# Broadway On September 9, 2021, Twitter user @hackermanjoe posted a two-panel joke comparing child and adult Fred Savage photos from The Princess Bride set, labeling the kid Broadway and the adult Film Adaptation. The gag targeted the newly released Dear Evan Hansen film, in which 27-year-old Ben Platt played a high-school senior. Within days, Twitter accounts were running the same format with Charlie Sheen stills and the Nevermind album baby. ## Origin Dear Evan Hansen opened the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival with Ben Platt reprising the title role he originated on Broadway in 2016. Vulture's Nate Jones wrote that Platt, now 27, looked less like a teenager and more "somewhere in his mid-40s," and compared the film to the 2009 horror movie Orphan[1]. On September 9, 2021, Twitter user @hackermanjoe posted a two-panel image of Fred Savage on the set of The Princess Bride, labeling child Savage Broadway and adult Savage Film Adaptation[2]. According to Know Your Meme's tally, the tweet drew over 800 retweets and 8,400 likes[3]. - **Platform:** Twitter - **Creator:** @hackermanjoe - **Date:** 2021 ## Overview Broadway / Film Adaptation posts work as side-by-side comparisons with two captioned images. On the left sits a child, teen or younger version of a person labeled Broadway. On the right sits a visibly older version of the same person labeled Film Adaptation. The joke lands because Hollywood often casts the original stage actors in film adaptations years after a show first opened, so the aged-up picture stands in for the dissonance of a 20- or 30-something playing a teen role[3]. Humor leans dry and visual, with no caption text beyond the two labels. Many posts use real age-gap pairings of the same person grown up, like Fred Savage before and after The Princess Bride, so the actor is literally the same human at two different ages[2]. Others use pop-culture images where no acting is involved, such as Spencer Elden as the Nevermind album baby versus Elden as an adult, which pushes the gag toward absurdity[5]. Broadway / Film Adaptation sits as an offshoot of the Netflix Adaptation meme, a related format that mocks whitewashing and other casting choices in streaming remakes[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Broadway? Broadway / Film Adaptation is a two-panel Twitter meme that pairs a young image labeled Broadway with an older image of the same person or figure labeled Film Adaptation, poking fun at Hollywood casting stage actors years after a musical's debut[3]. ### Where did Broadway come from? Twitter user @hackermanjoe posted the first version on September 9, 2021, using two Fred Savage set photos from The Princess Bride[2], in reaction to 27-year-old Ben Platt playing a high-school senior in the Dear Evan Hansen film[1]. ### What does Broadway mean? In the meme, Broadway tags the younger image and Film Adaptation tags the aged-up version, a jab at the way cinematic remakes of stage shows keep their original leads long after the actors age out of the role[1]. ### How do you use Broadway? Pair two images of the same person or figure, youthful on the left under Broadway and visibly older on the right under Film Adaptation, as @MaxHeadblog did with Charlie Sheen[4] and @bswoffs did with Spencer Elden, the Nirvana Nevermind baby[5]. ### Is Broadway still popular? Posting peaked during the Dear Evan Hansen release window in September 2021, when the Daily Dot documented the trend[6], and the two-panel template stayed usable as a quick shorthand for casting-age complaints[3]. ## References 1. [https://www.vulture.com/2021/09/dear-evan-hansen-movie-how-old-does-ben-platt-look.html]() 2. [https://twitter.com/hackermanjoe/status/1436150556230393857]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/broadway-film-adaptation]() 4. [https://twitter.com/MaxHeadblog/status/1436453806875807745]() 5. [https://twitter.com/bswoffs/status/1436437876670033920]() 6. [https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/dear-evan-hansen-broadway-vs-film-adaptation-meme/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/broadway-film-adaptation Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library