Even though some people may say that they don’t know any musicals, I’m sure that everyone has at least heard about one. Whether it is a stage musical, or a movie musical. Like for example Grease is probably a musical movie that everyone probably saw once in their life. But have you ever thought that some of your favourite musicals could be based on novels, some of which you would never expect to see adapted into stage, or movie musicals.

There are many musicals that reached an audience outside the musical theatre fans thanks to their movie adaptations. For example classics like Les Misérables or The Phantom of the Opera, and now Wicked due to its long awaited release last month. While the fact that Les Misérables is a book adaptation is probably an information known by everyone, Wicked being a book adaptation is less known. Though those musicals have now gained a new audience with the success of their movie adaptations, it may be a problem for fans of both the original musicals, and the novels that got adapted. 

Maybe because they can complain about how some things got adapted, or simply because of the new gained fanbase. On the other hand we could also say that the success of those adaptations could allow more people to discover the works on which the adaptations were based, as musicals may seem less scary than long novels. Besides, we could ask ourselves if it really does matter if an adaptation, particularly in the case of a musical, isn’t 100% like the source material. I imagine that most people would make their own research about novels that their favourite musicals are based on. In this case musical adaptations could be seen as ways to discover new literature, or maybe have different impacts on lives.

Now, let me introduce you to what is my favourite musical ever, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. While it was on Broadway during the 2016/2017 season, the show first premiered in 2012 in a small off-Broadway theatre. The show was written by Dave Malloy, and is an adaptation of a section of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. 

Yes, a novel known for being particularly lengthy and confusing somehow managed to get adapted into a musical. But how did it manage to in a way influence my future? Well, firstly it reinforced my already existing wish to learn Russian. But the most interesting impact for our topic is that it managed to make me interested in Russian literature and in reading more classics in general.

As you probably already understood by now, there are plenty of musicals that are based on novels. While I mostly focused on really famous ones, it is important to remember that there are many more. Some more known than others, but that are still worth discovering. Since I already mentioned Dave Malloy, I know that he also wrote some other musicals based on literary classics, like Moby Dick or Beowulf – A Thousand Years of Baggage. Moreover, it seems that now this type of musical is becoming more common, with The Great Gatsby getting two musical adaptations in the same year: The Great Gatsby and Gatsby: An American Myth. 

Chloe Gaschy