What video games would make good musicals — Page 2

JBroadway said: "James885 said: "Surprised nobody's mentioned Kingdom Hearts. The franchise's universe is expansive enough at this point that I think there's a enough material to draw from to make a musical."



I considered mentioning it. Kingdom Hearts is extremely near and dear to me. Like I said about the Final Fantasy series above,it's a profoundly emotional story that could easily translate well to being musicalized - perhaps even more so than Final Fantasy. I didn't mention it because I think the Disney element would just make things too messy, and wouldn't translate well onstage at all. But I think you're correct that they could use the original characters, as well as the expansive lore, to craft a new story, or an altered version of the original, perhaps excluding Disney characters altogether."

Always happy to find a fellow Kingdom Hearts fan!

I second all The Legend of Zelda suggestions. I do think they need a great book writer to really piece together the mythology to create a new story to add to the timeline and though the score is already memorable, they should work with composer who can turn their score and adapt it for the stage while creating new material and songs that make the sound cohesive.

Super Mario would be great too if they did it purposely cheeky and maybe tearing down the 4th wall at times the way the Paper Mario series goes meta and parodies itself.

When I was younger, I thought a Donkey Kong musical with all the jungle beats would be an interesting concept and costume wise, it won't be that much different from Cats.

There are a ton of titles indie and non-indie that deal with heavy material that can definitely adapt well for the stage like Persona, Life is Strange, The Last of Us, Deadly Premonition (my personal pick as one of the best written and bat**** stories I've seen from any media...but that game takes so much advantage of the interactive aspect where the main character- who has a split personality - actually talks to the gamer as if you were the other personality and you interact back and have a conversation with him that it adds another storytelling device that is so immersive that could only be done as a video game), Red Dead Redemption, To the Moon, Silent Hill (introduce a real atmospheric horror genre to theatre), Dreamfall, Final Fantasy, Chrono series, Beyond Good and Evil, Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit for non-Americans), and Syberia among others.

i’ve long wanted Nobuo Uematsu to write a Final Fantasy musical. Much of the music he did for that series is simply outstanding; the Maria and Draco opera from FFVI is stunning (especially the aria di mezzo carattere which you should go listen to immediately). most of his excellent work is of the orchestral variety (i’ve found most of the ballads / vocal themes a little treacly but that might have to do with discrepancy of Japanese music tastes) but his melodic lines are still as good as they were in the 80s.

as for Kingdom Hearts, it would be very difficult to tell a story while having the original setup of Disney meets Final Fantasy just because that works in a game that takes over 50 hours to play but probably wouldn’t work onstage, though i could see Donald and Goofy being there and having Maleficent being the villain and probably some disney princess cameos.

I never thought I'd be so into this thread since I'm typically such a negative nancy.

I'm not saying it's not possible, I'm just saying it's very difficult. For it to be legit to me, it would need to be able to stand on its own, without needing the franchise or recognition holding it together -- not something that is just for fans. There are not a lot of franchises where this would work. It would have to be chosen properly. If the intent is to make something just for fans, then by all means... make whatever you want. Anyone can write a fan-fiction musical. But I'd rather think about something legit.

Probably the best ideas I saw mentioned are Gone Home and The Last of Us... great great great ideas for plays, if not musicals.

Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "Hold up- Raddersons, you specifically cited Fire Emblem...but then you said games can't make you feel. That in an of itself is a contradiction! Fire Emblem Awakening wreaked havoc on my emotions..."

1) I don't think they can't have emotions, and I myself have been emotionally invested in many games (I'm thinking specifically about some Final Fantasy's). With some newer games especially there are a lot of things that make the game play about the storytelling itself, making them emotional and suspenseful. A lot of games invoke this through visuals, or giving the player choices, or characters. But at the end of the day, lots of games are just a bunch of different settings where you explore... and "exploring a bunch of beautiful areas with a backing track" can't really be the basis of a musical.

2) Loving the Phoenix Wright ref

Kad said: "Successful musicals have been made out of low-budget B horror flicks, penny dreadfuls,and Sunday morning comics, and there are video games that are as elegant and thematically rich as any other work of art."

Definitely agree with you -- Reefer Madness & Little Shop are two of my favorites, and the ideas look totally "WTF" from an outsider's perspective. I'm just wary about making a video game musical for the sake of making one.

