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Novels to base a musical on?!

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#1

Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 9:33pm

Hey - I'm a 14 year old singer/songwriter/actor/broadway fan. People tell me that I have a talent for song writing and I won my school song writing competition two years in a row with single songs that I wrote. My next project is writing an original musical. Any novels that you guys think would work really well as musicals? I just Light In The Piazza and loved it. I know Adam Guettel based it on a novella. I'm really into complex harmonies, overlapping melodies etc etc.. keep that in mind please. Also, I am trying to go for the challenge of writing a musical that is sung through (a la Phantom, Les Mis, Joseph etc) so keep that in mind too (recicative and ya kno the rest..) Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted!
#3

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 9:36pm

People have suggested this before, but A Walk to Remember, maybe?

Or, or, or...actually. I can see it now:






Harry Potter: The Musical, now playing at the Virginia!


(That last suggestion was sarcasm.)

This is my signature.
#4

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 9:37pm

Also what is involved in basing a musical on a book? Do you need to get the rights to it or something?
#5

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 9:41pm

If the novel's still under copyright then, yes, you have to have the author's permission to adapt the book. If he's sold the other media rights, you'll need to go through the people who own those rights.

If it's a novel in public domain, you don't need to get the rights. (Public domain novels being the classics that no one owns the active copyright on.)
#6

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 9:45pm

Whether or not you need the stage rights to a novel varies. Generally yes, particularly for newer material. Also, many folks are already sitting on the stage rights for novels so you might want to check that out as well. Also, You may be better served to try to base your musical on a short story rather than a novel. It is extremely difficult to write a novel based musical seeing as the roughly two and a half hour length makes cutting the plot into a sufficiently developed, yet short, piece very dificult. This is where many musicals fail. If I were you, I'd try to find a short story, that way you can embellish the story and characters and the critics won't slam you saying "Well the music was swell, but it just wasn't developped enough."
#8

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 10:00pm

Planet of the Apes! -just kidding- actually-I read and re-read the diaries of Lewis and Clark on their journey in early 1800's to find the Northwest passage. A musical (opera-etta maybe) with cast of 40 men- "Daniel Boone" : type costumes - coonskin caps, etc.and 1 female lead; Sacajewea - could really be good- lots of "pearl fishers" kind of duets- muskets, horses, campfires-
#9

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 10:16pm

Maybe do a childrens novel, the shoe books by Noel Streafield would all lend themselves beautifully to music IMO, I can really imagine them with a lush score too
So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.~Office Space
#12

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 10:20pm

Oooooo, how about a Stephen King novel for a musical!?

"Now showing: IT, the Musical!
#13

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 10:22pm

I can just see it now:

"Beyonce sings Broadway hits, including the love theme from IT, the Musical, We All Float Down Here"
#16

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 10:30pm

The shawshank Redemption lol...there just aren't enough Jail based musicals on Broadway
So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.~Office Space
#18

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 10:59pm

How about Breakfast at Tiffany's? Or Wuthering Heights? There are lots of complexities in that one.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#19

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 11:07pm

Breakfast at Tiffany's has been done- unsuccessfully- with Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain in the leads. I'm pretty certain someone wrote a Wuthering Heights musical too, I want to say Dave Willets was involved. I've thought a lot about some of the more contemporary books that might work as musicals. I'd like someone to take a crack at "Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas" or something by Chuck Palahniuk, "Survivor" maybe.

David Sedaris' short stories have often evoked musical theatre imagery for me, maybe some of his stuff could work.

"The last train out of any station will not be full of nice guys." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

"I wash my face, then drink beer, then I weep. Say a prayer and induce insincere self-abuse, till I'm fast asleep"- In Trousers

#20

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 11:09pm

Well for what it seems you want to write i dont think it is a good idea, but i think the princess diaries the musical might actually go kind of well.

What about summer by edith wharton? that might be good
"Don't thank your parents, if you were raised in a nurturing environment you wouldnt be in show business"--Conan O'Brien at the 2006 Emmy Awards
#21

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 11:13pm

Fine, Matt. Just shoot down all my ideas. ::is joking::

Catcher in the Rye? The Great Gatsby? Or all already done. These are some of my favorites so I'm just throwin' them out.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#22

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 11:21pm

sorry ashley, didn't mean to be a bitch about it. re: Novels to base a musical on?! just wouldn't want someone to make the mistake of writing a musical adaptation on a premise that had already flopped so infamously. In the case of BREAKFAST, even Moore, Chamberlain, Abe Burrows, David Merrick, and Edward Albee couldn't make it work- which is kind of disheartening to say the least. Besides, do we really need Jennifer Love Hewitt on Broadway?

GATSBY I think could be good tho! how about the INVISIBLE MAN or EAST OF EDEN?


"The last train out of any station will not be full of nice guys." - Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

"I wash my face, then drink beer, then I weep. Say a prayer and induce insincere self-abuse, till I'm fast asleep"- In Trousers

Updated On: 5/27/05 at 11:21 PM

#23

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 11:26pm

There's this really cool novel by Gregory Maguire..."Bad" or "Naughty" or something. Just might be crazy enough to work.

Just kidding. re: Novels to base a musical on?!

With the right tweaking, "Memoirs of a Geisha" could be good. Or maybe I just love that book too much.
"You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you." - Maya Angelou
#24

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 11:27pm

No worries. re: Novels to base a musical on?! If Mary Tyler Moore couldn't make it work... Is this music like, published/in circulation? I would love to hear it.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#25

re: Novels to base a musical on?!

Posted: 5/27/05 at 11:34pm

"The Pearl" by Steinbeck
"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand
"1984" by George Orwell

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