From Broadway to Hollywood!

Some of our most memorable movie experiences started, not in Hollywood, but on Broadway.  The Great White Way has often led straight to Tinseltown!  This month, we look at some of the best plays that ever hit the boards on or near 42nd Street and that then found their way onto the big screen.  Good musicals, dramatic plays!  We suggest an orchestra street as we don’t have a balcony.

Friday, March 3 @ 7:30pm

“A Streetcar Named Desire” (Warner Bros., 1951)

Tennessee Williams’ play about Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle, debuted on Broadway in 1947.  In 1951, Elia Kazan directed the film version starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando.  (Black and white; 125 minutes; National Film Registry, 1999.)

Saturday, March 4 @ 2pm

“Annie” (Columbia, 1982)

After the comics and the radio, Little Orphan Annie jumped onto the Broadway stage in 1977.  John Huston directed the film version that featured Albert Finney, Carol Burnett and, one of the best of Broadway, Bernadette Peters.  (Color, 128 minutes.)

 

Saturday, March 4 @ 7:30pm

“Chicago” (Miramax, 2002)

Roxie Hart, the center of this crime drama, first appeared on Broadway in 1926.  The play, “Chicago,” would be filmed first in 1927, then again in 1942 (as “Roxie Hart”) and then in 2002 as a musical with Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere.  (Color, 113 minutes.)

Friday, March 10 @ 7:30pm

“The Odd Couple” (Paramount, 1968)

There was a time when Neil Simon was the King of Broadway, and the stage version of this film–first staged in 1965–is perhaps his very best, or, at least, his best known.  Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon took on the roles of Oscar and Felix for the initial filming of the play, which later, of course, became a very success TV sitcom.  (Color, 124 minutes.)

Saturday, March 11 @ 2pm

“A Raisin in the Sun” (Columbia, 1961)

Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee starred in the original Broadway production about a Black family’s struggle in the poverty-ridden inner city of Chicago.  The two stars also appear in this highly-regarded film adaptation made in 1961.  (Black and white; 128 minutes; National Film Registry, 2005)

Saturday, March 11 @ 7:30pm

“The Music Man” (Warner Bros., 1962)

Meredith Willson pays homage to his Iowa roots with this tale of a conman acting as a traveling salesman.  The conman gets caught–but not so much by the law as by his own heartstrings.  It’s a tour de force for star Robert Preston, who appeared in the original stage show in 1957, and who recreated the role for the film.  (Color; 151 minutes; National Film Registry, 2005)

Friday, March 17 @ 7:30pm

“Hedwig and the Angry Inch” (New Line, 2001)

“Hedwig” first appeared Off-Broadway in 1998 but had to wait until 2014 to hit the Great White Way proper.  The film version came between those times.  It is the creation of John Cameron Mitchell:  he co-wrote the play, wrote the screenplay, directs the film and has the leading role.  (Color, 92 minutes; R rated)

 

Saturday, March 18 @ 2pm

“Get Your Man” (Paramount, 1927)

Dorothy Arzner directed and Clara Bow stars in this film that was one of the last restorations worked on by NAVCC staff member Huck Penzell who passed away in December.  Huck’s NAVCC Film Lab colleagues pay tribute to him with some remembrances and the screening of this film.   (Black & white; silent; 60 minutes; with opening program short; live musical accompaniment by Makia Matsumora.)

Saturday, March 18 @ 7:30pm

“Cabaret” (Allied Artists, 1972)

Joel Grey reprises his role from the original 1966 Broadway production of this German-set musical.  But, before it came to the big screen, much of it was rewritten with several musical numbers jettisoned.  Still, the film was a great triumph not only for film director Bob Fosse but also for Grey and, in her landmark role, Liza Minnelli.  (Color; 124 minutes; National Film Registry, 1995)

Friday, March 24 @ 7:30pm

“A Few Good Men” (Columbia, 1992)

Okay, we think you can handle the truth:  Aaron Sorkin’s military drama debuted on Broadway in 1989.  It became a Rob Reiner directed film in 1992 with great performances from Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.  (Color, 138 minutes)

 

Saturday, March 25 @ 2pm

“12 Angry Men” (United Artists, 1957)

It started out as a TV episode of the “Studio One” anthology series in 1954 but quickly was adapted and played on the stage.  Still, it only reached Broadway in 2004.  The classic film version came along in 1957, directed by Sidney Lumet.  It features a Who’s Who of American character actors, anchored by lead Henry Fonda.  (Black and white, 96 minutes.)

Saturday, March 25 @ 7:30pm

“Superman” (Warner Bros., 1976)

The NAVCC Packard Campus Theater helps celebrate CULPEPERCON by presenting “Superman.”  Christopher Reeve does an excellent job bringing Clark Kent and his alter ego to the big screen.  Reeve wasn’t the first, and boy-oh-boy we know not the last Superman, but was probably the best.  Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, and Glenn Ford are in the mix as well.  (Color, 143 minutes, National Film Registry, 2017)

Friday, March 31 @ 7:30pm

“My Fair Lady” (Warner Bros., 1964)

George Bernard Shaw’s plays “Pygmalion” made it to Broadway first in 1914 and was filmed in 1938.  Lerner and Lowe kept much of the dialogue of the original but added songs and gave the film a brand new name.  The musical premiered on Broadway in 1956 and made a star of a young Julie Andrews.  Andrews was not held over for the film version–Audrey Hepburn took the lead–but Rex Harrison marvelously was.  (Color, 170 minutes, National Film Registry, 2018).

 

More Info:  //www.loc.gov/programs/audio-visual-conservation/events-and-screenings/screenings/