Sunday, March 18, 2007

Idle Thoughts

Today's Los Angeles Times Calendar section features an essay by Monty Python's Eric Idle about the adaptation of his Broadway musical, SPAMALOT -- itself adapted from MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL -- for Las Vegas. I think Idle's humor works better when spoken than written (an attempt to play off the similarity of "pawn shop" and "porn shop" falls flat in the absence of Idle's English accent), and he strains with jokes like, "Sadly Terry Jones can't make it. He is wrestling with chemo. Pity, I rather hoped he would be here wrestling with keno." Still, it's fun.

It also got me thinking (always a dangerous prospect): Is there any hit Broadway musical that wasn't adapted from another source? The only one that comes to mind is Meredith Wilson's THE MUSIC MAN. Musicals have been adapted from films (SPAMALOT, THE PRODUCERS), animated films (THE LION KING), comic strips (ANNIE), short stories (SOUTH PACIFIC, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF), songs (MAMMA MIA), biographies (THE SOUND OF MUSIC), and other, non-musical plays (MY FAIR LADY, HELLO DOLLY, WESTSIDE STORY). There are even musicals adapted from books that are adapted from other books that have themselves been turned into musicals (WICKED). What is it about musicals that is so inimical to original ideas?

No comments: