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* In ''[[Film/{{Elf}} Elf: The Musical]]'', Walter's boss Mr. Greenway is a combination of Mr. Greenway and Miles Finch from the movie.
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* In ''[[Film/{{Elf}} Elf: The Musical]]'', Papa Elf is absent, and Santa Claus takes on the role of raising Buddy himself. Additionally, Miles Finch is absent, and Walter's boss Mr. Greenway is a combination takes on some of Mr. Greenway and Miles Finch from the movie.his characteristics.
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* ''Theatre/PinocchioTheMusical'' fuses together the Coachman and the ringmaster of the circus Pinocchio is sold to after turning into a donkey into a single character, the owner of the Land of Toys.
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* Almost every adaptation of ''Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' transplants most aspects of the Daroga's character into Madame Giry.
** In the original novel, Raoul is a bit of an UpperClassTwit who relies on the Daroga's know-how to survive Erik's machinations. In the musical, the Daroga is omitted, and Raoul becomes much more competent as a result.
** In the original novel, Raoul is a bit of an UpperClassTwit who relies on the Daroga's know-how to survive Erik's machinations. In the musical, the Daroga is omitted, and Raoul becomes much more competent as a result.
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* ''Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'':
** Almost every adaptationof ''Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' transplants most aspects of the Persian aka Daroga's character (someone who knows all about the Phantom) into Madame Giry.
** In the original novel, Raoul is a bit of an UpperClassTwit who relies on the Daroga's know-how to survive Erik's machinations. In the musical, the Daroga is omitted, and Raoul becomes much more competent as a result. Similarly since Raoul’s older brother Philippe is also omitted, Raoul gets his social status and more composed personality.
** The musical notably fuses Christine with La Sorelli, a more minor character from the original story who is omitted from the musical. In the novel Sorelli is a ballet dancer and best friends with fellow dancer Little Meg Giry and whom is an overtly superstitious person. In the musical all these traits are transplanted to Christine, with her being a superstitious ballet dancer/chorus girl and close friend to Little Meg (in the novel they don’t even interact) who upgrades to main singer.
** Almost every adaptation
** In the original novel, Raoul is a bit of an UpperClassTwit who relies on the Daroga's know-how to survive Erik's machinations. In the musical, the Daroga is omitted, and Raoul becomes much more competent as a result. Similarly since Raoul’s older brother Philippe is also omitted, Raoul gets his social status and more composed personality.
** The musical notably fuses Christine with La Sorelli, a more minor character from the original story who is omitted from the musical. In the novel Sorelli is a ballet dancer and best friends with fellow dancer Little Meg Giry and whom is an overtly superstitious person. In the musical all these traits are transplanted to Christine, with her being a superstitious ballet dancer/chorus girl and close friend to Little Meg (in the novel they don’t even interact) who upgrades to main singer.
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* Mimi and Rodolfo in ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' merge the original novel ''Scenes de la Vie de Boheme'''s characters of Mimi and Rodolphe with another couple from the novel, Francine and Jacques, [[spoiler:whose romance also ends with [[IllGirl the girl dying]] [[IncurableCoughOfDeath of tuberculosis.]]]] Details the opera borrows from the latter couple include the way they meet, the operatic Mimi's sweeter personality, and [[spoiler:her romantic death scene, as opposed to the original Mimi's {{Dying Alone}}.]]
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* Mimi and Rodolfo in ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' merge the original novel ''Scenes de la Vie de Boheme'''s characters of Mimi and Rodolphe with another couple from the novel, Francine and Jacques, [[spoiler:whose romance also ends with [[IllGirl [[DelicateAndSickly the girl dying]] [[IncurableCoughOfDeath of tuberculosis.]]]] Details the opera borrows from the latter couple include the way they meet, the operatic Mimi's sweeter personality, and [[spoiler:her romantic death scene, as opposed to the original Mimi's {{Dying Alone}}.]]
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* Billy Flynn, "the silver-tongued prince of the courtroom" of ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}'', was a composite of William Scott Stewart and W. W. O'Brien, the real life attorneys of Belva Gaertner and Beulah Annan (the real life Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart).
* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's Japan-only tour ''Theatre/{{Fascination}}'' combined acts from ''Theatre/LeCirqueReinvente'' and ''Theatre/NouvelleExperience''; appropriately, the Ringmaster here was a composite of the ''Reinvente'' Ringmaster and the Great Chamberlain of ''Nouvelle'', who served similar emcee functions. This Ringmaster had the ''Reinvente'' costume and backstory of a transformed "Ordinary Person", but was played by ''Nouvelle'''s actor (Brian Dewhurst) and from there participated in the latter show's slackwire act.
* Anthony Burgess combines Cyrano's best friend Le Bret with his Captain Carbon de Jaloux in his adaptation of ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac''.
* In ''Theatre/DerRingDesNibelungen'' Hagen is a merging of several versions of the same character. Like in Literature/Nibelungenlied he is a grim figure, like ''Nibelungenlied'' and ''Thidreks Saga'' he kills Siegfried, like ''Thidreks Saga'' his father is an elf and like ''Literature/SagaOfTheVolsungs'' he is Gunther's brother (though the ''Nibelungenlied'' calls him a kinsman the relation is not clear). He also seems to have some merging with [[BastardBastard Bastard Bastards]] like Edmund from Theatre/KingLear.
** Wagner also conflated Loki, Norse god of mischief, with Logi, a god of fire. He may have done this mistakenly, or based his characterisation on a previous scholar who made the mistake.
* In ''{{Theatre/Dreamgirls}}'', Effie White is not only patterned primarily after "third Supreme" Florence Ballard, but also after Etta James and Aretha Franklin.
* In Bernard Pomerance's ''Film/TheElephantMan'', Ross is a composite of Tom Norman (Merrick's manager when Treves met him, and a fairly decent guy as far as P.T. Barnum types go) and the Belgian showman who abandoned him and robbed him of his life's savings.
* Pseudolus from ''Theatre/AFunnyThingHappenedOnTheWayToTheForum'', an amalgam of various [[TheTrickster trickster servant]] characters from the works of Roman playwright Creator/{{Plautus}}.
* Inverted in ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat''. In early recordings of the show, it's an anonymous "lively lad" who tells Pharaoh about Joseph; in later ones, it's the butler Joseph's already met, which makes a lot more narrative sense. Were the two characters combined when the musical was revised? On the contrary—somebody must have gone back to the Book of Genesis and noticed that in the book, the lad in question ''is'' Pharaoh's butler.
* Mimi and Rodolfo in ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' merge the original novel ''Scenes de la Vie de Boheme'''s characters of Mimi and Rodolphe with another couple from the novel, Francine and Jacques, [[spoiler:whose romance also ends with [[IllGirl the girl dying]] [[IncurableCoughOfDeath of tuberculosis.]]]] Details the opera borrows from the latter couple include the way they meet, the operatic Mimi's sweeter personality, and [[spoiler:her romantic death scene, as opposed to the original Mimi's {{Dying Alone}}.]]
* Joanne in ''Theatre/LaBoheme'''s SettingUpdate, ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'', is a [[GenderFlip female version]] of Alcindoro, but also inherits some traits from Marcello (the Mark character).
* In ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', Thenardier's henchman Brujon takes his name from a minor criminal who only associated with Thenardier. His status as TheBrute comes from the novel's Gueulemer. The musical also does away with the Thenardiers' second daughter, Azelma, giving her plot points to Madame Thenardier (which is not difficult, since the point of the character was that she was growing up just like her mother).
* In most productions of the opera ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', the role of the Speaker, a dialogue-only character who guides Tamino and Papageno through their second act trials, is merged with that of the old priest Tamino encounters in the first act finale. This has been standard practice for so long that few people know that they originally may not have been the same character.
* The stage version of ''Theatre/{{Newsies}}'' replaces reporter Brian Denton and Jack's love interest Sarah with Katharine Plumber, a reporter who becomes Jack's love interest.
* Almost every adaptation of ''Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' transplants most aspects of the Daroga's character into Madame Giry.
** In the original novel, Raoul is a bit of an UpperClassTwit who relies on the Daroga's know-how to survive Erik's machinations. In the musical, the Daroga is omitted, and Raoul becomes much more competent as a result.
