Why musicals have disappeared is an interesting question. I think part of it is the change Broadway went through in the 70's. The type of show that was often borrowed by Hollywood was replaced, first by experimental, stagy shows like Chicago and Chorus Line (bare, minimalist stage, little plot), then the large fully sung monsters introduced to us by British creators. These are damned HARD to translate to film, at least well, and there's a good reason it took decades for someone to attempt Chicago or Phantom. Annie was one of the last old guard shows.

Another factor is the cost of Broadway musicals. They're now incredibly expensive to produce: I think Wicked, the day it opened, needed to sell out for almost two years to BREAK EVEN. This means there is LESS incentive to allow a filmed version. A movie means people don't have to go to NYC to see the live version. It means the touring version will draw less. You only do a movie when, literally, you've sucked all the money out of every other profit stream.

There's also changing musical tastes, on and off broadway. You just don't get Broadway songs on the radio any more. "Tomorrow" from Annie was played on top 40 stations in the late 70's, and "One Night in Bangkok" from CHESS was a hit, but there's very little crossover now. No one even tries.

Good point, I hadn't even thought of casting.

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There are so few filmed performances that there's little you can generalize about them. Usually they're done at the end of a run, as you said, or are even one off versions. PBS has aired some. Personally, I dislike the ones that are "cinematic", as opposed to just pointing the camera at the stage, mostly because they often are filmed without an audience. I want the actors to feed off the applause.

The lack of original movie musicals may have a bit to do with the problem of doing movies in general. Nobody is going to green light an unknown project, and no creator is going to bring their original show to Hollywood when they have a much better chance of getting it first performed on the stage. Gone are the days when a studio will have in house composers to provide songs for films (and, lets face it, most movie musicals used existing hit songs as a way to sell records, and you can get that now by just playing the song over a scene). I'm sure the reason we don't get musicals in independent films is many of those are from writer/directors, and very few of those are also songwriters, or willing to bring in yet another creator to interfere with their vision.

A little disappointed you guys didn't talk about Whedon's musicals (Dr. Horrible and Once More With Feeling, the Buffy episode).

But a good discussion, glad there wasn't too much musical hate (or really none at alll).

Pft. I coulda done it.

/make assertions you'll never have to live up to day