Monday, February 14, 2011
Interpretations of novels
I have heard many say that the translation of Wicked from a novel to a Broadway musical was not appropriate for the novel because of the darkness and theme of the book. I was wondering, what qualities must a novel have to be successfully transformed into a musical or play? Why do you think that it is necessary to have these qualities? If the novel doesn't have these qualities, what type of adaptation is more suited for that book? (movies, TV series, comics, etc.) What are some examples that you have seen successfully made into a musical or play? Thanks! I am excited to see what you all think! :)
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I haven't had the chance to see any Broadway's other than Wicked, so my experience with this arena of translations is a bit limited. However, I can attest to my own experience with translating a movie to a play.
A movie that I watched lots of times during my childhood was "Rigoletto" not the opera, the musical film set in the 1930's produced by Feature Family Films. My church back in San Antonio decided to create a live stage adaption of the film that we performed twice.
As one of the main character's in the play it was interesting just how parallel the movie and our play were. For instance it was super easy for me to memorized my lines as most of them were taken directly from the film that I had seen so much. However, were some significant adaption as the sets, costuming, lighting, budget, etc was much more limited in our stage production than it had been for the film.
Although the budget element would not have applied as much to Wicked or to other Broadway musicals many of the other elements would affect them such as sets, costuming, lighting, etc. A film allows for significant lapses in time to take place which allows for extremely varied settings and costuming while a Broadway is much more restrained. I don't know if this exactly answers your questions, but considering my limited experience it is the best I can do. ;)
Certain stories or images are just best conveyed in a certain medium. I haven't read many books and then seen the plays, but I have one example of the reverse which is Cabaret. I saw a production of it(not broadway, local, but it was really good) and it was great. Later, I saw the movie and was pretty disappointed. In this instance, the stage was the natural place for this story to be told. Cabaret is a stage performance, so it only makes sense that a story built around a stage performer, be made into a play. An author doesn't just write a novel because she doesn't know how to do anything else. She writes a novel because that is the best format for that idea.
Audience, though, is another important factor. Musicals don't have to be cheery and bright to be successful. They can be dark or sad or violent, but it will have a very different, possibly smaller audience, than something like wicked. If you embrace your audience however small it may be, I think you can be successful.
My favorite musical that I saw on Broadway was Beauty and the Best when they came here to Popejoy. What makes it magical for me is the connection with the female characters. Like with Wicked I love the power the main female roles have, but also the emotional attachment they have to their surroundings. I think it is important to have a character that is relate-able, and inspires the audience to be better or think of something in another way, such as the issues brought to the stage in Rent. When the characters have a more difficult time with their surroundings it is harder to show on stage. The stage is slightly unforgiving, more so than T.V. or films are. The more pain and change that the protagonists must face the more in depth the story, the harder it is to convince the audience of their righteousness.
I think part of the issue with taking a novel and making it into a stage performance is the many limitations that the stage can have. Certain effects can be difficult to master on stage, but can be accomplished fairly well in a movie or TV series. Stories that deal with magic are, I think, the most difficult to produce on stage.
For example, I saw a ballet version of Cinderella, and loved the portrayal of the story. When it came to the big scene where Cinderella is magically changed from her ratty house dress into a beautiful ballgown, there was a lot that had to happen on stage. She had to disappear behind a prop and several precisely placed dancers, and the focus of the audience had to be shifted temporarily away from her so that it would seem like, in the second we all looked away, she really had been magically changed. This took a lot of work and coordination, which I think is easier to pull off with a film adaptation. (There were also a few issues with the live stage performance, at one showing, she wasn't completely buttoned up in her ballgown costume.)
Last semester, in my drama class, I read several plays and then saw the performances either live or movie versions. I think the actors, chosen to play specific parts play a very important role. They have to know how to portray the character they were chosen to play and make the audience feel the chemistry between that character and the other characters.
When watching Happy Days, the characters played out the relationship with each other just how I had imagined it when reading the play. I thought this helped the play succeed. I know plays are different from novels, but I think overall the way that it is performed is similar, because the director of the play or musical still has to translate the original work into what he thinks will be successful. For a novel to be successful as a musical or play the following concepts must be taken into account. First, the creator of the musical or play must need to make sure that the main overall plot of the novel can be shortened in length and still be understood by the audience. Things that the reader may find important to the story must be left in, or this may cause an unhappy audience. For instance, in Wicked, Elphaba's birth and death are essential parts that must be included. The director must also make sure that these important parts of the novel can easily be portrayed on stage. I think that's why nobody has tried to make Harry Potter into a play or musical, it would be too hard to portray many things on stage, and not to mention the length, it would take forever to figure out which parts must be left in and which must be taken out.
