Nycguy2008
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Wicked the Book vs. Wicked the MusicalI'm not a big Wicked fan but I'm just curious what do you think is more likely that the book is adapted into a movie or the musical? I would have to say the musical since it's such a big hit on Broadway.
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Mistress
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I say musical only becuase a lot of the content in the novel is not movie friendly, especially if the target is family audiences with young children, which is probably what a Wizard of Oz prequel will attract..
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erinmylungs
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I would love a mixture of both. Because, I love some of the content in the book but I also love the catchy, some slightly-tearjerking numbers.
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wicked_boy
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I think the novel would be a cool TV series.
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Belle
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I really don't think the book is all that amazing. It's a great initial concept, but the story fizzles out and just wanders along, and I don't think the writing style is great either.
The musical is much neater, cleaned up and slightly saccharine, but much better shaped and more satisfying. It is clearly very successful!
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Matthew
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Book.
Definitely.
The political themes of the novel (which are lost in the musical) are telling of our times.
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mastachen
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| Belle wrote: | I really don't think the book is all that amazing. It's a great initial concept, but the story fizzles out and just wanders along, and I don't think the writing style is great either.
The musical is much neater, cleaned up and slightly saccharine, but much better shaped and more satisfying. It is clearly very successful! |
The musical and the book had totally different stories and focuses.
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Matthew
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| Belle wrote: | | It is clearly very successful! |
So is the book!
Ohmygosh, do you realize how much the fan-girls would flip a b*tch if/when they have to cut some of the material? hahahaha
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mastachen
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| Matthew wrote: | | Belle wrote: | | It is clearly very successful! |
So is the book!
Ohmygosh, do you realize how much the fan-girls would flip a b*tch if/when they have to cut some of the material? hahahaha |
A list of songs I'd cut:
Dancing Through Life - or at least shorten it or move it somewhere else.
I'm Not That Girl - both of them
Sentimental Man - This song is a constant reminder that the composer thinks the audience is stupid.
Popular - Probably one of the most pointless songs in the show. It totally slows the story down, and what happens on stage during this song is hard to translate on screen, thank God.
One Short Day - that song would look totally stupid in a movie.
Dear Old Shiz - same as above
What is This Feeling - I think I got the point that they hate each other before the song even started.
For Good - I can only take so much stupid metaphors, and there's already enough even before the first act ended.
Other changes:
Maybe adjust the intro to see some of Elphaba's childhood? That would make it more like the book.
Introduce Fiyero's family at the castle!
Leave Elphaba as a puddle
Boq is NOT the tin man and that lion cub is NOT the cowardly lion.
Yay! I just made Wicked the musical half-decent 
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pish123c
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| Matthew wrote: | Book.
Definitely.
The political themes of the novel (which are lost in the musical) are telling of our times. |
Yup. All of the fluff wouldn't translate well on film. A movie based on the novel, though, would be highly political and great.
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Mistress
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| mastachen wrote: | | that lion cub is NOT the cowardly lion. |
Yes, actually, it is (If I remember the book correctly).
And I doubt that an audience woulld watch film of the novel...they do not want to see the WWOTW having sex with soemoen, not to mention the Philosophy club, etc.
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pish123c
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| Mistress wrote: | | mastachen wrote: | | that lion cub is NOT the cowardly lion. |
Yes, actually, it is (If I remember the book correctly).
And I doubt that an audience woulld watch film of the novel...they do not want to see the WWOTW having sex with soemoen, not to mention the Philosophy club, etc. |
Fans of the musical might not go for it, but others would probably find it quite interesting. It might even turn some people off of the musical!
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Lepitot
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So, my response to the last few posts (in no particular order) and I'm not bashing anyone. I'm just stating my opinions.
Why would you cut I'm not That Girl? It's one of my favorite songs (not that that means anything to the show itself--but, to those who say "it sounds like it was written by a teenager" umm...it's being sung by a teenager, so that would make sense) and I particularly like how they reversed it with Glinda singing the reprise.
I love What is this Feeling, personally. It's very bouncy and catchy. Dancing through Life could definately be shortened, though.
