Line #90 Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/westeros_poster.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Look at the picture and try guessing which two works are being combined]]
3
4	->''"Fools who trust too much soon wind up dead."''
5	-->--'''Littlefinger''', "Small Council"
6
7	''Westeros: An American Musical'' is a musical parody of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' and its live-action TV adaptation ''Series/GameOfThrones'', set to music from ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}''.
8
9	After losing his Hand of the King and foster father Jon Arryn to disease, King Robert Baratheon enlists his foster brother Eddard Stark as his new Hand. Eddard soon discovers that Robert’s younger biological bothers Stannis and Renly are the true second and third in line for the throne due to all three of Robert’s supposed children actually being the produce of his wife’s Cersei’s affair with [[BrotherSisterIncest her own brother]]. Unfortunately, the DecadentCourt claims both Robert and Eddard’s lives almost as soon as the news starts spreading. In their wake, Cersei and her family do their best to keep her oldest son Joffrey on the throne. Meanwhile, Stannis is ready to take the seat that is his by force, and Renly’s boyfriend has a sister with eyes on the Queen’s crown.
10
11	The play focuses mostly on the events in King’s Landing and the Lannisters, with Stannis and his entourage being a close second. Robb Stark, Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow’s storylines get minor focus, while the rest range from brief mentions to complete absence. The play [[NoFourthWall doesn't have much of a Fourth Wall]], either.
12
13	[[AC:Works]]
14	* ''Westeros: An American Musical'' covers events from ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'' and ''Literature/AClashOfKings'' to the tune of songs taken from ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}''
15	** 2018 version
16	** 2019 version, expanded and reworked
17	* ''Theatre/{{Queens}}'' adapting ''Literature/AFeastForCrows'' and ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'', set to music from ''Theatre/SixTheMusical''
18
19	----
20	!! The play provides examples of:
21
22	* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance:
23	** The Sand Snakes accompany Oberyn to King’s Landing instead of Ellaria, resulting in them debuting the equivalent of an entire book early. This gets plenty of mention in their debut song, "Hisstorically Inaccurate".
24	** This is also technically the case for [[spoiler:Ser Robert Strong, due to Gregor Clegane getting promptly resurrected after his death]].
25	* AdaptationalHeroism:
26	** The play drops most--if not all--of the alcoholic DirtyOldMan [[spoiler:only interested in the money Littlefinger pays him]] aspect of Dontos. While he's still [[spoiler:working for Littlefinger]], there is no indication of [[spoiler:him being paid for it]], which makes his good actions come across as more sincere than in canon.
27	** The Hound's most questionable act in the play is not keeping Joffrey from beheading Eddard Stark. Other than that, he's competing with Dontos for the most sympathetic of the men interested in Sansa.
28	** ''Heroism'' is overstating it, but Tywin's worst traits are ''way'' toned down. Jaime is cut out entirely, and Cersei is barely there, so the only one of Tywin's relationships with his children that we see is Tyrion's. We don't see the years of Tywin belittling Tyrion; we only see the ''one'' moment where Tywin gives Tyrion the job as Hand of the King and calls him his son.
29	* AdaptationalVillainy: Dany's angst is cut entirely and Tyrion's is heavily truncated. By keeping their ''actions'', but removing the angst, both of them are made much less sympathetic.
30	* AdaptationalWimp: Loras in Act II. In Act I, he co-conspires with Renly to make Margaery Robert's mistress and is the figurehead of the Tyrell army in "The Siege of King's Landing". In Act II, Olenna has to intervene to keep Loras from getting harassed by the Sand Snakes and he's mostly silently helping out with whatever Olenna and Margaery are up to.
31	* AdaptationAmalgamation: The play contains both elements of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' that didn't make it to ''Series/GameOfThrones'' and elements from the latter that weren't present in the books.
