On Wed, 23 Dec 1998, Automatic digest processor wrote:

>         Here's a query from one of my students?  Any ideas?
>
>         Gloria Monti
>
> >       books have been adapted
> >       for the stage, for the screen,
> >       plays themselves have been
> >       made into films - it seems
> >       like this is mostly a
> >       one way street, in the
> >       direction of films.
> >       i was wondering
> >       if a film was ever
> >       adapted into a play

Yes, of course, there are many.  The first one that pops into mind for me
(because I am researching issues of adaptation surrounding some 200 films
and television productions of Jules Verne stories worldwide) AROUND THE
WORLD IN 80 DAYS, turned into a musical play by Mike Todd, Jr. in the
mid 1960s from his father's 1956 hit film.

In addition to specific versions of a specific film, when discussing film
to stage topics you would also want to investigate the influence of a
variety of films in creating the expectations for a certain property.
For instance, I just completed an article on some thirteen film and tv
adaptations of Verne's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, and a summary
of the surprising number of stage versions (considering the difficulty of
placing the story within the proscenium) reveals an accelerating
interaction and growing intertextuality between stage and film versions as
this story becomes an ever more popular basis for films, tv, and stage.  I
suspect the same is true of many properties popular in multiple mediums.

And I keep waiting for Disney to turn their 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA
into a stage show a la BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and LION KING, with perhaps a
singing Captain Nemo. ;-)

Brian Taves
Motion Picture/Broadcasting/Recorded Sound Division
Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.    Washington, D.C.  20540-4692
Telephone:  202-707-9930; 202-707-2371 (fax)
Email:  [log in to unmask]


Disclaimer--All opinions expressed are my own.

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