History DarkerAndEdgier / Theatre

[[redirect:DarkerAndEdgier/{{Other}}]]

* ''Theatre/DogSeesGod'' is a play featuring thinly disguised versions of the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' cast in high school. [[spoiler:Snoopy was put down after getting rabies and killing Woodstock. Lucy is in an asylum for lighting the little redheaded girl's hair on fire]] and that's the tip of the iceberg.
* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's ''Quidam'' was intentionally conceived by its creators as a show that would be darker, less whimsical, and more realistic than what the company had produced up to that point. They accomplished this by...telling a story about the commonality of loneliness and alienation through the eyes of a jaded preteen girl who learns to reconnect with others via a trip to a sometimes-melancholy MagicalLand.
* Richard Strauss's opera ''Elektra'', based on the Sophocles play but turn the bloodlust and neurotism up to the eleven, and adds a sister-to-sister LesYay moment.
* ''Theatre/KingLear'', believe it or not, wasn't a tragedy [[OlderThanTheyThink until Shakespeare got his hands on the story]]. In the story ''his'' audience knew, the story ends with Lear coming to his senses, forgiving Cordelia, retaking his throne and ruling until he finally dies of old age. [[WhamEpisode Poor audience]].
* The musical ''Theatre/{{Aida|JohnRice}}'' is this to other Disney musicals. No surprise, given that it's based on [[Theatre/AidaVerdi an opera]] (which ironically, it is a LighterAndSofter version of).
* The revival of ''Theatre/MissSaigon'' is this to the original production--which is ''already'' quite gritty. But the language and behavior of nearly everyone in the new version is far coarser and rougher than before.
* ''Theatre/{{Ebenezer}}'' is a prequel to ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' where murder, destruction, and secrets abound that cast a dark light on the original story. Jacob Marley was in love with Scrooge and Fran's mother, kills Fran as an act of revenge on their family, and, on Scrooge's orders, forecloses Emily's orphanage on Christmas Eve, killing all the children there. Scrooge is even worse, because when Charles Dickens reveals this to him, he reveals he'd known about everything from the start and is ''fine'' with all they'd done, including viciously attacking Emily himself and ordering the foreclosure.
* ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', while lighter than the [[Literature/{{Wicked}} book]], is darker than the ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' book and film it takes inspiration from.
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* ''Theatre/DogSeesGod'' is a play featuring thinly disguised versions of the ''{{Peanuts}}'' cast in high school. [[spoiler:Snoopy was put down after getting rabies and killing Woodstock. Lucy is in an asylum for lighting the little redheaded girl's hair on fire]] and that's the tip of the iceberg.

* The musical ''Theatre/{{Aida}}'' is this to other Disney musicals. No surprise, given that it's based on an opera (which ironically, it is a LighterAndSofter version of).

* ''Theatre/{{Ebenezer}}'' is a prequel to ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' where murder, destruction, and secrets abound that cast a dark light on the original story. Jacob Marley was in love with Scrooge and Fran's mother, kills Fran as an act of revenge on their family, and, on Scrooge's orders, forecloses Emily's orphanage on Christmas Eve, killing all the children there. Scrooge is even worse, because by the time Charles Dickens reveals this to him, he knows about everything and is ''fine'' with all they'd done, including viciously attacking Emily himself and ordering the foreclosure.

* ''DogSeesGod'' is a play featuring thinly disguised versions of the ''{{Peanuts}}'' cast in high school. [[spoiler:Snoopy was put down after getting rabies and killing Woodstock. Lucy is in an asylum for lighting the little redheaded girl's hair on fire]] and that's the tip of the iceberg.

* CirqueDuSoleil's ''Quidam'' was intentionally conceived by its creators as a show that would be darker, less whimsical, and more realistic than what the company had produced up to that point. They accomplished this by...telling a story about the commonality of loneliness and alienation through the eyes of a jaded preteen girl who learns to reconnect with others via a trip to a sometimes-melancholy MagicalLand.