"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES---
"THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS
"The one I've always had in the back of my mind, but will never lift a finger to pursue, is Ray Bradbury's"Something Wicked This Way Comes." ________________________________________
I LOVE this idea. It would be perfect - as long as they didn't Disney-ized it.
crzyray, I also wrote a play based on the Shadow Children! Mine covered the first two books. I don't really know how it would work as a musical though... can you really imagine the Population Police singing? But then again... I like your idea of having Nina as an old woman. Lately I've been thinking it would probably be best as a tv mini-series, just so each book could get the time it deserves. Good luck finishing it :)
Some of John Irving's stuff might work...like Widow for One Year.
The problem is that most really good books go way beyond just plot and dialog to explore, through masterful use of narrative and language, nuances of thought and experience. That's why you don't often see Joyce, Faulkner, or Proust, for example, on stage or screen.
There actually was an aborted attempt at a musical of the Great Gatsby, instigated by producer David Merrick, with music by Lee Pockriss (composer of "Tovaritch") and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh ("Wildcat", "Little Me"). One of the songs they wrote for it (a big number for Daisy Buchanan), called "Sooner Or Later" is sung by Sarah Zahn on her "songs of Carolyn Leigh" album, "Witchcraft".
I would love to see (and hear) a completed "Gatsby" musical - it's one of my all time favorite novels.
THEATRE 2020: CURTAINS**** LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE GIRLS***** WICKED***** KEITH RAMSAY TAKING NOTES WITH EDWARD SECKERSON***** KAYLEIGH MCKNIGHT CONCERT***** RAGS***** ON MCQUILLAN'S HILL** DEAR EVAN HANSEN***** THE JURY***
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Idyll of Sarah Brown The Diary of Adam and Eve 7 1/2 Cents Tales of the South Pacific The Ugly Duckling Pride and Prejudice and, for good measure...
While The Catcher in the Rye would be amazing, no JD Salinger book or short story will ever be adapted again. There was an adaptation of one of his short stories done when he was alive, and he detested it so much that he barred anyone from ever adapting any of his works again. And his estate has kept this as a clause. Wah wah.
I heard they were in talks to develop How I Paid For College into a musical, which would be amazing!
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Agree to Ella Enchanted as long as whoever writes it stays true to the book and doesn't go for cheap laughs like the awful movie verison.
I'm surprised that with the success of Wicked no one has tried adapting another Gregory Maguire novel. I think Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister could work with the right composer/writer/director.
this is gonna seem strange...but what about the book "Night" by that one man who survived the holacuast (I think I didnt spell that right) its pretty violent, and prolly would be disturbing
I completely disagree about Night. (It was written by Elie Wiesel by the way.) I think that a musical set in Auschwitz... well, I couldn't sit through that.
I didnt say it would be a good idea, I said right away it would be disturbing. Though, they BETTER make a movie out of it, its a great book. And The Pearl I picture more of a off broadway, one act show.
i strongly disagree about "Night" as well. that would be really disturbing. if you do want to make a musical about the Holocaust, i would recommend turning "Life Is Beautiful" (the film) as this sort of takes things into a lighter hearted fair.
i think a "Catcher In the Rye" musical seems laughable as well and NOT a good musical.
the book i have ALWAYS dreamed of addapting to stage is "Dancer From the Dance" by Andrew Holleran. it's about a young gay boy who comes to NYC in the era of the Disco and gets used up by the gay community and the men in clubs. there's a drag queen who sort of teaches everything to him and people recounting the "book" after they've already stepped up and out of the picture. it just seems "classic" if you ask me.
An off the beaten path suggestion but I read this biography recently called "Candy Girl", and it's the biography of a stripper, and I thought it would make a fantastic Off-Broadway musical, it could be done REALLY well.
"the book i have ALWAYS dreamed of addapting to stage is "Dancer From the Dance" by Andrew Holleran. it's about a young gay boy who comes to NYC in the era of the Disco and gets used up"
A beautifully written book full of rich characters and situations, could be an incredible night of musical theater. Now go and write it!