There are some classic tales that people never seem to tire of hearing. They are recreated across many forms of media, including page, play and production. Here are five triple threats – a term often used to describe actors who are very versatile in acting, singing, and dance – whose stories were originally shared as books but were brought to life as movies and stage musicals as well.
Wicked
Written by Gregory Maguire as a prequel to the events of Frank L. Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz”, the 1995 novel Wicked was received as “overwhelmingly positive, with critics praising Maguire’s ability to turn a well-known tale on its head and offer a fresh perspective”. This acclaimed story about a misunderstood green girl came to the stage less than ten years later in 2003, going from a successful trial run in San Francisco all the way to the Gershwin Theater on Broadway in just a few months. This three-time Tony Award winner is still running on Broadway to this day, making it the fourth longest-running show in Broadway history.
In recent news, the trailer for the movie musical has just been released, starring Ariana Grande as the Good Witch, Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as the infamous Wicked Witch, Elphaba. The “Wicked” movie is set to premiere on Nov. 22, 2024, with a prematurely produced sequel (“Wicked 2”) scheduled for release just shy of a year later on Nov. 21, 2025.
The Great Gatsby
Originally, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby was nationally ill-received and was deemed a commercial failure. Told from the perspective of Nick Carraway, this narrative is about his neighbor, the lovelorn millionaire Jay Gatsby who would do anything to reunite with his old lover, Daisy Buchanan, who happens to be Nick’s cousin. Now, this novel is often named as “one of the greatest American novels”. With its repetition of ongoing themes–such as old versus new money, and its meaningful symbolism, with the most famous example being the green light, an ongoing metaphor for Gatsby’s love for Daisy and a representation of the American Dream –there is little reason to doubt this title.
“The Great Gatsby” has had two movie adaptations: one in 1974 and one in 2013, starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, respectively. The 2013 retelling gained a larger following than its predecessor, partly thanks to popular songs from artists like Lana Del Ray, and its enthralling visuals of the forgotten glamorous era of the Roaring Twenties. The musical adaptation of this American classic made a successful Broadway debut in April of 2024, with Jeremy Jordan as Gatsby and Eva Noblezada as Daisy, winning a Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Musical and dominating the musical side of TikTok with catchy lyrics and dance trends.
The Outsiders
“The Outsiders” began as a book in 1967, published shortly after author S.E. Hinton’s high school graduation. Its story was an instant sensation, speaking to readers all over the country who related to teenager Ponyboy Curtis–a greaser caught up in a conflict between two rival gangs. It was adapted into a movie in 1983, featuring relatively unknown actors who would go on to become some of the biggest names in the industry: Matt Dillion, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise, to name a few. Director Francis Ford Coppola of Warner Bros. worked with S.E. Hinton to accurately capture and translate the elements and vision of the book to the screen, resulting in an award nomination for “Best Family Feature Motion Picture”.
“The Outsiders” has shown how it continues to resonate with audiences everywhere by receiving acclaim with each new adaptation, most recently with its musical version (starring Brody Grant as Ponyboy) winning the 2024 Tony Award for Best Musical, just a few months after it officially debuted on Broadway in April.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Published in 2005 by Rick Riordan as the first book in the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series, the middle-grade novel “The Lightning Thief” follows a twelve-year-old demigod named Percy in modern-day New York who discovers his father is a Greek god. This book was and continues to be highly loved and praised, capturing the hearts of readers with high-stakes adventures, relatable characters and a unique fusion of modern fantasy and Greek mythology. Although this story was released as a movie in 2010 starring Logan Lerman, the movie adaptation was deemed inaccurate by Riordan and remains unpopular among fans of the book.
A more popular version is “The Lightning Thief: The Musical”, adapted for the stage in 2017 and had a brief run in Broadway’s Longacre Theater in October of 2019. Starring Chris McCarrell, Kristin Stokes and Jorrel Jaiver, the theatrical production showed its roots as a labor of love, highlighting fan-favorite moments from the book through its technical innovation and lyrics and gathering a loyal fanbase in stark contrast to the movie. Finally, “The Lightning Thief” was turned into a TV show nearly twenty years after its initial book release, written by Riordan himself and starring young actors Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jefferies and Aryan Simhadri. It premiered in December of 2023, with many fans appreciative of its loyalty to the books. Soon after, a second season was announced with no set release date, and it is currently under production.
Matilda
Penned as a children’s story by Roald Dahl in 1988, this powerful narrative follows a little girl named Matilda who faces many disparities with both her family and her new school principal, Miss Truchbull. After discovering she has telekinesis, Matilda leads her classmates and teacher, Miss Honey, to rebel against the tyranny of Miss Trunchbull. Like many other Dahl novels, this book is seen as a classic story and has seen large enough success to garner a film adaptation. Directed by Danny DeVito, the original movie debuted in 1996, starring Mara Wilson as the titular character. The film received positive reviews, but it was deemed a disappointment at the box office after only making $47 million on a $36 million budget.
“Matilda: the Musical” was brought to London stages in the West End in November of 2011, and it became so popular that it not only won the 2012 Olivier Awards—West End’s version of the Tony Awards—for Best New Musical but also made it to Broadway in April of 2013. After a four-year run on Broadway, “Matilda” closed in 2017, after which production started on its adaptation into a movie-musical, which was released in October of 2022 and starred Alisha Weir. Reviews were generally positive, and critics and moviegoers alike were happy with the directors’ enhancement of a classic coming-of-age story with amazing visuals and new scenes alike.
Honorable Mentions
There are countless book adaptations that have come to grace the screen and stage. A few honorable mentions of triple threats include: “Carrie”, “Legally Blonde”, “Les Miserables”, “Little Women”, and “Shrek”. These stories vary wildly in terms of genre and content but have some staples shared between them, including talented casts in all of their iterations, and iconic moments that managed to penetrate the ever-shifting sphere of American pop culture and dedicated fan bases. Stories will continue to be retold and reinvented with new versions and artistic methods. While certain formats might not fit your taste, it’s intriguing to see which tales are given new lives and new audiences throughout the years.
