Ahead of those releases, we’ve also seen Netflix’s The Boys in the Band, which was a feature adaptation of a play that had been revived. It included the same cast of Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, etc, and was directed by Joe Mantello, who helmed the Broadway version of his movie two years before that. It’s quite rare to see Broadway carry over like that so directly, and it certainly may have been too niche of a film to make movie theater potential, but thanks to streaming, the possibilities expand. Netflix also released its own original Broadway-esque musicals with the hit-making Jingle Jangle and even Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square. Before this year, a Netflix original musical, mind three, was unheard of.
