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Broadway musicals were a ready source for the early musicals, and RKO's smash Rio Rita led the way. Some of the adaptations were close, while others strayed wildly from the originals. Among the Broadway stars repeating their stage roles were Irene Bordoni in Paris, and Ziegfeld diva Marilyn Miller in Sally. Such films as No, No Nanette bore less resemblance to the stage success than it did to the thriving backstage genre. Composers DeSylva, Brown and Henderson found their works transferred more successfully than did Rodgers and Hart or Cole Porter. By the time of the most lavish Broadway adaptation, Whoopee!, musicals were in decline, yet with Eddie Cantor, Busby Berkeley, and Technicolor it scored a notable success.

This chapter begins with a description of the Ziegfelds’ lifestyle in Palm Beach. Included are previously unpublished letters between Burke and Ziegfeld concerning her conflicted feelings about the Florida resort town and Patricia’s impressions of it. Ziegfeld’s gambling problem reaches a climax at Palm Beach, provoking Burke to pack her bags and threaten to leave, after which Ziegfeld’s affairs and gambling decline noticeably. He attempts to launch a new revue, Palm Beach Nights (aka No Foolin’), and produces an unsuccessful Rodgers and Hart show called Betsy. Once Ziegfeld’s theater is completed, his luck changes. He premieres a new show, Rio Rita, which wins much acclaim. Ziegfeld’s winning streak continues as his comeback Follies of 1927 at the New Amsterdam reunites him with Eddie Cantor and garners enthusiastic reviews. Ziegfeld’s next project, Show Boat, will be the biggest risk of his career.

This chapter charts the constantly fraught relationship between musical theatre and musical film—mutually dependent, often hazardous, sometimes respectful, occasionally disastrous. It considers musicals from The Desert Song in late 1928 to Anything Goes and Show Boat in 1936, to Annie Get Your Gun and My Fair Lady and Evita and onward to Les Miz. The chapter then examines the difficulties—and potential rewards—in adapting theatrical shows onto film. The chapter looks at the problem of too much fidelity or too little, the question of how many songs should be retained, problems related to length, the conflicts between realism and stylization, and the relative merits of perceived staginess versus those of cinematic potential.