32	* AdaptationExplanationExtrication:
33	** One of Littlefinger's lines only makes sense if the viewer knows of Brandon Stark's story, namely the fact that he and Littlefinger once had a duel for Catelyn's hand (you get no points for guessing who lost), and that he died trying to get Lyanna back from Rhaegar. Knowing that Lysa Arryn is Catelyn's sister is also needed to understand Littlefinger's affirmation that Lysa is "the sister he prefers" which is spoken almost an entire song ''before'' any line in the play itself mentions that she's Sansa's aunt.
34	** ''Ser'' Dontos spends the entire play in a fool's outfit. While he mentions his IOweYouMyLife situation in regards to Sansa, nobody ever spells out that the incident consisted of Sansa convincing Joffrey to make Dontos his fool rather than killing him. The play also omits [[spoiler:him being an alcoholic and actually being paid by Littlefinger for his more heroic actions, which strips his death from the Asshole Victim aspect it had in the original story]].
35	** "Sword in the Darkness" ends with someone telling Jon Snow they knew his father and that he was a good man. The fact the father is Eddard Stark is bound to go over the head of anyone not already familiar with the story, as there is no mention of a familial relationship between Eddard Stark and Jon Snow anywhere else in the play.
36	* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Rarely are characters given traits they ''lack'' in the source material, but due to AdaptationDistillation, few characters are given their full complexity. Depending on which bits are cut and which bits are included, characters can come across very differently.
37	* AffectionateParody: The musical pokes a lot of fun to the original story's plot and some of the less popular changes ''Series/GameOfThrones'' brought to it, but also puts emphasis on its awesome moments. The author and lyricists also clearly love the story enough to adapt it to several ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' songs.
38	* AnachronismStew: In addition to the music, some aspects of the modern world show up in the otherwise medieval story. A couple of characters moving away from their current place of residence are seen dragging wheeled suitcases, some of the body language only makes sense in a setting with wristwatches and Wun-Wun is wearing a Giants football jersey. In the sequel, Margaery talks in slang (to the point Asha can't understand her), Aegon has a Tik-Tok, and there is a section where Aegon, Jon Connington, Varys, and Illyrio swipe through a dating app.
39	* AnachronisticSoundtrack: The modern music is just as out of place in the retelling of a fantasy story as it was in ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}''.
40	* AndThenWhat:
41	-->'''Daenerys:''' I have no heir\
42	I can't have kids\
43	And please don't ask me where Viserys is!
44	* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: "The Red Wedding", which focuses on the reaction of the Lannisters to an event in which many of their opponents died, is basically And There Was Much Rejoicing: The song.
45	* AnyoneCanDie: Let's not forget the story that's being parodied here:
46	** "Plot Development": Robert.
47	** Eddard Stark dies between the end of "Plot Development" and the beginning of "Stannis Refuted".
48	** "Crownless": [[spoiler:Renly]].
49	** "Hisstorically Inaccurate": [[spoiler:The raven serving as narrator for Act I]].
50	** "Stark to Finish": [[spoiler:Robb and Catelyn]].
51	** "The Groom When It Happened": [[spoiler:Joffrey and Dontos]].
52	** "Talk Less, Stab More": [[spoiler:Oberyn]].
53	** [[spoiler:Shae and Tywin]] little after the end of "Congratshaelations".
54	* AnythingButThat: Littlefinger's reaction to the prospect of having Stannis as a King.
55	* BigShadowLittleCreature: An uplifting take on the trope shows up in "The Siege of King's Landing", when Tyrion is giving himself a pep talk:
56	--> '''Tyrion:''' A very small man can cast a very large shadow. [[spoiler:Which is a quote from the books by Varys about Tyrion]]
57	* BizarreSeasons: Grenn points this out in "First Watch", as he has trouble understanding how the "Seasons lasting several years" thing even works.
58	* BlackComedy: When the source material is DarkFantasy in which AnyoneCanDie, this par for the course for an AffectionateParody.
59	* CrossCastRole: Short and young men are played by women.
60	** There is nobody with dwarfism in the cast, so Tyrion is played by one of the shorter women.
61	** Another woman plays Joffrey, Jon Snow, the shadow-baby [[spoiler:who kills Renly]] and Edric Storm.
