Press play. Join the chorus

Stage musicals can go quite wrong as they jump to screen. These 10 films had song and dance, but none of the cringe

- Rachel Lopez

1 Wicked (2024): How's this for a tornado? The movie is an adaptation of the stage musical. The stage musical is a prequel, the backstory of the two witches from The Wizard of Oz movie. The movie, a 1939 classic, was based on a musical. That musical also had three silent-film versions. This film has friendship and revenge, a comment on identity and power. And high notes for Glee fans.

Adapted from the play that is adapted from the opera La Boheme, which is itself based on a novel. The old story gets an update our bohemians are penniless artsy folks from NYC's East Village, who struggle with sexuality, Aids, selling out, and of course, paying rent. A flop, it's become a cult hit over the years. The highlight? The gang singing La Vie Boheme, ruining a posh party.

3 Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001): Hedwig, as in the gay, struggling East German singer, trailing Tommy ex-lover, thief, rock star.

The Angry Inch, as in a botched sex-change job that's left a stub of regret. Neil Patrick Harris plays Hedwig in the stage revival. But the movie with John Cameron Mitchell has the most heart. The wigs are big. The pants, sequinned. The comedy, tinged with emotion. The songs, part philosophy, part rock history.