Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Versions of Wicked
I know we were all a little surprised at how different Wicked the book and Wicked the play are. I was wondering if people thought that a play that followed the book more closely would work on the stage or if the format of the book would be too difficult to transfer to the stage. If you were to include different scenes or themes or change some aspects of the musical what would they be? I read yesterday that ABC is planning to make a tv mini series that is based only on the book. Would this be a more suitable medium for the book's content? Are there other example's of adaptations that worked better in one medium( like a play) than in another(a movie or tv show)?
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I think that some story adaptions to some mediums work better than adaptions to other mediums. I think that an adaption of Wicked that followed much closer to the original story is more easily suited to a TV mini series than to Broadway. Could the Broadway adapters of Wicked have made a serious, darker, sensual version of Wicked? Probably, but it would have reached a VERY different audience than it is currently reaching. Would a serious, dark Broadway adaption of Wicked have been harder to do? I think so. The Broadway medium is designed to lighten the overall nature of a story, so maintaining the integrity to the original would have been difficult. However, a TV mini series, historically, has a much broader range of story arcs from which to choose, ranging from fantasy to history, from sadistic to comedic. Therefore a TV adaption that mirrored Maguire's Wicked would be much easier to create.
Another example of this is Lord of the Rings. The original film version of LOTR was a cartoon. If you were like me, who after reading the original books found out there was a cartoon version, you probably went, "What! How did they turn that LONG, sad historical story into a cartoon?" However, imagining a live action version (though much more difficult than a cartoon to produce) makes more sense considering the nature of the original work.
That is my perspective and you are more than willing to disagree with it! :0)
A book format is is definitely hard to completely transfer onto the stage. Books are not bound by time, number of characters, settings, and stunts...whereas all these things effect a play and it's success. First just as we saw with Wicked the time period was drastically shortened to around a year and this worked because it cut out al ot of the dull stagnant plot which as we know doesn't work on broadway. The book also had more characters that Elphaba meets in her lifetime and this would not due for a play because an audience likes to be able to relate and identify with characters, and if a new character is constantly introduced as does happens in books, then the audience will become disengaged with the story. Also, a play is limited by what can physically be done. One of my favorite visual scenes in the play was the rain and how it looked so realistic even though we were inside. Lastly, the scenery has to definitely be reduced to a handful of iconic scenaries that can work with multiple scenes from the book. I also think that too much of an extravagant backdrop can take away from the performances and acting of the characters. The easiest translation of a book is probably a film, where theses set backs aren't so much an issue and modern techniques can bring to life the most dangerous of scenes as far as action and explosions. Overall i see plays working well for not such a complex story plot as Wicked, even though with much revising the piece turned out amazing.
Priscilla and Aubrey brought up to really good points as to why it's hard to make a play that follows the book more closely. Adding other themes from the book might create a domino effect. Where bringing in one part leads to confusion, so another part has to be included and then another. The musical was really long with many scenes excluded, could you imagine if they had tried to fit them all in? We would probably still be sitting there.
A TV mini series based on the book may leave many Wicked fans very disappointed. From listening to all the different opinions in class about the book, I don't believe very many of you would watch it. However, a mini series would be a great way to portray Wicked as it truly is. Tv series tend to drag, a lot like the book, so it would probably work out really good. This may be a better translation for those who were not happy with the musical to enjoy.
It depends a lot on the author and the translator whether a medium is better in one form or the other. Like a lot of Shakespeare's plays have been extremely successful as plays, but when made into movies they have also been huge hits.
I personally didn't watch Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon as a child, but my bf did and when the movie came out he absolutely hated it. Certain mediums are just better than others for different types of works.
In our discussion on Tuesday, we touched on the importance of considering one's audience. I'm no Broadway buff, but it seems that there are things musical theatre audiences expect from shows: big song-and-dance numbers, impressive/innovative sets/scenery, great music, etc. I think it would have been difficult to incorporate a lot of the darker, more sexual themes into song-and-dance numbers. I think it would also significantly decrease the show's popularity, because it would be less of a comedy and less "family-friendly."
I could see a mini-series working for a closer-to-the-book adaptation. They would have more time to cover plot points that were skimmed over or compressed in the musical, so the timeline would match the book more. Also, I think a miniseries or a film is a medium that invites more abstract themes than a musical.
I'm interested in how I keep saying that musicals don't allow for much seriousness/complexity. I don't know if this is entirely true; I just think that with the semi-non-realistic aspect of the musical (because people don't break into song and dance in real life) makes it more difficult to balance a certain amount of seriousness with the completely fantastic (as in, fantasy-like) notion of coreographed musical numbers.
I don't think it would be possible to do a more true-to-the-book version of Wicked. The discrepancy between time in the book versus time on stage creates one issue. The "jumps" in time of however many years that occur in the book would be difficult to keep up with on stage. The lack of resolution in each of the characters' searches for forgiveness would also be tiring. (I think even the actors would get bored of never achieving resolution time afer time also.)
As for the mini series, I think it's perfect for a more closely followed translation of the book. There is less of a time constraint to fit everything in, and the audience won't be so overwhelmed with the issues at hand. Being able to put the book down and come back to it made the slower parts tolerable. I think a mini series would have the same effect.
Adaptions definitely work better in some mediums than others. WICKED the musical like priscilla said stayed true to the nature of broadway and not necessarily the book. If it had stayed close to the book it wouldn't have been a broadway musical would have been very different. It would have been a very sad and dark thing to look at.
Turning wicked into a mini series on tv would be easier to stay true to the book than a musical because you could tell the story throughout several episodes. The thing about it that would be difficult and that is difficult about the book in general is the long periods of time that pass by in the book. Those gaps in time would become difficult on television.
