What happened to originality? — Page 2

Can you call truly Avenue Q an "original musical" since it's a parody of Sesame Street? While it's not based on it there is source material.

Yes. An original musical is one that contains an original book and an original score. While the concept for the show may be based on Sesame Street, the show itself is original material.

it's original but a large part of the concept is based on Sesame St. and the story of a person looking for purpose in their life isn't exactly unheard of.

Boiling down the plot to its bare minimum doesn't really make it less original. It's like saying Curtains is not original because it is a murder mystery.

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I personally don't care where the source material for a show comes from, just as long as the final product is a good show. If the show turns out to be bad, then I have a problem.

While some might say that Broadway today is now more commercial than ever, the idea of basing a show on movies, books, etc., is hardly a new trend.

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So true. Not like the old days when no musicals were based on movies, plays, or books!

Really original things, like:

My Fair Lady
Oklahoma
Showboat
Grand Hotel
The King and I
South Pacific
Mame
Cabaret
Carousel
Camelot
The Wiz
Oliver
Sweet Charity
Wonderful Town


Uh yeah i made this post on the last page.

To REALLY drive the originality point home, I went through all the of the Tony Award winners for Best Musical. The only winning shows that were not directly based off of existing source material such as a film, play, novel, or short story are the following:
(for clarity's sake, I'm not including historical events or life stories as being "existing source material")

Redhead (1959)
Fiorello! (1960)
Bye Bye Birdie (1961)
* A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1963)
Hallelujah, Baby! 1968
1776 (1969)
Company (1971)
A Chorus Line (1976)
City of Angels (1990)
The Will Rogers Follies (1991)
Titanic (1997)
Avenue Q (2006)
In the Heights 2008

*...Forum is dubious, since it's only "inspired" by the plays of Plautus, and not a direct adaptation of any of his works.

That's only 13 shows. Out of 59. And if you really want to get picky and remove the shows based on life stories and historical events, you'll have only 9 shows. And if you want to get even pickier and say Avenue Q doesn't count because it's largely a parody of Sesame Street, you have 8.

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Updated On: 11/26/08 at 02:16 PM

A Catered Affair was based on a movie of the same name, and Spelling Bee was based on C-R-E-P-E-S-C-U-L-E, a largely improvised play.

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Nope, its based on a book

It's not originality that is an issue on Broadway. It's the effort that goes into the adaptation that is.

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title of show

Thanks EnWashingtonHeights for you thoughtful response. Title of Show is original and no one mentioned it before you. Good call!

"Most "proper" actors would soil their pants if they had to compete with 100,000 other hopefuls to even get close to winning a role,"

So, you admit Clay is NOT a proper actor...


And he was asked to do the part, he didn't compete.


Just how many levels can you be wrong on? And suck at?

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Updated On: 11/27/08 at 04:08 PM

I think there is a big difference between taking memoirs and turning them into The Sound of Music, and taking the film Legally Blonde and making it a musical.
In the first example you are starting with very little, it still requires an enormous amount of creativity. In the second example the book, characters, settings, have all been written, just insert songs.

IMO, yes. The source material is "true" but it takes real creativity to turn a person's life or story into a musical.

How to Succeed is largely original. The name, and the steps to succeed, are from an Idiot's Guide type book. The characters, events, songs, etc, are all original.

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