Musical theatre adaptation: or how to give the gift of song to everyone from French peasants to Hollywood has-beens
Adaptation has been part of musical theatre history since it first began. On Broadway and in the West End today we see musical adaptations that have stemmed from all kinds of sources, as well as original works. This dissertation is an examination of how musical theatre adaptations are created from three of the most popular sources: plays, films and novels. 

Chapter One details the process of adapting a play into a musical, including a discussion of experimental theatre and New Music Theatre, in addition to how Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! was created from the play Green Grow the Lilacs. Chapter Two concerns the transformation of novel to musical, analysing the difference between how an audience consumes a novel as opposed to how they consume a musical, as well as the methods used to stage the epic in Les Miserables. Chapter Three compares the experience of a film audience with that of a musical theatre one, as well as discussing the possibility of representing cinematic techniques on the stage, with particular focus on the musical version of film noir Sunset Boulevard. Drawing on the work of Lehman Engel, Joseph P. Swain and Cohen and Rosenhaus, this is an exploration of all aspects of musical theatre adaptation, from what kind of material is suitable to how the gap between entertainment mediums is combated.