62	* CompositeCharacter: The Sand Snakes take on Ellaria's role as the character tagging along with Oberyn to King's Landing who ends up witnessing [[spoiler:Oberyn's death in his fight with Gregor Clegane]].
63	* CompressedAdaptation: This is necessary to fit the first three ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' books into two hours, even with some plotlines cut entirely. Important POV characters are cut entirely, like Bran, Jaime, and Arya.
64	* CoverInnocentEyesAndEars: During "Knight's[sic] Watch Defeated", Davos re-iterates his disapproval of Stannis' plans of sacrificing Edric while Shireen is in the room and covers Shireen's ears while he does so.
65	* DeathOfAChild: Gregor Clegane killing Elia Martell's children is mentioned in "The Dorne Identity" and "Talk Less, Stab More".
66	* DecadentCourt: It's to the point that "Small Council", the play's counterpart to "Aaron Burr, Sir", changes the "talk less, smile more" piece of political advice to "trust less, conspire more". The following song, "Plot Development" is about several members of the royal court having their own little conspiracy underway.
67	* DecapitationPresentation: The ultimate fate of Eddard's head, courtesy of Joffrey.
68	* DemotedToExtra:
69	** A few Wildling characters get this without outright becoming TheGhost. Among the Wildlings seen in "Sword in the Darkness", only Mance is named on-stage. However, three actors are credited for playing Wun-Wun, Tormund and Val, all three of which are recognizable among the handful of actors standing in for Mance's army.
70	** In Act II, Loras is seen much more than he's heard, after having had a more active part in Act I.
71	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The music alone can sometimes draw a parallel between an event from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' and a scene from ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'':
72	** "King Robert Baratheon", which is about how Robert started out a rebellious teen and became King, is set to the tune of "Alexander Hamilton", which tells the story of a poor orphan managing to better his situation into becoming a historical figure.
73	** "Hand of the King" is set to "Right Hand Man". Both songs happen during a war and involve the protagonist being given an important position they weren't expecting by a father or father figure who's a prominent military leader.
74	** "Shae No To This" / "Say No To This". Let's see: We've got a young political hotshot--a man who tends to assume he's the smartest in the room. He has an affair--an unwise and poorly thought out decision. Someone threats to reveal the affair, and tries to extort money from the man as the price of silence.
75	** "Growing Concerned" focuses on a group of characters conspiring to get another out of their way, much like its original, "Washington on Your Side".
76	** Both of the songs sung by Daenerys were originally sung by King George III, who is also an antagonist separated from the protagonists by a large body of water, and has nothing to do plot-wise.
77	* DoubleEntendre: Right after "Hand-Holding", a song that is all about how much Eddard and Robert care about each other, the narrator calls the Hand of the King position Eddard accepted during the song a Hand-job. She also mentions that Eddard next needs to meet Littlefinger, or, in her own words, "get a [[PersonAsVerb Littlefingering]]".
78	* FriendshipSong: "Hand-Holding", which is about the friendship Eddard and Robert shared in their youth and their expectations of being a good team as King and Hand.
79	* FunWithHomophones: When Sansa tells Sandor he's a good knight:
80	--> '''Dontos:''' Good night to you too!
81	* TheGhost: Several characters get demoted to this, so many in fact that it gets pointed out for some of them:
82	** The raven serving as narrator first thinks she misread her cue card when she narrates about Eddard Stark travelling to King's Landing with ''two'' daughters, due to only Sansa actually appearing in the play and Arya getting relegated to a few mentions.
83	** During "I'll Be Back", Daenerys asks the audience to not ask her where Viserys is. It can easily be read as a nod both to Viserys being dead by that point and to the fact that Daenerys is the only Essos-located character seen in the play.
84	** When Stannis burns the leeches to curse Joffrey, Balon and Robb, the fire's response to Balon's leech being thrown in is Balon's voice complaining about not being in the play.
