A "Wicked" Encore: 10 More 2000s Broadway Musicals We Want as Films
We're excited to see Elphaba and Galinda on the big screen, but there are other big Broadway shows from the Aughts deserving their movie moment
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Jon M. Chu's film adaptation of Wicked — starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande — opens in theaters this weekend, and all signs point to a magical box-office debut.
We're super excited to see Wicked at the movies, and it made us think about OTHER 2000s Broadway musicals that could make dazzling big-screen adaptations.
Note that for this list we're keeping it to Broadway shows that debuted between 2000 and 2009; maybe we'll tackle the 2010s in a subsequent post. (Book of Mormon is just BEGGING to be a movie...)
10. Xanadu
The 1980 musical film Xanadu is a mess and a flop; not even the potent charms of Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly could make it work.
BUT, that Electric Light Orchestra soundtrack is transcendent, and it includes some show-stopping musical numbers, some of them including rollerskates!
(Seriously, if you’ve never watched the climactic scene of that movie, take 4 minutes and be transported.)
All of that is why it was adapted for Broadway in 2007, taking most of the songs from the film, adding some additional ELO and ONJ hits, and amping up the Greek mythology and camp.
The show ran for more than 500 performances and helped cement Cheyenne Jackson as a star. There is a great movie to be made here, although tonally it needs to be reworked. Imagine Sabrina Carpenter in the lead role. It could work!
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The 1980 musical film Xanadu was a disaster, but the bones are there for a great remake based on the 2000s Broadway version.
9. Seussical
You would think that a musical tapping into the whimsical world of Dr. Seuss would be a smash hit. The sets! The costumes!
It's built for spectacle, and the children's book source material has sold more than 600 million books. Everyone knows at least ONE Dr. Seuss story. But Seussical was a flop when it opened in 2000, closing after fewer than 200 performances.
Even bringing in Rosie O'Donnell — who was a huge star at the time — to play Cat in the Hat couldn't save it.
But the show has gone on to do brisk business for regional theaters and schools, which means there's a whole generation with big nostalgia for Seussical.
A strong director who leans on the absurdity and amps up the effects, and a big, hammy star as the Cat, could create a family crowdpleaser. Honestly, the music is catchy.
8. Urinetown
I don't know as Urinetown would have broad appeal as a film, but I do think it could do well from a critical/awards perspective — especially given that its political subject matter feels more relevant than ever.
The show ran for four years, nearly 1,000 performances, and took home major awards , including the Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Score in a musical.
The concept of a corrupt government fleecing its citizenry so relentlessly that they have to pay corporations to even use the bathroom seemed outlandish a quarter of a century ago. Heading into 2025? Seems about right!
Imagine A24 taking on this project as a low-budget musical, a la the bonkers Dicks: The Musical from 2023. Which, admittedly, flopped. But it's a hoot!
7. Spamalot
A Broadway revival of this Monty Python show opened and closed in the past year, playing just six months and featuring stars like Taran Killam, Michael Urie, and Jonathan Bennett.
So that's not great. There actually was a film adaptation in the works earlier this decade, but writer Eric Idle later said that other members of Monty Python had killed the project. A bummer.
I think — like Hairspray — the musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail could work better as a film than it did on the stage. The music is great, and with the right cast this could be an instant comedy classic.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the inspiration for Broadway's Spamalot, which could make for a hilarious film on its own.
6. Aida
This show is ripe for a movie. While there have been film adaptations of Verdi's opera Aida, we have yet to get a movie of Disney's Broadway musical, featuring a scorching soundtrack by Elton John and Tim Rice.
The show won four Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, and had a hit song on radio with "Written in the Stars," recorded by John and LeeAnn Rimes.
A story of love and war set in Egypt, casting could be tricky in a contemporary Hollywood. But there are banger songs in this show — "My Strongest Suit," "Fortune Favors the Brave," "The Gods Love Nubia" — that could be Oscar bait for the right actor.
5. American Idiot
This modern rock musical was created by Green Day to protest the political situation around the George W. Bush presidency, which seems positively quaint given the reality in which we now exist.
While the actual narrative of the show doesn't relate to exactly what we're going through in this moment, the songs still capture the anger and hopelessness that many in this country are feeling, on both sides of the political spectrum.
The show initially ran for a year on Broadway, and also won the Grammy for Best Musical Show Album.
Grunge rockers Green Day explored the political turmoil of the 2000s with American Idiot on Broadway; could they do the same on screen for the 2020s?
4. Next to Normal
Another musical that would arguably work better as a film.
Next to Normal is, on its face, a small story of one suburban family struggling with modern life, especially mental illness, addiction, and grief. It's an astonishing powerful show, with a twist mid-way through that can wreck an audience.
The show opened on Broadway in 2009 and ran until early 2011, with 700-plus performances. It won the Tony Award for Best Original Score, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama — not too shabby.
The music is also beautiful, and heartbreaking. The right actress would be practically guaranteed an Oscar nom playing the mother, and the son could be a breakout role for a younger actor (as it was for Aaron Tveit on Broadway). Probably the show with the most Hollywood potential on this list.
3. Legally Blonde The Musical
It's been nearly 25 years since Legally Blonde was released in theaters, and nearly 20 years since this musical arrived on Broadway.
I will repeat what I have said about this stupid show since the first time I saw it: This is so much better than it has any right to be. Adapting the story from the film more or less directly (with some smart tweaks to the legal case to maximize the theatricality), it features killer tracks courtesy of Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe.
Seriously, if you have not listened to this Original Broadway Cast Recording, featuring Laura Bell Bundy, Christian Borle, Annaleigh Ashford, and others, please do. The show got significant play on MTV in the 2000s, with a made-for-TV stage recording, and even a reality show casting the replacement Elle. But a proper film adaptation is what I want. The defense rests!
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The early 2000s rom com Legally Blonde was turned into a surprisingly terrific Broadway musical — which should in turn be turned into a movie.
2. Spring Awakening
I have to assume that this iconic show – which won the Tony for Best Musical, Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical, and Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album – has not yet made the leap to the screen because it’s literally all about teenagers having sex, and the disastrous consequences of doing it.
That’s an oversimplification, but given the popularity of this show and the strength of Duncan Sheik’s music, it’s otherwise a slam dunk as a film.
The original Broadway run went from 2006 to 2009 for 850+ performances, and minted stars like Jonathan Groff, Lea Michele, Skylar Astin, and John Gallagher Jr.
Getting the tone and cast right would very much be threading a needle – especially given the social environment we seem to be heading into – but songs like “My Junk,” “Touch Me,” “Left Behind,” “Those You’ve Known,” etc. were MADE to be on the big screen.
1. Avenue Q
Speaking of shows that would shock movie audiences, I give you Avenue Q.
Arguably the most successful show on this list, Avenue Q had 6,500+ performances between its Broadway and Off-Broadway runs 2003 to 2019.
It won the Tony trifecta for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score. It’s easy to understand why. This adult-oriented parody of Sesame Street skewers the realities of being an adult in a world where disillusion lies around every corner, mixing both human actors and puppets. And those puppets engage in some very un-Disney-like behavior.
The show would require some reworking for a film – I don’t know how you even attempt the Gary Coleman character at this point, and there's some stereotypes with Christmas Eve that are...challenging.
But smart people were behind this on Broadway, and if this can make it to movie theaters, I think it would be a huge hit. I ask, "What do you do with a BA in English?" — or Journalism, in my case — on a daily basis.
Eric Rezsnyak is the founder and host of the Great Pop Culture Debate podcast. He is a journalist, writer, cultural critic, and trivia champion.