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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dr_zaius_4166.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:♪ [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968 Oh my god! I was wrong!]]\\
It was EarthAllAlong! ♪]]

->''"So start off on the right foot and select a story that is all prepared for you. The translation of that story to musical form is quite complex enough. Within that frame you will find more than adequate challenge to your originality and enough on which to experiment."''
-->-- '''[[Creator/LernerAndLoewe Alan Jay Lerner]]''', ''Advice to Young Musical Writers''

Many musicals -- one could even argue the ''majority'' -- are adaptations. There are two major reasons for this tendency:

# '''Dramaturgy.''' Many musicals will have separate artists working on each aspect of the text -- book, music and lyrics. Some musicals will have more than one person working on each aspect, and then you have the influence of directors, choreographers and producers. It's hard enough to write a good story as it is, so adapting an existing and proven story provides everybody working on the show with a touchstone.
# '''Commerciality.''' Primarily, musical theatre has always been a commercial medium that tries to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Moreover, as the sheer costs of staging a Broadway or West End musical continue to skyrocket, producers are under increasing pressure to guarantee their shows will be smash hits. Audiences are more likely to come see a musical (or play, or film ...) based on a property with which they are already familiar, so adaptations are a safer bet than original works, though of course they're not sure hits (as proven by the line of unsuccessful musical adaptations of ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'' stretching back to 1899).

This trope is so common that it often said "great musicals are not written, they are ''re-written''". Note, however, that it can be difficult to define what counts as an "adaptation". Whilst many musicals draw their narrative structure directly from the movie, novel, stage play, comic book, short story, ancient Greek myth etc. on which they were based, many other musicals take their inspiration from a variety of unusual sources -- a historical figure or event, a painting, a concept -- but provide an original narrative. Historically, this is hardly a new phenomenon, as most {{opera}}s, operettas and {{ballet}}s are also adaptations. Only here it is not as obvious to lay people thanks to AdaptationDisplacement and because many classic operas were adapted from works which were not as well-known in the first place or which have since been entirely forgotten by the general public.

Incidentally, this is why so many musicals are subtitled [[TitleTheAdaptation The Musical!]]

'''Administrivia/NoStraightExamplesPlease''' Only aversions and parodies should be listed.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Aversions]]
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* ''Theatre/AnyoneCanWhistle''
* ''Theatre/AnythingGoes''
* ''Theatre/AvenueQ'' isn't an adaptation, though it is largely a {{pastiche}} of ''Series/SesameStreet''.
* ''Theatre/BabesInArms'', though the licensed version is a considerably altered adaptation of the original.
* ''Theatre/{{Bandstand}}''
* ''The Beautiful Game'' and its rewrite ''The Boys in the Photograph''.
* ''Theatre/BloodBrothers''
* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon''
* ''Theatre/{{Brooklyn}}''
* ''Theatre/ByeByeBirdie''
* ''Caroline, Or Change''
* ''Theatre/TheCatAndTheFiddle''
* ''Theatre/{{Chess}}''
* ''Theatre/AChorusLine''
* ''Theatre/CityOfAngels'' is not an adaptation, though its ShowWithinAShow is a FilmNoir adapted from a novel.
* ''Theatre/CompanySondheim'' is a borderline example: it was based on a cycle of seven short plays, which however went unproduced.
* ''Theatre/{{Curtains}}''. The ShowWithinAShow, meanwhile, is an adaptation of Myth/RobinHood set in the Wild West.
* ''Theatre/DearEvanHansen'', though it is VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory.
* ''Theatre/TheDesertSong''
* ''Theatre/TheDrowsyChaperone''
* ''Theatre/{{Falsettos}}''
* ''Theatre/{{Finale}}''
* ''Theatre/FiniansRainbow''
* ''Theatre/{{Follies}}''
* ''Gettin' the Band Back Together''
* ''Theatre/{{Grease}}''
* ''[[Theatre/GutenbergTheMusical Gutenberg! The Musical!]]'' is an original show about two writers with more moxie than talent trying to make a musical about Johann Gutenberg based on one sentence from an encyclopedia and some stuff they vaguely remember from school. As far as they are concerned, that means it's historical fiction, which they define as "fiction that's true".
