Student Blog: Musicals, Movies, Remakes, and Adaptations

"Nothing is original anymore."

It's a sentence that has defined our era of entertainment. With 100-plus years of film and musicals to draw inspiration from-not to mention the centuries of stories before the advent of celluloid and Cole Porter-it can often feel like creativity is a rare commodity, with writers and producers opting to do donuts in a parking lot rather than drive on toward something new. Movies get made into hugely popular musicals, while shows that fare well at the box office are snatched up by streaming services.

In this feedback loop of New York and Hollywood, there are two camps: those who are thrilled to see their favorite movies take on a new life on the stage, and those who bemoan the lack of originality on Broadway these days. Me? I'm somewhere in the middle. I'll admit that I'm a bit dubious of the movie-to-Broadway pipeline-it seems like these corporate musicals are engineered to put butts in seats rather than tell a life-changing story.

At the same time, there is craftsmanship that, by necessity, goes into them. Songs must be composed. A book must be written. People must be hired to direct and choreograph and build and light. New facets of the stories and characters are revealed through the deep exploration that only comes with adaptation. And, besides, shouldn't we just be happy that Broadway is sustaining itself in this digital age?

The truth is, I don't know what makes a good musical anymore-and I'm not sure Broadway does, either. Is a good musical a safe bet that keeps the lights on? One that sweeps the Tonys cleanly? One that is prepped and ready for Hollywood adaptation? Or is a good musical a seismic, life-altering event that leaves audiences forever changed, head in the clouds as they ride the train back to their apartments and hotels? Ideally, the best musicals would be ones that check every box, and yet some of my favorite shows-Falsettos, for example-are uniquely theatrical risks that would never translate well to the screen and have fallen short (read: were robbed) at the Tony Awards.

Safety seems to be the prime concern these days. It's the reason why we have 24 Marvel movies with 10 more on the way. It's also why we see more revivals and remakes moving into Broadway houses. They're guaranteed ticket-sellers. I'm not complaining; I anticipate the release of the next MCU movie and am counting down the days until The Music Man opens like the rest of us. Risk is a necessary evil, though. It's where the beauty of Broadway emerges. For all of the revenue that safe shows generate, the indisputable blockbuster hit of the 21st century-originally a hip-hop concept album about America's first treasury secretary-was anything but a sure bet. Lin-Manuel Miranda's introduction of Hamilton at the White House in 2009 garnered hesitant laughs from the audience. Seven years later, the musical broke the record for the most Tony Award nominations received by a single show and performed to sold-out crowds eight times a week.

Ultimately, as one of my professors always says, "Humanity only has about ten stories. It just keeps telling them over and over again." This much is true. It's very unlikely that we will innovate a new character arc anytime soon that rivals the ones we've been using for thousands of years. What's more, even the most original theatrical stories of the past decade-Hadestown, Hamilton, The Great Comet-all have their basis in source materials, whether it be legend, history, or literature. Originality is a myth, but creativity isn't, and when we dare to think outside of the box, our best work happens. In the end, it's not what we say, but how we say it.