If ABC made a mini series of the book, it would certainly allow for more a wider creative license which might change the book even more than the musical did. With more time being allowed on TV who says they might not change it even more? Make it more modern day? It would be interesting to see what the special effects and hours of makeup and detailing would do for the characters and the overall plot.
Because there was such a time limit it was understandable that they missed a VERY crucial part of Elphaba's life, but I would have liked to see more of her childhood, it would have been very entertaining to see a green baby on stage "bite" off someones finger! Pricilla brought up a good point, what would have happened if it had stayed closer to the book? Would it have been as big of a success if it was darker? Or would it have flopped?
i think that a straight play (a non-musical) version of Wicked that followed the book more closely could potentially work, but a musical definitely could not. Musicals in and of themselves tend to have a peppier nature; there's almost always a good side, a bad side, a moral, and a happy ending contained within all of the song and dance. This is also encouraged by the typically family friendly nature of Broadway shows. A straight play could hypothetically be more suitable to the darker nature of the novel, as they are typically less centered around the happy go luckyness of musicals. I also believe that a mini-series based on the book's content would be more likely, I don't, however, know exactly how well it will go over with the public. The problem is that like me, there are so many people who adore the characters that have been developed within Wicked, the musical, who are vastly different from the characters within the book. And I'm not sure that people who like the musical will be fans of the content within the book.
I think that a lot of thought much be put into any kind of adaption from one medium to another, but some adaptions do work better than others. For instance, I definitely preferred the movie adaptions of 300 to the graphic novel, however I preferred the graphic novel version of the Watchmen, to the movie (Although I loved the movie as well) Graphic novels as a whole tend to lend themselves better to on screen visual adaptations such as movies or tv shows. As far as novels, they are tougher in general. I do remember a mini series created off of the Wizard of Oz called Tin Man. I enjoyed the mini series a lot and I found that it was very in depth, much more in depth than a movie can be. I think that they will have more luck adapting the novel Wicked with a mini series but may still be difficult. I don't know if the time jumps in Wicked would work with any other medium than a novel.
Perla mentioned a domino effect that would be very likely to occur if the musical were to more closely follow the book. I really agree with her on that point. The world of the book was very complex, and an attempt to include a lot of the darker and more complicated elements of the story would require too much extra clarification to be particularly workable in a musical (and, I believe, out of place in this musical as it was presented). The plot needed to be cut into a very simplified form to remain coherent while still presenting a whole story. If Wicked the musical had not been so drastically changed from the original and it had instead included some of the darker and more convoluted aspects of the book (religion, politics, racial and class differences), it would have been a very different production. There was not an easy way to incorporate those details and keep the same sort of tone that the musical chose to take.
As most of you seem to agree, a miniseries does seem like a good medium for a close representation of the book. A movie would suffer too much from the same sort of time and clarity constraints that made the stage a difficult arena for Gregory Maguire’s darker Oz. A miniseries has the time to at least touch on the aspects of religion and history that were so important in the book, although a lot would still need to be cut to avoid confusion and keep people watching. It is not so much that a miniseries could do a really good job of presenting the pleasure faithers, unionists, Lurlinists, royalists and everything, because I feel that the book left me confused on those and it expounded on everything in great detail. It is more that a miniseries could cover a lot more of the content in a lot greater depth than most other mediums. A miniseries would also be a better medium for representing the large passages of time without being too jerky or odd.
I think that a close adaptation of the book Wicked would be easier for a TV mini series or even a movie. A broadway musical is a little difficult to add in sad and dark scenes since there is music being added to nearly every act. I think that the musical would have been very different if they would have added the serious aspects to it. It isn't very often that you see musicals that are depressing. It would have been possible to add in the death of Dr. Dillamond or some of Elphaba's childhood, but it would have complicated the essence of a musical which is to lighten the mood and to create a "delightful" show for the audiences. If I were to add in anything to the musical, I would have added just a little bit of Elphaba's childhood. It gives a better perspective as to who Elphaba is. A very small scene would have been suffice. I do understand, however, why they decided to exclude this part of the book. It is the more dark and sad side to the story.
First of all, "dark" Broadway musicals do exist. I can think of one right now called "Next to Normal" that focuses on a mom and her worsening bipolar disorder. Not the happiest content ever, but still a very successful show.
The people behind the musical adaptation of Wicked could have stayed truer to the novel and kept it darker, but they chose not to. I personally felt that the musical was less the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and was instead a prequel to the movie version. I also think that this why it appeals to so many people. Nearly everyone has seen the movie or at least knows what it is about. And seeing how the movie is relatively happy, I think that is why the translators chose to go this route with the musical.
I think that a more literal adaptation, at least in mood, could work in any medium. However, I think that a tv mini-series would be a great idea. All of the plot elements could still be incorporated because there would not be such a time constraint. Also, other people have mentioned the issue of skipping 7 years, twice. This could be fixed easily using tv; you finish one episode and then the next one you're ahead seven years. The tv show One Tree Hill skipped four years in between seasons and it worked very successfully for them; it can be done.
Though this will never happen, i think it would be great to see the Wicked the musical dark and creepy version. I agree with Kami, musicals can be intense and dark and sad. If you listen to the radio you always hear sad songs, so why can't we put those songs on a stage? I understand the motivation behind the changes made to wicked, but I still think broadway could handle a less glossy production. Everyone brought up the issue of time lapses. I hadn't actually thought of that. They didn't bother me at all until I had actually finished the book and decided that the jump from young Elphaba to middle aged elphaba was too extreme a change to not be explained a little better. I think gaps in time are easy to replicate. In the musical they could have incorporated something with the dragon clock and in tv and movies there are many different ways to show the passage of time. I also agree that one thing that would have added to the musical was the inclusion of at least some of Elphaba's childhood.
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