* ''Theatre/{{Hair}}''
* ''Hallelujah, Baby!''
* ''Theatre/HedwigAndTheAngryInch''
* ''Theatre/InTheHeights''
* ''In Transit''
* {{Jukebox Musical}}s with original plots (''Theatre/MammaMia'', ''Film/AcrossTheUniverse2007'', ''Theatre/RockOfAges'', etc) are not entirely aversions ''[[ExactWords technically]]'', since they re-work pre-existing material into new presentations, but since the term "adaptation" usually refers to plot, not music, these shows may get a bye. It's debatable whether jukebox musicals where the plots are biographies of the musician(s) whose songs are being used (ie, ''Theatre/JerseyBoys'') count, being they are literally adaptations of the subjects' life story.
* ''Theatre/KissMeKate'' is an original musical... [[ShowWithinAShow about the cast]] of [[TheMusicalMusical a musical adaptation]] of Shakespeare's ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew''.
* ''Theatre/LadyInTheDark''
* ''Theatre/TheLastFiveYears''
* ''Linie 1'', a German musical famous for almost completely taking place in a subway train.
* ''Milk and Honey''
* ''Theatre/TheMusicMan'', though it does have something in common with Meredith Willson's memoirs of his childhood, ''And There I Stood With My Piccolo''.
* ''Theatre/NextToNormal''
* ''Theatre/OfTheeISing''
* ''Theatre/OnAClearDayYouCanSeeForever''
* ''Theatre/PaintYourWagon'', despite the author's preface (quoted above) to the published libretto advising musical writers against trying to write original stories.
* ''Theatre/PassingStrange''
* ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}''
* ''Theatre/PlainAndFancy''
* ''The Rocky Horror Show'': First a musical, ''then'' [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow the movie]].
* ''Theatre/SongsForANewWorld''
* ''Theatre/StarlightExpress''; Creator/AndrewLloydWebber wanted to adapt ''Literature/TheRailwaySeries'' but [[DivorcedInstallment made it original]] because otherwise wouldn't have had the creative control he wanted.
* ''Theatre/SundayInTheParkWithGeorge'': Not based on a previous film, play, or novel, but on a ''painting''. Well, sort of.
* ''[[Franchise/{{Tabaluga}} Tabaluga und Lilli]]''
* ''[[Franchise/{{Tabaluga}} Tabaluga und das verschenkte Glück]]''
* ''13''
* ''Theatre/TickTickBoom'', although it is a partly autobiographical work.
* ''[title of show]''
** Lampshaded in "An Original Musical"
* ''Theatre/{{Urinetown}}''
* ...And everything by Creator/GilbertAndSullivan, except ''Theatre/PrincessIda'', based on Tennyson's poem "The Princess"; and ''Theatre/TheYeomenOfTheGuard'' which is based on a much older story.
** Gilbert and Sullivan also toyed briefly with the idea of a ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}'' parody. Ah, WhatCouldHaveBeen...
* Some musicals, such as ''[[Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix 1776]]'', ''[[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar The Civil War]]'', ''Floyd Collins'', ''Pacific Overtures'',''Theatre/{{Titanic}}'' (which coincidentally was produced the same year as [[Film/{{Titanic 1997}} the film of the same name]]), ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'' and ''Theatre/{{Parade|1998}}'' are not based on any literary source, per se, but rather on historical event. Though ''The Civil War'' does include a few direct quotes from speeches, etc., what these musicals get from history is their plots and many/most of their characters.
** The same is somewhat true of ''Assassins'' as well, which takes historical figures and events, and mashes them all together into one timeless [[BuffySpeak vacuum... type... thing.]]
** ''Film/{{Newsies}}'' is another example, this time for film.
** Similarly, biographical musicals, such as ''Theatre/AnnieGetYourGun'', ''Theatre/{{Evita}}'', ''Theatre/HereLiesLove'', and ''I Am Star Trek'' (Creator/GeneRoddenberry).
** ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' falls under a weird middle ground here. While it's ''inspired'' by the book ''Alexander Hamilton'' by Ron Chernow, in that Creator/{{Lin Manuel Miranda}} got the idea for the show while reading it while on vacation, it's as much an biographical adaptation of Hamilton's life as a direct adaptation of Chernow's biography. Furthermore, the show takes many more liberties with Hamilton's life than a straight biography like Chernow's would, and features themes (such as the importance of legacy) that Chernow's book does not.
** ''Theatre/ComeFromAway'' also fits- based on interviews with residents of Gander, Newfoundland, and the people on planes who were diverted there when American airspace was closed after 9/11.
* Creator/RodgersAndHammerstein's ''Allegro'' and ''Me and Juliet'' were originals. All other musicals they wrote (including movie and TV musicals) were adaptations.
* ''Theatre/ZombieProm'' is an original musical, which was adapted into a much-abridged film.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film and Other ]]

* ''Film/TheAmericanAstronaut''
* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'' for four continuous seasons, albeit genre {{Deconstruction}} and {{Pastiche}} of different show tunes and pop songs abound.
* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', though its story was influenced by Creator/MauriceSendak's ''Outside Over There''.
* ''Film/LaLaLand'' is a GenreThrowback to 50s musicals, but not a direct adaptation of any one story.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 The Lion King]]'' is the first Disney musical to avert the trope. It does take ''some'' inspiration from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', but it's not a direct adaptation of the play.
* Similar to ''Lion King'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'' was heavily inspired by the myth of Maui, but is not a direct adaptation.
* ''Film/{{Once}}'' is an entirely original story...that then got adapted to Broadway, where it won a Tony.
* ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera'' is a borderline example -- the writer adapted ''his own'' stage play, titled ''The Necromerchant's Debt'' into a musical.
* ''Rockford's Rock Opera''
* ''Film/SinginInTheRain'', although it was written to utilize a bunch of existing songs the studio already owned, is actually a double aversion: a movie musical that is neither based on an existing story or adapted from a Broadway musical. What's largely forgotten is that this was actually common practice for film musicals of the era, and had been for a good ten years; this is simply the most famous example.
* Most of the works of Creator/TeamStarKid are played with examples, in that they're unlicensed parodies (so far they've adapted ''Franchise/HarryPotter'', ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', ''Franchise/StarWars'', and ''VideoGame/TheOregonTrail'' in such manner) rather than direct adaptations. During this parody era, they did three original shows: ''Theatre/MeAndMyDick'', ''Theatre/{{Firebringer}}'', and, in a gray area, ''Theatre/{{Starship}}'', which has a setting modeled after ''Film/StarshipTroopers'' with a plot that combines ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' with ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', all three influences being extremely blatant. As of 2018, they've abandoned the musical parody genre.
* ''Film/TopHat''
* A significant chunk of Creator/DonBluth's work are original {{Animated Musical}}s: ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'', ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'', ''WesternAnimation/ATrollInCentralPark'', and ''WesternAnimation/ThePebbleAndThePenguin''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Parodies]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': The Season 5 premiere "Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl" revolves around Gene's musical version of ''Film/DieHard'' being passed over for the annual school play over Courtney Wheeler's musical version of ''Film/WorkingGirl''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has numerous fictional musical adaptations which parody the concept by drawing from bizarre and/or inappropriate sources:
** In "A Streetcar Named Marge", she stars as Blanche in a musical adaptation of ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' (opposite Ned Flanders as Stanley!) whose cheery closing song "You Can Always Depend on the Kindness of Strangers!" managed to [[ComicallyMissingThePoint completely miss the point of the original line]]. When Andre Previn made ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' into an opera later in TheNineties, he explicitly cited the "Simpsons scenario" ("Stella, Stella, can't you hear me yell-a?") as an instance of what he tried to avoid; its libretto simply sets the original text of the play to music. It should be noted that this was a case of SerendipityWritesThePlot, as they were unable to get the rights to the play itself, but were informed by a FOX lawyer that writing songs based on it would be fair game.
** The page image is from ''[[Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968 Stop the Planet of the Apes: I Want to Get Off!]]'' ("A Fish Called Selma"), which features [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlmzUEQxOvA breakdancing orangutans and spontaneous piano solos]].
** Smithers wrote and starred in a musical inspired by Malibu Stacy dolls in "Homer vs. Dignity," providing an example of a musical based on a pre-existing intellectual property while not being a direct adaptation.