Popular does stop the show, but it's catchy, and it works with Glinda's character. Also, it gets Fiyero to notice Elphaba, because she's been "Galinda-fied".
Also, I thought one of the best moments in the show was Wicked Witch of the East. And, I thought Boq becoming the Tin-Man was brilliant.
Also, though Elphaba lives, I wouldn't exactly call it a completely happy ending. There is still a feeling of sadness in there. She can never see Glinda again. No one can ever know about her. Not exactly happy. Sure, she gets the man, but, it's not a "happily ever after".
Why would Dear Old Shiz look stupid on film? It's the school song. It's like the Hogwarts Choir singing "Something Wicked This Way Comes" in the third movie.
| Quote: | | It might even turn some people off of the musical! |
Sorry, but this annoyed me. It's called freedom. People are allowed to like what they want. That just sounded like you thought you were superior because you didn't like it, and if they didn't like it they would be better off.
I don't think you could cut For Good, to be honest. It brings the story full circle. Granted the metaphors are bad. But, the meaning of the song is good. And it works well, in my opinion.
| Quote: | One Short Day - that song would look totally stupid in a movie.
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I completely agree. It would look horrible. Although, similiar moments in other musical movies have pulled it off. So, who knows? Although, I agree...cut it.
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Matthew
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| Mistress wrote: | | mastachen wrote: | | that lion cub is NOT the cowardly lion. |
Yes, actually, it is (If I remember the book correctly).
And I doubt that an audience woulld watch film of the novel...they do not want to see the WWOTW having sex with soemoen, not to mention the Philosophy club, etc. |
This is laughable.
REALLY laughable.
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Mistress
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| Matthew wrote: | | Mistress wrote: | | mastachen wrote: | | that lion cub is NOT the cowardly lion. |
Yes, actually, it is (If I remember the book correctly).
And I doubt that an audience woulld watch film of the novel...they do not want to see the WWOTW having sex with soemoen, not to mention the Philosophy club, etc. |
This is laughable.
REALLY laughable. |
why? What so laughable about it? Hey, if you grew up with Margaret Hamilton's WWOTW, would YOU want to see that character having sex and stuff? Sure they could cut it out, but then yyou'd lose vital pieces of the story.
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Matthew
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| Mistress wrote: | | Matthew wrote: | | Mistress wrote: | | mastachen wrote: | | that lion cub is NOT the cowardly lion. |
Yes, actually, it is (If I remember the book correctly).
And I doubt that an audience woulld watch film of the novel...they do not want to see the WWOTW having sex with soemoen, not to mention the Philosophy club, etc. |
This is laughable.
REALLY laughable. |
why? What so laughable about it? Hey, if you grew up with Margaret Hamilton's WWOTW, would YOU want to see that character having sex and stuff? Sure they could cut it out, but then yyou'd lose vital pieces of the story. |
Like the musical would be any more probable? Either way it's a transfer from modern situations to a classic tale. The novel would be so good.
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mastachen
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In response to Jon's post, when I should be doing my essay:
What does a song sung by a teenager have to do with making it ok to sound like it's written by a teenager? It's another boring song that brings the show to a grinding halt. I know lots of songs that are sung by teenagers that sound way more mature. (Gavorche's bit in Look Down and Ten Little Bullets in Les Mis, Little Red in I Know Things Now in ITW, even Part of Your World from TLM) If anything, we should keep it for Glinda and not Elphaba.
My roommate's response to What Is This Feeling (he was listening to the score ahead of watching it on Friday): WTF IS THIS SHIT?! THIS SONG BETTER NOT BE IN THE SHOW WHEN I WATCH IT! He loves Defying Gravity, Wonderful, As Long as You're Mine, and One Short Day. He doesn't understand the lyrics to For Good.
I love Wicked Witch of the East. I think it's the best moment in the show, but in a movie, if Boq becomes the Tin Man, that opens up a LOT of plot holes that even 10 year old girls are gonna go, "uh what?" Those plot holes are noticeable in the musical too, but nobody points them out because they're all in awe of Elphaba flying...
