Adapting a Children's Book into a Musical
How To Write a Broadway Show Based On a Children’s Story
Jul 16, 2008
Before beginning any book/story adaptation there are some key logistical issues that should be taken into consideration. Firstly...
Is the Book Out of Copyright?
The writer will save himself time and money if he chooses a story that is out of copyright. The writer should check with publishers for the exact details of a particular book or story and should take into consideration that Copyright law changes from country to country. There are, however, numerous children’s stories out there that are out of copyright (all of the classic fairy tales) many of which are very suitable material for adaptation.
What Does Your Character Want?
The reason children’s books and stories make great musical material is because the protagonists usually have an overwhelming need or desire for something. For instance in The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams the rabbit longs to be real. The take away theatre company in their adaptation of Williams’ story (How Toys Become Real) made this the central driving force of most of the drama.
The writer should indentify this need or goal in the story and make it the basis for plot movement. If it doesn’t relate to the protagonists’ central need then cutting it should be considered.
Dividing Up a Story into Plot Points
Once the writer has identified their protagonist’s principal goal they should divide the story into plot points. These plot points should relate to how close or how far the protagonist is to achieving his goal. What this does is make the material more manageable and eliminates any extraneous material.
Once these plot points have been arranged in order the writer should then start to see areas that could receive musical treatment begin to reveal themselves. This is when a notebook is very useful as the writer will find that song title ideas will start to fly into their heads during this part of the process.
Finding Musical Opportunities
The writer should then read the story and plotline thoroughly and begin to identify all areas where there might be opportunities for songs or music. Some good areas for songs are
- Character revelation
- Plot revelation
- Emotional sections
- Exposition
The writer/composer should not feel limited by in any way when it comes deciding where to put music. It the writer/composer feels instinctively that a section warrants a song then they should write one. The writer should also allow himself some artistic freedom when it comes to writing the songs. Despite all the previous advice Musical Theatre is one of the few dramatic art forms where it is acceptable to create scenes that have no plot movement purpose whatsoever.
Once the writer has analysed the material in the above ways they can begin the task of writing the music and lyrics. For useful advice on lyric writing the writer should read Writing Lyrics For A Musical. There are also some more general advice on dramatic writing in Aristotle’s Six Elements Of Drama.