--->'''Mr. Burns:''' A show about a ''doll''? Ha! Why not write [[Theatre/{{Cats}} a musical about the common cat]]? Or [[Theatre/TheKingAndI the King of Siam]]?
** ''Kickin' It: A Musical Journey Through the Betty Ford Center'' from "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson"
** The musical adaptation of ''[[ShowWithinAShow Itchy and Scratchy]]'' from "Girls Just Want to Have Sums" parodies the style of the Broadway version of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994''.
** "Lisa with an 'S'" returns to New York City and Broadway shows noted in passing include ''[[VideoGame/CandyCrushSaga Candy Crush]]: The Musical'' and the very meta ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie Spider-Pig]]: [[Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark Turn Off the Pork]]''.
** "How Lisa Got Her Marge Back" has them visit Capital City to see a musical version of ''Film/TheBadNewsBears''. Other shows playing that fit this trope include ''Film/PaulBlartMallCop: The Musical'' and ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} The Riddler on the Roof]]''.
* ''Film/TheProducers'' notes a musical adaptation of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', called ''Funny Boy''; it isn't depicted, but [[TakeOurWordForIt its audience informs us]] "It's the worst show in town!" in the first scene of the stage version, which takes place on its opening ''and'' closing night. While hunting for a show that will "[[FailureGambit close on page four]]", Max reads out what is clearly the first line of a musical adaptation of Creator/FranzKafka's ''Literature/TheMetamorphosis''. It's rejected for being ''too good''.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' is another twofer: ''Film/{{Waterworld}}: The Musical'' and, as a ContinuityNod to the episode parodying action movies, ''[[CowboyCop Loose Cannon Cop Who Doesn't Play by the Rules]]: The Musical''.
* ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' had "Keep on Trekkin'", a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' musical that addressed the post-cancellation success of [=TOS=] in reruns in TheSeventies. It ends with the cast turning down a network executive's offer of a {{Revival}} because they're making so much money already -- it was written before the movie franchise was established in 1979.
** "Coming Musicals" in MAD #41 suggested that, when Broadway starts running out of likely source material, new musicals could be based on telephone directories, railroad timetables, and cook books, producing song hits like "The Bell-Box Of My Heart" and "Oh, Your Lips Say Central Standard."
** MAD #100 did an article conceiving musical versions of ''Literature/MobyDick'', ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'', ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' and ''Franchise/{{Tarzan}}''.
** Later issues had musical versions of ''Franchise/StarWars'' ("The Force and I") and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' ("The Ring and I"). Note that ''Moby Dick'', ''A Tale of Two Cities'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' have since been adapted into serious stage musicals, and Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' received a ScreenToStageAdaptation. (''Lord of the Rings'' has also since been... rather ''less'' seriously [[http://www.fellowshipthemusical.com adapted]].)
** ''Series/MadTV1995'' did a skit in the late 1990s spoofing how campy the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' movie franchise had become by having the 5th one done as a Broadway musical. In fact, Warner Bros. actually had Music/JimSteinman and Creator/DavidIves working on a ''Batman'' [[Theatre/BatmanTheMusical musical]] for several years, but it didn't pan out.
** ''Film/ErinBrockovich'': "I may dress like a cheap table dancer / but give me a call if you think you've got cancer.."
** The only thing preventing a ''Star Wars'' musical is George Lucas's dignity. But it has been adapted into an opera. [[http://www.infauxmedia.com/ Four]] [[http://www.macms.org/DDK/ times,]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1BeJLzrvIk in]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSS3FTAIa-A fact.]]
* ''A Tale of Two Cities'' is also staged as a musical (''Two Cities'') in the Martin Short comedy ''A Simple Wish''.
* In the movie ''The Tall Guy'' Jeff Goldblum's character, trying to get into serious drama, finds himself starring in ''Elephant!'', a musical version of ''The Elephant Man''.
* On ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Jenna has been in musical versions of ''Con Air'' and ''Mystic Pizza''.
* A cutaway reveals Peter once performed in ''Red Dawn -- The Musical'' on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. "I'm a Wolverine/And my hatred keeps me warm..."