85	** Near the end of "Stark to Finish", [[spoiler:the Red Wedding]] gets interrupted due to Catelyn getting baffled by Jaime's physical absence from the play. Robb points out the fact that Jaime's capture by the Starks was mentioned earlier in the play ("Hand of the King" and "Robb Stark"). To top things off, the early part of "Stark to Finish" itself alludes to Catelyn releasing Jaime.
86	* HappilyEverBefore: The play ending right around the time ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'' interrupts the story at a relatively happy point:
87	** The audience is spared the deaths of at least two likable characters.
88	** The negative aftermath of the deaths of less likable, but quite influential characters isn't shown.
89	** The play ends right after one of the candidates for the throne provides much-needed help for a pressing issue neglected by his rivals and is welcomed by the people needing the help accordingly. The long-term consequences of providing that help turn out to not all be positive in canon.
90	* TheHeroSucksSong: "King Robert Baratheon" is about how much of a handful Robert was to both his parents and Jon Arryn as a child and a teen, got better thanks to Eddard's influence, led a successful rebellion, became King, quashed a rebellion, then let himself go. By the time the song finishes, the company is singing about Robert currently being in a brothel, fathering yet another bastard he won't pay any attention to.
91	* HostileShowTakeover: The Sand Snakes strong-arm [[spoiler:and murder]] their way into becoming the narrators during Act II.
92	* HufflepuffHouse: The play's version of the War of the Five Kings is more of a War of the Four Kings, with the Iron Islands being the faction losing out. Both the Lannisters and Stannis seem to simply consider Balon just an extra person contesting their authority while considering each other the more immediate problem. The Lannisters ultimately only interact with the Starks, Stannis' faction and Renly's faction over the course of the play, while Stannis' faction only has confrontations with the Lannisters and Renly's faction. The Iron Islands ultimately only play a role in the Stark-focused portions of the story, and that role consists of raiding various parts of the North entirely off-stage [[spoiler:and being the faction in favor of which Theon defects]].
93	* IAmSong: "Crownless" for Margaery, also doubling as a IWantSong.
94	-->'''Margaery''': I have always been well-liked and kind to all the peasants\
95	Always unsuspicious but ambitious at my essence
96	* InteractiveNarrator: The raven in Act I of the 2019 version. She interacts with the audience as a narrator, but also has a few exchanges with the characters when she deems it necessary to move things along.
97	* ItsAllAboutMe: What Margaery has to say about Renly's murder.
98	-->'''Margaery''': And now you're fucking dead, and I'm still crownless!
99	* JudicialWig: The three characters who are judges during the murder trial in "The Groom When It Happened" don white powdered wigs.
100	* KangarooCourt: The murder trial in "The Groom When It Happened" is one. The fact that the main suspect was already considered guilty before the victim had let out their last breath is made clear in the refrain, for which the full sentence is "[[spoiler:No one else was with]] the groom when it happened". It is first sung before the suspect's trial takes place.
101	* KinslayingIsASpecialKindOfEvil: A couple of lines in "The Siege of King's Landing" allude to this:
102	--> ''Even to the villainous,\
103	Kinslaying is prohibited''
104	* MaternalDeathBlameTheChild: This comes up concerning Tyrion:
105	** He mentions this as one of the reasons he needs to prove himself to the rest of his family in "Hand of the King".
106	** When Cersei fears that Tyrion's methods will get the entire rest of the Lannister family killed, she speaks of their mother as if she's Tyrion's current record of getting family members killed.
107	* MinorCharacterMajorSong: Daenerys, aside from being a brief conversation topic during "Small Council", spends the play doing her own thing on the other side of the Narrow Sea. She still gets to sing "I'll Be Back" and "The Storm's End".
108	* MisplacedSorrow: If a person essential to her current plan to become Queen dies, Margaery tends to mourn the plan rather than the person who died.
109	* MundaneUtility: Able to resurrect a dead body? Do it early enough after the death and it saves other people the trouble of needing to move it.