* In ''Theatre/PokemonLive'', [=MechaMew2=] is primarily based on Mewtwo, but also has Mew's unique feature of knowing every Pokemon move.
* In the musical version of ''Film/ReeferMadness'', Jimmy Harper is a composite of the original film's protagonist Bill Harper and his girlfriend Mary's kid brother Jimmy.
* In Frank Wildhorn's musical of ''Theatre/TheScarletPimpernel'', Percy's eighteen strong League of The Scarlet Pimpernel (aside from Percy himself and brother-in-law Armand), was folded up into nine men: Dewhurst [[note]]Who also inherits the novel's Ffoulkes position as TheLancer[[/note]], Elton, Farleigh, Ben, Hal, Ozzy, Hastings, Neville, and Leggett. Later revisions cut the later three men out and give their lines to the first six.
* In ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'', John Adams is somewhat combined with his cousin Sam Adams, who doesn't appear in the play. Many people now associate the quote about how there would be trouble "[[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar a hundred years hence]]" if slavery was allowed to continue to John when it was really Sam who said it. (Incidentally, they had to take out the "hundred years" bit because they thought the [[RealityIsUnrealistic audience would never believe it]].)
* Happens too often to count in Shakespeare's history plays, and not just characters, but also with battles and other events.
* ''{{Shadowlands}}'' combines Joy Gresham's two sons into one. This is also done for the film version; the original teleplay kept both sons.
* The musical ''Theatre/ShowBoat'' combined two characters from Edna Ferber's novel, the heavy Frank and the juvenile lead and Elly's husband Schultzy, into Frank Schultz. Ike Keener, the sheriff of Lemonye, and Vallon, the police chief of New Orleans, were similarly combined into Ike Vallon. The 1929 film version of ''Theatre/ShowBoat'' made Hetty Chilson, a character from Ferber's novel that was eliminated from the musical, an alternate identity of Julie.
* In the unofficial stage adaptation of ''Film/Showgirls'', the characters Gaye and Marty were combined to make one flamboyant character simply called 'Gay.'
* Part of the reason that ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera'' is DarkerAndEdgier than the original ''Beggars Opera'' is because of this trope. In the original, Macheath is a fairly sympathetic (if lecherous) example of TheHighwayman, and Peachum is a corrupt thief-taker (he works both sides of the law- he conspires with criminals, but also turns those criminals in for a reward when they're outlived their usefulness to him). In Brecht's version, Peachum, while still corrupt, is the head of a beggar's guild, and Macheath is a much more unpleasant gangster. This version of Macheath is a "grass" and he gets the lines of the original Peachum when he treacherously plots to turn the loyal members of his gang to save his own skin.
* Some productions of ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'' cut Fabian and give his role in Act II, Scene V to Feste. In fairness, it's almost ''too'' easy to do this, since Maria earlier tells Toby, Andrew ''and'' Feste to show up for the said scene, and Fabian never appears until that moment, when he's introduced as a whole new character who has inexplicably been invited to join the fun, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse while Feste is nowhere to be found]]. Some analysts have speculated that Fabian was invented for [[RealLifeWritesThePlot some practical reason or other]], and that Feste was originally supposed to appear in the scene.
* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', Fiyero and Boq, via spells by Elphaba and Nessarose, are transformed into the Scarecrow and the Tinman. In the original novel, they were all separate characters.
** Fiyero's musical counterpart is also a composite of the original Fiyero (Elphaba's love interest and a prince) and minor character from the book named Avaric (most of his personality traits). Meanwhile the name "Avaric" was given to a retainer of Fiyero who is only seen onstage breifly.
* In the Opera of ''Literature/AllTheKingsMen'', entitled Willie Stark, Stark's aide Jack Burden supplants his love interest Anne's brother, Adam, in ultimately [[spoiler: killing Stark.]]
* ''[[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown]]'' has Patty, whose lines and scenes come not only from the original comic strip's Patty (not to be confused with the later Peppermint Patty), but also Violet, Frieda, and Sally (enough of Sally, in fact, that the Broadway revival went ahead and re-identified the character).
