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Plays that were transformed into musicals?

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#1

Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:06am

The only one I know of is Sherry! based on The Man Who Came to Dinner. Are there any others?

"I'm tellin' you, the only times I really feel the presence of God are when I'm having sex and during a great Broadway musical." - Nathan Lane - Jeffrey
#2

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:08am

There are tons. Two off the top of my head:

Pygmalion became My Fair Lady
Green Grow the Lilacs became Oklahoma!
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
#5

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:14am

Merrily We Roll Along became Merrily We Roll Along, and I'm not sure what came first in terms of (Auntie)Mame but the play and the musical both exist so it could fit into this catagory.
Canadians are not afraid of the dark! Ok...we don't love it, but who does?
#6

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:19am

There are dozens (hundreds?) including:

Porgy & Bess (Porgy)
Mame (Auntie Mame)
My Fair Lady (Pygmalion)
West Side Story (Romeo & Juliet)
Hello Dolly (The Matchmaker)
La Cage Aux Folles (play and film of the same name)
Cabaret (I Am A Camera)
I Do! I Do! (The Fourposter)
Purlie (Purlie Victorious)
Raisin (A Raisin in the Sun)
Seesaw (Two for the Seesaw)
Merrily We Roll Along (Kaufman & Hart play of the same name)
The King & I (ANna & The King of Siam)

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#9

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:27am

Carousel was based on the French play "Liliom"
"I'm an American, Damnit!!! And if it's three things I don't believe in, it's quitting and math."
#10

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:27am

I can't beleive I forgot half of these! haha. Thanks!

"I'm tellin' you, the only times I really feel the presence of God are when I'm having sex and during a great Broadway musical." - Nathan Lane - Jeffrey
#11

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:29am

Margo:
Was there a "La Cage aux Folles" movie in French?
Of course there's The Birdcage, just curious.
There were also books that the play/musical/film were based on
Goshen doesn't do High-School-shows.
#12

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:29am

"Chicago" is based on..."Chicago".
"If there is going to be a restoration fee, there should also be a Renaissance fee, a Middle Ages fee and a Dark Ages fee. Someone must have men in the back room making up names, euphemisms for profit." (Emanuel Azenberg)
#13

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:32am

CHICAGO is based on the play ROXIE HART by Maurine Watkins.

LA CAGE the musical is based on a French play of the same name by Jean Poiret.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#14

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:32am

"La Cage" was a French play before it became a French movie, although the musical is based more on the film than the stage play.

Sondheim has said he got interested in SWEENEY after seeing a stage version of the story in London.
http://docandraider.com
#15

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:35am

While there have been dozens of plays and films of the Sweeney Todd legend over the years, the Sondheim musical is specifically based on the play version that Christopher Bond wrote.

The French film version of La Cage was the most popular foreign film in US history for several years after its release in the late 70s.

"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney

Updated On: 1/8/07 at 12:35 AM

#16

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:35am

There was a Very Famous and Popular Movie And Sequels of LA CAGE...
French Movie and it was based on a play also.
I think there are really thousands of Musicals based on plays.
OUR TOWN=GROVER'S CORNER
110 IN THE SHADE= The RAINMAKER
PICNIC=COME SEPTEMBER

The list is endless.
#17

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 12:36am

The House of Bernarda Alba--->Bernarda Alba
La Ronde--->Hello, Again
Medea--->Marie Christine


Updated On: 1/8/07 at 12:36 AM

#19

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 8:54pm

They Knew What They Wanted - Most Happy Fella
Ah Wilderness - Take Me Along
Anna Christie - New Girl in Town
#20

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 8:56pm

I don't think this one was mentioned --

Hello, Dolly! - The Matchmaker

I've never read The Matchmaker, but I know it's by Thornton Wilder.
"I am and always will be the optimist. The hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams." - Doctor Who

"Yes, the brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over, men recognize that the human race has been harshly treated but it has moved forward." - Les Miserables

#21

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 9:10pm

"CHICAGO is based on the play ROXIE HART by Maurine Watkins. "

The musical "Chicago" is actually not based on "Roxie Hart", it's based on the play "Chicago." The movie "Roxie Hart" is also based on the play "Chicago."




"The musical Chicago is based on a play of the same name by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins. Watkins had been assigned to cover the 1924 trials of murderesses Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner for the Chicago Tribune"
.................
"In 1942, a film version of Dallas-Watkins' play entitled Roxie Hart, directed by William A. Wellman and starring Ginger Rogers as Roxie, Adolphe Menjou as Billy Flynn, and Spring Byington as reporter Mary Sunshine, was released."

Chicago (musical)
"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"

Updated On: 1/8/07 at 09:10 PM

#22

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 9:13pm

The Importance of Being Ernest = ERNEST IN LOVE
Charlie's Aunt = WHERE'S CHARLIE?
Les Romanesques = THE FANTASTICKS
The Visit = THE VISIT
Madwoman of Challiot = DEAR WORLD
Jacobovsky & the Colonel = THE GRAND TOUR
Blithe Spirit = HIGH SPIRITS

Don't forget all the Shakespeare adaptations:
Comedy of Errors = BOYS FROM SYRACUSE and OH BROTHER
12th Night = YOUR OWN THING and PLAY ON
The Tempest - RETURN TO FORBIDDEN PLANET
#23

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 9:14pm

I mentioned The Matchmaker/Hello Dolly! in my post. A great Thornton Wilder play (Ruth Gordon was apparently extraordinary -- Hal Prince turned down doing the original Hello Dolly in part because he believed that no one could ever do Dolly Levi as well as Gordon), as well as a terrific film starring Tony, Emmy and Oscar winner Shirley Booth (plus Shirley Maclaine, Anthony Perkins and Paul Ford).


"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie [http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/] "The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#24

re: Plays that were transformed into musicals?

Posted: 1/8/07 at 10:15pm

One of those tantalizing bits of theatre history is that, supposedly, in Leonard Bernstein's unpublished works, there's a proposed score for a musical version of SKIN OF OUR TEETH (also by Thornton Wilder, if anyone's interested).
http://docandraider.com

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