Non-Movies that Would Make Great Musicals?

I was thinking about what non-film material would be a great fit for a musical adaptation. I thought this thread could be a place for us to share some of our pipe dreams of what we'd love to see adapted into a musical. I admit that I sometimes create playlists centered around an imagined story or adaptation I created in my head.

One of my playlists is a musical adaptation of a graphic novel named Solanin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanin

It's actually one of the best things I've read. It's been nominated for a few literary awards. It's a slice-of-life story about a college graduate in Japan who works at an office job in Tokyo and lives with her boyfriend whom she met in college. He works as an illustrator for a press company who once dreamed to make it big as a musician. Both of them are not really satisfied with post-graduate life but aren't really dissatisfied either. They and their friends are just navigating around.

I know it sounds incredibly ordinary but this story is incredibly poignant and a nuanced look at every day people and I think could really work as a musical with the right musicians and book writers behind it. And music plays a big part in the story and character's lives. 

I thought it'd be great if indie artists like Vienna Teng, Alex Wong, or somebody more famous like Rivers Cuomo or Sufjan Stevens would tackle this on. I also think it'd be a cool direction for Broadway to explore.

Updated On: 6/4/18 at 10:52 PM

Oh, I have so many ideas.

So much so that I've paid money to own the ideas and am smart enough not to share them until they've come to fruition   
 

But, in a nonsensical universe, I'd love to see a musical about the making of Spiderman:  Turn Off the Dark because I feel like it's a much better story than... Spiderman:  Turn Off the Dark.  

Updated On: 6/4/18 at 11:11 PM

TV Movie 'Queen of the Stardust Ballroom' (basis for 'Ballroom' musical)

Releasing on blu ray August 7th.

Loved this movie.

A friend of mine thought of this one, not me, but I figured I'd share it here anyway because it's great:

"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" with a score by Lin-Manuel Miranda 

JBroadway said: "A friend of mine thought of this one, not me, but I figured I'd share it here anyway because it's great:

"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" with a score by Lin-Manuel Miranda"

Not sure anyone would put a ton of money into a Junot Diaz project until the cloud of all his sexual misconduct allegations are cleared up, especially in the #MeToo era.

haterobics said: "Not sure anyone would put a ton of money into a Junot Diaz project until the cloud of all his sexual misconduct allegations are cleared up, especially in the #MeToo era."

 

Oh dear, unfortunately Diaz was one that slipped by me in the avalanche of names. This is the first I'm hearing about it. What a shame. 

 

I'm not sure if it could actually be "Great", and if done wrong it could certainly be a train wreck (which would be great in a different sort of way), but I wouldn't mind someone trying to make a musical adaptation of one or more of Terry Pratchett's Discworld stories - perhaps a combination of many in one show. On a similar note, I could see Good Omens making a fun show.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe feels like it was practically written for the stage. 

 

Yes, there's a movie, but the book is so rich and wonderful that I believe it could be easily adapted as a musical. 

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!!

TheSassySam said: "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe feels like it was practically written for the stage.

Yes, there's a movie, but the book is so rich and wonderful that I believe it could be easily adapted as a musical."

 

There was talk of a musical in 2005, but I don't know if anything has come of that. http://www.playbill.com/article/stage-version-of-fannie-flaggs-fried-green-tomatoes-is-broadway-bound-producer-seeks-playwright-com-125817

Here's a bunch off the top of my head:

Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye 

Thornton Wilder's The Long Christmas Dinner

Ann Pratchett's Bel Canto

Stephen King's short stories in a Creepshow-esque format

The life and works of Janet Frame

Gary Soto's Living Up The Street

Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian

The life and works of Spalding Gray

Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!

The stage version of Arsenic and Old Lace would be wonderful with a Sondheim score and Patti Lupone and Bernadette Peters as the sisters and Nathan Lane as brother Teddy!

I don't know about a musical, but I've been toying with the idea of turning the 9 plays of John Cariani's Almost, Maine into a song cycle. I would start working on it, but I can't figure out how to get in contact with John Cariani...