With a treasure chest of riveting stories, the theatre can draw inspiration from within itself. From My Fair Lady to Wonderful Town, there have been plenty of musical adaptations of popular plays over the years. How many can you name?
Audra McDonald, Michael-Hayden, and Sally Murphy in Carousel
Joan Marcus
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Burgess Meredith, Joan Tetzel, and Ingrid Bergman in Liliom
Musical: Audra McDonald and Christopher Innvar in 110 in the Shade by Harvey Schmidt, Tom Jones, and
N. Richard Nash
Play: Darren McGavin and Geraldine Page in The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash
Musical: Tom Hewitt and cast in The Boys from Syracuse by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, George Abbott, and Nicky Silver
Joan Marcus
Play: The cast of The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Musical: Susan Johnson and Shorty Lon in The Most Happy Fella by Frank Loesser
Play: Glenn Anders, Pauline Lord, and Richard Bennett in They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard
Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell in Kiss Me, Kate, 1999
Play: Cast of Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
The original Broadway cast of Oklahoma!
The Library of Congress
Play: Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs
Patti Murin
Joan Marcus
Play: Nan Martin in Lysistrata by Aristophanes
Sally Klein, Jason Alexander, Lonny Price, Jim Walton and Ann Morrison in Merrily We Roll Along.
Martha Swope / The New York Public Library
Play: Merrily We Roll Along by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart
Musical: Chita Rivera with the cast of The Visit by John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Terrence McNally
Thom Kaine
Play: Der Besuch der alten Dame by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff in Spring Awakening.
Joan Marcus
Play: Cast of Spring Awakening; A Children's Tragedy by Frank Wedekind
Gavin Creel and Jane Krakowski
Joan Marcus
Play: Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo
Musical: George Hearn and Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler, and Christopher Bond
Martha Swope
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond
Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert in a promotional photo for West Side Story.
Martha Swope/©NYPL for the Performing Arts
Play: Cast of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon in Chicago
Martha Swope/©NYPL for the Performing Arts
Chicago by Maurine Dallas Watkins
Musical: David Burns and Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly! by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart
Friedman-Abeles/©NYPL for the Performing Arts
Play: Cast of The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder
Jerry Orbach, Rita Gardner and Kenneth Nelson
Friedman-Abeles/©NYPL for the Performing Arts
Play: The Romancers by Edmond Rostand
Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady.
Play: Lynne Fontanne in Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Musical: Carol Channing and cast in Wonderful Town by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Joseph A. Fields, and Jerome Chodorov
Play: Cast of My Sister Eileen by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov
