Musicals aren’t all smiley, happy tap-dancing with a 11 o’clock number to bring the house down. There are horror musicals, tear-jerker musicals, experimental musicals, and musicals that flopped so hard that they need to go lay down for a while. What makes a musical great isn’t necessarily what makes a book great. That’s not a negative about books, or musicals. They’re different mediums. These are some of the books just wouldn’t cut it as musicals, in my opinion. Alternatively, which books do you think would make great musicals? The Westing Game and Dante’s Inferno are at the top of my list. For more bookish adaptation fun, check out our archive. *See also, The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun
