<HTML><HEAD></HEAD>
<BODY dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-outline-level: 2"
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">What Were They Thinking:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>From Stage to
Screen</FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN></B> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Bob Abelman</FONT></FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald,
The Morning Journal</FONT></FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN style="COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
face=Arial><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Member, International Association of
Theatre Critics</FONT></FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 12pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: "><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </FONT></SPAN><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt" face=Arial> </FONT></SPAN></I><SPAN
style="COLOR: "></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"
align=center><FONT face="Times New Roman"><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“All the world's a
stage.”</SPAN></I><SPAN class=apple-converted-space><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><BR></SPAN><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">~ From the 2006 film “As You Like
It”</FONT></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN></B> </P>
<P
style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">New York</SPAN>
magazine called it a "tasteless bombardment” and The Hollywood Reporter referred
to it as “musical diarrhea.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P
style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: baseline; BACKGROUND: white; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>Despite its
box office success – </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: ">$148 million domestic
and $283 million worldwide – most critics of the film version of the Broadway
musical “</SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic'>Les
Misérables”</SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'> wrote
disparaging reviews.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">They haven’t been much kinder to NBC’s recent efforts to
bring live theater back to the small screen – where it was a mainstay in the
1950s – with recent broadcasts of “The Sound of Music”
(“As</FONT></SPAN><STRONG><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in">
lifeless as those alpine backdrops,” </SPAN></STRONG><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Variety</FONT></SPAN><STRONG><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in">),</SPAN></STRONG><SPAN
class=apple-converted-space><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BACKGROUND-IMAGE: none; BACKGROUND-REPEAT: repeat; BACKGROUND-ATTACHMENT: scroll; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; BACKGROUND-POSITION: 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
face=Arial><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt"> </FONT></FONT></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman">“Peter Pan” (“Fails to take flight,” NY Daily News) and
“The Wiz” ( “A hot mess,” The Daily Beast).<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'><FONT
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: ; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"'>Most of the
negative commentary revolved around the intrusion of the camera when going from
stage to screen, which The New York Times referred to as the “</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: ">inability to leave any lily ungilded, to direct a scene
without tilting or hurtling or throwing the camera around.”<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman">And this isn’t just a problem
with musicals, for the history of filmed theater in general doesn’t have a great
track record in this regard.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Have
you seen “Spinning Into Butter” (“A movie taking a fairly interesting premise…
and, through sheer incompetence, turning it into an unwatchable mess,” The
Washington Times)?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman">The National Theatre in
London attempted to bridge this chasm in storytelling modalities by taking a
different approach to adapting stage productions for the big screen, called NT
Live.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 12pt"><FONT
face=Arial><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">For more of this article, go to </FONT></SPAN></I><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
color=#0563c1>www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/</FONT></SPAN></I></FONT><I
style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN
style="BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt; FONT-FAMILY: ; BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt; COLOR: ; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">.</FONT><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></I></FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>