# Worst Stage Musical Adaptation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-stage-musical-adaptation/349513 "2006-03-23T00:12:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ethelbert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ethelbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ethelbert)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-stage-musical-adaptation/349513/61 "2006-03-26T03:03:14Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > How about [The Silence of the Lambs - The Musical](http://www.silencethemusical.com/nyc/)? > > (yes, it’s real) I saw this when it was shown in the Fringe festival. Very funny. very well done. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-stage-musical-adaptation/349513/62 "2006-03-26T07:13:13Z")
I just finished a run of _The Crucible_ and it occurred throughout it would be a great musical, particulary with an all Muppet cast (though it bogs down as to whether Miss Piggy should play teen-temptress Abigail or long-suffering Goodwife Elizabeth). But the songs practically write themselves: _Salem Village (where the witches come sweeping through the kids) I Could Have Danced All Night (with the Devil) I Whistle a Happy Tune (with the Devil) When You’re a Witch You’re a Witch All the Way I’ve Got Rhythm (but no truly reliable means of birth control) This Is What We Call the Poppet Show Yellowbird Calypso Ain’t No Hell in Bar-ba-dos (to the tune of No Mountain High Enough) Confession Session (What’s Your Lesson) Proctor Proctor Gimme the News Some Enchanted Evening (with the Devil) Climb Every Scaffold_ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-stage-musical-adaptation/349513/63 "2006-03-27T13:08:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Peter Morris > Okay, my choice, {i]Oddesy, The Musical\* > > There was one, actually. It was called Home Sweet Homer, starred Yul Brynner as Odysseus, had the same composer (Mitch Leigh) and female lead (Joan Diener [aka Mrs. Mitch Leigh]) as Man of La Mancha, and closed after one night. I think until Carrie and Shogun it was one of the biggest flops in musical history due to the amount invested. Psst – see posts #35 and #36 above. As I note, this ran for a tryout in Boston under a different name before hitting broadway. It shouldna closed after one performance. I’ll have to check on it. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-stage-musical-adaptation/349513/64 "2006-03-27T15:32:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Psst – see posts #35 and #36 above. > As I note, this ran for a tryout in Boston under a different name before hitting broadway. It shouldna closed after one performance. I’ll have to check on it. It bore repeating. :smack: There is a musical version of _Confederacy of Dunces_ also. It premiered in New Orleans and was a joint production of a local theater company and Tulane. As amateur/college theater companies range the gamut from “indistinguishable from professional productions” down to “slightly less talented than a professional regurgitator” and there’s no commercially available recording I’ve no idea how good or bad it was, but I definitely think with the right creative staff it could work. (As I’ve mentioned before, I would love to have the rights to produce a musical of _Fried Green Tomatoes [at the Whistlestop Cafe]_ as I think it would lend itself really well to musical adaptation.) One of my favorite musicals that most people have never heard of is _Fair & Tender Ladies_. It’s a B’way quality [imo] bluegrass musical that’s based on the novel of the same name by Lee Smith and has a cast of three actresses (one plays heroine Ivy Rowe from adolescence to senility, the other two each play a host of characters) and three musicians (all of whom play multiple instruments and multiple characters). Really excellent. Dolly Parton is currently adapting _9 to 5_ as a B’way musical and while I thought the movie was cute and Dolly is a demigoddess I don’t have high hopes at all for that production. It’s to remain set ca. 1980. Also under consideration for B’way productions are John Waters’ _Cry Baby_ (same creative musical team as _Hairspray_) and Mel Brooks’ _Blazing Saddles_- I think the former may work better than the latter. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-stage-musical-adaptation/349513/65 "2006-03-27T15:43:24Z")
> [@](#): > > It bore repeating. 'sokay. I didn’t know (or forgot) about Mitch Leigh’s involvement. And I had no idea Joan Diener was his wife. I Found this on the IMDB page from Yul Brynner, which validates both our posts: > [@](#): > > While touring in the play “Odyssey” in the mid-1970s, Brynner attained a reputation of being a holy terror toward hotel staff members. Among other things, all hotel suites where he would stay had to be painted a certain shade of tan and all kitchens in those hotel suites had to be stocked in advance with “one dozen brown eggs, under no circumstances white ones!” The play itself, later retitled “Home, Sweet Homer”, had a successful pre-Broadway tour of over a year, but lasted exactly one performance when it opened on Broadway in 1976. [http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000989/bio](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000989/bio) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-stage-musical-adaptation/349513.md?page=3)