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': "Out Of The Past" opens with Terry taking Bruce Wayne to a musical about... Batman. [[DudeNotFunny Bruce was not pleased]] with the show's lighthearted campy approach about his crime-fighting career. The sad part is that the idea for it came from the fact that someone [[Theatre/BatmanTheMusical actually proposed a Batman musical]] in real life.
-->'''Bruce:''' You hate me, don't you?
* ''Webcomic/{{Fans}}'' once had a character perform in a musical adaptation of the Book of Leviticus.
* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' had Zoe and Kent go see [[http://beta.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=030810 "The Cylon King,"]] a Broadway musical based on ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}''. Kent remarks they should have gotten tickets to "[[ComicStrip/FlashGordon Thoroughly Merciless Ming]]" instead.
* ''Series/GilligansIsland'' had the castaways staging a musical of version of ''Hamlet'' to try to persuade a producer to return to civilisation and take them with him. He steals their idea, returns to civilisation [[StatusQuoIsGod and leaves them stranded.]]
* In a ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch, E. Henry Thripshaw announces that he hopes to turn his next disease into a musical (after his first disease became an InNameOnly film).
* The web series "The Battery's Down" parodies this with ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff The Musical'' and ''Home Alone The Musical''.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' features Jay and Doris going to Creator/AndrewLloydWebber's newest musical, ''Hunch!'', an adaptation of ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. The sequence takes swipes at the commercialism ("Brought to you by Toyota: the hatchback fit for a hunchback!") and strange staging common to ALW's musicals. Note that this episode predated the Disney adaptation of ''Hunchback'' -- which had its own problems trying to make the story a musical that could also move merchandise -- by two years, and the more straightforward ''Theatre/NotreDameDeParis'' by four.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' has ''Reptar OnIce'', an Ice Capades-like musical show based on a Franchise/{{Godzilla}}-like action film franchise.
* In Andrew Lippa's version of ''Literature/TheWildParty'', the brothers d'Armano write a musical called ''Good Heavens'', based on the Bible.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', Rusty wants to make a musical about his life (a Johnny Quest boy-adventurer sort of childhood with its own cartoon show), though this never gets off the ground. He does get a duet with the in-universe version of Spider-Man, the Brown Widow, which might be a parody of ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark''. For a bonus joke, Brown Widow mentions being in The Sound of Music as a kid, the film of which featured Nicholas Hammond, the 1970s TV Spider-Man, as Friedrich Von Trapp.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' revisits one of their early adventures:
-->"Y'know Ferb, one of the best times we ever had was when we built that rollercoaster. We should do it again! This time, as a musical! Whadya say? We'll do all the same things, except we'll break into spontaneous singing and choreography with no discernable music source!"
* The movie ''Film/{{Hamlet 2}}'' is about a high-school drama teacher and failed actor trying to stage a musical ''sequel'' to the play (which is probably most famous for killing off nearly every major character by the end). Naturally, everyone else thinks it's an utterly terrible idea.
* An episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' features ''Scarsdale Surprise'', a Tony Award-winning musical based on the highly publicized murder of famous diet book author Dr. Herman Tarnower. It also has a weirdly meta version of this, with another nominee being a musical of the [[ShowWithinAShow fictitious movie]] ''Rochelle, Rochelle'' that the gang watched in a previous episode.
* The first episode of season 5 of ''Series/JonathanCreek'', "The Letters of Septiumus Noone", is set around an operatic adaptation of ''The Mystery of the Yellow Room'' by Gaston Leroux, which LockedRoomMystery fan Jonathan thinks is a travesty.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': In "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S04E23BrideOfTheMonster Bride of the Monster]]", The SOL Crew perform "Hired! The Musical", [[Film/{{Hired}} which is based on the educational short film of the same name.]]
* Jon and Al Kaplan make one-song snippets of fictional musical adaptations of 80s action movies on [[https://www.youtube.com/user/legolambs their Youtube channel]].
* In the radio comedy ''What Does the K Stand For?'', Stephen's form teacher claims to have been involved in a musical version of ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' called ''Wind!'' with Lionel Blair as Rhett Butler.