110	* NoFourthWall: The play keeps several BreakingTheFourthWall moments from the ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' songs. On top of this, it has such things as characters casually pointing out differences between ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' and ''Series/GameOfThrones'' or acting out romantic scenes between specific pairs to please the audience. The InteractiveNarrator also tries to kick the Sand Snakes out for showing up too early [[spoiler:and gets killed over it]].
111	* NonAppearingTitle: Many songs have this for various reasons:
112	** "Hand-Holding", "Small Council", "Plot Development", "First Watch", "Red Woman", "No Waiting", "More Than Jest Friends", "Hisstorically Inaccurate", "The Dorne Identity", "Growing Concerned", "A H(e)art Inflamed", "Stark to Finish", "Opposing Council", "Hostile Witness", "Talk Less, Stab More", "Sword in the Darkness" and "The Storm's End" are all indicative of what the song is about, but don't actually appear in the lyrics.
113	** "Stannis Refuted" and "Knight's[sic] Watch Defeated" inherit the feature from their respective ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' originals, "Farmer Refuted" and "Schuyler Defeated".
114	** "Shae No To This" is the parody of "Say No To This", but retains none of the instances of the titular sentence.
115	* OpeningChorus: "King Robert Baratheon" has several characters take turns at telling the audience the story of how Robert became King.
116	* PerspectiveFlip: "Congratshaelations" consists of Shae's perspective on her relationship with Tyrion. She points out that from her point of view, he was keeping her despite the fact that she risked being killed if discovered, married a teenage girl without much protest, isn't nearly as kind as he thinks he is and got his family on his bad side at times when he really shouldn't have. She also explains many of her actions by the fact that regardless of anything else, she needs to work to make a living and can't stay with someone who can't pay her.
117	* PlotIrrelevantVillain: Daenerys is one in the play. "I'll Be Back" reminds the audience that she doesn't have an heir and can't have children. "The Storm's End" has her point out that the turmoil that has happened by the end of Act II would make it a good time for her to try getting the throne... but that she first needs to conquer three different major cities on another continent than the one on which the rest of the characters live. "The Storm's End" is not only the last the audience sees of her, but the last song of the entire play.
118	* PokemonSpeak: The play's version of Bronn only says his own name if he speaks at all. Hodor, the canonical holder of the trait, isn't in the play.
119	* PromotedToLoveInterest: The Hound already has a thing for Sansa in the books, but the musical boosts it.
120	-->'''Sansa:''' We're doing {{fanservice}}!
121	* PunBasedTitle:
122	** "More Than Jest Friends" (jester + more than just friends)
123	** "Hisstorically Inaccurate" (a snake's hiss + historically inaccurate)
124	** "The Dorne Identity" (Dorne + ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'')
125	** "Shae No To This" (Shae + "Say No To This")
126	** "A H(e)art Inflamed"
127	** "Stark to Finish" (Stark + start to finish)
128	** "Congratshaelations" (Shae + "Congratulations")
129	* RecordNeedleScratch: Occurs both times Dontos appears in "More Than Jest Friends". The first time, Dontos shows up unexpectedly while Sansa is waiting for Sandor. The second time, he's being an outright MomentKiller in a scene that was meant to be a romantic moment between Sandor and Sansa.
130	* SecretMessageWink: Done with lampshading in "Small Council"; when a character with ChronicBackstabbingDisorder is [[https://youtu.be/fRp8u9mp_V4?t=490 introducing himself]] to another character, he [[AsideComment turns and winks to the audience]], indicating the insincerity of his prior words:
131	-->'''Petyr Baelish:''' Petyr Baelish, at your service, ''[turning to the audience and winking]'' I say with a wink.
132	* ShipperOnDeck: The raven narrator states that she "ships it" after "First Watch", which has Sam tell Jon about his crush on Gilly. She isn't specific on whether she means Jon/Sam or Sam/Gilly.
133	* SmallRoleBigImpact: A frequent consequence of reducing the roles of some characters:
134	** Lancel Lannister is given all the credit for actually killing Robert, but only gets a brief mention in "Plot Development".
