Backseat rider / February 13, 2008 12:50 PM

The Exorcist maybe... seriously.

As far as an event...Bush and Cheney planning the whole Iraq war thing, from WMDs to the surge.

p / February 13, 2008 12:53 PM

Road House.

name a demographic that would not enjoy this. dude bros, teens, swooning moms, romantics, tha gayz, hicks, employees, bosses, hell raisers, underdogs, everyone.

Jasmine / February 13, 2008 1:01 PM

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend -- it's been a stage play, radio play, and a tv series in the UK. It's one of the funniest books I've read. I think a musical would be awesome, if only to bring out the melodic potential of Adrian's awful poetry.

Mikey / February 13, 2008 1:02 PM

The Big Lebowski.

Eamon / February 13, 2008 1:09 PM

Tremors.

Alison / February 13, 2008 1:13 PM

Jasmine!!!! I had that book as a kid and was just trying (and failing) to remember its title last weekend.

Thanks!!

Ben / February 13, 2008 1:36 PM

Great call on Adrian Mole. He is my literary alter-ego (we are the same age, and both British) and so has always had a warm place in my heart. Sue Townsend is living refutation of the idea (occasionally voiced by morons) that female writers aren't funny. If you haven't read the more recent books (A.M. The Cappucino Years, and A.M. & The Weapons of Mass Destruction) they are also stellar.

I was thinking the Chicago Democratic Convention of 1968 might make a good musical. Kind of Hair meets Les Miserables.

Spook / February 13, 2008 1:56 PM

Dawn of the Dead

Cheryl / February 13, 2008 2:00 PM

Shoah

Jasmine / February 13, 2008 2:25 PM

Alison & Ben: I may start a petition for a musical to be written and produced. If I do, I'm counting on yours to be the first two signatures.

Cracken / February 13, 2008 3:51 PM

I'd love to see a kid-friendly, goth musical (á la Sweeney Todd) based on Lewis Barnavelt's adventures in John Bellairs' books from the 70s and 80s. The House With a Clock in its Walls, The Dark Secret of Weatherend...Magical.

Steven / February 13, 2008 4:31 PM

OMG! My dream is to win the lottery and hire someone fantabulous like the Pet Shop Boys to write a musical based on Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, starring Cher in the role of Blanche Hudson originated by Joan Crawford and Bette Midler in the role of Jane Hudson originated by Bette Davis. The Act I finale would be, of course, "You Know We Got Rats In The Cellah!"

Leelah / February 13, 2008 9:20 PM

Geek Love.
It would be awesome.

PMan / February 13, 2008 10:06 PM

I second Backseat Rider's suggestion of a Bush/Cheney Iraq musical.

The just about over-the top characters involved could sing songs with easy-to-rhyme words like Mahdi, Kurds, Turks, mass destruction, Petreaus, Green Zone, etc.

It would all end with a lone Bush singing a song based on his blissfully ignorant optimism. As the spotlight panned out, we'd see other characters join in. The song would grow into a rousing chorus such as 'We'll shake hands with the Sunnis and Shias, as we drive our new Prius, to Pizza Hut in Bahg --------- dad'.

snuh / February 13, 2008 10:08 PM

Top Gun

Mr Bear / February 13, 2008 10:12 PM

The Hottie & The Nottie

maardvark / February 13, 2008 11:47 PM

Not entirely on point, but I've long thought that there was room for an opera based on Crime and Punishment. I'm actually kind of surprised that there's not an opera of that novel already.

At one point, I rashly wrote online somewhere that if anyone was interested in writing the music, that I'd even be willing to write the libretto. Weirdly, a year later, I got an e-mail from a composer.... but since I was only half-serious, and because I didn't have time to write ANYTHING at that point, I didn't write back.

maardvark / February 13, 2008 11:51 PM

p.s., hey--I do have time now. Let me know, and I'll rev up my iambic tetrameter* skillz.

*(Read a libretto sometime--that's the default meter. Why tetrameter? Because of the tyranny of 4/4 time.)

butterfly / February 14, 2008 9:02 AM

I think it's high time someone re-made "West Side Story". Don't change the music, of course, but just film a new version, with actual Latinos and not Greeks in pancake makeup!

Beyond that - there needs to be an Enron musical. Or opera, actually. I see choruses of accountants and laid off employees, crazy lighting effects as the crooked 'E' changes its meaning, trios of Lay/Fastow/Skilling, Ken Lay's wife can be crazy dark comic relief.

lmy / February 14, 2008 9:16 AM

someone beat me to it - geek love.
i'd love to write a screenplay for that book.
love it.

Spook / February 14, 2008 9:36 AM

How bouts Super Fly!

Lulu / February 14, 2008 10:01 AM

Another vote for Big Lebowski

mike-ts / February 14, 2008 10:04 AM

The Book of Revelation, set to Wagner, directed by Tarrantino. Wow, Quentin making a musical.

I think of a song that I heard in church as a kid that went "when the whole world shakes with terror, and the sky bursts into flame, on the clouds shall I appear, and you shall know my hour has come."

Hammer down, buddy.

Mikey / February 14, 2008 11:58 AM

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre!

If only Frank and Dino were still alive, this would be bigger than The Producers, Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, etc...

Elizabeth / February 14, 2008 12:01 PM

I second Tremors and Road House. Fantastic!

Perhaps The Last King of Scotland or Requiem for a Dream. Can you picture the giant dancing syringes?

Mikey / February 14, 2008 1:02 PM

Somebody should definitely follow through with The Simpsons' Planet of the Apes musical...

Dr. Zaius! Dr. Zaius!
Dr. Zaius! Dr. Zaius!
Dr. Zaius! Dr. Zaius!
O, Dr. Zaius!

Awesome.

JasonB / February 14, 2008 2:13 PM

Alien

:)

no cauz for alarm / February 14, 2008 4:50 PM

"Pooty Tang" or "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"

real life event

Cable Network News

no cauz for alarm / February 14, 2008 5:20 PM

just a note to spook re his Fuel v-day comment.
the skaster is alive and well ...
just had to create a new "pen name" due to technical difficulties.
but....
if you say his name backwards three times and he may re-appear

no cauz for alarm / February 14, 2008 5:21 PM

just a note to spook re his Fuel v-day comment.
the skaster is alive and well ...
just had to create a new "pen name" due to technical difficulties.
but....
if you say his name backwards three times and he may re-appear

Mateus / February 15, 2008 8:48 AM

I would enjoy the following musicals, and I generally don't appreciate the art form:

The Rise and Fall of Geroge Ryan (the series of events)
Office Space (the movie by Mike Judge)
Absurdistan (the book by Gary Shytengart)

wa / February 15, 2008 9:10 AM

Platoon. Vaudeville style.