I think "Floyd Collins" and "Sweeney Todd" are the perfect examples; you just can't get better than that. I think alot of the problems of preserving the art behind musical theatre are solved when composers and writers are able to break boundaries in terms of song composition and character choices and write unexpected musicals with compositionally flexible music, but strong structures, and it's what I try to achieve
Chorus Member Joined: 3/23/09
I think, Sidney, that you need to clarify whether you're interested in *odd subject matter* that was turned into a musical, or *other artistic works which weren't musical in tone* that were turned into a musical...
Carrie
Little Shop of Horrors
The parade of campy "The Musical!" productions:
Bat Boy
Evil Dead
Toxic Avenger
Reefer Madness
Gilligan's Island
Clue
Poseidon! The Upside-Down Musical
"Prettybelle"
"Silence!"
How about Les Miserables? The novel is page after page of nothing but the most depressing event after event. They are indeed MISERABLE.
I have always wondered about the minds that read that epic book and not only thought: we should take nearly 1500 pages of dirge and hopelessness and put it all on stage. No...wait...let's make it a MUSICAL. Yeah, THAT will sell.
"How about Les Miserables? The novel is page after page of nothing but the most depressing event after event..."
??? Sorry, but IMO Les Mis is NOT an unlikely candidate to have been made into a musical at all!
On the contrary, musicals usually thrive on big epics that can be "opened up" to multiple story lines and characters...Many classic novels have been used for this. Some have been successful (ex. Oliver!, Ragtime, Phantom of the Opera) and some not so much (ex. A Tale of Two Cities, Jane Eyre, Little Women) but whether the execution worked well or not, the material was still there to be used, and some times has been attempted more than once.
This thread, the way I understood it, is about UNLIKELY topics on the surface for pleasing an audience...Ex. a town where it's illegal to pee (Urinetown), a barber who slits customers' throats (Sweeney Todd), a miner who gets caught and dies in a cave (Floyd Collins)...an epic like Les Miz (whether you like the novel or the musical) does not fit in this category...
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/08
Guys & Dolls....based on some short stories about gamblers
Spamalot...Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/06
I would also say Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. The idea of brothels.
Featured Actor Joined: 7/7/09
1776.... A history lesson where the Declaration is almost the Hero. (I know, I know, it uses John Adams as the audience-reference "lead", but....)
How about a musical about a brain tumor. And all the songs the composer need to write before the operation?
Answer: A New Brain by William Finn
"Lolita, My Love" -- which is, surprisingly, amazing and underrated.
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