Inside the Archives: It’s Lights, Curtains, Action When Sundance Films Become Stage Productions
Bailey Pennick
By Jen ScottIt’s time to unwrap those noisy candies and put your phone on silent because it’s time for the show to begin! March 27 marks the annual observance of “World Theatre Day,” a day to celebrate the value and importance of theater around the world. So let’s celebrate this art form by taking a
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Hairspray (1988)

There are a handful of works that have traveled down the movie-to-stage-musical-to-movie-musical pipeline, the most recent of which is Mean Girls. John Waters’ Hairspray is one of those films and its stage adaptation has become a fan favorite of the modern musical scene. The original film version of Hairspray was part of the Dramatic Competition of the 1988 United States Film Festival. Starring Ricki Lake as the upbeat and optimistic Tracy Turnblad, this music-filled comedy is set in Baltimore in 1962 and centers around Tracy’s attempt to integrate the television dance program The Corny Collins Show.

Once (2007)

Writer-director John Carney began making his mark at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 with the romantic drama Once. The story focuses on a Dublin busker who meets a young Czech immigrant and the pair start playing music together and decide to record an album. The film stars the members of The Swell Season, a folk rock duo comprised of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. They wrote the song “Falling Slowly” for the film, which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Once was well received at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic category.

The musical adaptation of Once premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2011 before transferring to Broadway in 2012. The Tony Award–winning musical is unique in the fact that the cast also serves as the orchestra, playing the instruments on stage. The set also had a bar on center stage which was used before the show and at intermission as a working bar for theater patrons.