* The plot of the Creator/RobertRankin novel ''Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls'' is Poole and Omalley creating a musical based on ''Armageddon: The Musical''.
* In ''Webcomic/EndBosssWorld'', Flash Man stars as Neo (and the special effects crew) of Film/TheMatrix: The Musical, co-starring Dr Mario as Morpheus.
* One episode of ''Series/LifeInPieces'' featured a school play based on ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''.
* The Creator/TeamStarKid web series ''Movies, Musicals, & Me'' is a {{Mockumentary}} set in a world where all famous films have been overshadowed by their Broadway musical adaptations.
* ''Website/{{Clickhole}}'' once played this as an ExaggeratedTrope; [[http://www.clickhole.com/article/10-gifs-wed-see-turned-broadway-musicals-1176 one article]] is just a list of gifs that could be adapted into musicals.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/PepperAnn'' begins with the title character finishing a lead role in a musical based on an in-series plush toy. She's complimented for her performance, then discover she was mistaken for an IdenticalStranger who starred in a musical called ''[[Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera Phantom]] of the [[Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes Apes]]''.
* ''Film/DeathBecomesHer'' opens with Madeline appearing in an awful musical version of ''Theatre/SweetBirdOfYouth'' called ''Songbird!'' that bombs.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'''s Franchise/StarWars special featured excerpts of "Star Wars: The Musical." They also had "Le Wrath di Khan", which was ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' as a [[VisualPun literal]] SpaceOpera.
* ''Series/MadAboutYou'' once had the Buchmans attending ''Moby!'', a musical version of ''Literature/MobyDick''.
* One episode of ''Disney's WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' revolved around a musical that Guy was inspired to make, based on the ''Mona Lisa''. Yep, he made a musical based on a ''painting''. His reasoning was that it was a surefire hit because the painting is so famous. After [[ExecutiveMeddling demanding several rewrites]] to make it even more marketable, it ended up lifting elements from ''Cinderella'', ''Moby Dick'', and ''Pinocchio'', as well as featuring a scene during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar.
-->''Mona Lisa, please say cheese-a''\\
''And grin a toothy grin for me''\\
''Mona Lisa, I, I say please-a''\\
''Your biggest smile I gotta see!''
* An episode of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' ([[Recap/SupernaturalS10E05FanFiction ''Fan Fiction'']]) revolves around a high school play that is a musical adaptation of the in-universe book series, ''Supernatural''. (Which were unknowingly [[spoiler:(well, so he says)]] written about Sam and Dean's life by 'Carver Edlund', aka the Prophet Chuck Shurley, [[spoiler:aka God]].)
* ''Film/TheArtOfTheSteal'': While attempting to explain to the border guard why his wearing a false beard, Francie claims that he is in a play called ''Film/{{Witness}}!: The Musical''. (And, yes, he specifically mentions that it has an exclamation mark.)
* When trying to give a reason as for why the title character of ''Series/Hawkeye2021'' would be in New York, the showrunner joked he was going to ''[[Comicbook/CaptainAmerica Rogers]]: [[JustForFun/RogersTheMusical The Musical]]''. Marvel surprisingly bought the idea, bringing in the creators of ''Theatre/{{Hairspray}}'' to write a song, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHLVfI9eXNA depicted on-stage with hilarious]] StylisticSuck.
* ''Critic's Choice'' by Creator/IraLevin mentions several fictional musical productions adapted from famous novels:
** When Angela tells Parker that S. P. Champlain, a normally reliable producer who also did an apparently woeful musical version of ''Anthony Adverse'', has read her new play and thinks it's wonderful, her husband sarcastically bursts into an IAmSong and dance:
--->"Hello, I'm Anthony Adverse,\\
And tho' this may be a bad verse,\\
I'm mighty glad that I'm he-ere!"
** Dion, hired to direct Angela's play, was previously involved with ''Oh, Doctor!'', whose success he credits to it being "built on the best foundation of any musical in the past five years. There aren't many novels around that can top ''Literature/{{Arrowsmith}}'', you know."
** Ivy, arriving fresh off the sets of an excruciating flop, tells Parker he was right about there being "some books that simply can''not'' be made into musical comedies and ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' is one of them!"
[[/folder]]
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