Broadway fans rejoice! The Tony-winning musical “Hadestown,” a sung-through retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, is not only now in the West End, but it brought the original Broadway cast back—and filmed it! Details on the release date of the “Hadestown” proshot are murky, but it was filmed back in late February or early March with original cast members—Reeve Carney as Orpheus, André De Shields as Hermes, Amber Gray as Persephone, and Eva Noblezada as Eurydice—at the Lyric Theatre in London. This release comes on the heels of numerous recent film releases from the musical world in the past five years—“Wicked” (2024), “Mean Girls” (2024), “Dear Evan Hansen” (2021) and the “Hamilton” proshot way back in 2020. With a “Six” proshot also on the horizon, one might wonder which format is better for releasing a musical to the movie-watching public: proshots or movie adaptations?
Before I can tell you all about why proshots are the superior musical-film format, it would be beneficial to go through some definitions. “Proshot” is a portmanteau of “professionally shot” and refers to a professional filming of a stage production, live and in the theater. “Hamilton” and “Newsies” on Disney+ are perfect examples of this. A proshot combines elements of traditional filmmaking (multiple angles, close-ups, etc.) with the live nature and charm of a stage performance.
On the other hand, movie adaptations are stage plays reworked for the screen, a process that often involves reimaginings and wide creative license as the silver screen has fewer restrictions than a stage. As they typically have theatrical releases (“Wicked”) and/or end up on popular streaming services (“Tick, Tick… BOOM!” on Netflix), movie adaptations often are more accessible and give a musical a wider audience than is often possible in the exclusive (and expensive) nature of Broadway.
Every strength is a hidden weakness, though. As a genre, movie adaptations are quite a mixed bag. Some recent adaptations, like “In the Heights,” released to much critical and audience acclaim, while others (looking at you, “Dear Evan Hansen”) were critical failures and massive disappointments to fans. The main problems of movie adaptations, in my opinion, stem from their creative freedom and need to adapt to a wider commercial audience. Because the musical genre is niche, sacrifices and changes are made which risk alienating devoted fans and commercial audiences, who might find spontaneous singing off-putting.
For example, when “Mean Girls” was re-adapted from screen to musical and back, the trailers and marketing seriously downplayed the fact that the movie was a musical and not just a remake. The movie also cut fourteen songs from the stage version and modified (read: butchered) another ("Stupid with Love"). It falls into the same traps that other kinds of remakes often do: too different for original fans, and too similar to the original for outsiders. The creative carte blanche offered by movies are a blessing and a curse.
Although rarer and much more difficult to come by, proshots don’t have these same problems. Proshots are aimed at musical theater fans, who are in some way invested in the live shows, and so have less need to cater to broad tastes. Committed fans often want to see the original Broadway cast (especially after the show has finished its run) and hear their favorite songs sung with their original blocking. A proshot more accurately captures the creators’ vision and the spirit of the show, without bending out of shape to accommodate the musical-hating masses.
Ultimately, which format you prefer will come down to your preferences and priorities. People who want faithful reproductions of their B-way favorites will love proshots. People who want to see a musical on the big screen and want (or at least don’t mind) a different take on their favorite stories and songs are well-served by movie adaptations. Movies have the opportunity to do a lot, but sometimes they do too much. They’re best enjoyed as their own thing, separate from the stage production.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.