From Screen to Stage: Arab Films We’re Eager to See as Musicals
Watching a film is already an immersive and entertaining experience. Now imagine your favorite film coming to life on the stage. Imagine getting up close and personal with each character to the point where you can see specks of sweat gleaming from the stage lights.
For a bit of fun, these are the Arab films we’d love to see reimagined as stage musicals:
Sa’eedi in the American University (Egypt)
Dressed in his iconic bright yellow suit, we all remember Mohamed Henedi when he enrolled in the American University in Egypt. He was a real fish out of water, having come from Upper Egypt to the bustling city of Cairo to attend the university.
That mix of the two worlds made for some iconic entertainment. With its iconic status shining through, we can easily see it as a stage musical.
It already has a fun roster of original songs that can be perfect for the stage, including “Kajweloh,” a song about Henedi trying to be “Americanized” and “cool.” To this day, this song is blasted at every wedding and even remixed into new versions by the likes of Disco Misr.
The fact that it is set in a university makes it easy to bring to life on the stage. Then there are the wacky outfits. What more do you need?
Where Do We Go Now? (Lebanon)
Set within a unique village in Lebanon where a half-Muslim, half-Christian population live in unity, in an almost utopian world, is Nadine Labaki’s “Where Do We Go Now?”.
The film gets juicy when a tide of violence between Muslims and Christians ripples through Lebanon. To tame the risk of violence between the Muslim and Christian men in the village, the women group together and use creative means to keep the men off each other’s throats.
Now, with it set in a tiny village where locals are the main characters, it will be easy to bring it to life on the stage. Each of the characters is unique and hilarious in their own right.
The film even has its own songs, like “Hashish Of My Heart.” It shows a typical day in the village, where most of the village’s women cook together. That quaint and simple village life, coupled with the funny antics the women get into, makes for a fun story to bring to life on the stage.
The Idol (Palestine)
Many musicals that have made their way to the Broadway stage have actually been derived from real life, whether it is Evita, a drama based on the life of Eva Peron, or Hamilton, the musical that follows the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
That is why we think it is about time to transform the biopic film The Idol into a stage musical. The film is about Mohammad Assaf, a singer from Gaza who, in 2013, won the Pan-Arab singing competition, Arab Idol.
Bringing this story to life on the stage can be very doable, considering that most of the film includes performances and singing moments dotted throughout.
A Break of Happy Moments (Egypt)
Parallel universes are pretty cool. Imagine getting to meet an alternative version of yourself, living a completely different life. This concept has been used over and over again in more films and TV shows than one can count. Being so appealing, we think it can make for a great concept on the live stage.
One Arab film in particular that brings that concept to life is Hesham Maged and Hana El Zahed’s comedic flick “A Break Of Happy Moments”.
In the film, we get to see a married couple living in utter chaos in a whimsical and odd home, one where the water doesn’t work, and the toilet is so high to the point that it needs steps to be reached.
When a magical portal appears out of thin air, the husband gets zapped to an alternative universe where he and his wife are rich and live in a Disneyland world. So, he takes the other husband’s place and takes on his life.
What makes this perfect for the stage are the whimsical costumes, from the gaudy and tacky outfits worn in the old universe to the bright and flamboyant attire donned in the Disneyland alternative.
The set itself is exciting to turn into a reality, seeing how it is full of topsy-turvy and whimsy. The story itself is enticing and full of action, making the stage the perfect setting to bring it to life.
Sukkar (Pan-Arab)
This should already be a given, considering that this film is already a full-fledged musical. We are talking about Sukkar, the first ever Pan-Arab musical that hit the cinema screens, one where the main characters are young kids in an orphanage who try to escape the harshness of the orphanage manager.
We already saw Annie take over our stage and screen, so why not have the same thing happen with Sukkar? We can even picture the musical taking to the stage with the very same cast that brought it to life on the cinema screen.
What do you think of our picks? Can these films really be recreated on the stage and bring us the same vigour and excitement that they brought over to our screens?
