Last year, the Bridges of Madison County was made out of a novel. This year, it's Fortress of Solitude. South Pacific was based on a collection of short stories. Which novels would you say have been the source for the best musical theater?
Wicked, Oliver, Little Women (no idea how great that was, I've only listened to a few tracks), Sweeney Todd (based off of A String of Pearls), Big Fish.
I can't really say what's been the "best source" because my taste is a bit different. AKA I just threw some books out there! Interesting topic, though!
Phantom of the Opera Les Miserables Cabaret (The Berlin Stories) Passion (the novel Fosca, but Sondheim says it was inspired by the movie) Applause (again, they got the rights to the book, not the screenplay) The Color Purple Gentleman Prefer Blondes House of Flowers Legally Blonde Light in the Piazza Mame The Mystery of Edwin Drood Once on this Island Ragtime Gypsy The King and I The Pajama Game
Awards wise, the original production of Passion was very successful. The recent revival was also critically successful and won a few awards. It was based on the italian novel Fosca.
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium." - Patti LuPone, a Memoir
Some of these I'd question. As mentioned Sondheim has said that Passion was inspired more by seeing the movie (although they did have the novel translated to use as a source--the English translation wasn't published until after the musical.) Sweeney Todd is much more based on Bond's play than on the very different String of Pearls. The King and I uses a lot of the structure of the movie. Wonderful Town on the play My Sister Eileen etc.
These obviously weren't all successful, but here's a few more.
Fun Home Catch Me If You Can A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (based on Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal) The Lord of the Rings (has played on the West End) Flowers For Algernon was a Charles Strouse musical in 1979 (West End starring Michael Crawford) & 1980 (Broadway) There was an Off-Broadway Frankenstein musical starring Hunter Foster in 2008 Into The Woods is based on Grimm fairy tales
I have an entire shelf of books that were turned into musicals. So I love this thread.
Edit: I forgot to look at my wishlist!
Shrek was originally a children's book, though the musical is obviously more based on the film. Big River The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Book of Mormon? Bright Lights, Big City Carrie Could you count Gypsy? She did write a memoir, but I don't know if they used it when writing the musical. Jane Eyre The Mystery of Edwin Drood The Scarlet Pimpernel Rebecca The Woman in White
Updated On: 10/21/14 at 11:11 PM
"Jekyll and Hyde lost money on Broadway, and the tour barely ran a year, so I don't think it recouped."
In terms of Wildhorn, it was still a success.
All kidding aside, the show has done fairly well in the foreign department, so we could argue that it's still successful internationally. (Just not with the American audience.)
Also, would A Very Potter Musical and its sequels count? It never went on Broadway or anything, no, but it has a HUGE fanbase online.
"Was uns befreit, das muss stärker sein als wir es sind." -Tanz der Vampire
“Fun Home” is one of the best adaptations I have seen – a true case where I think the musical improves upon the source material. Which sounds a little crazy, considering the graphic novel is a memoir, but I just think that what the musical highlighted and the emotions that were able to be brought to the forefront because of the power of the score really fleshed out the characters and moments for me in the way the memoir didn’t. I recall reading an interview where Alison Bechdel says something similar – that the addition of music to the story was able to do something that was impossible for her to do on the page.
I'm not convinced Fun Home improves the material. I think they had terrific source material to begin with (it's the first graphic novel ever named the #1 book of the year by Time magazine). Anyway, I think they are equally good-and very different in certain ways.
I have read the book several times and love it every bit as much as the musical. They are different animals I think-and both are beautiful.
Many shows listed in the posts were not successful in terms of repaying investors. The fact that they were transferred to the stage in an entertaining form is something else again.