Adaptation In Art: Fiyero Tigelaar From Wicked
Adaptation is everywhere. In Humans, In Animals, in Art, they all have varies amount of adaptation. We adapt every day to people, to our surroundings, it’s a way of survival. Adaptation in Art has been proven to be successful. In theatre and entertainment, adaptation fills it. “Adaptation, in biology, process by which an animal or plant species becomes fitted to its environment”. It is the exact same thing in respects to the arts. We fit a part of one piece into another to fit our environment. Some can argue that adaptation is just ‘re-using’ a story, but this doesn’t necessarily have to be a negative because recycling a story can be just as beautiful and powerful as the original.
We all love a good adaptation. Sometimes we don’t even know it’s been adapted. Jane Eyre for instance, “there have been over sixteen English language film versions of Jane Eyre” alone, not including the stage adaptations. They have all been very successful. Because it’s a classic story, that everyone can relate to. It’s loved by so many people, and directors want to adapt the same story rather than a new one because you already have the structure there. And you know it will more than likely be successful because it’s proven to be loved. In the many Jane Eyre adaptations, none of them are the same. Each director and actor brings something completely different to the table. That’s what is interesting about adapting an original story, so you can spot the differences, so you can cry over the same moments. You can make your own judgements, whether they are positive or negative. The Jane Eyre adaptations give me hope that my adaption will work. Both stories are female driven and are very known and popular.
However, the problem that arises with adaptation is the idea that we are just re-using a story. We are not original and creative to think of new storyline. There are negative and positives to adaptations. But after watching Wicked for the second time in March, I was inspired by the sheer volume of success the Musical has had. It’s a storyline that has everyone engaged. Because it’s already an adaption, it demonstrates the example that people love to come back and watch and learn something new from the same world that has already been created to see a new side of the story and learn about new characters. The musical fascinated me how linked it was to the books and The Wizard of Oz, and that excites an audience, when you can follow the world and the storyline in other people’s views. Which is why I have chosen to adapt wicked by creating a physical theatre play about Fiyero Tigelaar, who is Elphaba and Glinda’s love interests in Wicked but is also known as Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. I want to share Fiyero’s story through his eyes, starting from his childhood, all the way to his life with Elphaba after they run away together. His story and character are only hinted through the musical and it would be interesting for the audience to see his point of view.
Fiyero was the character I chose to develop because he is very complex. In Wicked, we follow him on this journey, where we judge his Cocky nature, but come to fall in love with him vulnerability when he is with Elphaba. In the Wizard of Oz, it is crazy to believe that Fiyero is the Scarecrow because we forget that people change, and people aren’t always what they look like. I want to explore this change in him and how it changes his outlooks on life. Also, how this changes the people around him. The relationship between him parents, his love interests and friendships. His personality is very elaborate and interesting, which makes him the perfect candidate to concentrate on.
The story of Fiyero would be in chronological order; because it helps the audience understand the cause and effect. I would begin rom child birth to adulthood, which is very simple choice, so the audience can follow the timeline easily. The audience will experience how Fiyero was an only child growing up with big expectations, displaying his relationship with his parents and how this has modelled who he had grown up to become. The next chapter would be his school life and then onto university where he meets Elphaba and Glinda. A love interest sparks here between Glinda and Fiyero, which is accurate to the story in Wicked. They leave to the city of Oz, which is a big new world that all wizards wish to live in and see, but for Fiyero he only follows because of Glinda and Elphaba, there Fiyero continues to struggle with a loss of self and a loss of direction. He is helped by Elphaba to be the true man he can be, which becomes an unexpected love between them two. It is unexpected because he, among many others in school, judges Elphaba for her looks. We continue to follow the story from Wicked and his job as a palace guard.
The next moment of Fiyero’s life would be when he is turned into the scarecrow, by his true love Elphaba. This results in such a big identity change, where he struggles to fit in, and accept him. This will be very relatable for anyone watching because everyone has experienced this feeling before. We will go on this journey with him accepting himself as the scarecrow and his changed looks. Along the way he finds Elphaba again and they live “happily” ever after in secret. The message and theme of the show would be, that it’s okay to feel lost within you and that we have to accept how we are, the way we look and challenge these society norms and expectations we have of yourself. But it’s not easy, we have to allow ourselves time for this, to appreciate the small things and to accept the love around you.
