While talking with my friends online about Fallen London, the idea just hit me:
What would Fallen London be like if it was made into a broadway musical?
What would the posters look like? What would the musical numbers be for each faction? Who would they get to star in lead roles like Feducci, or The Duchess? What would the plot be? What musical style would it be, Gilbert & Sullivan or Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda? What would be the show’s twist or gimmick?
Suffice it to say, the idea started to gain a life of its own. So I thought it best to let it loose into the community here. ;-)
So, what does Falen London: The Musical look like?
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[/li][li] edited by Six Handed Merchant on 6/15/2018
It will be an adaptation of The Seventh Letter, and it will be called Seven!. It will be dramatically rewritten to be about a plucky urchin who wishes to work their way to the top and become one of the Masters. It ends with the front three rows of the audience being devoured.
“I am the very model of a modern Neathy Master,
I keep a wary eye upon Duchess and Cantigaster;
I know the Correspondence and my place upon the Chain;
And my duties under contract, and only rarely do complain;
I but rarely act to subvert the dictates of those my better;
I might break a deal in spirit, but, oh, never in the letter;
So don’t blame me if all ends in what for you seems disaster;
For I’m the very model of a modern Neathy Master.”
"The Cross Song"
"Parabola Songs for Parabola Cats"
"Three Little Suitable Students from Sinning Jenny’s Finishing School are We"
"Springtime for Feducci"
"He is a Neathy Man"
“What do we do with a Drunken Zailor?”
“Those who Hunger”
“By Bats We were taken”
“Those in Scarlett Stockings”/ “The Girls o’ Master Wines”
“My Soul for a Contract!”
Oh dear, said the Theater major with a grin. Oh dear, indeed.
One musical is not enough to contain Fallen London. There’d be a festival of SEVEN (of course) musicals. And the question is, in what style would they be written?
Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty could contribute something like the end of their prologue to RAGTIME:
"And there was distant music, skipping a beat, finding a flow
(la-la-la-la-la)
A strange, insistent music, putting out lights, sinking below
(la-la-la-la-la)
The sound of distant thunder looking to have lots of FUN…
It was the moment when bats stole the city,
The Quarter exploded, but Jenny’s still pretty,
In riches and rags, and in empires undone
The people called it London…
Lon-don!"
(link to original if you need it):
I will list off my other six choices later. I cannot promise to write samples of any others!
Honestly, I don’t think Fallen London as the player experiences it would make for a good Broadway musical. What could work, though, is adapting certain stories with alterations into musicals, which would offer a tighter story and cast.
The characters of HOJOTOHO! would adapt well to the medium, I think. The Valkyrie and the Shieldmaiden would be the main characters, with the other urchins (possibly with the addition of other well-known characters like Colonel Molly and Slivvy) as supporting characters. The musical would begin prior to the beginning of the story and depict the group coming together, with Act 1 ending approximately where the ES begins with the disappearance of the Shieldmaiden. The ES would then play out, likely in a streamlined form, in Act 2. One ending would have to be chosen; I know which one I’d pick, but in the interest of avoiding spoilers, I’ll leave it at that. This would be impractical, of course, because I’d hate to subject child actors to eight performances per week, or else we’d have to cycle the entire cast the way musicals like Once on this Island or Frozen cycle their child actors, and we need to have lower pitches to produce a good musical sound.
Cut with Moonlight is another ES that would adapt well to the musical medium, I think. The Upstairs would be interesting both visually and musically, while the romantic subplot (or lack thereof) can be expanded and made a central focus. Waltz that Moved the World is another one, I think, in a darker style like that of Les Mis, but it would need fleshing out.
A story that I think could make for a good musical that we haven’t seen yet is the Bishop of Southwark in the Campaign of '68. Gay romance, plenty of violence, and literal Hell. It’d be a fun experience for the whole family.
In terms of endings, I will note that the stage play The Night of January 16th and the musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood both successfully incorporated multiple endings (the audience votes which one they most want), so you could probably prep up to 4 different endings.
[quote=Azothi]Honestly, I don’t think Fallen London as the player experiences it would make for a good Broadway musical. What could work, though, is adapting certain stories with alterations into musicals, which would offer a tighter story and cast.
The characters of HOJOTOHO! would adapt well to the medium, I think. The Valkyrie and the Shieldmaiden would be the main characters, with the other urchins (possibly with the addition of other well-known characters like Colonel Molly and Slivvy) as supporting characters. The musical would begin prior to the beginning of the story and depict the group coming together, with Act 1 ending approximately where the ES begins with the disappearance of the Shieldmaiden. The ES would then play out, likely in a streamlined form, in Act 2. One ending would have to be chosen; I know which one I’d pick, but in the interest of avoiding spoilers, I’ll leave it at that. This would be impractical, of course, because I’d hate to subject child actors to eight performances per week, or else we’d have to cycle the entire cast the way musicals like Once on this Island or Frozen cycle their child actors, and we need to have lower pitches to produce a good musical sound.
Cut with Moonlight is another ES that would adapt well to the musical medium, I think. The Upstairs would be interesting both visually and musically, while the romantic subplot (or lack thereof) can be expanded and made a central focus. Waltz that Moved the World is another one, I think, in a darker style like that of Les Mis, but it would need fleshing out.
A story that I think could make for a good musical that we haven’t seen yet is the Bishop of Southwark in the Campaign of '68. Gay romance, plenty of violence, and literal Hell. It’d be a fun experience for the whole family.[/quote]
Well, for starters, I don’t think it’s Broadway. This one’s clearly starting in West End.
Well, no, you can’t tell every story in one musical, but who would try? (I mean, Greg’s already lined up a festival.) We’re also not talking some Iolanthe remake with a piddling dozen characters. No! But we can do that. Cats has more than thirty named characters, and it’s not got the record, I don’t think.