Kad said: "Quit the cultural elitist posturing- particularly when it comes to Broadway, which has never been a bastion of highbrow art."

I just think audiences deserve better than "Mario: The Musical". Even then, that can be chuckle worthy if it is a little meta and self referential (a-la Paper Mario, or even Very Potter Musical [although I think that relies too much on HP itself to stand alone]).

Kad said: "The video games that would seem to me most ripe for an adaptation are the ones that are particularly story-heavy, rather than gameplay-heavy."

Agreed, as well as games that have a well recognized aesthetic that can be adapted for a stage (see Castlevania or Final Fantasy above).

Kad said: "The central stumbling block for any adaptation of a video game isn't the content of the game itself, but rather the fact you are taking something specifically created to be interacted with and immersed in and removing that quality entirely."

This is what I was trying to get at with my first post... but as per usual, you're much more articulate than I am.

RndmAnswrs4RndmQstns said: "I would love to see something from the Metal Gear Solid timeline being attempted.

Definitely as a play, I just can't picture anyone singing anything without it seeming like Frank Wildhorn ridiculousness.

James885 said: "Surprised nobody's mentioned Kingdom Hearts. The franchise's universe is expansive enough at this point that I think there's a enough material to draw from to make a musical."

I was recently wistful of Kingdom Hearts and watched a video about the plot through all the various iterations of the game (there's a lot to keep track of now). The video was almost 30 minutes long, and got so confusing with recurring character names and different iterations of the characters. If they did it, they would need to keep it simple - stick to themes (friendship, sacrifice, duality of darkness & light), stick to a few worlds, and yeah, probably minimize the Disney stuff too. It's hard to have a show that has The Little Mermaid moment in it without having Under The Sea as a song.

Kad said: "Successful musicals have been made out of low-budget B horror flicks, penny dreadfuls,and Sunday morning comics, and there are video games that are as elegant and thematically rich as any other work of art. I don't see why a visionary creative team couldn't unlock the potential for an adaptation of a video game source material."

Good point. For me other than the often expansive worlds and the interactive aspect, my big issues are simplistic stories and the awkward framing around a lot of "modern" or "nerdy" material these days. First, I'm not super interested in any of the games that just repeat the hero's journey, usually with some sexism or misogyny even if in the musical the princess gets a sassy update or a plaintive, self aware ballad. Boring. To the second point, I can already see a host of terrible framing devices like... there's a sad teenage boy who's bullied in school and has a crush on a girl who doesn't notice him but then the game becomes real and he's the only one who can save the day. Or a kind of Jumanji story where the villain is a parent and winning the game results in parent child bonding. Basically hack writing 101. If they're going to make a video game musical, it needs to be adapted like the things you referenced. It can't constantly be apologizing for itself or trying to be more "relatable."

A number of the old LucasArts Adventure games, especially The Monkey Island Series or Grim Fandango.

I do think adapting a video to a musical would be tougher than a lot of the movie adaptations we've been getting forever. However, a challenge doesn't mean it wouldn't be a worth-while venture so long as the end product is of high quality. Honestly, the musical scores and writing of many videos is better than some books and scores of Tony-winning musicals.

Speaking of Super Mario and Broadway, did anyone catch a very timely (Oct. 11, 2017) feature BroadwayWorld did on the new Super Mario trailer?

https://www.broadwayworld.com/videoplay/VIDEO-Ninendos-Super-Mario-Odyssey-Trailer-features-Broadway-Razzle-Dazzle-20171011

Updated On: 10/12/17 at 01:40 PM

I could see the sidescroller Limbo as a dark ballet.

trentsketch said: "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture could be an awesome song cycle. If you haven't heard of the game, it's an exploration game where the player collects memories of people who have disappeared from a small village with no warning or explanation. There's more to the story, but that concept alone and some of the people's stories could be good theater. It's all very Spoon River Anthology or Our Town Act III.

I don't think video game musicals are easy at all. The people who know the games will get it (and love or hate it depending on the adaptation), but people who don't know the game need to be able to understand it straight away. That's why I specified indie games in my post. They tend to be much more emotional, story driven experiences.

I also like to look for new games. I often do this on https://australiapokiesonline.com/ because I like to play games. It's convenient to see the ratings and such right away."

Indie games like Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture already feel theatrical. Translating atmosphere and fragmented storytelling into stage emotion would be tricky!

Updated On: 3/16/26 at 03:17 AM