* ''Theatre/MerrilyWeRollAlong'': Joe Josephson, Gussie Carnegie's producer and husband whom she divorces for Frank in the musical, is a composite of two characters from the original play, a producer named P. J. Morton and an actor husband named Harry Nixon (who is SparedByTheAdaptation).
* In ''[[Film/{{Elf}} Elf: The Musical]]'', Walter's boss Mr. Greenway is a combination of Mr. Greenway and Miles Finch from the movie.
* In the Creator/ReducedShakespeareCompany's ''Shakespeare's Long-Lost First Play (abridged)'', the conceit is that this massive tome (a "quarto-pounder") contains elements and characters from all Shakespeare's later plays. In addition to characters gaining elements of another character because of who they're playing off (such as Lady Macbeth encouraging her fiance Hamlet to be more Macbethy) there are a few explicit composites: Dromeo is Launce from ''Two Gentlemen of Verona'' with Romeo elements; Richard III turns into Richard II when his hunchback is removed; and Lear's daughters are the three witches.
* In ''Para Handy - A Voyage Round The Stories of Neil Munro'', Sunny Jim, who was introduced in the second ''Para Handy'' book, takes The Tar's place in scenes based on stories from the first book. (Except the bit based on "The Valentine Card That Missed Fire", in which Sunny Jim stands in for Dougie, and Dougie stands in for The Tar.)
* In the [[Theatre/{{Heathers}} musical version]] of ''Heathers'', Martha gains the friendship with Veronica and upbeat personality of Betty from the [[Film/{{Heathers}} film version]].
* In ''Film/{{Flashdance}}: TheMusical'', Jeanie and Tina Tech from the film are combined into Gloria.
* The post-Broadway stage productions of ''Theatre/TheLittleMermaid'', excluding the Junior version, [[AdaptedOut adapt out]] Carlotta and give her lines to Grimsby.
* ''Stupid F^%!ing Bird'', a modern deconstruction of ''Theatre/TheSeagull'', composites Sorin and his physician Dr. Dorn as Dr. Sorn.
* The character of Thuy in ''Theatre/MissSaigon'' is a composite of two characters in ''Theatre/MadameButterfly'': Cio-Cio-San's uncle the Bonze, who disrupts her wedding to denounce her for [[ConvertingForLove converting to Christianity]], and Yamadori, a rich man whose marriage proposal she rejects in Act II. He also gains {{Adaptational Villainy}} and [[spoiler: {{Death By Adaptation}}]].
* In the play ''El Burlador de Sevilla,'' thought to be the origin of the Don Juan myth, Don Juan seduces a lady named Doña Isabela [[BedTrick while masquerading as her lover]], Duke Octavio. He later tries a similar trick with one Doña Ana, whose father duels him, is killed, and ultimately comes back as [[OurGhostsAreDifferent the Stone Guest.]] Mozart's ''Theatre/DonGiovanni'', like other retellings of the legend before it, conflates the two incidents and the two women, making Donna Anna the fiancée of Don Ottavio.
* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'':
** The Sand Snakes get an AdaptationalEarlyAppearance via tagging along with Oberyn to King's Landing. This results in them taking on the role of Oberyn's long-term paramour Ellaria, who doesn't appear in the play but was the one to come with him to King's Landing in the source material.
** Olenna Tyrell is the one to become a member of the Small Council and later one of the judges in a murder trial instead of her son Mace, who is mentioned but doesn't appear onstage.
* ''Theatre/HeadOverHeels'', The Musical of Philip Sidney's ''[[Literature/OldArcadia Arcadia]]'', merges Pyrocles, the source story's DisguisedInDrag character, with his cousin Musidorus.
* In most adaptations of ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'', the Narrator is a separate being disconnected from the rest of the cast. In the stage musical, the Narrator is an elderly Max, essentially turning the story into a flashback from his perspective.
* In ''Theatre/{{Eurydice}}'', Eurydice acts as both herself, the wife of Orpheus, and as Persephone, Hades' wife who he kidnapped to make his bride.
