The+Adaptation

=Adaptation= In order to make our production of //Marisol// as relatable to a current audience, we need to adapt some themes and figures of the play to things that are current and understandable to today. 1. The major change our production would do with //Marisol// is changing the genre to a musical. We believe a musical would create more excitement for people to see the show, and overall be more profitable. Musicals in New York are major tourist attractions. We believe people who are play goers, musical fanatics, and tourists would all want to see our rendition of //Marisol//. In order to conserve the message and the emotions //Marisol// gives to its audience, our production will have similarities with past musicals like //Godspell// (1970) and //Sweeney Todd// (1979). In Our Musicals Ourselves—A Social History of the American Musical Theatre, John Bush Jones discusses how these two musicals were different from other musicals. Jones states: “To look at //Godspell// (5/17/1971), the biggest up-front production costs appear to have been for gallons of clown-white make-up, a chainlink fence, and a basketball of costumes straight from Goodwill or the Salvation Army” (282). We believe //Godspell// is a good musical that Marisol can be influenced from in order to be a successful musical. Even though we are incorporating A-list actors to play the parts in the production and spending lots of money on special effects, we hope to give off the feel that Marisol and the supporting characters are working/middle class people. We also like to approach the Angel the same way as the other characters and not give off the feeling that she is this angel characterized through earlier times in history. //Sweeney// //Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street// is “thrilling, macabre, and often very funny” (Jones 291//). Sweeney Todd// has the dark setting that we would like to have on our production. Our //Marisol// would be as vivid as the actual playwright writes it out to be. With a sense of //Sweeney Todd//, //Marisol// would not be appropriate with a younger audience, but would entertain the mature crowd. Jones, John Bush. __Our Musicals Ourselves—A Social History of the American Musical Theatre__. New Hampshire: Brandeis University Press, 2003.

2. In //Marisol//, Marisol’s angel is seen holding an Uzi. We believe the choice of using an Uzi derives from the fact that Uzis are an Israeli product—something that ties into the religious theme within the play. However, we feel having an AK-47, one of the most used guns in wartimes, would show how serious the war between God and the angels actually is. In today’s media, it’s hard not finding an AK-47 on news relating to war efforts. 3. Characters such as Man with Golf Club, Lenny, Man with Scar Tissue, and Woman with Furs are all considered crazy or disturbed. Each of these characters have all witnessed their guardian angel depart from them and this deportation leads to their insanity. We believe incorporating a more extremist Right Wing Christian attitude would lead the audience in seeing their public craziness in relation to extreme Christians that parade their discriminative beliefs in today’s society. Incorporating this view in the characters would also make Marisol more relatable to current times. 4. The Man with Ice Cream brings fear to Marisol by demanding his royalties to the film Taxi //Driver//. Even though this movie was a success during its time, people in our time might not have seen it. Our production will change the Man with Ice Cream as someone who was an extra in the 1997 film //Titanic//. Twenty-something year olds and anyone older can recognize this film and realize why the man would actually want his royalties. 5. Nazis in //Marisol// run the streets and attacks the homeless by setting them on fire. Marisol is informed throughout the play to stay away from the Nazis and to not be on the streets as much as possible. In today’s society, everyone knows what a Nazi is and their negative significance in the 21st century. However, to bring a more up-to-date adaptation, we decided to switch the Nazis to becoming people of Christian Identity and members of the Ku Klux Klan. Christian Identity are differing Christian churches throughout the United States that have radicalized beliefs to differing religions, races, cultures, and other social categories. All beliefs are justified through their version of the Bible. Christian Identity can be seen throughout today’s media, and incorporating them in the production would again bring //Marisol// more relatable to our time. 6. The Man with Scar Tissue is burned by Nazis in a park. He is determined to find his skin and cover up his scars, and insist on Marisol to help him through his troubles. We believe swapping his Nazi storyline to a story about being injured in war would relate to a current audience and make the audience have more sympathy to the character. 7. The Ohio fires are just one of the signs in //Marisol// that shows the deterioration of the world. We would change the setting of the fires to California. California fires happen yearly and have been devastating in areas of Los Angeles and San Diego. Having the fires set in California would only show the world’s ending more close to our own time. 8. Salt and the salty food and water shows the discontent and dissatisfaction that humanity has become in //Marisol//. It also is another sign of the world dying out. No one likes salty foods, but we believe changing the salty foods to foods covered in pesticides would make the audience more disgusted at that part of the storyline. Pesticides are also something more of a social issue in today’s society. //Marisol// and the pesticide foods would only show a prelude to what can happen in our future world. 9. The crown in the glass box is seen throughout Marisol and represents the power that the angels are fighting for against God. This power is so significant to the story and objectifying it through a crown would not be powerful enough for the show our production wants to make. The crown would change into being some sort of weapon of mass destruction. Ever since 2001, our society realizes that if one has a W.M.D., then they have power over others. Governments around the world have tried regulating and sanctioning these weapons in order to balance out power throughout the world. Wars have started due to the suspicions of W.M.D.’s. Audience members will totally understand the message the play hopes to give to them.