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| re: That is an assumption on my part | |
| Posted by: sirpupnyc 08:40 pm EDT 08/30/21 | |
| In reply to: That is an assumption on my part - dramedy 07:03 pm EDT 08/30/21 | |
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| That's OK, Winnie Holzman never read it either. (I jest...but the show is SO glancingly related to the book...) |
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| re: That is an assumption on my part | |
| Posted by: carolinaguy 02:36 pm EDT 08/31/21 | |
| In reply to: re: That is an assumption on my part - sirpupnyc 08:40 pm EDT 08/30/21 | |
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| A faithful adaptation of the novel would have been extremely unlikely to become a popular hit on stage. It certainly would not have attracted the family audience that has given the stage version such legs. It's much darker and G(a)linda is very much a supporting character who disappears for long stretches. I don't think the novel's structure would have transferred to the stage successfully at all. Holzman used the novel as a jumping-off point and created something aimed at the popular theater. Whether that's good, bad, or indifferent is a matter of personal taste. (I love both the novel and the musical -- even though I can count a dozen weaknesses in the latter. Sometimes the core of something just works so well on its own terms that flaws are easy to forgive.) |
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| re: That is an assumption on my part | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 03:28 pm EDT 08/31/21 | |
| In reply to: re: That is an assumption on my part - carolinaguy 02:36 pm EDT 08/31/21 | |
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| Holzman's work is akin to what Hollywood studios would often do with successful musicals...use the title and some character names to tell a whole new story that really doesn't have much at all in common with the source material. Clearly, whomever had the idea to option the novel for the stage, that person really only wanted the title and the story's relationship with THE WIZARD OF OZ. The thing that annoyed me about doing that was that they decided to co-opt an ending that Gregory Maguire very specifically considers in the novel and then rejects. And that destroys the whole point, which is that there will be no happy ending for the "wicked" character. Gregory Maguire, of course, is crying all the way to the bank about what was done to his story. :) Maguire's OZ books would be great candidates for adaptation into a fantasy television series for a cable channel or streaming service that had the budget to do some serious world-building on the scale of GAME OF THRONES. The first part of the story, told in the novel WICKED, is also so different from the story told on stage, that it likely wouldn't compete. It would be a whole different thing...a horse of another color, if you will. The one problem I see is that I can't imagine such a series using the title WICKED, which would definitely carry associations to the musical. They'd have to come up with a new title and still make it clear what the thing is. |
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| Making book on 'Wicked' | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 09:18 pm EDT 08/30/21 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 09:16 pm EDT 08/30/21 | |
| In reply to: re: That is an assumption on my part - sirpupnyc 08:40 pm EDT 08/30/21 | |
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| Winnie Holzman dishes about HER focus on the ''Wicked'' story, and recalls how Arthur Laurents once ''took [her] under his wing.'' (She's an Emmy-nominated creator-writer of ''My So-Called Life,'' wrote for ''thirtysomething,'' and won the Drama Desk for her book to ''Wicked.'') |
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| Link | BroadwayDirect.com: The Real Reason Audiences Adore 'Wicked' (2015) |
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