With Netflix stage adaptations coming our way, is Broadway now afraid to take risks?
This article contains quotations from Youtuber Katherine Steele. The author wishes to clarify that she’s never arranged a personal interview with Ms. Steele (but I’d love to meet her soon!) and all credits go to her. No copyright infringement intended. For educational purposes only.
It all started when news of The Queen’s Gambit’s stage adaptation awakened a lot of Broadway fans. To some, it’s a glimmer of hope for the curtains to open again. To others, it’s a safe step made by an industry closed for over a year now. While theatre is no stranger in taking original stories and forming it with jazz hands, mixed emotions are filled over the quality of shows on the way. Known for their grand jetés and blinking lights, is Broadway now afraid to take risks?
“Musical theatre has always been borrowed,” according to California-based theatre actress and Youtuber, Katherine Steele, in her “Why are there So Many Adaptations on Broadway?” video. “The very concept of musicals borrow from other art forms, like acting, singing and dancing all existed way before the American Theatre Wing did.”
Many Broadway classics that we’ve come to love trace themselves from original plays, novels, and films — a way to welcome new fans into the incomparable and magical experience of theatre. Stage adaptations of Disney classics like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin, and Frozen incorporated Broadway’s pixie dust and transformed into a whole new world of its own, beloved to old theatre fans and Disney fans alike. Where, then, does the issue over yet another screen to stage adaptation lie?
Stage adaptations easily turn in profit
What’s making theatre fans raise their eyebrows when they’ve surely seen and loved the Anya Taylor-Joy led mini-series? The decision was all about money. It has always been.
The Broadway League counts that the average age of theatre-goers is 40. This explains why a number of shows that ascended the stage were jukebox shows of the 90s divas (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, The Cher Show, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Summer: The Donna Summer Musical). Subsequently, stage adaptations of 90s and 00s flicks and TV series were well-received by fans (Beetlejuice, Pretty Woman, Mean Girls, SpongeBob Squarepants) a number are in the works (13 Going On 30, The Devil Wears Prada, The Princess Bride, Mystic Pizza). As proven by its high audience attendance in the 2018 & 2019 seasons, staging material with an existing fan following guarantees an enticing invitation to audiences who’ve probably never entered a theatre before. As there has been an inevitable struggle to come up with new and original stories under pandemic restrictions, an adaptation of a hit Netflix series would mean 62M potential audiences.
But “not everything needs to be a musical”
To set the record, theatrical adaptations work. Rodgers and Hammerstein would be shaking in their graves if I said they didn’t. What sets well-renowned adaptations apart from those that audiences let pass, however, is their ability to stand on its own like an original material. Inspired by the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story has made itself a theatrical hall-of-famer with its electrifying numbers and honest commentary on race and class. Raising eyebrows on how they’d be able to depict animals onstage, The Lion King sent audiences in roaring applause for its bizarre costumes & set, as well as its soul-stopping score.
On the other side of it all, Broadway producers, must learn to swallow the hard truth. “Not everything needs to be a musical,” Katherine blatantly states. Amelié: A New Musical was promising in its own right. Inspired by the iconic French film, Phillipa Soo, fresh from her Tony-nominated performance in Hamilton, was set to play the beloved titular lead originated by Audrey Tautou. The production closed after 27 previews and 56 regular performances, its weekly grosses not breaking the $ 600,000 mark. Despite establishing itself as a light-hearted musical with lovely original songs, expectations may have not been met because Amelié wouldn’t be Amelié without its stunning cinematography and eargasmic score — the magic of Broadway can’t compare to the majesty of French cinema. “Different stories make better sense for different storytelling mediums,” Katherine concludes.
Come what may
We all miss the theatre. Nothing compares to the pixie dust of Broadway, and it’s definitely hard to mount a production in times like this. Theaters are closed until mid 2021, with no guarantee that circumstances will be safe for us. But there’s a reason why some stage adaptations work, and some don’t. At the end of the day, artistic decisions must be balanced with financial ones.
Will The Queen’s Gambit’s musical adaptation emerge triumphant in adding octaves to Beth Harmon’s already rhythmic story? Broadway must be wise in formulating their game plan.
