Things That Should Never Happen: An Animal House Musical

Because even Broadway is afraid of green-lighting an original concept, Universal Pictures Stage Productions announced today that “Animal House: The Musical” is currently in development. At times like these, I look around to make sure reality isn’t actually some giant artistic social experiment by Banksy.

If this didn’t sound cruel enough already to the “Animal House devotees of the world, the news was announced today on the 30th anniversary of John Belushi’s death. So instead of talking about how Belushi transformed comedic acting in such a short amount of time, everyone is talking about “Animal House: The Musical” (yes, I am guilty of this too). Turning “Animal House” into a musical would be a disservice to everything the brothers of the Delta House stood for. “The Lion King” lent itself to a successful musical because it already was one, and “Hairspray” lent itself well to the format (even if it sacrificed some of John Waters’s best black humor). And for every “Saturday Night Fever,” there is a “Carrie.”

“Animal House” is the kind of story that wouldn’t function as well in today’s world, as so many knockoffs immediately followed it. But instead of discussing this, honor Belushi (and “Animal House”) with these great clips after the jump:

Belushi amazingly steals this entire scene with one brief yelp. 


AND he can impersonate Brando.