Musicals based off of NOTHING else

[Matteo]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 6:30pm

I've been thinking a lot about this recently. How many shows are there out there that are truly, 100%, based off of no previous base. Of the shows I have seen, a vast majority have been based off a person's life, a book, a movie, music from a band, or other pre-made storyline. Can you think of any shows not previously based off of anything? All I have right now is WSS and N2N..

[The Josh]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 6:35pm

West Side Story is based on Romeo and Juliet.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 6:37pm

Book of Mormon is not really a musical telling of the book of Mormon

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 6:42pm

Allegro, Me and Juliet, Ankles Aweigh, Wildcat, Kwamina, No Strings, Hot Spot

[MarkBearSF]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 6:42pm

Company
Follies
Anyone Can Whistle
Pacific Overtures
Sunday in the Park with George
Into the Woods (more or less)
Assassins
(Do you see a common thread here?)

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 6:42pm

Updated On: 9/6/12 at 06:42 PM

[muchadoabout_me2]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 6:55pm

MarkBearSF: Sunday in the Park with George is based on (or inspired by) a painting. Assassins is based off of actual people. Into the Woods revolves almost entirely around already conceived plot lines (at least the first act.)

Updated On: 9/6/12 at 06:55 PM

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:03pm

Company was based on a series of one act plays George Furth had already written.

If we go by the OP's criteria he is not even looking for bio or historical musicals.

I took it to mean fictional works that weren't based on anything or anyone in history, or any book, movie, play etc.

As far as I know these would qualify:
Pippin
Plain and Fancy
Urinetown
Robber Bridgegroom (was this a play first?)
The Rink
The Act
Glory Days
The Story of My Life
Got Tu Go Disco
13
Do Re Mi
All American
Darling of the Day
Celebration
Drat! The Cat!
Via Galactica

[Wynbish]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:05pm

Pippin?

The real son of a real king? Updated On: 9/6/12 at 07:05 PM

[Playbilly]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:07pm

Ok. I'm confused. Is the OP asking about shows NOT based on any previous piece, or based on pieces that are NOT based on a book, movie, or band, but are based on something ELSE? Cuz SITPWG is based on a painting, of sorts.

This thread is giving a headache, and it's not anyone's fault (or basis)


Blah, blah, blah...

[rja16]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:17pm

In the Heights

[artscallion]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:26pm

The Drowsy Chaperone

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:27pm

"Based on" and "inspired by" are two different things. If you go with "inspired by" and "based on" as the same thing, there is no such thing as an original musical. They've all been inspired by something. An idea, an illness, a relative, an event, a person, a painting, a photograph, an emotion.

If you go with "based on" a previous artistic (or at least a narrative) work, like a book, movie, play, then you'll have a clearer answer. If you want to say that a painting or a photograph is a "narrative work," then you can exclude both Sunday in the Park and Follies. I would rather say they were inspired by the painting and the photo, since the narrative story in question isn't part of the artistic source material, it's part of the authors' imaginations.

So what do you mean by "based on" nothing else?

Updated On: 9/6/12 at 07:27 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:36pm

The Robber Bridegroom is based on the novel of the same name by Eudora Welty.

Sure I'm wrong about a few of these but here goes:

Avenue Q, Bye Bye Birdie, Hair, Caroline, or Change, Falsettos, City of Angels, Urinetown, The Drowsy Chaperone, I Love My Wife, Me And My Girl, On A Clear Day, Grease, Anything Goes, Dubarry Was A Lady, Passing Strange, Chess, Lady in the Dark, Oh, Kay, Of Thee I Sing, Plain and Fancy, They're Playing Our Song, Bells Are Ringing, Jamaica, Redhead, Milk and Honey, No Strings, Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, Hallelujah, Baby, Babes n Arms, How Now, Do w Jones, The Me Nobody Knows, Ain't Supposed to Die A Natural Death, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Sugar Babies, Pump Boys, Baby, Sarafina!, Steel Pier, The 25th Annual Putna..,, Curtains

And I almost forgot, A Chorus Line



Updated On: 9/6/12 at 07:36 PM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:43pm

And Darling of the Day is based on the plays The Great Adventure and Buried Alive.

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:45pm

Robber Bridgegroom (was this a play first?)- Based on novella of same name
Got Tu Go Disco- liberal variation on Cinderella
All American - Based on novel, Professor Fodorski
Darling of the Day - Based on novel, Buried Alive

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:52pm

The Robber Bridegroom is based on the novel of the same name by Eudora Welty.

Which in turn was based on a Grimm fairy tale. Imagine my surprise!

Updated On: 9/6/12 at 07:52 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:54pm

If you want to say that a painting or a photograph is a "narrative work," then you can exclude both Sunday in the Park and Follies.

IIRC, THE GIRLS UPSTAIRS (or whatever it was called) went through years of drafts (and other directors and producers) before Prince discovered the Swanson photo. The photo was the director's "doorway" into the material, not the inspiration for the material itself.

[artscallion]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:56pm

In Trousers
March of the Falsettos
Falsettoland

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 7:59pm

I think any of us who have done the sometimes tedious work of constructing a narrative will agree that a mere notion or the existence of an historical figure is not a true source for adaptation.

Now if the painter Georges Seurat really had a mistress named Dot who married a baker named Louie and emigrated to the States, that would be another matter. (I don't mean the names are important so much as the actions.) THEN I would consider it an adaptation.

There have been numerous musicals about kings of France. Few have been based on anything more than the name of an heir or a single (and probably apocryphal) incident with a consort. I'd call those "originals", too.

The MARVIN musicals are great examples, but some of the definitions employed here are so strict one would have to claim the second two plays were "adapted" from the first.

Likewise, Firth's 20-some plays on marriage were not produced before a few were combined to become the book of COMPANY, so that, too, is an "original" musical.

Updated On: 9/6/12 at 07:59 PM

[Jon]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 8:17pm

City of Angels
Bells are Ringing
Rags
Babes in Arms
Girl Crazy
Of Thee I Sing
The Boyfriend
Bye Bye Birdie
Avenue Q

...and it is "Based ON", not "Based OFF."

Updated On: 9/6/12 at 08:17 PM

[sally1112]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 8:26pm

Ave Q is a spoof of Sesame Street.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 8:26pm

THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNT SPELLING BEE

THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL

ANYTHING GOES

NEXT TO NORMAL

THE MUSIC MAN

[Kad]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 8:28pm

Doesn't a thread like this pop up annually?

25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was based on a (largely improvised) show called C-R-E-P-E-S-C-U-L-E.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/6/12 at 8:31pm

Ave Q is a spoof of Sesame Street.

Yes, and that describes its style. But the question of originality deals with plot.

AVENUE Q has an original plot.