Whether a play that was translated into another form of art is perceived as “good” or “bad” is all a matter of opinion. While yes, in Wicked there was a major change, but maybe it isn't all bad. The family was targeted as the main audience to please and if they hadn't changed the play so extremely, the family audience probably wouldn't be content. Ask someone that wanted to take children to the play whether it was an appropriate change and they probably would say yes, because the content of the novel was simply too inappropriate for little kids. Especially since they more than likely had already seen or at least heard of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and had this fairytale thought process going into this musical.
This weekend I saw the movie Candyman. I was sort of really scared going into it because I am not too fond of scary movies- I scare very easily! But whenever I was younger I had heard of the Candyman story..Say “Candyman” five times into a mirror and when you turn off the lights he will be standing behind you ready to kill. Well going into it I thought it was going to be more of a how he came to be movie, or a crazy psychotic killer on the loose. Well it wasn't, it was a dark movie about a woman who went crazy because she got too caught up in school work. It was one of those movies that once again made me question how old a work of art, in this case a scary urban legend, had to be so that the creator of the new piece of art could manipulate the piece to his or her liking.
The main component in a musical is the fact that there is music and song included, otherwise it is just a play. So if we're strictly talking musicals here, I'm sure that one important aspect in determining whether or not a novel would make for a suitable musical adaptation is whether how well song (and dance) would incorporate into it. Lyndsey's musical example of Beauty and the Beast is an example of a translation that had it easy. The Disney movie version already had songs for the translators to work with. They did add more however.
This is clearly speculation but maybe part of the reason that there are not very many "dark" Broadway musicals is because it is easier to create happy sounding music and songs. I've never composed music so I really have no idea whether that is true. There is a possibility that this could play a role.
I actually think that Wicked could have been made into a really good darker musical. The darkness of the themes would not have been impossible or even improbable to display. Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera are hardly what one would call cheery, and they were both very successful and long-running musicals. I don’t think that Wicked would have been a good musical if it incorporated a very in depth and complex interpretation of some of the darker themes. It would have been to confusing for the audience. The process of simplifying the contents of the plot probably left a very open possibility of making it either dark or light, but a direction had to be chosen because both wouldn’t mix very well.
The qualities that a novel needs to have to become a successful musical are harder to pinpoint. A novel might have a good plotline, or maybe it just has the shadow of a good idea somewhere in it that could be taken, run with, and used to make a good story for a musical. The novel doesn’t need to be good or well read or commonly known. I love The Frogs, and although it wasn’t very successful on Broadway (with a run of something like three months), I think that its songs and lyrics are rather brilliant. Yet it is nothing like the ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. Playbills cite it as being “freely adapted” by Stephen Sondheim and Burt Shevelove, and “even more freely adapted” by Nathan Lane. The original source isn’t what caused it to be good, it was the original source that inspired someone to make something good.
Quite frankly, I believe that any book can be turned into a musical. It just depends on how true the musical has to be to the book. I found it interesting that McGuire sold the rights to his book giving the makers of the musical full reign, but then when it came to the movie The Crucible, Miller wrote the screen play and was more involved.
Musicals, as far as my experiences with them, have been happy and uplifting; however, musicals can be dark and mysterious. This allows any genre of novel fair game. Once again, it just depends on who holds creative control in the process. I’m sure musicals could be made around the ideas of Lord of the Rings or The Babysitters’ Club. I believe that the only quality that a novel has to have is a huge following of readers and supporters. This allows a greater audience to be interested in wanting to see the musical and a greater influence on their peers to join them. If the book was successful, then the musical should be too. Although, there are those people who don’t even know there’s a book out and see the musical anyway.
I actually disagree that turning the book Wicked into a play was not appropriate because of its dark nature. In our compare and contrast papers I wrote about how I think the two versions compliment each other in that the book is written as to showcase reality and the real trials we face, whereas the play was geared toward what the audiences wanted to happen and so indulged us with a happy endings where good triumphs. I loved that I got to experience both aspects of the story.
I think that almost any novel that has some sort of drama and a decent storyline can be translated into a play. Through alterations and great song lyrics as seen in Wicked a novel can be transformed. With plays the goal is to please the audience to captivate their attention and senses therefore dull and sad scenes are somewhat removed.
I guess I feel that a book can convey deeper messages and meanings while a play brings the plot to life focusing more on the upbeat scenes rather than the author's message.
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