Can stage plays be adapted from novels?

Question

Or is it better for a play to just be a play? Will the play lose it's effect if the audience already knows the ending?

(Please don't make reference to Shakespeare, since I'm referring more to contemporary/ modern themes.)

Answer 1

Novels, plays, movies, musicals...are all just ways of telling stories, so it is possible to move back and forth between mediums given enough effort. Now, some novels are more easily adapted than others, but it is quite possible. As far as endings are concerned: not everyone who goes to see the show will have read the book, so they'll still be surprised, and the ones that have, enjoy the story so much that they wanted to see a stage adaptation, so they are wanting to see it unfold in similar ways....this is just a very long yes. Yes, stage plays can be adapted from novels.

Answer 2

Fiddler on the Roof and Caberet and tons of other plays and musicals.. A good story makes good theatre. Got to refer to Shakespeare, why would anyone go see any of his plays when everyone knows how they end? Because, and this holds true with great contemporary writing, except the end is not so widely known, they have value beyond the simple facts of the plot. Isn't interesting that all the Disney cartoon features are now stage musicals? The ends of those stories are known.

Answer 3

"Wicked" is a play adapted from a novel, so it can be done. I'm not sure, however, of the overall effect. Some novels might translate nicely to stage; others might not.

I think plays are better off starting as plays.

Answer 4

Yes. Look at The Color Purple. It started off as a book, then a movie, and finally a big broadway show.

Answer 5

it really depends on the play, the actors and how good the palywright is at adapting the story.

Answer 6

Sure they are all the time.

Oliver

South Pacific

Phantom of the Opera

Answer 7

To Kill a Mockingbird is one....