What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?- Page 2
What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
PReeves2
Leading Actor Joined: 3/20/10
#25What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/17/10 at 1:32amPride and Prejudice has come up a couple of times. Would those that suggested it rather see it as a play or musical?
musicaltheater1
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/05
#26What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/17/10 at 3:15amI'd like to see Pride & Prejudice as a musical.
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley
#28What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/17/10 at 11:46amTHE HOURS with a score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie or Adam Guettel.
#29What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/17/10 at 12:13pm
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA!
Please, Oh Broadway composer gods!
romgitsean
Broadway Star Joined: 4/7/08
#30What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/17/10 at 2:42pm
Scerew Pride and Prejudice...Pride and Predjuce and Zombies is where it's at!
I don't think there are many *books* that deserve musical treatment, but I could see a lot of them getting dramatic treatment. And whoever said "Carrie" proved this is a bad idea is wrong for a few reasons- "Carrie" is very different than just any book because of its mixture of teen drama crap and really heavy material, and since it's horror the chances of it being turned into a successful musical without it being extremely campy and losing its meaning are slim. Don't get me wrong- Carrie the Musical isn't brilliant by any stretch of the imagination; but I think it's good for what it is.
Back on topic- I think Mitch Albom's "For One More Day" could be a really interesting chamber musical or song-cycle.
Next On The List :: Clybourne Park, Once, Streetcar, BOM
#31What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/17/10 at 2:46pm
I have just started writing lyrics and one of the first projects I took on was musicalizing scenes from books. When I first looked at it, "The Firm" (Grisham) looked absolutely impossible, which is why I took a stab at it... and it turned out to be one of my best pieces thus far.
It goes to show that any book can be turned into a musical- you just have to find the soul of it- the syncopation, the beauty and the language and the proper angle to frame it from so it's cohesive on stage.
That being said, I'd love to see someone musicalize "Ethan Frome"- although I'm pretty sure someone is working on that project already. I want a really dark chamber musical.
Mattbrain
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/23/05
#32What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/17/10 at 3:10pmI know it would be, like, 12 hours long, but I've always wanted to see North and South by John Jakes adapted into a musical...of course, my version isn't so much an adaptation of the novels as it is an adaptation of the first two miniseries.
#33What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/17/10 at 3:33pm
Gimme a creepy Flowers in the Attic play, with incidental music.
Yes.
PReeves2
Leading Actor Joined: 3/20/10
#34What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/18/10 at 1:39amlove the Memoirs of a Geisha idea!
#35What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/18/10 at 1:48am
The Asian theatre community would probably love the additions of Memoirs of a Geisha and The Joy Luck Club to their cannon. A dramatization/musicalization of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon could be interesting, an Asian hybrid of Tarzan and what Spider-Man probably will be.
~Steven
#36What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/18/10 at 2:24amAtlas! The Atlas Shrugged musical. With a 3-hour long 11 o'clock number by John Galt.
#37What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/18/10 at 1:56pm
See, I think the split focus of Joy Luck Club with the various stories wouldn't work well on stage. I think Kitchen God's Wife is Tan's best work and the singular story could be beautifully told on stage. If you haven't read the novel, I can't recommend it highly enough, especially if you enjoyed Joy Luck Club and Memoirs of a Geisha. With Chinese-inspired score, sets and costumes, it could be absolutely gorgeous. I love Joy Luck Club and Memoirs of a Geisha, but they already received film treatments (which could work in their favor), but Kitchen God's Wife dropped off the radar making it less susceptible to visual expectations and comparisons.
#38What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/18/10 at 2:24pm
Thanks for the recommendation, Mister Matt! :)
~Steven
lotiloti
Broadway Star Joined: 1/23/06
#40What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/18/10 at 3:38pmAtonement. Although I hear an Opera is planned
musicaltheater1
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/05
#41What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/18/10 at 6:50pm
There was an off-Broadway production of the Joy Luck Club, the musical.
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Flash_The_Joy_Luck_Club_Opens_Nov7_20071101
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." Aldous Huxley
AEA AGMA SM
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/13/09
#42What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/18/10 at 8:06pmI want William Goldman to work out whatever the issue (I've heard it was a huge disagreement over the royalties) was with Adam Guettel so The Princess Bride can be completed.
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#44What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/19/10 at 5:35amI know it'd be weird, but I'd love to see Invisible Monsters musicalized. I'd also like musicalized to actually be a word, since the red line appearing beneath it suggests otherwise. Damn. But yes, I'd pay good money to see this adapted into a show. And although I know this is even further from the realm of possibility, I'd love to see LaChiusa tackle this.
PReeves2
Leading Actor Joined: 3/20/10
#45What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/19/10 at 11:05amtwilight...might be closer to working than Dance of the Vampires did.
#46What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/19/10 at 11:24amThe saddest thing is, as Tanz der Vampire, it works beautifully. Dance of the Vampires could have been great if the producers and creative team had trusted the already-successful material and kept Crawford out of it.
#47What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/19/10 at 12:11pm
That's what I've heard, Mister Matt. A friend of mine, who happens to randomly know German, saw Tanz der Vampire and swears it's one of the best things she has seen. I could only take her word for it since, well, I don't know German and we had to swallow Dance of the Vampires.
~Steven
#48What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/19/10 at 10:43pm
A few things:
Besides "First Impressions," isn't there a British musical version of "Pride and Prejudice" simply called that by Bernard Taylor? Does anyone know if it's any good?
There's supposedly an opera version of "Confederacy of Dunces." John Kennedy Toole's mother would sing selections from it when she went on the lecture circuit.
As for the "North and South" musical, I have three words: "Shogun: the Musical"
As for me, in the spirit of "Oliver!" And "Copperfeld!", I've always wanted to do a musical version of Charles Dickens' "Bleak House" and call it "Bleak!"
But seriously, I tried to adapt a terrific novel called "The Ballad of Typhoid Mary". I gave up when I realized that it was turning into "Sweeney Todd" in drag.
I think that anything can be made a good musical, if the people doing it are talented. Look at "My Fair Lady," before hat no one thought that you could adapt Shaw, then "Lady" opened. Then there were several Shaw musical and none of them were good.
Though, even if the writers have talent, it's not a guarantee that the show will be a hit ("Lolita, My Love," "The Grass Harp," etc.)
#49What BOOK turned MUSICAL would you like to see?
Posted: 4/19/10 at 10:51pmI have said, and will continue to say, that "Somewhere In Time" would be the perfect book-to-musical adaption if done correctly.
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