The list of albums which have been transformed into stage musicals is not a long one. There’s Tommy by the Who, of course. And, a few years back, there was a small-scale staging in New York of Matthew Sweet’s awesome 1991 collection Girlfriend. But, while a glut of so-called "jukebox musicals" have appeared over the past couple of decades, there has been a distinct lack of productions that brought a single album to all-singing, all-dancing life. Until now! Last year it was announced Harvey Weinstein is producing a theatrical adaptation of Pink Floyd’s The Wall and today came the somewhat unlikely news that Spring Awakening director Michael Mayer is overseeing a musical version of Green Day’s 2004 opus American Idiot. Which made us wonder what other albums we would like to see hitting a stage near us, and which we would not. One of my colleagues suggested R Kelly’s hip-hopera Trapped In The Closet might be a suitable candidate for the Broadway treatment. On the other hand it will be a cold day in a hell that I go to see a musical based on Lou Reed’s infamously unlistenable Metal Machine Music, no matter how many hands may be "jazzed" in the production. Anyway put your thinking caps on and tell us what you think.
More on Green Day:
Green Day: Back in Black (Eyeliner, that is)
Green Day’s ’21st Century Breakdown’: We heard (some of it)!
More from EW’s Music Mix:
What’s the most heartbreaking song of all time?
Neil Young Archives: They’re really coming this summer
Woodstock 2009: No dice?
The Hold Steady’s concert DVD: An exclusive full-song preview
Warped Tour announces its 2009 lineup: NOFX, Bad Religion, Flogging Molly lead the pack
How about the B-52s’ self-titled album? I am picturing the production number for Rock Lobster…
I don’t know who I need to sleep with in order to get The Hold Steady’s “Seperation Sunday” made into some sort of production, but I am willing to take one for the team.
I have been saying for years that they should turn Nick Drake’s Bryter Layter into a musical. Call me crazy but it would be perfect. The album starts as a question about life, then turns into life’s answers all set to wonderfully harmonic and allusive lyrics. what would be better than that. It would be a love story set in the 60′s. And what musical would end better with “Northern Sky” or “Sunday”? And it has an awesome title Bryter Layter.
American Idiot would make a great musical. However, The Hazards of Love, the recently-released album by The Decemberists, MUST be made into a musical. PLEASE!
Willie Nelson’s Phases and Stages album
My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade lends itself very well to stage treatment. Hey, it’s already got Liza Minelli in it!
I’d really like to see Radiohead’s Kid A, or OK Computer, or Amnesiac on stage, perhaps in a Twyla Tharp-esque dance world. The possibilities of stories with their music are endless.
Hannah, thank you so much. Seperation Sunday needs to be a musical right now!
Muswell Hillbillies or Village Green Preservation Society by the Kinks.
“Which album would you like to see turned into a musical?” None.
Supertramp’s “Breakfast in America” would be great.
Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Joni Mitchell – The Hissing Lawns of Summer
Traffic – John Barleycorn Must Die
In a gadda da vida!!!!!
Meatloaf’s “Bat of of Hell.” It’s already so theatrical, and full of characters and conflicts. I could see a 1950′s James Dean- motor cycle vibe fitting very well!
uhhhh why hasn’t Ziggy Stardust been turned into a musical already?!?! Pretty much a no brainer there!!!
oh, wow, i came in here to suggest Greenday’s American Idiot, the Jesus of suburbia section alone is rock musical heaven. YAY.