"Something Wicked This Way Comes" came in a totally different scenario than "Dear Old Shiz" It's perfectly normal for a choir to sing a song at a banquet, but find me one school where people sing the school's Alma Mater at anytime during the day. Yes I know this is a musical and it's not supposed to be realistic to begin with, but as a college student, it just looks stupid to me.
The premise behind For Good is decent, but in all honesty, there'd probably be a fangirl revolt if it was cut... so I guess I'll leave it in.
Also, Popular does not cause Fiyero to notice Elphaba. In the musical, Fiyero's cart almost runs Elphaba over and he makes a (stupid) crack at her green skin.
What I think should happen: Elphaba can't save Boq and he dies, The Lion becomes the cowardly lion.. I guess I'll concede that, and instead of leaving Fiyero out in a cornfield (WTF?!) the guards put him in prison (doesn't that make more sense?) and Glinda lets him go after she runs off the Wizard. And yes Elphaba should still stay a puddle.
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Mistress
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| Matthew wrote: | | Mistress wrote: | | Matthew wrote: | | Mistress wrote: | | mastachen wrote: | | that lion cub is NOT the cowardly lion. |
Yes, actually, it is (If I remember the book correctly).
And I doubt that an audience woulld watch film of the novel...they do not want to see the WWOTW having sex with soemoen, not to mention the Philosophy club, etc. |
This is laughable.
REALLY laughable. |
why? What so laughable about it? Hey, if you grew up with Margaret Hamilton's WWOTW, would YOU want to see that character having sex and stuff? Sure they could cut it out, but then yyou'd lose vital pieces of the story. |
Like the musical would be any more probable? Either way it's a transfer from modern situations to a classic tale. The novel would be so good. |
You know, I do have to agree with you there...the novel would be very enganging as a movie, or miniseries like the Ugly Syepsister was made into. It's just that, from a commercial point of view, it wouldn't attract as great an audience as an adaptation of the musical would...it's just more accessible to a family audience than the book is. But that doesn't mean I don't want to see the novel adapteed at all . If nothing else, I just wanna see them recreate the scene with Elphaba bashing Madame Morrible's head in with the trophy 
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Matthew
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| Mistress wrote: | | Matthew wrote: | | Mistress wrote: | | Matthew wrote: | | Mistress wrote: | | mastachen wrote: | | that lion cub is NOT the cowardly lion. |
Yes, actually, it is (If I remember the book correctly).
And I doubt that an audience woulld watch film of the novel...they do not want to see the WWOTW having sex with soemoen, not to mention the Philosophy club, etc. |
This is laughable.
REALLY laughable. |
why? What so laughable about it? Hey, if you grew up with Margaret Hamilton's WWOTW, would YOU want to see that character having sex and stuff? Sure they could cut it out, but then yyou'd lose vital pieces of the story. |
Like the musical would be any more probable? Either way it's a transfer from modern situations to a classic tale. The novel would be so good. |
You know, I do have to agree with you there...the novel would be very enganging as a movie, or miniseries like the Ugly Syepsister was made into. It's just that, from a commercial point of view, it wouldn't attract as great an audience as an adaptation of the musical would...it's just more accessible to a family audience than the book is. But that doesn't mean I don't want to see the novel adapteed at all . If nothing else, I just wanna see them recreate the scene with Elphaba bashing Madame Morrible's head in with the trophy |
Think of all the wildly successful rated PG13/R movies in history.
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Mistress
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| Matthew wrote: | | Mistress wrote: | | Matthew wrote: | | Mistress wrote: | | Matthew wrote: | | Mistress wrote: | | mastachen wrote: | | that lion cub is NOT the cowardly lion. |
Yes, actually, it is (If I remember the book correctly).
And I doubt that an audience woulld watch film of the novel...they do not want to see the WWOTW having sex with soemoen, not to mention the Philosophy club, etc. |
This is laughable.