----
* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's Japan-only tour ''Theatre/{{Fascination}}'' combined acts from ''Theatre/LeCirqueReinvente'' and ''Theatre/NouvelleExperience''; appropriately, the Ringmaster here was a composite of the ''Reinvente'' Ringmaster and the Great Chamberlain of ''Nouvelle'', who served similar emcee functions. This Ringmaster had the ''Reinvente'' costume and backstory of a transformed "Ordinary Person", but was played by ''Nouvelle'''s actor (Brian Dewhurst) and from there participated in the latter show's slackwire act.
* Anthony Burgess combines Cyrano's best friend Le Bret with his Captain Carbon de Jaloux in his adaptation of ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac''.
* In ''Theatre/DerRingDesNibelungen'' Hagen is a merging of several versions of the same character. Like in Literature/Nibelungenlied he is a grim figure, like ''Nibelungenlied'' and ''Thidreks Saga'' he kills Siegfried, like ''Thidreks Saga'' his father is an elf and like ''Literature/SagaOfTheVolsungs'' he is Gunther's brother (though the ''Nibelungenlied'' calls him a kinsman the relation is not clear). He also seems to have some merging with [[BastardBastard Bastard Bastards]] like Edmund from Theatre/KingLear.
** Wagner also conflated Loki, Norse god of mischief, with Logi, a god of fire. He may have done this mistakenly, or based his characterisation on a previous scholar who made the mistake.
* In ''{{Theatre/Dreamgirls}}'', Effie White is not only patterned primarily after "third Supreme" Florence Ballard, but also after Etta James and Aretha Franklin.
* In Bernard Pomerance's ''Film/TheElephantMan'', Ross is a composite of Tom Norman (Merrick's manager when Treves met him, and a fairly decent guy as far as P.T. Barnum types go) and the Belgian showman who abandoned him and robbed him of his life's savings.
* Pseudolus from ''Theatre/AFunnyThingHappenedOnTheWayToTheForum'', an amalgam of various [[TheTrickster trickster servant]] characters from the works of Roman playwright Creator/{{Plautus}}.
* Inverted in ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat''. In early recordings of the show, it's an anonymous "lively lad" who tells Pharaoh about Joseph; in later ones, it's the butler Joseph's already met, which makes a lot more narrative sense. Were the two characters combined when the musical was revised? On the contrary—somebody must have gone back to the Book of Genesis and noticed that in the book, the lad in question ''is'' Pharaoh's butler.
* Mimi and Rodolfo in ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' merge the original novel ''Scenes de la Vie de Boheme'''s characters of Mimi and Rodolphe with another couple from the novel, Francine and Jacques, [[spoiler:whose romance also ends with [[IllGirl the girl dying]] [[IncurableCoughOfDeath of tuberculosis.]]]] Details the opera borrows from the latter couple include the way they meet, the operatic Mimi's sweeter personality, and [[spoiler:her romantic death scene, as opposed to the original Mimi's {{Dying Alone}}.]]
* Joanne in ''Theatre/LaBoheme'''s SettingUpdate, ''Theatre/{{Rent}}'', is a [[GenderFlip female version]] of Alcindoro, but also inherits some traits from Marcello (the Mark character).
* In ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', Thenardier's henchman Brujon takes his name from a minor criminal who only associated with Thenardier. His status as TheBrute comes from the novel's Gueulemer. The musical also does away with the Thenardiers' second daughter, Azelma, giving her plot points to Madame Thenardier (which is not difficult, since the point of the character was that she was growing up just like her mother).
* In most productions of the opera ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', the role of the Speaker, a dialogue-only character who guides Tamino and Papageno through their second act trials, is merged with that of the old priest Tamino encounters in the first act finale. This has been standard practice for so long that few people know that they originally may not have been the same character.
* The stage version of ''Theatre/{{Newsies}}'' replaces reporter Brian Denton and Jack's love interest Sarah with Katharine Plumber, a reporter who becomes Jack's love interest.
* Almost every adaptation of ''Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' transplants most aspects of the Daroga's character into Madame Giry.
** In the original novel, Raoul is a bit of an UpperClassTwit who relies on the Daroga's know-how to survive Erik's machinations. In the musical, the Daroga is omitted, and Raoul becomes much more competent as a result.