Wicked the musical has a clear strong theme throughout it, which is female empowerment. That these strong and fearless women can conquer whatever they set their mind on. Like Honour Bayes said in his review of Wicked in Timeout “As in classical ballet, this is all about the women”. Women empowerment is flooding the streets, and that’s how this musical can be so relatable these many years later. Fiyero is one of the few male characters in the story of Oz, so it is important to keep the theme of female power by showing how the women in his life have shaped him.
In addition, Wicked is originally an adaption of the Wizard of Oz, which is also an adaptation of the books written by Frank Baum. It then was taken to the theatre as a musical many years later. Therefore, I fear that securing the rights will be very difficult because Wicked and the Wizard of Oz are highly successful and the owners of the rights probably don’t want to take the risk in a production that isn’t a musical. I would have to consider who to cast, and what director because having well-known names in productions proves to be beneficial in terms of gaining the rights and audience recognition. This is a challenge that will be hard to face financially, but will be worth it in the end.
A successful film adaptation to stage is Groundhog Day. The film was highly successful when first released in 1993 and is still very well known. The musical adaptation with the same name was premiered at the Old Vic in 2016 and opened on Broadway in April 2017. As critic Ben Brantley said “Repetition is an art of infinite variety as it’s practiced by Andy Karl in “Groundhog Day,” the dizzyingly witty new musical from the creators of “Matilda. ”” So it clearly proved a hit and was well loved by the audience, which is what it is all about. Creating something entertaining for people and it doesn’t matter if it is adapted or it is original. This adaption is an example that successful original work in one genre can be successful in a completely new genre.
Like Groundhog Day the Musical adaption, I have chosen to stick with all same characters, location, names that are in Wicked and The Wizard of Oz, the only thing I am really changing is the character’s point of view because I will be focusing on Fiyero’s story rather than the usual protagonists in the musicals, Elphaba, Glinda and Dorothy. Keeping the characters the same, will only benefit the success and the audience's ability to connect with the story they all already love. To follow the same story, but from a different angle. If I were to change the names or a part of the actual story, I think there would be huge backlash and could become confusing. The main idea is that it will be able to be linked back with the original adaptations.
Instead of a musical, film or book in which they have already been adapted to. I have chosen a play, in particular I have chosen to use physical theatre because the scarecrow really uses his body to express him, his body goes through so many changes in his lifetime and I think it will express well on stage. I am particularly inspired by works from the complicite because it’s more about the movement than the words. Considering all genres of theatre, physical theatre stood out the most. The body and movement and take you to a complete different world, it’s very create and a great way to story tell, and this play is telling Fiyero’s story, so the fit is perfect.
Furthermore, I have decided to leave out the songs from the musical because they do not coincide with my theme, as I want the play to be more dramatic with hints of comedy, therefore musical numbers with jazz hands would not fit well. This will only continue to help to create the world and make it more of a reality than just a story. I want people to be able to relate to Fiyero’s story and his journey of acceptance, and the musical numbers from Wicked and The Wizard of Oz do not blend well with this idea. It does not mean there won’t be singing and dancing because I still want music within the show, but they will be more thought provoking and moving. The genre of music will just be slightly different. Music enhances theatre in many ways; it helps to create an atmosphere like no other. “Music can reveal the inner emotional life of a character, foreshadow a vicious attack or budding love, or comment on the action onstage”. For example, orchestral, classic music will be used in an intimate scene with Elphaba and Fiyero. Like Hurwitz said, the music will help reveal something we as an audience hadn’t seen before.
