Different Musical Versions of Same Story

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 7:50pm

I have a demo of a Sunset Blvd written years before ALW. No idea who wrote it. One of the memorable song titles was " You've Got To Hand To The Glands " ???

There are many Phantoms ( I have 5 different CD's) . Including a demo of DOTV, I have 11 vampire/Dracula musicals. Would love to hear Yestons La Cage " Queen of Basin Steet "

Anyone think of any others ?

[newsieboy23]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 7:55pm

I just read on playbill.com something about a new musical about Daisy and Violet Hilton... which is obviously something similar to Side Show....
Also the prince street players (i think...?) have their own versions of Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, and tons of disney-type shows.
Hmmm, there are 2 differnt versions of The Wild Party, both very different (but c'mon, its all about Lippa) and then there are 2 Anything Goes, which are both Cole Porter....

...theres a few.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 8:13pm

These spring to mind:

Phantom of the Opera
Peter Pan
The Wild Party
Cyrano
Twelfth Night
Romeo and Juliet
A Comedy of Errors
Gone With the Wind
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Streets of New York
Jane Eyre
Anne of Green Gables
The Secret Garden
The Wizard of Oz
Noah's Ark
The Gospel
The Gifts of the Magi
The Little Prince

[sean martin]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 8:24pm

Sondheim supposedly has songs he wrote for a proposed SUNSET BOULEVARD for Angela Landsbury, but I suspect those were destroyed when his apartment burned.

[Mary_Ethel]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 9:05pm

The musical version of SUNSET BOULEVARD has a long and interesting history.

First, the original film's Norma, Gloria Sawnson, said she would return to Broadway in a musical version. Two young composers took her up on the idea and wrote a song on spec about 'those wonderful people out there in the dark' for a show they called BOULEVARD.

Swanson performed that number on the Steve Allen Show in 1957, which attracted enough interest in the show to find producers. Swanson would recreate her film role as would Erich von Stroheim in the role of Max.

However, Paramount refused to give the rights for a musical version and the project collapsed.

A few years later, Hal Prince purchased the rights from Paramount and asked Sondheim to write the score. Prince wanted to star the 1930s duo Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy as Norma and Max. This version was called THE IRON BUTTERFLY. However, MacDonald's death ended the project.

Although Sondheim has stated he never really thought the material was suited for a Broadway musical, Angela Lansbury announced in the early 1980s that he was working on a musical version in which she would play Norma. For reasons that are unclear, this version never surfaced.

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 9:51pm

Little Women
A Little Princess

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 9:54pm

Walter Kerr famously said of ANNIE '...It's OLIVER in drag..." And really, watching it scene by scene, he was right. There's quite a bald character match-up (Fagin vs. Ms. Hannegan, etc.) But all writers know, there are only so many stories ... it's all in the details.

[timote316]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 9:59pm

There's the whole Faustian theme in Once on this Island and Little Mermaid

[gravity87]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 10:02pm

suprised noone has put this up but Rent and La Boheme are basicly the same story.

[pab]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 10:36pm

You are quite right about that. Main difference is that Mimi lives in "Rent". Even the names are pretty much the same.

[timote316]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 10:38pm

I cant believe I forgot Rent! I knew there was one I was forgetting to put down...

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 10:47pm

Okay, but RENT was based on La Boheme, so of course it's the same story. It's supposed to be. I hate when people say "Did you ever notice how similar RENT is to La Boheme???" It's like ummm... it says in the program BASED ON THE OPERA LA BOHEME! Of course it's similar. It's no different from any other musical based on something else. It's exaclty like saying "Did you ever notice that the musical CRAZY FOR YOU is a lot like GIRL CRAZY..." Ugh...

I was thinking this thread was more along the lines of mentioning that THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST are all the same story parading around in different forms... I didn't think it was gonna be there are 1,250 different composers who musicalized the Phantom of the Opera novel, so let's mention them all... Updated On: 10/27/04 at 10:47 PM

[Ebonic_Singer]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 10:49pm

This is definately a Margo question.

[dry2olives]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 11:03pm

The Broadway musical Carmelina was based on the film Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell whose plot is extreeeemly similiar to that of Mamma Mia.

The play Two Men on a Horse was the source for two Broadway musicals, Banjo Eyes and Let It Ride.

And in 1932, shortly before the name Hitler became infamous, Moss Hart and Irving Berlin wrote a musical called Face the Music about an attempt to put on a musical that would close on opening night.

[mallardo]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 11:09pm

Like Rent and La Boheme, Miss Saigon is, of course, "based on" Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 11:11pm

THE WIZARD OF OZ = THE WIZ

[timote316]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 11:14pm

to be picky, BwayLeadman, The Wiz=Wizard of Oz

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 10/27/04 at 11:27pm

WIZARD OF OZ (1920'S) THE WIZ (1970'S)

[Jon]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 8:17am

There are two musicals based on Martin Guerre.

Cole Porter's OUT OF THIS WORLD and the the 1980's Off-Broadway hit OLYMPUS ON MY MIND are both based on the Amphytrion legend.

There have been two Off-Broadway musicals based on THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST.

Face it, if a story is in public domain, there are bound to be multiple versions.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 8:22am

Thanks, Dry2olivers... I'm in the minority, but I've never understood the appeal of that recycled BUONA SERA story. It didn't work well in CARMELINA, and though it holds MAMA MIA together, to me it's such a lame premise, the 3 dad thing. It's soapy.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 9:37am

The Faust story also appears in Damn Yankees, though it was based on the novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant that is loosely based on the Faust story.

[sean martin]

Posted: 10/28/04 at 11:13am

>> It's soapy

Yeah, but you dont go to MAMMA MIA for the storyline, remember. :)