* In ''Theatre/PokemonLive'', [=MechaMew2=] is primarily based on Mewtwo, but also has Mew's unique feature of knowing every Pokemon move.
* In the musical version of ''Film/ReeferMadness'', Jimmy Harper is a composite of the original film's protagonist Bill Harper and his girlfriend Mary's kid brother Jimmy.
* In Frank Wildhorn's musical of ''Theatre/TheScarletPimpernel'', Percy's eighteen strong League of The Scarlet Pimpernel (aside from Percy himself and brother-in-law Armand), was folded up into nine men: Dewhurst [[note]]Who also inherits the novel's Ffoulkes position as TheLancer[[/note]], Elton, Farleigh, Ben, Hal, Ozzy, Hastings, Neville, and Leggett. Later revisions cut the later three men out and give their lines to the first six.
* In ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'', John Adams is somewhat combined with his cousin Sam Adams, who doesn't appear in the play. Many people now associate the quote about how there would be trouble "[[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar a hundred years hence]]" if slavery was allowed to continue to John when it was really Sam who said it. (Incidentally, they had to take out the "hundred years" bit because they thought the [[RealityIsUnrealistic audience would never believe it]].)
* Happens too often to count in Shakespeare's history plays, and not just characters, but also with battles and other events.
* ''{{Shadowlands}}'' combines Joy Gresham's two sons into one. This is also done for the film version; the original teleplay kept both sons.
* The musical ''Theatre/ShowBoat'' combined two characters from Edna Ferber's novel, the heavy Frank and the juvenile lead and Elly's husband Schultzy, into Frank Schultz. Ike Keener, the sheriff of Lemonye, and Vallon, the police chief of New Orleans, were similarly combined into Ike Vallon. The 1929 film version of ''Theatre/ShowBoat'' made Hetty Chilson, a character from Ferber's novel that was eliminated from the musical, an alternate identity of Julie.
* In the unofficial stage adaptation of ''Film/Showgirls'', the characters Gaye and Marty were combined to make one flamboyant character simply called 'Gay.'
* Part of the reason that ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera'' is DarkerAndEdgier than the original ''Beggars Opera'' is because of this trope. In the original, Macheath is a fairly sympathetic (if lecherous) example of TheHighwayman, and Peachum is a corrupt thief-taker (he works both sides of the law- he conspires with criminals, but also turns those criminals in for a reward when they're outlived their usefulness to him). In Brecht's version, Peachum, while still corrupt, is the head of a beggar's guild, and Macheath is a much more unpleasant gangster. This version of Macheath is a "grass" and he gets the lines of the original Peachum when he treacherously plots to turn the loyal members of his gang to save his own skin.
* Some productions of ''Theatre/TwelfthNight'' cut Fabian and give his role in Act II, Scene V to Feste. In fairness, it's almost ''too'' easy to do this, since Maria earlier tells Toby, Andrew ''and'' Feste to show up for the said scene, and Fabian never appears until that moment, when he's introduced as a whole new character who has inexplicably been invited to join the fun, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse while Feste is nowhere to be found]]. Some analysts have speculated that Fabian was invented for [[RealLifeWritesThePlot some practical reason or other]], and that Feste was originally supposed to appear in the scene.
* In ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'', Fiyero and Boq, via spells by Elphaba and Nessarose, are transformed into the Scarecrow and the Tinman. In the original novel, they were all separate characters.
** Fiyero's musical counterpart is also a composite of the original Fiyero (Elphaba's love interest and a prince) and minor character from the book named Avaric (most of his personality traits). Meanwhile the name "Avaric" was given to a retainer of Fiyero who is only seen onstage breifly.
* In the Opera of ''Literature/AllTheKingsMen'', entitled Willie Stark, Stark's aide Jack Burden supplants his love interest Anne's brother, Adam, in ultimately [[spoiler: killing Stark.]]
* ''[[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown]]'' has Patty, whose lines and scenes come not only from the original comic strip's Patty (not to be confused with the later Peppermint Patty), but also Violet, Frieda, and Sally (enough of Sally, in fact, that the Broadway revival went ahead and re-identified the character).