The set and Costume are very theatrical and dazzling in the musical because that only adds to the beauty and the magic. However, I have decided to make a set and costume change. I would like it to be less intense than they are in the musicals, less lights and props and the costumes will be more modern and adaptable. I want to be able to pack it all into a camper van and be able to perform the show in any venue. So it’s more simplistic than the musicals. With this in mind, the show will be able to adapt to Edinburgh Fringe or other Fringe festivals around the world, which will only attract other audience types and not only Wicked fans. Following on from the simplistic theme, the set will not be as grand. Props will be limited to what is completely necessary. It does help to determine the environment and the feeling; yet, you can still achieve the same feeling with music. Less set and extravagant costume will hint the modernity of the production. Although, set can be breath-taking, some rely on it too much and can become overwhelming. Molly Flat words this perfectly, when she is reviewing MacNeil and Broadway stages. “The set dominates rather than illuminates. ” This is what I want to avoid and can be easily avoided. For costume, minimalism is also wanted. Less costume changes will benefit the actors and benefits in the financial side as well. The costume would be appropriate for the decade it will be set in and change when they enter the world of Oz, but not distracting.
We as actors are influenced by everyone and everything around us. We take ideas and learn from others and consciously or unconsciously borrow from those in the past in our process. Louis weaver describes this perfectly when she says “so much of what I do in the rehearsal room and on the stage is a combination of other people's work and other influences” (2014, 9). We adapt from one another in everyday life and in the rehearsal room. So why not do the same on the stage. This proves that adaptation and borrowing ideas and being inspired by other works, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It only benefits the actor and the watcher to produce beautiful work. It is fun, exciting and refreshing. It is good to be influenced by other work and by other art; it only helps to create appealing work in the theatre, or in a film.
Similarly, I have given a lot of authority to the original text because I want people to be able to watch the musicals and read the original books and watch this performance of Fiyero and be able to link them all together. Clearly, there is not a full text to follow, as my play is new. So some text will be new and some text will be extracted from the original books, Wicked and The Wizard of Oz. The aim is for it to just be another view of one of the characters, so that they see even further into the world of Oz and can connect more with his character and story when they see another adaptation. I want them all to flow and this can only be done by sticking to the original texts, as much as possible. Using the text from the musical of Wicked, but also from the original books, keeping it as close as possible will only give the show more continuity.
The book and the musicals have a variety of characters, so it would be confusing if my show had too many. Therefore I have decided to leave out a few characters from the other stories in this adaptation, mainly those who don’t cross paths will Fiyero and those who don’t add significance or purpose to his story. Including Nessa who is Elphaba’s sister and the Wicked witch of the West, not because her story isn’t important but because her story does not feed back to Fiyero’s story. Yes, her name will be mentioned because she is a vital part of the Oz world; however she wouldn’t need to be casted in the production.
The tech and lighting is also very important with a successful show. I would want to keep a green light on when they are in Oz and a more natural spotlight beforehand. I want to keep the lighting very minimalistic and not too complicated, as I want to be able to move the piece to any theatre. Projection is something commonly used within the company Complicite. It can be so effective when used correctly and I would like to explore this in the beginning of the play for Fiyero’s birth and his “re-birth” into the Scarecrow. In the Encounter by Complicite in 2016, they used projection during an intimate dance scene. Projection designer Will Duke says that the projection “Talks about wider concerns outside of the story”. Projection can help lift a moment or show a different side of something. For example I would like to use projection for when the Fiyero become the scarecrow, not only would like help in terms of reality wise because it’s impossible to do this with the actor himself and because it would be very appealing to the eye.
To conclude, I think adaptation is very useful. There will always be a few critics who want something “new”, but you can’t please everyone. My adaptation already has a big audience and has shown success, so I believe it will work in the industry. Adaptation has been argued to be repetitive but why does repetition have to be bad when the seats in an auditorium are filled? Each adaptation is different, whether that means different actor’s, a different story line or just set on a different stage. It has been proven over and over again that adaptation works, from Jane Eyre to Pride and Prejudice and from Harry Potter to Mamma Mia. When you’re truly enjoying these films, show’s, books, no one really cares whether it was an adaptation, they care if it was good and in the end, that’s what really matters.
