11 Movie Musical Adaptations That Totally Nailed It, And 11 That Were Total Stage-To-Screen Disasters

As a movie musical lover (and a once theatre kid), I love seeing how passionate people get when debating movie adaptations of beloved stage shows.

Over on Reddit, theatre fans are sharing the absolute BEST of the best stage-to-movie-musicals, to the ones that massively flopped and ultimately embarrassed themselves. Here’s what they had to say — and fair warning, theatre folks don't hold back (it's the trauma from getting brutal post-show notes from drama teachers.)

1. "Chicago works because it's one of the only ones that didn't think of a movie as an improvement on the limitations of the stage, but rather imported the idiosyncrasies of theatre into the movie. Other movie musicals are often ashamed of their origin, but Chicago embraced it."

—gryphonlord

2. "The fact that they pulled off Wicked after all these years, all the production delays, and so many stage play iterations to compare it to if it went wrong...it blows my mind how good it was! I know we still have Part 2 but considering it was all filmed as one movie, I think we're gonna be just fine!"

—Swankified_Tristan

"I saw the Wicked stage production for the first time a few weeks after seeing the movie, and I actually prefer the movie. When watching the stage, I got whiplash from the pacing on the first act, and the writing of the second act felt messy. I understand why the stage production is the way it is, but the movie had the chance to correct one of my biggest gripes. That being said — "Defying Gravity" is the only thing I enjoyed more on stage. Seeing someone lifted into the air in person hits harder than on screen."

—Acceptable_Reach_677

3. "I know how some people feel about jukebox musicals on here, but the movie version of Mamma Mia is legitimately so much better than the stage version imo."

—Immediate_Original12

4. "The Fiddler on the Roof is not only one of the best movie versions of a musical I've seen, but might be one of the best movies I've ever seen in general. (Granted, the list of movies I would consider "one of the best I've seen" is pretty extensive!)

—PangolinHenchman

5. "Can't believe how little The Sound of Music is being mentioned in this thread. Kind of THE definitive Broadway-to-movie adaptation, both in terms of cultural impact and in terms of how it improved on the stage version. Julie Andrews gives an all-time iconic performance as Maria, and the filming location in Austria with all the helicopter shots of the Alps is just magic."

—FloridaFlamingoGirl

6. "I’m always in awe of how amazing Matilda is throughout all mediums. The book, the movie, the musical, and the musical movie are all incredible and I think there’s something really special about that."

—CryptographerKnown97

7. "Probably The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Capturing the spirit and vibe of such a musical is amazing, and they did it."

—Astlay

8. "I haven’t seen every single movie adaptation of the musical, but of the ones I have seen, I usually refer to 1962’s The Music Man as a perfect way to transfer a Broadway show to a film..."

—tallactor

9. "I will also say that Oliver! is the rare example of a film version of a musical that is actually better than the stage version."

—tallactor

10. "Best: Hairspray. I honestly think that the few changes that were made improved the story/flow."

—Soggy_Bed_3244

11. "Please do yourself a favour and watch The Producers with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. It is an almost 1-to-1 adaptation of the stage show, minus a song or two. It is a clever and hilarious thrill ride, with loveably unloveable characters."

—MellonOfMiddleEarth

12. "As someone who treasures and adores Rent (it meant SO much to me at a certain time), the movie was horrid and made me angry!"

—ButchUnicorn

13. "In terms of worst, there's a lot of options, but 13's movie adaptation will never fail to bewilder me. It's like they went out of their way to make every wrong choice they could..."

—youand188

14. "I've got a bone to pick with the In the Heights movie. Lots of good, fun choreo, but John Chu cut it from a love story between a neighbourhood and its people into one between Usnavi and Vanessa. Lots of very weird changes, including the "X days until the blackout timer," which ruins the surprise of the act I finale. I could go on and on...I lived near the set, though, so that was a really fun summer."

—gryphonlord

15. "Honestly, if The Phantom of the Opera had better male leads, it would’ve been perfect. But putting 17 year-old Emmy Rossum with two 30+ year-old men, and having her kiss them gives me the heebie jeebies. (On top of the male actors' terrible singing)."

—seanthebean24

16. "A Chorus Line takes the cake as the worst. Some great performances (Terry Mann can do no wrong) but the transfer to film doesn’t work."

—Fickle-Performance79

"They didn’t use Michael Bennett’s original choreography, they completely sidelined certain characters, and they CUT 'THE MUSIC AND THE MIRROR'."

—Soggy_Bed_3244

17. "Rock of Ages. Why Tom Cruise? Why Alec Baldwin? Why goddamn Russell Brand? Terrible casting...The show gives you a lot to work with and that adaptation just turned it to crap. I was so excited, ROA is genuinely a good show. It’s campy as fu**, but it’s SUPPOSED TO BE! The '80s were cheesy and campy and ridiculous. The stage show was great. The movie sucked balls."

—Sk0007v0825t1213

18. "Dear Evan Hansen was pretty high up there with not good adaptations. As much as I love the score and the show, I know it’s problematic — but that show and its music got me through one of the harder times in my life. I love my Benny boy fiercely but he definitely looked extremely out of place and it felt like the whole thing was trying too hard. I loved the addition of 'The Anonymous Ones' — that is a beautiful song. But cutting out 'Good For You' was not a great call.

—Sk0007v0825t1213

19. "Meh: They faceplanted on The Last 5 Years by having them both in every scene together, imo. Completely effs up the emotional impact."

—Left_Adeptness7386

20. "Sweeney Todd (unpopular opinion). It's hard to capture Sondheim properly, and they failed at almost every stop. This story needs to be Shakespearean, incredibly complex, and highly absurd in order for it to work. They reached for it all, but landed at none. Also, they started the dreadful trend of having tenors singing Sweeney's part, and I can't forgive that."

—Astlay

21. "The Into The Woods movie SUCKS ASS I hate it so much. They cut out 'No More' (literally a pivotal moment in the baker’s character development) and cut the narrator and the mysterious old man entirely?? And kept Rapunzel alive?????? Not to mention JAMES CORDEN. UGHHHH I hate this movie."

—astrologia47

And because these two were such popular answers, we had to give a special shoutout (or side-eye?) to what might just be the most universally hated movie musical adaptations...

22. "Cats is genuinely one of the worst films I've ever seen. I thought it would be funny as a hate-watch, but it wasn't even 'so bad it's good.' It was just awful and made me sick to my stomach at several different moments lol."

—static_779

"I mean Cats is so obviously the worst so it shouldn’t count to say Cats hahaha."

—No_Seaweed6675

"Cats was horrific and I wonder how anybody got roped into it. The cast was stacked."

—basedfrosti

23. "The Mean Girls musical movie adaptation was awful. It felt like they were embarrassed they were making a musical."

—Brixabrak

"The Mean Girls musical movie was one of the worst things i’ve ever seen."

—C00kieDemon

Let us know your all-time favourite and most hated movie musicals in the comments — I'll go first: I LOVE Mamma Mia (yes, even with Pierce Brosnan's...unique singing, it's campy!), and I HATED the Mean Girls movie musical. Not super original answers, I know...sue me.😅😅

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Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.