no-win situation," says "Dirty Dancing" stage director James Powell. "You can give people what you think they're anticipating and not let their anticipation down, or you can completely reinvent and do a loose adaptation in which you risk your audience being disappointed."

Powell should know. In addition to helming "Dirty Dancing" productions alongside Australian choreographer Kate Champion in London and Toronto, Powell's other credits include being an associate director on "Mary Poppins" in London and heading the Melbourne production of "The Witches of Eastwick."

"When you're taking a story that people only know in one form, it's the designer who I think has the most head scratching to do on this," Powell says. "As a piece of theater, it has to be seamless and move from scene to scene."

Powell did reveal that the "Dirty Dancing" film moments of the log and lake do make it onto the stage, a credit to designers Stephen Brimson Lewis (sets), Tim Mitchell (lighting) and Jon Driscoll (video projections). Yet Powell admits the effect of Johnny and Baby's drive through the rain was simplified for the tour.

In the case of "Xanadu," playwright Beane relished not being bound to slavishly re-create the film on stage. Beane junked the film screenplay, except for five lines that he kept in "as references to show how awful the original movie was."

For Beane, adapting "Xanadu" was a way to do a wry commentary on American cultural aspirations and to rescue the hit pop score written by the Electric Light Orchestra, which more people are familiar with rather than the film itself.

Still, Beane admits "Xanadu" had a tough time luring audiences due to the film's flop status. Beane says that once audiences made it in, they were largely delighted by the show's campy message of shared inspiration.

It's better live

When the 2004 Australian stage version of "Dirty Dancing" transferred to London in 2006, reviews were mixed. The Guardian's Lyn Gardner meted out some of the harshest criticism by calling the show "less full-blown musical and more a play with a musical soundtrack" and questioning, "Why spend 35 pounds a ticket on this when you can rent a DVD for far less and leave your seat to make a cup of tea during the smoochy boring bits?"

Yet "Dirty Dancing" has broken theater box-office records in Britain and Germany, essentially making the show "critic proof."

In its stage form, "Dirty Dancing" continues to connect with its worldwide film fan base and collect new fans, which is especially pleasing to its original creator, script writer and co-producer Eleanor Bergstein. Fans frequently recognize her at performances and mob her with praise.

"'Relieved' was a word I heard all over the world," Bergstein says. "It was hard for me to understand until I realized (fans) came in afraid they would no longer love something they used to love, or that in some way they were being taken advantage of."

And as much as people love to watch the film over and over again, Bergstein says it can't replace the experience of reliving the story with real dancers and actors on stage.

"It's like pressing your face against a flat screen and there's a certain amount that you discount," says Bergstein about just watching the film. Onstage, "in the first seconds it's a real body right here in real time dancing and connecting with people's hearts."

• "Dirty Dancing" is now in previews at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago, before its official opening night at 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19. The show runs until Jan. 17. Tickets cost $30-$150. Call (312) 902-1400 or visit broadwayinchicago.com.

A select list of notable stage adaptations of original screen properties, judged by their financial or critical success in New York:

Hits

"Carnival!" (1960) Based upon the 1953 film "Lili"

"Applause" (1970) Based upon the 1950 film "All About Eve"

"A Little Night Music" (1973) Based upon the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film "Smiles of a Summer Night"

"42nd Street" (1980) Based upon Busby Berkeley films of the 1930s

"Little Shop of Horrors" (1982) Based upon the 1960 film starring Jack Nicholson

"Nine" (1982) Based upon the 1963 Federico Fellini film "8 1/2"

"La Cage Aux Folles" (1983) Based upon the 1978 French film

"Beauty and the Beast" (1994) Based upon the 1991 Disney film

"Passion" (1994) Based upon the 1981 Italian film "Passione d'Amore"

"Sunset Blvd." (1994) Based upon the 1950 Billy Wilder film

"The Lion King" (1997) Based upon the 1994 Disney film

"The Producers" (2001) Based upon the 1968 Mel Brooks film

"Thoroughly Modern Millie" (2002) Based upon the 1967 film starring Julie Andrews

"Hairspray" (2002) Based upon the 1988 John Waters film

"Spamalot" (2005) Based upon the 1975 film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (2005) Based upon the 1988 film starring Steve Martin

"Grey Gardens" (2006) Based upon the 1975 documentary

"Mary Poppins" (2006) Based upon the 1964 Disney film

"Xanadu" (2007) Based upon the 1980 film starring Olivia Newton John

Flops

"Here's Love" (1963) Based upon the 1947 film "Miracle on 34th Street"

"Gigi" (1973) Based upon the 1958 Vincente Minelli film

"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1982) Based upon the 1954 MGM film

"Singin' in the Rain" (1985) Based upon the 1952 film starring Gene Kelly

"Meet Me in St. Louis" (1989) Based upon the 1944 film starring Judy Garland

"On the Waterfront" (1995) Based upon the 1954 film starring Marlon Brando

"State Fair" (1996) Based upon the 1945 and 1962 films

"Big" (1996) Based upon the 1988 film starring Tom Hanks

"Footloose - The Musical" (1998) Based upon the 1984 film starring Kevin Bacon

"Saturday Night Fever" (1999) Based upon the 1977 film starring John Travolta

"Sweet Smell of Success" (2002) Based upon the 1957 film

"Urban Cowboy" (2003) Based upon the 1980 film starring John Travolta

"Never Gonna Dance" (2003) Based upon the 1936 Fred Astaire film "Swing Time"

"The Wedding Singer" (2006) Based upon the 1998 film starring Adam Sandler

"Tarzan" (2006) Based upon the 1999 Disney film

"Cry Baby" (2008) Based upon the 1990 John Waters film