* ''Theatre/MerrilyWeRollAlong'': Joe Josephson, Gussie Carnegie's producer and husband whom she divorces for Frank in the musical, is a composite of two characters from the original play, a producer named P. J. Morton and an actor husband named Harry Nixon (who is SparedByTheAdaptation).
* In ''[[Film/{{Elf}} Elf: The Musical]]'', Walter's boss Mr. Greenway is a combination of Mr. Greenway and Miles Finch from the movie.
* In the Creator/ReducedShakespeareCompany's ''Shakespeare's Long-Lost First Play (abridged)'', the conceit is that this massive tome (a "quarto-pounder") contains elements and characters from all Shakespeare's later plays. In addition to characters gaining elements of another character because of who they're playing off (such as Lady Macbeth encouraging her fiance Hamlet to be more Macbethy) there are a few explicit composites: Dromeo is Launce from ''Two Gentlemen of Verona'' with Romeo elements; Richard III turns into Richard II when his hunchback is removed; and Lear's daughters are the three witches.
* In ''Para Handy - A Voyage Round The Stories of Neil Munro'', Sunny Jim, who was introduced in the second ''Para Handy'' book, takes The Tar's place in scenes based on stories from the first book. (Except the bit based on "The Valentine Card That Missed Fire", in which Sunny Jim stands in for Dougie, and Dougie stands in for The Tar.)
* In the [[Theatre/{{Heathers}} musical version]] of ''Heathers'', Martha gains the friendship with Veronica and upbeat personality of Betty from the [[Film/{{Heathers}} film version]].
* In ''Film/{{Flashdance}}: TheMusical'', Jeanie and Tina Tech from the film are combined into Gloria.
* The post-Broadway stage productions of ''Theatre/TheLittleMermaid'', excluding the Junior version, [[AdaptedOut adapt out]] Carlotta and give her lines to Grimsby.
* ''Stupid F^%!ing Bird'', a modern deconstruction of ''Theatre/TheSeagull'', composites Sorin and his physician Dr. Dorn as Dr. Sorn.
* The character of Thuy in ''Theatre/MissSaigon'' is a composite of two characters in ''Theatre/MadameButterfly'': Cio-Cio-San's uncle the Bonze, who disrupts her wedding to denounce her for [[ConvertingForLove converting to Christianity]], and Yamadori, a rich man whose marriage proposal she rejects in Act II. He also gains {{Adaptational Villainy}} and [[spoiler: {{Death By Adaptation}}]].
* In the play ''El Burlador de Sevilla,'' thought to be the origin of the Don Juan myth, Don Juan seduces a lady named Doña Isabela [[BedTrick while masquerading as her lover]], Duke Octavio. He later tries a similar trick with one Doña Ana, whose father duels him, is killed, and ultimately comes back as [[OurGhostsAreDifferent the Stone Guest.]] Mozart's ''Theatre/DonGiovanni'', like other retellings of the legend before it, conflates the two incidents and the two women, making Donna Anna the fiancée of Don Ottavio.
* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'':
** The Sand Snakes get an AdaptationalEarlyAppearance via tagging along with Oberyn to King's Landing. This results in them taking on the role of Oberyn's long-term paramour Ellaria, who doesn't appear in the play but was the one to come with him to King's Landing in the source material.
** Olenna Tyrell is the one to become a member of the Small Council and later one of the judges in a murder trial instead of her son Mace, who is mentioned but doesn't appear onstage.
* ''Theatre/HeadOverHeels'', The Musical of Philip Sidney's ''[[Literature/OldArcadia Arcadia]]'', merges Pyrocles, the source story's DisguisedInDrag character, with his cousin Musidorus.
* In most adaptations of ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'', the Narrator is a separate being disconnected from the rest of the cast. In the stage musical, the Narrator is an elderly Max, essentially turning the story into a flashback from his perspective.
* In ''Theatre/{{Eurydice}}'', Eurydice acts as both herself, the wife of Orpheus, and as Persephone, Hades' wife who he kidnapped to make his bride.
----
