Furture Completely Original Musicals- Page 2

Posted: 2/7/07 at 4:11pm

So what difference does it make? Do you dislike Oklahoma because it was based on a play? Do you love "in My Life" because it wasn't? Source material doesn't matter-- final results do.

Broadway, unlike Iron Chef, does not give points for orginality.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 4:11pm

Company and The Pirate Queen

Posted: 2/7/07 at 4:23pm

Company was based on a series of unproduced one-act plays. Do we like it less now?

[outovfashion07]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 4:50pm

and TPQ was based on the life of Grane (?) O'Mally.

[sidjones09]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 4:53pm

I think that this is an interesting thread because there are a lot of people (including myself) who may not know that there is other source material behind most musicals. Not that it makes a difference on how we view the shows necessarily, but it's just good to know.

Having said that: What about Gypsy?

[D2]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 5:02pm

GYPSY was based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, also called GYPSY

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 5:04pm

I forget who said it but, "On the Town" is based on a ballet (Who's title escapes me), created by Jerome Robbins.

I always kinda define an "Original" musical as one not based on an established piece, such as a novel, movie, play, tv series, etc. Otherwise you get into a LOT of semantics.

[D2]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 5:07pm

The ballet is called FANCY FREE and is revived by NYCB quite frequently.

[Danielm]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 5:08pm

Personally I don't care if it's based on a previous source--I only care if it's good.

Posted: 2/7/07 at 5:12pm

Amen Daniel.

Sid, for a real education, see a show then look at the source material and see how it's been changed. Gypsy is a great example; It was originally concieved as an old-fashioned tribute to the old days of vaudeville and burlesque, filled with dog acts & novelties. Arthur Laurents took it in an entirely different direction-- the story of an obsessed stage mother and what happens to a Mama when her baby grows up.

[Danielm]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 5:28pm

Very true JoeKv99. Also, several of the more interesting shows right now are based on other material including Spring Awakening and Grey Gardens--it's very interesting to see where the new creators take it. Even if the stories remain basically the same the tone and attitudes are very different.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 6:05pm

Well, there wasn't even a Seurat biography. Very little is known of his actual life and even those few details were ignored by Lapine in creating the fictional character of Seurat in the musical (in real life there was no Dot, just a mistress named Madeleine who bore him two sons -- no daughter named Marie -- and she never left France for America with a baker or anyone else). Aside from the fact that the fictional Seurat in the musical was a painter who created the works mentioned in the show, every other detail about Seurat and all the other characters in the show were total inventions by Lapine, which, to me makes it an original musical.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 6:12pm

Margo, what are your opinions on A Chorus Line. Would you consider it original or not?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 6:44pm

I've always felt ACL was an original work. While some of the stories and monolgues were drawn from real life dancers in the tape sessions, Kirkwood and Dante still had the formidable task of shaping all of that voluminous material into a coherent two hour narrative and creating 19 distinct characters, some based in part on tiny pieces of the life stories of various dancers, but most of whom were wholly original creations. All writers borrow from somewhere (their own personal stories or those of family members, friends, acquaintances, strangers they meet or from books, films, television shows that are both fictional and non-fictional that they encounter). I think you can only call a show an "adapted" work if the plot and characters (real or fictional) came entirely from another source (book, play, film or history). The book writers of ACL didn't have a plot with a beginning, middle and end when they began writing the show and so they had to construct one from scratch. They also didn't have any pre-set characters and had to create those as well (and even those who are sort of based on some of the dancers in the tape sessions ended up being amalgams of several different people, with a lot of fiction and dramatic license mixed in). Some of the story songs only took a line or two of dialogue from the tape sessions and the rest was invented by Ed Kleban. Similarly some characters like Cassie, Zach and Bobby (his monologue was completely the fictional invention of Neil Simon), aren't based on anyone.

All in all, despite some dialogue being taken from real life, I think that the book writers, lyricist and composer (and Bennett) created an essentially new work with ACL -- one that had too much original invention and was simply too much of a departure from the bits and pieces of stories in those transcripts to be considered an "adapted work."

[Danielm]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 7:08pm

Margo, if a musical is based on history--though not on a specific account or book do you still consider it an adaptation? I think there are several plays and musicals that have historical characters but are not adaptations.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 7:22pm

Most Wanted (although it is based off of a true story)

[Danielm]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 7:47pm

I'm referring to shows like Floyd Collins--I don't believe it's based on a specific source (though I could be wrong). Evita, while based on the life of Eva Peron is not a slave to actual history. Nefertiti--though based on the Egyptian queen is pretty much a made up story.

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:02pm

Really original musicals?

Allegro
Me and Juliet

both by Rodgers and Hammerstein

Some more originals I've seen (just off the top of my head

Can-Can
By the Beautiful Sea
The Boy Friend
On Your Toes
The Saint of Bleecker Street
Plain and Fancy
Ankles Aweigh
The Vamp
Mr. Wonderful
Happy Hunting
Bells Are Ringing
Brigadoon
Jamaica
Rumple
Goldilocks
Redhead
The Music Man
No Strings
Mr. President
Stop the World-I Want to Get Off
The Road of the Greasepaint-The Smell of the Crowd
Fade Out-Fade In
Milk and Honey
I Had a Ball
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
Hair
Company
Follies
Pippin
Over Here!
Pacific Overtures
A Chorus Line
The Magic Show
The Act
I Love My Wife
Grease
A Broadway Musical
The Rink
Grind
Of The I Sing
Let 'Em Eat Cake
Starlight Express
Anything Goes
City of Angels
Blood Brothers
One Touch of Venus
The Life
Babes in Arms
Sail Away
Saturday Night
Avenue Q

[Danielm]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 8:14pm

Pippin is another one that while based on historical figures could only be considered original.

And wasn't Saturday Night based on an unproduced play?

Updated On: 2/7/07 at 08:14 PM

[eb412]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 11:24pm

its kinda hard to create art without some sort of inspiration. ofcourse there are varying levels originality...i would never say beauty and the beast is as original as say urinetown...but be a little more specific as to what you would say is original. is something only original if it is based on someones life?

[ashley0139]

Posted: 2/7/07 at 11:40pm

Is Baby based on source material?

[Switz78]

Posted: 2/8/07 at 12:04am

something does not have to be historically accurate to be considered adapted. if there were biographies out about Eva Peron that were read to gain knowledge for the show than it would not be original right? But for ACL the point of taping interviews with the dancers was to create a show and therefore would be considered original.
Curtains like City of Angels is based on the old detective stories but does not draw any characters from them directly so I would think that they would be original.
Pirate Queen is based on a book.