135	** Tyrion mentions his life getting saved by his squire near the end of "The Siege of King's Landing". The squire in question isn't heard of before nor after the fact.
136	** Robb's wife isn't seen at all, but the fact that she [[spoiler:isn't a Frey]] has a huge impact on the Stark storyline.
137	* SongParody: A decent portion of the ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' songs get this.
138	* SuccessionCrisis: Robert's death creates one. Joffrey would have been Robert's proper heir if he had actually been Robert's son, but he's not and Joffrey's family won't let others take him off the throne without a fight. Stannis is the rightful heir, but quite unpopular. Renly has the backing of a family with a large army and their own ambitions to get more political power.
139	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Oberyn volunteering to be [[spoiler:Tyrion]]'s TrialByCombat champion is phrased as one of those:
140	--> '''Oberyn:''' Actually, I totally believe he's innocent, and I'm definitely not just using it as an excuse to battle the Mountain in front of an audience for confession purposes.
141	* TemptingFate:
142	** Both "King Robert Baratheon" and "Hand-Holding" hold a big, shining beacon for fate. The former boasts about the mere fact that Robert is alive, while the latter has Eddard and Robert sing of a future time in which both of them will be dead. Robert realizes this in "Hand-Holding" and goes out of his way to specify that they are imagining that time to be quite a few decades away.
143	** Cersei reacts to [[spoiler:Tyrion]] demanding TrialByCombat by saying that nobody is going to volunteer to be his champion with the Mountain representing the Crown. While the character who famously volunteered to be [[spoiler:Tyrion]]'s champion in both book and TV canons is in the room.
144	* TruerToTheText: Zig-zagged considering the play’s parody nature, but quite a few elements from the books make more of an appearance than they ever did in ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
145	** Leo Lefford is seen in "Hand of the King".
146	** Roose Bolton wears pink, which is the main House Bolton color in the books. The TV show went with RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver.
147	** Sarella Sand is among the Sand Snakes.
148	** The animosity between the Reach and Dorne, which was absent from the TV show.
149	** Shae is played as the GoldDigger she is in the books.
150	** A hairnet is used to get [[spoiler:the poison used to kill Joffrey]] where it needs to be, while the accessory was changed to a necklace in the TV show.
151	** Edric Storm serves as Melisandre’s source of King’s blood, while this part of his storyline was given to Gendry in the TV series.
152	** Robb marries [[spoiler:Jeyne Westerling]] in this version.
153	** Several characters who were AdaptedOut of the TV series, such as Coldhands and Ser Cortnay Penrose, are among the name-dropped characters.
154	** The actress playing Catelyn is also credited as playing Val, which indicates that the blonde Wildling woman seen in "Sword in the Darkness" is supposed to be her.
155	* TwiceToldTale: The play is its own blend of the book and TV continuities, but also clearly expects the audience to be familiar with at least one of the official versions of the story it’s telling. Plot elements can get anything from proper exposition to AdaptationExplanationExtrication, depending on the whims of the InteractiveNarrator and characters. The fact that the plot is being retold with parodies of ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' songs is also best appreciated if the originals were listened to beforehand.
156	* {{Understatement}}:
157	** The following exchange from "Knight's[sic] Watch Defeated":
158	--->'''Stannis:''' I never thought I'd have to kill my own Hand.\
159	'''Davos:''' As your Hand, I don't think that's very good plan.
160	** After getting framed for murder and losing his TrialByCombat, [[spoiler:Tyrion]] comments that he's "having a bad year".
161	* YouWannaGetSued: "No waiting" from the 2019 version gets interrupted because a certain Lord Lin-Manuel of House Miranda sent a "cease and desist" notice due to too many similarities with "Wait for it". "Lady in Waiting" from the 2018 version covered the entire song, and was the one that retained the most lyrical similarities with its ''Hamilton'' counterpart.
162	* ZombieGait: A resurrected character leaves the stage walking with both arms in front of them.

Context Theatre / WesterosAnAmericanMusical