Musicals that are NOT based off of Movies, books, or plays/oprah

In My Life
Anyone Can Whistle
No Strings
A Chorus Line
Dreamgirls
Follies
City of Angels
Of Thee I Sing
Brigadoon
Finian's Rainbow
Falsettos
Caroline, or Change
Pacific Overtures
Bye Bye Birdie

There are more, for sure...

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'25th annual Putnam county spelling bee' is based on the play C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E by The Farm. Don't know if you're counting that. Sorry!

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I thought A Chorus Line was just based on real dancer's stories? So, technically, not an adaptation as those stories weren't a published work.

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Dreamgirls is a completely original work of fiction. It is inspired slightly by the Supremes story, but VERY SLIGHTLY. 90% of the stuff that happens to the characters in Dreamgirls did NOT happen to the real Supremes (Berry Gordy was not involved in payola -- as far as anyone knows -- and did not marry Diana Ross; Flo Ballard died penniless on welfare in the mid-70s and never had a comeback; there was no Jimmy Early in the Supremes' lives; and Lorell and Mary Wilson have absolutely nothing to do with one another -- Lorell was a total invention by Bennett and the book writers).

And no, A Chorus Line must be considered original. Those dozens of hours of interviews were gathered for this project and Bennett and his book writers spent months fashioning a plot out of all of those stories and anecdotes. They mixed and matched and rewrote and invented stories for each character to the point where none of the original stories (with the exception of Paul's monologue, which was only slightly altered and streamlined from book writer Nicholas Dante's own personal story) ended up in the show in a form that resembled the original. For example, Donna McKechnie's anecdotes ended up being distributed to four or five different characters (and her role of Cassie was a total invention). By any definition, A Chorus Line is a wholly original work.

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Updated On: 2/27/06 at 12:05 PM

Sorry, I have nothing to contribute, but the "or plays/oprah" part made me laugh.

Well, actually, isn't all of Finn's work original? I mean, A New Brain is autobiographical but it isn't based off of anything, and it also isn't exactly true to his experiences. Unless I'm totally not remembering other stuff he's written.

And in that vein, TL5Y is also autobiographical but it also isn't based on anything except JRB.

keatonbynumbers, the "plays/oprah" part made me laugh as well---because we all know that there are so many shows out there based on Oprah!

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Brigadoon is based on an old scottish myth, I thought.

Company is based on short stories.

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Music Man?
As far as I kow, Meredith Willson wrote this in response to a request from some producers to write a musical about his Iowa boyhood.

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Well, he was actually quite well known, although he hadn't written any musicals. He had scored "The Great Dictator" and "The Little Foxes," he was musical director for NBC radio in Hollywood, he'd had at least one #1 song hit.
Also, I believe it took him 7-8 years to get the show written!
(I'm basing this on what I've read about him in a recent bio and online--it's one of my favorite shows.)

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Blood Brothers
Bye Bye Birdie
Into the Woods
The Life
Steel Pier
Song and Dance

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I always thought it was interesting how The Music Man seemed like a loose adaptation of The Rainmaker, although Rainmaker opened only three years before Music Man.

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Most of these are not Broadway, but as you didn't specify it had to be Broadway:

Altar Boyz
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
Tick Tick Boom - although it is autobiographical
Light in the Piazza (?) - I'm not sure as I don't really know too much about it
We Will Rock You - the songs aren't original but the plot is