Leave Broadway Alone

Concerning the movie version of “The Fantasticks” and Michael Phillips’ lament over Hollywood’s lackluster record in turning stage musical hits into celluloid pleasures (“These Movies Aren’t Singing Our Song,” Sept. 24): As far as I’m concerned, if Tinseltown never tries singing another Broadway show, I won’t feel deprived.

For my eyes and ears, the best movie musicals ever made (“The Band Wagon,” “The Gang’s All Here,” “Gigi”) were written expressly for the screen and thus did not have to be artificially reconfigured for movieland. Musical theater lovers would be better served by simple, faithful filmed versions of actual performances of classic musicals (which, hint, hint, are getting regularly revived these days).

Something like I understand they did with “New Faces of 1952.” Something that would surely have spared shows like “Flower Drum Song” and “Guys and Dolls” the guillotine jobs committed by misguided, inept or sadistic movie directors.

DAVID LEWIS

Piedmont