Adapting Novels for Theatre is Lazy!

[DavidWalcot]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 9:12am

Is adapting novels for theatre or film basically stealing someone elses ideas? isn't it just being lazy? Can anyone defend the modern trend for un-original theatre?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 9:13am

There is a book called "Gone With the Wind" -- might make a good movie.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 9:18am

Personally, I don't think there's anything lazy about it. Some people are just better at adaptation - a song writer might want to do songs based on ideas in a book or play and then, whaddaya know? they've got a musical!...

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 9:21am

it may be lazy, but it's hardly a "modern trend."

south pacific from "tales of the south pacific" by james michener

big river from the "tales of huckleberry finn" by mark twain

the king and i from "anna and the king of siam" by margaret landon

west side story from "romeo and juliet" by william shakespeare

show boat based from "show boat" by edna ferber

oklahoma from the play "green grow the lilacs" by lynn riggs

so it might be lazy, but it has still given us some of the classics of musical theatre. please feel free folks to fill in anymore you can think of...

Updated On: 4/16/04 at 09:21 AM

[orion59]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 9:21am

I would say no to both questions. If a novel is popular and seems to adapt to the stage or film, it has a good chance of being a successful play or movie. In that sense, it seems a good idea to use a story that has proven audience appeal. As far as laziness, I don't think it's being lazy to take someone elses work and adapt it. The amount of worjk that goes into adapting a novel for stage or screen is probably equal to writing an original work. The stage or screen writer has to scale down the story from the novel and do so without losing any of the story or teh novels integrity. Not an easy task.
Wicked is a good example of that. It was novel that seemingly would make a good stage play but, the story suffers in having so much deleted for the sake of time and music.

Using someone's novel as the basis for a play is nevre "stealing" since the novelist has to agree to the purcahse of the ringhts and often has some part in the screen or play adaptation.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 9:21am

For the 146,879,234,824,236 time: musicals are generally speaking adaptations. Truly original shows are the exception, not the rule.

If you think it's a 'modern trend' you know nothing about the history of opera or musical theater.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 9:23am

johnpopa, was it the 146,879,234,824,236 time? because i was almost sure it was only the 146,879,234,824,235th

and not for nuthin' but this sure seems like it would be a main board thread...no sex, no politics, just theatre? away with this thread i say!

Updated On: 4/16/04 at 09:23 AM

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 10:19am

isn't most opera an adaptation of a story in another form?

[orion59]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 10:26am

Opera, plays, movies, most everything we watch is, if not adapted directly, inspired by some classic piece of literature. If you look closely enough, you can see that there is very little that is original. If i may again use the example of Wicked. The play is based on the novel which is based on a previous novel which inspired a movie. The original Frank Baum novel is probably loosely based on and old folk tale originally told centeruries ago.

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 10:27am

didn't somebody say somewhere on this board that there are only 27 different plots in the known universe?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 11:03am

DavidWalcot, are you the poster formerly also as Sandbagtheaterco? Cuz I feel like we're being inundated by questions for dissertations. And it would be so much better to actually do RANDOM surveys rather than letting people select in.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 12:33pm

I started a thread a little while ago asking for a list of musicals that were 100% original. The list was TINY.

Further support that this is in NO way a modern trend: most all of Shakespeare's plays are adaptations!!

And, I thought the criticism of adapting films into musicals was a bit impetuous...

[MusicMan]

Posted: 4/16/04 at 10:44pm

Depends on the novels and the authors doing the adaptations.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/18/04 at 1:16am

I said that there are only 27 different plots in the known universe. My math teacher told me that, and it seems justifiable. Most stories are (at there core) exaclty the same. You can sprinkle them all you want, but in the end weather it's a beast in a castle, a hunchback in a tower or a Phantom at the opera, it's the same love story at the core. Especially musicals. A musical that is not a love story like CATS or Peter Pan is an exception. Most musicals are love stories.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/18/04 at 1:16am

I said that there are only 27 different plots in the known universe. My math teacher told me that, and it seems justifiable. Most stories are (at there core) exaclty the same. You can sprinkle them all you want, but in the end weather it's a beast in a castle, a hunchback in a tower or a Phantom at the opera, it's the same love story at the core. Especially musicals. A musical that is not a love story like CATS or Peter Pan is an exception. Most musicals are love stories.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/18/04 at 1:18am

The challenge for writers is to make it seem like a new story even though we're sitting through it for the umpteenth time.....

[sandbagtheatreco]

Posted: 4/18/04 at 8:26am

It's not stealing someone elses idea-it's more about appreciation for a novel- bad novels are less likely to get adapted. It's only stealing if the adaptor is trying to take the all the credit.Or, the adaptor ruins the original which in turn takes away from it-ie: the film version of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'.....appauling, absolutely appauling!!!

he he- someone thought you were me! lol

[citylights]

Posted: 4/18/04 at 6:23pm

CATSNYrevival, that is really interesting. I've never thought about it that way. Do you have any sort of list of them? I wonder how many current shows would fit into the same plot categories, etc.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/18/04 at 6:29pm

omygod, just about EVERY musical out there is based on a book.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/18/04 at 7:08pm

I tried to compile a list, but it's tough. A lot of stories are the same or have similar qualities. It would be tough to try and compile 27 categories of stories that are completely different. But if anyone want's to help! I'd be willing to try!

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 4/19/04 at 7:40am

hmmm, i don't know if Assassins based on a book, or most of Sondheim's work, for that matter...

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 4/19/04 at 9:42am

Night Music is based on a movie. Passion is also, I think, but could be wrong about that one.

Merrily and Sweeney are based on plays. (And sort of so is Company, although the plays were never produced, nor do they exist anymore besides being parts of Company.)

[wildparty20]

Posted: 4/19/04 at 10:55pm

Yes, Passion was adapted from the foreign film "Passione D'Amore" which I think was adapted from a novel. I think the "trend" of adaptation today is interesting. It used to be that Hollywood would adapt plays and musicals from Broadway in the Golden Age and before (Stage Door, The Philadelphia Story, all of the golden age musical hits). However, since the 80's when "42nd St." was adapted, it's been the other way around (Full Monty, Graduate, Hairspray, Singin' in the Rain, Grand Hotel, Nine, High Society, etc). Was "42nd Street" the first adaptation of film to stage of a musical? Anyone know? I can't think of any others.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/20/04 at 2:10pm

Grand Hotel was adapted way before the Tommy Tune production and was entitled At the Grand. Some of the original songs were used for Grand Hotel.

The novel Passion was based on is Fosca by Tarchetti.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 4/22/04 at 1:54am

"it may be lazy, but it's hardly a "modern trend."

south pacific from "tales of the south pacific" by james michener

big river from the "tales of huckleberry finn" by mark twain

the king and i from "anna and the king of siam" by margaret landon

west side story from "romeo and juliet" by william shakespeare

show boat based from "show boat" by edna ferber

oklahoma from the play "green grow the lilacs" by lynn riggs

so it might be lazy, but it has still given us some of the classics of musical theatre. please feel free folks to fill in anymore you can think of... "

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