Closing the musical gap

[jtfaria]

Spiderman is getting a musical, with Julie Taymor directing, no less.

"U2’s savvy manager, Paul McGuiness, told me that the group will have at least two new releases in 2008: their Broadway “Spiderman” musical and a separate rock album... The “Spiderman” musical is set to be directed by Julie Taymor (“The Lion King&#8221 and may feature members of the cast of her 2007 Beatles film, “Across the Universe.”

Superman had one, too.

But where's the Batman musical? And what kind of musical should it be? Should it be a 60's style Batman, mourning the innocence he's lost in his current incarnations? (I'm thinking, for a twist, that Batman in this musical might actually be aware of all the things that have been done over the years with his character, and even comment on them.) Should it be a TDK style Batman, brooding over his fate and maybe longing for more innocent days? Should it be opera-like, or pop? Maybe something Fosse-esque. Chicago meets Gotham City. Maybe all the Batvillains doing a West-Side-Story-Jets-like number.

And who should be in it? Who should direct it?

Maybe it'll be a Blue Man Group (Bat Man Group?) type deal with Batman swinging around the theatre in the dark. Interactive. Maybe the Fake Batmen will show up. Or maybe, like Godot, we'll spend most of our time waiting for The Batman to show up.

Maybe Bruce Wayne will sing "Let a Woman in Your Life", from My Fair Lady, and Vicki Vale will sing "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ, Superstar. Could Solomon Grundy sing "Puttin on the Ritz" from Young Frankenstein, or is that too spot-on?

Hey, it's too late to change the film. So I say, grab on to this train before it leaves the station, 'cause you KNOW it's gonna happen.

 

[Tha OG Crip]

i dont KNOW nothing! (of that nature)

 

[Sadaskaa]

Wasn't there a Batman Begins musical in Hong Kong or something? xD

 

[DeaDheaD]

Mad TV had a pretty good musical for Batman 5

 

[The Shape]

Wrong forum.

 

[ND Irish]

i think Batman & Robin was gay enough to be a broadway musical

 

[Bright Knight]

I like jam on bread.

 

[namtaB]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOEHuT3BEq0

 

[DieSmiling]

Batman is too cool to be turned into a Broadway musical.

 

[Rockadood]

None other than Tim Burton himself had the same idea. seems to be stuck in development hell though.

http://www.neverlandhotel.dk/news/index.php?nr=47

http://www.freewebs.com/batman_themusical/home.htm

http://after-words.org/mr/mtarchives/2002/08/Aug301216.shtml

 

[Bright Knight]

Batman is too cool to be turned into a Broadway musical.

If it's good enough for Grease it's good enough for Batman.

 

[sad lieutenant]

Shouldn't this be posted beneath my "I Like Cheese!" thread in the Non-Spoiler section?

 

[DieSmiling]

If it's good enough for Grease it's good enough for Batman.

Grease is and was a musical... Your argument makes no sense, that's what Grease has always been.

Can you really picture Batman singing? I mean, really, it's just ******ed. Emo Peter Parker maybe, but Batman and Joker, singing?

 

[Milu]

It worked for Justice League.

 

[Mr. Socko]

Wrong section.


But I'd love to see Batman'89 adapted into a musical. I'd pay big bucks to see that

 

[Redd]

At one point they wanted to turn Batman into a musical.

If any of you watched the Tv series Batman Beyond there was a short little spoof of the Batman musical in there. "A superstitious cowardly lot!"

I'll see if I can find it.

 

[Mr. Socko]

i think Batman & Robin was gay enough to be a broadway musical

Your trolling is not wanted here you fool of a took.

Grease is and was a musical... Your argument makes no sense, that's what Grease has always been.

Can you really picture Batman singing? I mean, really, it's just ******ed. Emo Peter Parker maybe, but Batman and Joker, singing?

Hell yes. If Bela Lugosi can get on stage and sing as a horrific blood thirsty and murderous vampire I see no reason why Batman could not.

 

[jtfaria]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOEHuT3BEq0

Ah, well, there you go! (Wow, THAT was quick!) You know, if you do YouTube searches, there's quite a lot of "musical" stuff that's been done with the character.

In fact, there's so much stuff out there to draw from, how can this theatrical masterpiece NOT get made?

 

[The Guard]

I've wanted to see BATMAN: THE MUSICAL for...forever.

The Superman musical was terrible, even for its time. From what I've read on the Spider-Man one, it's just plain weird and has little to do with the comic book. Something about a spider-god Arachne and so forth.

There's been some "fun" musical stuff done with Batman, but nothing remotely serious or appropriate for the character. And a Batman musical need not be inherently cheesy. There have been several great dark musicals over the years. People might even have liked Tim Burton's project. The concept was ok, but the music was just...weird. It wasn't bad, but it didn't feel like "Batman". It felt more like Batman and The Joker singing Meatloaf songs.