REALLY laughable. |
why? What so laughable about it? Hey, if you grew up with Margaret Hamilton's WWOTW, would YOU want to see that character having sex and stuff? Sure they could cut it out, but then yyou'd lose vital pieces of the story. |
Like the musical would be any more probable? Either way it's a transfer from modern situations to a classic tale. The novel would be so good. |
You know, I do have to agree with you there...the novel would be very enganging as a movie, or miniseries like the Ugly Syepsister was made into. It's just that, from a commercial point of view, it wouldn't attract as great an audience as an adaptation of the musical would...it's just more accessible to a family audience than the book is. But that doesn't mean I don't want to see the novel adapteed at all . If nothing else, I just wanna see them recreate the scene with Elphaba bashing Madame Morrible's head in with the trophy |
Think of all the wildly successful rated PG13/R movies in history. |
Have any of them been based on popular children's stories?
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Matthew
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Wicked wasn't based on a children's story.
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Mistress
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| Matthew wrote: | | Wicked wasn't based on a children's story. |
Wicked the musical iis based on Wicked the novel. Wicked the novel is based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...you're telling me that's not a children's story?
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wicked_boy
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| Mistress wrote: | | Matthew wrote: | | Wicked wasn't based on a children's story. |
Wicked the musical iis based on Wicked the novel. Wicked the novel is based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...you're telling me that's not a children's story? |
It is a children's sotry, that adults love as well.
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Mistress
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I know, but what I'm getting at is whether young kids who are used to the Judy Garland movie, and the musical are really going to accept the very adult nature of the novel, or a film based on the novel. Definitely some-probably many-will, but there's is still a huge majority who have no idea about the book, and expect anything related the Wizard of Oz/Wicked to be PG simply based on the original content.
As someone in the film or TV business I'd take that into account and make it as accessible as possible by choosing the musical over the novel-more viewer=more money. But this is only from a money-making point of view, otherwise, I whole-heartedly imbrace a film veersion of either book or musical.
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musikal_geek
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| Mistress wrote: | | I know, but what I'm getting at is whether young kids who are used to the Judy Garland movie, and the musical are really going to accept the very adult nature of the novel, or a film based on the novel. Definitely some-probably many-will, but there's is still a huge majority who have no idea about the book, and expect anything related the Wizard of Oz/Wicked to be PG simply based on the original content. |
So, on first thought they would expect it to be a family movie. Then they find out it's PG13 or 14A or whatever. If they brought their kids to that still expecting a family movie, they'd be totally stupid.
If it's a movie that's not meant for younger kids, there honestly won't be a problem- no kids will be allowed to see it, so no kids will be mad about it. They probably wouldn't see very many ads for it anyways because it's an adult movie- they won't show trailers for it on the Disney channel.
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Set_Buildin_Dad
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| Mistress wrote: | | Matthew wrote: | | Wicked wasn't based on a children's story. |
Wicked the musical iis based on Wicked the novel. Wicked the novel is based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...you're telling me that's not a children's story? |
Wicked the musical used some basic premisis from the novel, but heavilly adapted them to make them more like the original 1939 movie and to make them more family friendly. The movie was definitely targeted at families as was the musical. It was a calculated (and wise) move on the part of the shows producers to increase the audience appeal of the show. After all, the objective in the Broadway game is to make money. the show is succeding in this area spectacularly!
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lottielou22
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They could rate it PG-13, but everybody took their little kids to see the Pirates of the Carribbean movies, which were rated the same thing, and they'd probably be thinking, "come on, how bad can you make the Wizard of Oz?" and in the case of the book Wicked, pretty bad.
Gregory Maguire has good ideas and I like the way he twists stories and he's a good author, but he's just so... i guess it seems like he's living out sex fantasies or whatever through his books. I mean, is most of it really necessary??
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Matthew
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It gives the characters some viscera, it makes them more real, so, yes.
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SuperKabob
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I was reading it last night (I've only started the second book.) and I have to say, I much prefer
"The proper whatsiwhat pronounciation, please"
to
"WITH A GA" a million and a half times.
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Obiuss
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Boringishi would have to say that the book gets a little boring at times and isnt extreamly exciting it kind of builds up but dosent go anywhere. and i think the musical as a movie would be better
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