What source material would never work as a musical?
What source material would never work as a musical?
Alex Kulak2
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/11/16
#1What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/18/17 at 9:45pm
Musicals have been adapted from everything from plays to books to movies to paintings to photographs to early 1960's counterfeiting cases. What's a story that you think would never be able to be musicalized?
#2What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/18/17 at 9:54pmSpringtime for Hitler
#3What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/18/17 at 9:57pm
Its not really fair to say that something would never work as a musical. It all depends on how it would be framed during the show. Some of the most unconventional topics from 9/11 to War and Peace to the Wife of an Argentinian President have been covered.
Some topics may of course be trickier to musicalize, but never work would be a stretch.
#4What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/18/17 at 9:59pm
Any source material can work if the right creative team is involved.
But just for giggles, I’ll put forth: Jaws.
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#5What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/18/17 at 10:02pm
Not so much a fan of this thread topic. I think you can be skeptical of a lot of musical source topics (today's announcement of the Princess Diana musical is one for me, for instance), but when in recent years alone we've had a rap musical about Alexander Hamilton, a pop opera about War and Peace, a contemporary piece centered around a high schooler killing himself, and a folksy-sounding musical about a Canadian town on 9/11, it's hard to rule out anything as never working as a musical.
It's really all about having the right creative team. Always.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#6What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/18/17 at 10:33pm
A Christmas Story (based on the tv production)
Carrie
Alice in Wonderland
It's impossible to say going forward, only going backwards.
If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it?
These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
Malinda5000
Stand-by Joined: 6/19/16
#7What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/18/17 at 10:57pmHolla If Ya Hear Me...Horrible Horrible Show
#8What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 8:17am
Miles2Go2 said: "Any source material can work if the right creative team is involved.
But just for giggles, I’ll put forth: Jaws."
I'm trying so hard to imagine this!
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
green waver
Stand-by Joined: 11/3/16
#10What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 9:54am
Just off the top of my head:
The Scarlet Letter
The Grapes of Wrath
The Metamorphosis (unless Bialystock and Bloom are paroled, and choose it for their followup to SFH)
JSquared2
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/17
#11What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 10:29am
A musical about cats
A 3 1/2 hour musical about the French revolution
A musical about a lesbian and her gay dad who ends up killing himself
A musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence
Kind of a silly thread.
#12What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 10:37am
I believe you're conflating the current thread with this one:
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1105230#4989156
#13What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 10:40am
I agree with the sentiments already in this thread - anything has the potential to make a good musical if (a) the right creative team is behind is and (b) they go in the right direction with it and (c) they actually manage to execute it.
I would even go so far as to say that many of the terrible musical adaptations we've seen in the past not only had great potential to be good musicals, but actually made a lot of the right big picture decisions, and they mainly screwed up in the execution. Take Spider-Man for example: many will disagree with me, but I think the decision to make it a huge-budget spectacle with rock music and a forced perspective comic-book look was actually spot on. If the book and score has just been better quality I think it could have been a surprise artistic success like Spongebob has been.
And I think that's the case with many bad musical adaptations; that they were sort of "almost there," but screwed up in a major way with the execution.
#14What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 10:47am
Otherwise known as "the thread that producers/writers will be looking to for ideas."
Ooh boy...
http://puccinischronicles.wordpress.com
#15What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 10:55am
Jurassic Park.
Would the T-Rex be a tenor or a baritone?
Sarcasm is an allergic reaction to stupid people.
#16What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 11:42amReality tv? You can make a show based on a reality tv show but you can’t make “Reality Broadway.”
#17What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 11:52am
A 3 1/2 hour musical about the French revolution
Do you mean Les Miserables? Because it wasn't about the French Revolution. That would be their first show, La Révolution Française, which is fascinating in its own right.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#18What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 11:57amA CPR handbook, probably.
They/them.
"Get up the nerve to be all you deserve to be."
#19What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 11:58am
That's the really wonderful thing about Les Miz - so many of its fans have absolutely no idea that it's not about the French Revolution.
#20What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 12:03pm
humbugfoto said: "Jurassic Park.
Would the T-Rex be a tenor or a baritone?"
Oh my. That would be almost as good as Jaws.
"Michael Riedel...The Perez Hilton of the New York Theatre scene"
- Craig Hepworth, What's On Stage
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#21What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 12:06pm
CindersGolightly said: "A CPR handbook, probably."
I’ve heard this is LMM’s next project.
green waver
Stand-by Joined: 11/3/16
#22What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 1:44pm
newintown said: "That's the really wonderful thing aboutLes Miz - so many of its fans have absolutely no idea that it's not about the French Revolution."
And if you correct someone by saying it depicts the June Rebellion of 1832, you'll get some really blank stares.
#23What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 3:25pmVine or Instagram as a musical. Just everybody screaming damn Daniel and two bros chilling in a hot tub five feet apart because they're not gay wouldn't sell well
#24What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 3:40pm
If it has this guy, I don't even care what it's about.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
SharksVsJets
Stand-by Joined: 4/22/17
#25What source material would never work as a musical?
Posted: 12/19/17 at 4:06pmComic Sans! (The first musical based on a font)