I'm hard at work on THE BATMAN OF GOTHAM/BATMAN: THE MUSICAL as we speak. The script is written, along with about half of the lyrics and music for the songs. A friend with experience writing darker musicals (who happens to be an enormous fan of Danny Elfman, which can only be a good thing) intends to compose much of the music, and I have an investor willing to pour quite a bit of money into making the project a reality if I can get permission to stage it from WB. And I believe that I have locations that will put it on, and the cast to make it happen well. At the very least I hope to do a "cast recording" of the music.

 

[jtfaria]

Grease is and was a musical... Your argument makes no sense, that's what Grease has always been.

Can you really picture Batman singing? I mean, really, it's just ******ed. Emo Peter Parker maybe, but Batman and Joker, singing?

Yeah, actually. I can see him kneeling in a spotlight, mask off, singing. Not with the Joker, though.

 

[jtfaria]

The Superman musical was terrible, even for its time. From what I've read on the Spider-Man one, it's just plain weird and has little to do with the comic book. Something about a spider-god Arachne and so forth.

There's been some musical stuff done with Batman, but nothing remotely serious. And a Batman musical need not suck or be inherently cheesy. There have been several great dark musicals over the years. People might even have liked Tim Burton's project. The concept was ok, but the music was just...weird. It wasn't bad, but it didn't feel like "Batman". It felt more like Batman and The Joker singing Meatloaf songs.

I'm hard at work on THE BATMAN OF GOTHAM/BATMAN: THE MUSICAL as we speak. The script is written, along with about half of the lyrics and music for the songs. A friend with experience writing musicals and shows intends to compose much of the music, and I have an investor willing to pour quite a bit of money into it if I can get permission to stage it from WB. And I believe that I have locations that will put it on, and the cast to make it happen well. At the very least I hope to do a "cast recording" of the music.

Most musicals turn out lousy. Then again, most of EVERYTHING is lousy. Once in awhile you get a gem. "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" ran forever. They didn't think you could pull off a musical based on Jesus Christ, either, but that idea spawned TWO big hits at more or less the same time, back in the '60's.

Good luck with yours. I like the title very much. If you care to send me a PM, in fact, I'd like to hear more.

 

[The Guard]

Can you really picture Batman singing? I mean, really, it's just ******ed. Emo Peter Parker maybe, but Batman and Joker, singing?

It can come off weird, but he just has to be singing the right song. I'm finding that the key is to focus on the Bruce Wayne side of the character for the songs.

Go see LES MISERABLES and tell me you can't see Batman and Joker singing.

 

[Redd]

Okay here is the link to the cartoon musical spoof that Batman Beyond did in one of there episodes.

The name of the episode is called "Out of the past"

Its really funny to watch.

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevanc...o/xbhhs_batman-beyond-out-of-the-past_extreme

[YT]http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/Batman%2BBeyond/video/xbhhs_batman-beyond-out-of-the-past_extreme[/YT]

It should be right after the opening intro.

 

[jtfaria]

It can come off weird, but he just has to be singing the right song. I'm finding that the key is to focus on the Bruce Wayne side of the character for the songs.

Go see LES MISERABLES and tell me you can't see Batman and Joker singing.

The character is nothing if not malleable. He can be a cartoon living in a cartoon world, he can be a tortured soul in a hopelessly corrupt world. It's amazing what has been done, very successfully, with Batman over the years. I do not doubt that a successful musical CAN absolutely be done. (Not saying it WILL be done - it's no slam-dunk, but certainly it can be. The potential is clearly there.)

 

[Mr. Socko]

I've wanted to see BATMAN: THE MUSICAL for...forever.

The Superman musical was terrible, even for its time. From what I've read on the Spider-Man one, it's just plain weird and has little to do with the comic book. Something about a spider-god Arachne and so forth.

There's been some "fun" musical stuff done with Batman, but nothing remotely serious or appropriate for the character. And a Batman musical need not be inherently cheesy. There have been several great dark musicals over the years. People might even have liked Tim Burton's project. The concept was ok, but the music was just...weird. It wasn't bad, but it didn't feel like "Batman". It felt more like Batman and The Joker singing Meatloaf songs.

I'm hard at work on THE BATMAN OF GOTHAM/BATMAN: THE MUSICAL as we speak. The script is written, along with about half of the lyrics and music for the songs. A friend with experience writing darker musicals (who happens to be an enormous fan of Danny Elfman, which can only be a good thing) intends to compose much of the music, and I have an investor willing to pour quite a bit of money into making the project a reality if I can get permission to stage it from WB. And I believe that I have locations that will put it on, and the cast to make it happen well. At the very least I hope to do a "cast recording" of the music.

That sounds terrific. Make sure you keep us posted TG.