But it’s worth asking what characters one would need.
His Amused Lordship (baritone) and Mrs. Plenty (contralto)
How would one do musical theatre in London without these two? Really, the only issue here is that their inclusion pushes us toward making opera.
The Masters (all played by the same actor; it’s not like anyone would know, and we can always enrobe understudies in case of chorus line)
The Chorus of Frustrated Mayors (Jenny [soprano], Feducci [bass], Contrarian [tenor or countertenor])
A possible backup chorus of Failed Mayors is absolutely on the table
A certain Plant
A nightmare for the props department, but it’s not like the theatre’s not going to burn down at the end of #7, anyway
Note to self: secure outdoor venue, don’t perform in August
The Duchess (alto or contralto)
Can we get Judy Dench? Asking for a friend.
Your preferred devil(ess)
The Calendar Chorus
Not Appearing
Her Majesty
though she can be given a solo, if all the lights go out before it begins
The Widow
as above, but less interesting
Albert
seriously, do we need to have this discussion?
Mr. Eaten
as above
The Bazaar
If we abandon musical for opera, opening with an off-stage Bazaar aria (by the Victoria and/or Plenty actress) would work nicely
For the rest of our bigger-than-Exodus extravaganza, we clearly need more urchin extras than Annie and Oliver Twist put together. I’m willing to talk about Jack, but we’d need to pass the role to a new actor in every scene. The Captivating Princess is a possibility, if she’s not in the Failed Mayors. I am all up for opening up with the Soft-Hearted Widow (especially if we can get her to work the ticket booth before the show). The Turkish Dancer would also work nicely, St. Fiacre’s has lots of potential, and Silas and a certain festive Rubbery have shown interest in the production. Also, can someone check on insurance rates for including snakes and trained tigers?
If we go for a modern style of production, then there are all sorts of regrettable ways to involve the audience. The proper plant in row 3 could make for an interesting Knife-and-Candle interlude (now doubt in the middle of a scene between the Bishops), and nothing says "audience participation" like discovering the man next to you is the next Jack. Not that everything involving the audience also need involve entirely-safe-and-not-at-all-suspicious-looking knives. I’m sure we can arrange pickpockets as well.
Well, no, you can’t tell every story in one musical, but who would try?[/quote]In fairness, what I believe I was referring to was the player experience of existing as a blank canvas with a very broad and self-paced approach to narrative. Essentially, it’d be less Fallen London and more "set in the FL universe". It’s challenging to maintain a tight narrative with such a varied and diverse cast of characters.
From a planning standpoint, though, I really like this.
[quote=Siankan][color=rgb(194, 194, 194)]6. Your preferred devil(ess)[/color][/quote]Now that we have "Cricket, Anyone?" and Sunless Skies, we can give them an incredibly dramatic dance sequence in theatre history, with fire and the chorus line descending into insanity.
Different Plot Suggestion Incoming!
It’s about the Liberation of Night, plus the Reckoning. Everyone dies, except for the urchin protagonist and a select few(the Cantigaster, the Manager, both Detectives, and Mr Fires, who knew what to do.)
How each one would survive:
Cantigaster harnesses venom as protection.
Manager remembers how to escape Dawn Machine.
Honey-Addled Detective gets high out of his skull and enters Parabola.
Implacable Detective also enters Parabola, though is not high.
Urchin protagonist finds Mr Sacks earlier in musical- gives aging.
Eater-of-Chains remembers that it is a dream-hound, and enters Parabola.
All of the Masters would be like, "OH, SH*T," and get Veils to kill as many revolutionaries as possible before death. It succeeds at killing all but May and August. May is the Manager.
Last Constable or Cheery Man would commit suicide, aided by the
Cantigaster.
The Empress would seek out the Eater-of-Chains, in a failed attempt to enter Parabola or the Royal Bethlehem.
August goes NORTH as part of an argument. At least he got a Seven-Fold Knock…
It would be called Les Bonnes Personnes(The Good People), as a reference to Victor Hugo’s novel.
There would be such songs as:
"Do you hear the Dawn Machine?"(Do You Hear the People Sing)
"One Death More"(One Day More)
"Confrontation"(Confrontation)
"Cheery Man’s Suicide"(Javert’s Suicide)
"Look NORTH"(Work Song)
"Candles Arrested"(Valjean Arrested/Valjean Forgiven)
Of course, this idea is stupid. And I legit wrote three paragraphs of it.
Have fun pulling this off! edited by Sir Wensleydale of Hardwick on 3/24/2019
In the end, it’s all about having a through-line that you keep coming back to. Might I suggest Love?[/quote]Love would be good. I’m a fan of "capitalism" as well. Regardless, I suppose it’s a matter of taste for me - these characters draw from many aspects of London, and the conceit needed to bring them together is possible, but I’m still not convinced that a grand play would do justice to the characters; more focused musicals with a smaller cast would be more effective in my opinion (though it’d sadly miss out on the immense fun of having everyone together).
I. The Bazaar’s Lament. Performed offstage. Begins with house and stage lights off, increase lighting (and, if indoors, temperature) as it continues. (Also known to that guy as the Bazaaria.)
II. The Masters’ Chorus. Put the main actors and actresses in robes so no one knows who’s who, give each of the Masters a short one- or two-line solo (Mr. Iron’s is silence).
III. The Traitor’s Lament.Offstage solo by Victoria, ending in sudden darkness. (Audience members who clap at this point will be marked down for the Knife-and-Candle sequence.)
At this point, stage lights come back on and Act I begins with a welcoming solo by the Soft-Hearted Widow.
