Ideas for new musicals - based on plays or books

[CERULEAN19]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:05pm

Okay - so I have a school assignment to come up with an idea for a new musical Here are the limitations...
1. Must be based on a book or a play
2. Cannot be based on a t.v. show or movie
3. No Harry Potter
4. Cannot be based on a piece of childrens or teen literature
5. Should avoid making a musical specifically for children.

Guys, I need your help. Any and all comments or ideas are much appreciated!

[jordangirl]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:07pm

Can it be based on a book even if the book's been made into a movie?

I'd personally be intrigued to see something done with The Hours.

Updated On: 5/7/07 at 10:07 PM

[CERULEAN19]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:09pm

Thats a good idea - I'll ask my prof...

[jordangirl]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:12pm

If you followed the book rather than the movie I'd think it could work. I'm trying to think of other books...but the ones I love have all been made into movies. Or are being made into movies.

OOH! The Lovely Bones!!! I don't think that one's being made int a movie. Yet anyway.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:13pm

Look into the book MY FRENCH WHORE by Gene Wilder. That would be a wonderful musical if done right!

[Piercemn]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:18pm

This is a good project. First of all, let's hopefully keep in mind that we need more musical COMEDY. We don't need another drama. That's what opera is for, and frankly, some of the projects getting musical treatments don't really sing, do they?

There are some lovely renaissance and restoration comedies, some terrific 19th century plays and some good, early 20th century stuff that could be made into musicals. There are lots of great books to make into musicals as well. Why not Vanity Fair, to name a book? How about a theme like early days of 20th century theatre? I am so tired of musicals made from movies. That's why I thought Drowsy Chaperone was clever and original. Good luck with this project.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:20pm

Ok...for comedy. Not my favorite genre, but...

Lamb by Christopher Moore. Absolutely hysterical.

[ashbash1990]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:23pm

how about a musical of "A Servant of Two Masters?" I feel like that might be fun...

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:25pm

"Of Mice and Men" could be beautiful.

[mattonstage]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:26pm

I think "The Desk Set" or "The Women" would be good musicals.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:27pm

How about a good musical version of Litle Women? It really could be so wonderful! Someone else needs to take a shot at it.

[CERULEAN19]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:29pm

You guys are lifesavers - these are fabulous ideas - keep 'em coming!

[TheHumanTorch]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:30pm

how about A Confederacy of Dunces

[i.heart.link]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:32pm

i don't know if this works or not but i would love to see breakfast club on stage, it could possibly be totally awesome

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:34pm

MY FRENCH WHORE BY GENE WILDER


PLOT:
It's 1918, and Paul Peachy, an unassuming train conductor and amateur actor in Milwaukee, finds his marriage has run out of steam, and decides to enlist as a dough boy. At nearly 30, Paul has seen little of the world, as his naïve and candid dispatches from the French trenches make clear. Paul, who speaks German, is brought in to interrogate notorious German spy Harry Stroller. Soon sent into the front line, Paul deserts and, in an extraordinary sequence, passes himself off as Harry Stroller. Taken to the local schloss and treated like royalty by the German officials, Paul is given a French whore, Annie Breton, for comfort, and he gradually comes to care for her once she reveals herself to him more than physically. Despite some ensuing heroism, the game's soon up for Peachy, and the novel takes the form of the final, eloquent notebook of a man still finding out who he is.


Buy it on Amazon

[CERULEAN19]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:34pm

Good idea! - but remember - it has to be a book or play - not a film or t.v. show - correct me if I'm wrong but I think Breakfast Club was a film...

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:35pm

It was a movie. Never a book.

[i.heart.link]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:39pm

my bad! i thought it was a book or movie.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:40pm

Was there ever a musical of The Diary of Anne Frank? That could be REALLLLLLY good..

[TheHumanTorch]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:45pm

this would probably never work, but A Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is hilarious...

[Raviolisun]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:45pm

Yes, there was, called Yours, Anne, and it ended up being REALLLLLLY bad.

[Color and Light]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:45pm

I feel that, if done tastefully enough, Jim Leonard Jr.'s The Diviners could make a wonderful musical.

Updated On: 5/7/07 at 10:45 PM

[slimandslam]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:49pm

How about David Lodge's Small World? Insanely overplotted, hilarious picaresque. Lots of broadly defined character types. It could be like Grand Hotel, set in academia.

[Julian2]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:53pm

Robin Hood

[TheHumanTorch]

Posted: 5/7/07 at 10:59pm

what about a classic play like Good Person of Szechwan?